The Giants and Other Observations

A Repeat  Lets Do It Again is still a great idea.  Another cocktail to celebrate my wife picking the Preakness winner  and the Giants victory over the A's.  We will have a triple if Lets Do It Again wins the Belmont in three weeks.

Site of 1967 NBA Championship

New Arena for San Francisco:  Discussion are now taking place to build a new arena for San Francisco on the waterfront which would house the San Francisco Bulls ice hockey team, St Ignatius College Prep volleyball teams and the NBA Warriors or Rainbows. Los Angeles is wondering if Staples Arena is enough having hosted  six NBA and NHL playoff games over this last weekend.  All plans are very tentative but it has been overheard that the arena would be designed after the City's famous Cow Palace.


AT&T: The outfield grass is three shades of green this week. I understand the Giants brought over the basketball floor from the Cow Palace to experiment with different locations. The problem of possible rain and wind has complicated their planning. AT&T continues to sell out every baseball  game but have you noticed a number of empty seats during the night games.  I did some further checking and discovered that the bathrooms are packed.  That explains it!  

The Carrier Plan:  The Rainbows or Warriors whatever they are going to be called are determined to move to San Francisco.  Arenas are not easy to build especially when the team wants somebody else to pay for it so they can 'rip us off'. It's called welfare. The Carrier plan would bring the team to SF.  They would obtain an aircraft carrier from moth balls and dock it either at piers 30 and 32 or in McCovey Cove.  The team would play on the deck and could move the ship around the Bay to places such as Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Vallejo and Oakland for fans that can't always get to San Francisco. There would be plenty of standing room available but court side seats would be a premium. The NBA players could live on the carrier saving expensive rent and the team could save on airfare and hotel costs by sailing to games in Los Angeles against the Clippers and Lakers.

Live with Kelly:  Last Friday disgraced USC and current Miami Dolphin running back Reggie Bush was the co-host while auditioning to be Reggis Philbin's permanent replacement.   During their monolog Kelly with her warped eastern liberal attitude asked Reggie if he had any tattoos.  Reggie responded to the shock of Kelly that he could not be bothered and he didn't need them to remember any of his friend's name.  Kelly didn't know that Reggie probably took Health 666 Tattooing taught by renowned expert Dr. Pagan Ritual when he was at USC.  The course teaches that tattooing is related to the ancient Roman practice of making slaves as the property of their master.  This practice survives into the modern day in the branding of dumb animals as the property of their master.  Reggie did not want to be associated with dumb animals or lay awake at nights worried that his life might be at risk.  Tattooing ink contains carcinogens such as led and mercury that involve unnecessary medical risks. Viruses such as HIV and Heptitis C can erupt at any time or can lie dormant in the body for twenty or more years.  So dangerous is this practice that tattooed persons are not allowed or should not give blood as not to transmit the virus to others.

The Bay Bridge Series:  The Giants won two out of three from the Athletes.  Friday night the Giants received nine walks that led to the victory. Vogelsong was masterful  for the Giants on Saturday and the A's literally knocked  Lincecum out to win the final game of the series.  The bad news is that during this same period the Dodgers with a number of starters on the DL still were able to sweep the Cardinals.  The Dodgers again got a break from the ridiculous major league schedule.  They played last year's World Champion while the rest of the west had to play powerhouse teams from the American League such as the Angels, Royals and Mariners.  The Dodgers are currently seven games in front and look almost impossible to catch.  Melky Cabrera had eight hits in the A's series to raise his batting average to .353.  Blanco hit the lone home run for the Giants during their seven game home stand bringing the team's total for the season to 25.

The Golden Gate Bridge: It might have been the Bay Bridge series but the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge was recognized by the Giants.  The anniversary emblem was painted on the grass behind home plate and the team wore the same logo on their orange jerseys Friday night.  I have a very feint recollection of watching the 1937 opening parade from the a rock pile at the corner of Lombard and Van Ness.  When I got older I remember reading that the bridge would be free once it was paid for. And we believed it!  It was never free and the cost of crossing the bridge keeps escalating.    I always tell visitors to San Francisco that the one thing they should do is walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.  To me that is the most refreshing and glorious walk in the world.

Homer Sweeney
Art Work:  Emily Knous