Month: February 2014

Warriors arena at piers 30-32: Condos and hotel were the Warriors meal ticket to pay for new arena now on hold

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–The Golden State Warriors had big dreams in getting a new arena completed with the biggest Bay window that showed the Mayor Willie L Brown Bay Bridge in the background with the bay view and a look even at the lights in the background of the Warriors former East Bay home Oakland. The Warriors had planned to have a 17 story luxury condo and a ten story hotel tower built across from piers 30-32 that would finance their new arena.

The arena itself on the original drawing board was set to be a buidling that would be 12 stories high, but after ballots that were signed by some 400 potential San Francisco voters who gave the thumbs down on the height of the building the Warriors withdrew from the plan and now are forced to come up with a smaller, scaled down version of a new arena design.

The Warriors who originally were going to open the arena in 2017 have pushed back their plans to open the new arena in 2018. The Warriors came to the realization of these anti height ballots in early February and Warriors spokesman Nathan Ballard said that the team would go back and review the height limits that residents opposed that would block waterfront views.

The costs alone to repair the eroding piers for a arena foundation on the water would run $180 million double the orignal estimate, this price tag alone has the Warriors regrouping their plans. The Warriors intentions were to get income from the hotel and condos that they would own from across the arena which would help pay for the costs of the arena or any loans for the arena build.

The other arugument by city residents and voters who partcipated in the ballots against the heights of the arena was how could the average working family or indvidual for that matter afford to buy a ticket in the new arena. The lowest priced ticket at the Warriors new arena at piers 30-32 would run $200-$300 per game. Residents claim that the arena would a playground for the rich at lavish prices and most fans who go to the Warriors today would be outpriced to even buy a game ticket.

Residents including former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos said that the height limit is the forefront problem of the pier 30-32 project for the Warriors. The Warriors plan called for a 125 foot high arena where it would pass the waterfront height limit of 40 feet. In last November’s election voters rejected high rise condo and hotel construction near the peirs called the 8 Washington condos or propositions B and C, the project was rejected by a wide margin.

The Warriors after some 400 ballots mostly rejecting the arena size were sent to San Francisco City Hall in early February realized that their project was in for another set back and with Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber in discussions the Warriors are trying to figure out how they will go forward with the next step on how they will get a new arena built at the piers.

The location for a new arena at the piers may not be happen for the Warriors, the San Francisco Giants at one time had entertained the idea for the Warriors to build a new arena near AT&T Park. It might be another idea for a new arena location if the Warriors were interested in sharing the location with the Giants.

The Giants have also proposed buidling retail, hotels and condos at the AT&T parking lot locations near the park. However the residents on the waterfront and Embarcadero may oppose any over sized towers in that location as well. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said at one time that the new Warriors arena would be a “legacy” to his administration but after last November’s election rejection to waterfront developments and the 49ers leaving San Francisco Lee can not afford to aggravate voters by pushing for the new arena project without hurting himself politically.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings arena developments for Sportstalk radio

Larry Leavitt on Pro Hockey: USA-Russian match could go down as best hockey match in the Olympics

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by Larry Leavitt

SAN JOSE–When you look at Friday’s win by the men’s U.S. Hockey team in a 3-2 shootout over Russia and compare it to the 1980 win by the U.S. over the Soviets there was a lot more hype for the 1980 team because clearly they were an underdog, this year they weren’t an underdog, these were two really good teams. Watching the game these two teams challenged each other and the first team to make a lot of mistakes would have problems.

They both as it turned out played very evenly, Russia seemed to have a lot more zone time, the bigger ice was an advantage it really allowed the players to showcase their skating skills and the puck handling skills. It was a very exciting game and very fun for the fans to watch. What was disappointing is the shootout had to pick the winner. You wanted to see them work for the win by skating not in a shootout.

The penalites did make a big difference in the game, the USA penalty kill truly laid it out on the line blocking shots right and left, hoepfully that won’t impact the games going on in the future, you don’t want to see anybody get hurt in the Olympics. It shows that their in it all the way, the two teams played were so evenly matched that you wanted it to keep going on.

The interesting thing about the shootout after the first three skaters shot is that they used the same skaters over and over again. This is Olympic hockey and not NHL season play and wow it was intresting hockey. It worked out for the USA and it might not be a good thing for Olympic competiton. It only shows the Russian goalie had only few moves to try and block the shots for a shootout.

Before the shootout started the commentary by the television analysts was that T.J.Oshie was used heavily in overtime shootouts because of his shootout skills. He has a very good record of going in the shootout and he was amazing in the shootout, he did a great job, he did miss a few, it shows the talent of the individual player that his skill level to find the back of the net on a five hole shot and a crossbar goal was a perfect display for the Sochi Olympics.

This shows the invidual talent of this team sport, it’s a little disheartening to me that the game went to a shootout when it’s a team sport. However that’s the way the rules in the Olympics are now. It was fun to watch that match and it could have been a different game if Oshie hesitated a second longer but he had the goaltender beaten. It was a very exciting game and the USA team is proud to have it end the way it did with a one goal shootout win.

When it come to the Russians Pavel Datsyuk there can’t be anybody who can argue that he’s not the best hockey player all around in the world. He show cased his talents and they say he has some injuries and if that’s Datsyuk playing at that level with those injuries the Russian team is proud to have someone who can withstand the pain and play Olympic hockey at that high level.

Larry Leavitt does Pro Hockey commentary for Sportstalk radio each week

Cal tops Washington, earns critical road sweep

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By Morris Phillips

This time Cal’s sluggish start didn’t result in an undesirable outcome.

The Bears stormed back from a 13-point, first half deficit and shocked Washington, winning 72-59 in Seattle behind Tyrone Wallace’s 20 points.

Cal rebounded from a poor stretch of four losses in five games by sweeping the Washington schools on the road despite the challenging weather and travel issues transpiring in the Northwest.   Had the Bears lost either contest to teams in the bottom half the standings, their NCAA aspirations would have taken a severe hit. Now with four of their final six games in Haas Pavilion, the Bears could follow a reasonable and logical path to a berth in the field of 68.

The critical minutes before halftime were the pathway to an eighth conference win for Cal just as they were on Wednesday at Washington St.  The Bears closed on a 14-2 run Wednesday and followed that up Saturday with a 19-2 burst before halftime that allowed them to catch and past the Huskies.

“Any road game is big–we need wins—and they jumped on us like you said,” Wallace said.  “They were rebounding the ball, pushing us around but we got back aggressive and made it happen at the defensive end.”

“We got some loose balls, we created some turnovers and got out on some breaks and that made a huge difference for us,” Coach Mike Montgomery said.

Washington did their part to fuel the closing run by coughing up 10 turnovers in the first half.  The Bears converted those into 14 points and didn’t look back.  In the second half, the Huskies did a better job holding onto the ball, but missed all 10 of their 3-point attempts.  For the game, UW missed 17 of 21 from distance blunting any chance for a comeback or a spark to ignite their home crowd.

Once Cal got going, Justin Cobbs began to stuff his stat sheet as the team’s reliable ringleader.  Cobbs finished with 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds.  Post threats Richard Solomon and David Kravish were often the recipients of Cobbs’ passes as the pair combined for 26 points on 12 of 20 shooting.

Sophomore guard Andrew Andrews led UW with 21 points.  But according to Montgomery, C.J. Wilcox was the guy to stop, and the Bears did, holding the senior to 8 points and 0-6 shooting from distance.

The Bears improved to 4-0 when starting their “veteran” lineup of Cobbs, Kravish, Solomon, Wallace and Ricky Kreklow.  The Missouri transfer looked healthy after missing more than a month and returning for the last three games.  Kreklow played 32 minutes but missed six of his seven shot attempts.

Cal hosts UCLA and USC next week and probably needs to win four of their final six to grab an NCAA spot.  But it’s just as important to avoid bad losses as it is to win so Cal’s meeting with the last-place Trojans will be just as important as their March 1 tangle with Arizona State.

The Sun Devils are currently tied with Cal for third place, and like the Bears, they own an eye-catching victory over No. 2 Arizona.

Reality check for Cuban baseball after elimination in Venezuela

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That’s Amaury News and Commentary

The government controlled system in Cuba has taken it’s toll on baseball in that, the largest island in the Caribbean. Cuba was the first Latin American country to have a player in the United States organized leagues.

Esteban Bellán was the first Cuban and the first Latin American to play major league baseball. Bellán, who after playing in the United States, became one of Cuba’s first great baseball player-managers, learned how to play the game while he was a student at Fordham University from 1863-1868.

During his time at Fordham, Bellán played for the newly created Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club. Founded in the late 1850’s, the Fordham Rose Hill’s played the first ever nine-man team college baseball game in the United States against St. Francis Xavier College on November 3, 1859.

In 1869 Bellán joined the Troy Haymakers for whom he played third base until 1872. In 1871 the Haymakers joined the National Association, which became the National League in 1876. The Haymakers later became the New York Giants, now the San Francisco Giants.

Cuba has been a pioneer in baseball in Latin America, since the 1800’s. In Cuba even under bad government dictatorships, baseball always thrived, When the Castro-Communist revolution took over Cuba, and announced in 1961 that they were banning all professional sports in the island, baseball was among those, and now over a half century later, it is obvious that Cuba is suffering.

After the Cuban team was eliminated recently in the Caribbean World Series, in Margarita Island, Venezuela, (tournament was won by México, for the second year in a row), a lot of baseball experts have noticed that Cuban baseball is not at par with the other countries in the region.

A lot has to do with poor equipment, practice and regular baseball diamonds. In today’s regular Cuban league, when a foul ball goes into the stands, the fans have to throw the ball back. That by itself, should give you an idea of the situation. This is even during their national championship games.

Many players have defected and continue to do so, here in the Bay Area talented Athletics slugger Yoenis Céspedes was one of them. Maybe the most talented player, pound-for-pound on the A’s, he was lucky, he got to finally bring his family to the United States.

It is not easy for a Cuban player who defects, especially if he does it by himself, and leaves his family behind in Cuba, the government will make his family life “very uncomfortable”, in a country where their own citizens do not have the freedom to travel in and out of the island, unless they have special authorization from the government.

Musicians, athletes and public figures usually get that authorization. In the case of Cuban baseball players, they usually travel all-together as a team, with coaches and government representatives, that make sure they are all accounted for at the hotel where they stay, before and after a game, still many find a way to leave their teams when they are outside of Cuba and ask for political exile.

Others, just take the huge risk of escaping Cuba in homemade rafts and head north, searching for freedom. But it is not only athletes. Amnesty International, still list Cuba as one of the world biggest human rights violators.

On March 17, 2013,seven members of the Cuban National Ballet defected to the U.S. and Mexico while on tour with their dance company.

The dancers traveled to Mexico on March 17 during the beginning of the company’s international tour. It was there that they apparently decided to flee, and six out of the seven members went on to cross the U.S.-Mexico border near Texas, and since then they were granted for political asylum. Such is life in the island once called “The Pearl of the Antilles”.

Like Walter Cronkite used to say: “and that’s the way it is”.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s baseball and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk

Stanford Shuts Down Sun Devils

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By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal (23-2,12-1) returned to Maples Pavilion on Friday night, just five days after their disappointing loss in Seattle, to Washington on Sunday.  The Cardinal made up for it with a dominating performance over the Arizona State Sun Devils (20-5,9-4) with a 61-34 victory.

The Cardinal held the Sun Devils to one of the lowest scoring totals in Pac-12 history, with Arizona escaping that mark by one point.  The Cardinal’s impressive defense started early, as they held Arizona State to without a field goal until eight minutes into the first half.  This gave Stanford 14-3 lead, following a field goal and a free throw. “They had great defensive energy early, we never got into the flow of the game” said ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne.

The dominance continued as Stanford went into halftime leading the Sun Devils 32-12.  This is the 2nd time in Pac-12 history that Stanford has held an opponent to the least amount of points scored in a first half.  Arizona State shot 17% from the field in the first half, and it didn’t get much better from the charity strike, as they went two of seven from the line.

The second half wasn’t much better for the Sun Devils, as they continued to struggle shooting 30% from the field for a total game percentage of 24%.  The Sun Devils also finished the game shooting 8% from beyond the arc, as they only hit one shot in the 12 shots attempted.  It was an overall great defensive performance for the Cardinal, especially coming off of only their second loss of the season.  “We haven’t been this excited to play defense in a long time, and I’m excited that we are again” said star Chiney Ogwumike.

The Stanford defense kept the Sun Devil players from getting into double digits, as both Promise Amukamara and Sophie Brunner led Arizona State in scoring with nine points.  The leading scorer for the Sun Devils in the first meeting between these two top 15 opponents, Quinn Dornstauder, was held to only six points.

The offense was no slouch either for the Cardinal, as they had an impressive game on that side of the ball as well.  Stanford finished the game shooting 54% from the field.  Ogwumike led all scorers with 20 points in only 27 minutes of playing time, as she sat on the bench for the final 13 minutes of the game.  The player of the year candidate also finished with 13 rebounds, all of which came in the first half.  Amber Orrange had another amazing performance, as she finished the game with 14 points, five steals, three rebounds and three assists. “Amber took it upon herself to be the engine of the train” praised head coach, Tara VanDerveer, on Orrange’s performance.

The minutes were passed around equally for one of the first times this season, as 14 different players got into the game.  Out of those 14 players that saw time, ten of them got onto the scoring sheet.

With Friday’s game being one of the best performances of the season, there was still some criticism that came out of it.  One of which was the fact that Stanford had 17 turnovers.  “We have to play better, we have to take care of the ball better” commented VanDerveer.  Another problem that has been reoccurring all season is that Stanford has been giving up way too many offensive rebounds.  That trend would continue on Friday, as Arizona State had 12 offensive boards.   Of the 12 offensive rebounds, Arizona State was able to have eight second-chance points off of them.

Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, Arizona State more so than Stanford.  The Sun Devils shots one of 12 from three.   Stanford finished scoreless, but only had four attempts.  The three-pointer was not in the game plan mentioned VanDerveer after the game.

Stanford bounced back great, as they up their record to 23-2, 12-1.  Thus almost clinching the Pac-12 regular season title.  As long as they don’t fall off of the wagon, they will get the title.  Stanford looks to make it once step closer towards the regular season title, as they host the Wildcats of Arizona.

Cal survives overtime battle with Washington State

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By Morris Phillips

Desperately needing a win, and willing to go just about anywhere to get it, the California Golden Bears found themselves in remote Pullman, Washington on Wednesday night fighting tooth and nail with a stubborn bunch of Cougars.

And in such a contentious battle, it wasn’t a surprise that the Bears turned to Justin Cobbs to pull it out.

Cobbs scored all 22 of his point after halftime, including seven in overtime to propel the Bears past Washington State, 80-76.  The narrow win allowed Cal to stay in a three-way tie for third place in the Pac-12, and averted a damaging loss to the conference’s 11th place team with only two Pac-12 victories to date.

With Cal looking to step above a number of similarly-situated teams regionally and nationally in regards to making the NCAA tournament, a win against WSU was a necessity.  But the Cougars DaVonte Lacy single handedly kept the possibility of a major upset alive with a career-best 39 points, 26 of those after halftime.

Both teams landed blows in the first half that saw WSU led by nine, then trail by nine after Cal finished the first 20 minutes on a 14-2 run to seemingly take control.

But with Lacy bombing away from outside—he would finish with eight made 3-pointers—and forward D.J. Shelton working the interior, WSU clawed their way back in, drawing even at 56 with nine minutes remaining.  Shelton would finish with 18 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.

The Bears came in losers of four of their previous five games and looking for answers—especially at the offensive end where the Bears couldn’t shoot straight in losing to Stanford a week ago.  But Cobbs fell back to his familiar role as closer, getting into the lane for point blank looks or getting to the foul line where the senior guard converted nine of 11 attempts.

The Bears got a big lift from David Kravish and Richard Solomon who combined for 29 points on 12 of 19 shooting.  Ricky Kreklow returned to the starting lineup, playing 23 minutes and contributing 8 points and 3 rebounds.

Washington State lost a third straight and dropped both meetings with Cal for the first time since 2010.

Cal next faces Washington after another day of rigorous winter travel to Seattle.  The Bears and Huskies face off Saturday at noon in Alaska Airlines Arena.

Warriors can’t overcome LeBron’s greatness, lose nail biter 111-110

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By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (31-22) lost a heartbreaker to the Miami Heat (37-14), 111-110, Wednesday night, at Oracle Arena. The Warriors looked horrible early before storming back and making a game of it. It eventually became the LeBron James and Stephen Curry show, in an epic duel of greatness. After beating Miami on their home turf last time these squads faced off, tonight the Heat exacted some revenge. James hit a last second three-pointer to stun the Golden State faithful, icing the victory for Miami.

For much of the early going the Warriors offense looked hopeless. They came out of the gate cold, and for a time it looked like they might lose a blowout. However, they rose to the occasion, and pushed back against the defending champions.

Golden State trailed by as many as 21-points, a few minutes into the third quarter. Thanks in large part to Curry and some impressive paly from Harrison Barnes on the bench, the Warriors began mounting a comeback. They went on a 20-2 run, and crawled all the way back to take the lead on a Curry three seconds into the fourth.

The momentum swung back in the Heat’s favor, who re-took the lead and held it for much of the quarter. With 47 seconds left, Curry nailed a 15-foot jumper to tie it up. Then he struck again, making an impressive lay-up in traffic with just 14 seconds remaining, which turned into a three-point play, giving the Warriors the 110-108 lead.

In their final possession Miami predictably went to James, who had been on fire all game. Andre Iguodala stuck with him, but the King couldn’t be stopped. He nailed a deep, fade-away trey with just 0.2 seconds left, lifting the Heat to victory.

Curry was the obvious standout for the Dubs. He scored a team-high 29 points on just 14 shots, to go along with seven assists and five rebounds. David Lee contributed a double-double, posting 21 points and 11 boards. Barnes was big off the bench, compiling 14 points and five rebounds. Draymond Green started in the place of Andrew Bogut once again, and filled up the stat sheet. He added eight points, eight boards, two steals, and three blocks.

For the Heat, the unstoppable James finished one assist shy of a triple-double. He finished with a game-high 36 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists. Chris Bosh had 19 points and five boards. Michael Beasley and Norris Cole had good games off the bench, contributing 16 and 10 points respectively.

Despite the loss, the Warriors did well to come-back from such a large deficit against one of the league’s best teams. It wasn’t the positive note they were hoping for heading into the All Star break, but there were positives to be found. They’re back in action on Wednesday, February 19, when they’ll be traveling to Sacramento to take on the Kings.

Huskies upend Stanford in final minute

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(category Stanford Cardinal)

By Daniel Dullum

Sports Radio Service

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Despite recent successes, Stanford’s road woes in Pac-12 men’s basketball continued Wednesday night at Hec Ed Arena in Seattle, where Washington came up with a big second half to stop the Cardinal 64-60.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Huskies (14-11 overall, 6-6 Pac-12) and was Washington’s first win since Jan. 25. C.J. Wilcox led Washington with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, followed by Nigel Williams-Gross with 17 points, five boards and five assists.

With the score 62-60, Wilcox sank a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining to provide the Huskies’ final margin of victory. Moments earlier, Washington’s Desmond Simmons drew a charging foul on Stanford’s Chasson Randle on a possession that could have tied the game.

Simmons led Washington with seven rebounds in addition to making the top defensive play of the game. Reserve Mike Anderson provided 13 points off the Huskie bench.

Dwight Powell led Stanford (15-8, 6-5) with 18 points and nine rebounds, followed by Randle with 17 points – 13 of them in the first half – five rebounds and three assists. The Cardinal led 34-27 at halftime, but were plagued by 3 of 16 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

A five-point spurt by Josh Huestis put the Cardinal up 46-41 midway through the second half, but Washington responded with an 11-6 run to tie the game at 52-52 on a floater by Williams-Goss.

After the lead see-sawed, Washington surged ahead to stay when Simmons drained a perimeter jumper with 2:22 to play. Wilcox sank a pair of free throws with 54 seconds remaining, giving the Huskies a 62-59 lead, and Randle hit 1 of 2 foul shots with 49 seconds to play for Stanford’s final scoring of the night.

Stanford completes its swing through the Northwest with a Saturday game at Washington State. Game time is 4 p.m.

Daniel Dullum covers MLB, the NHL and the Pac-12 for SportsRadio

(TAGS: Stanford,Washington,Pac-12,basketball)

Kings shock Knicks in OT, 106-101

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By George Devine, Sr.

The Kings were without a win on their current road trip, and seemed destined for one more loss before coming home to Sacramento. When DeMarcus Cousins limped off the court late in the game, there was little hope against the Knicks in their home court at Madison Square Garden. But a Sacramento rally in the fourth quarter brought the game to a tie and a surge in the extra period had the visitors winning, 106-101.

Rudy Gay was back in form, after being out a couple of games with the flu and playing below his typical 20-point level in the next two. He came in right at that number, but more to the point contributed a pair of key steals, 2 field goals from beyond the 3-point line (out of 6 attempts) and 7 rebounds, 4 of them on defense. He tied the score at the end of regulation — helping his team overcome a 13-point disadvantage — and his go-ahead trey in OT put the Kings ahead for good.

Cousins scored 19 points before departing the game, after playing 32:49. He had 14 rebounds, all but three of them defensive. Isaiah Thomas had 20 points and 7 assists. But the star of the evening, besides Gay, was Jimmie Fredette, who had his best night yet in the NBA with 24 points, and 2 crucial steals.

For New York, Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points and Tyson Chandler added 17. Each had 11 boards. Raymond Felton contributed 8 points and a dozen assists. Amare Stoudemire had 20 points and 2 blocks. Anthony missed what could have been a winning basket at the end of regulation, and the Kings’ defense shut him down in the extra period.

In their next game the Kings host the Golden State Warriors at Sleep Train Arena on Wednesday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m. PST.