Author: lleonardbw

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Bears need this win over the Sun Devils before getting to the Wild Wild Cats

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by Morris Phillips & Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The offensive shortcomings have come up for the Cal Bears (11-7) as they scored 59 points against Stanford last Wednesday Jan 14th at Haas Pavilion. In a game that was one of their better efforts it was their most recent loss, they had a seven game win streak but they followed it with six loses in seven games and now their season is at a crossroads after all that losing.

Arizona State (9-9) and Arizona (16-2) are here Thursday and Saturday respectively and if the Bears don’t get it together this weekend then you can kiss the post season for the Bears goodbye. Luckily for Cal they can create some confidence by taking on Arizona State on Thursday night and before they proceed deeper into the conference.

A lot rides on this game with Arizona State with the exception of their coach Herb Sendek whose a long time familiar face in the Pac 12 so it’s a great opportunity and the Bears don’t want to let this game get by on Thursday night. Because a loss would signal some very ominous days with Arizona coming on Saturday.

The benefit of having eight days off since playing their last game is that they didn’t lose a game and it gives them sometime to regain their confidence and with eight days off means the Bears haven’t lost a game in those eight days. It gives them time to get into the gym and work on their offensive sets and trying to get Jabari Bird reintegrated into their offense.

The Bears are desperate for Bird’s contribution especially if it’s shooting the ball beyond the arc for Cal if your not doing well time off is good. Obviously if the team is rolling you just want to keep playing right through for Cal this is a good thing. The offensive dependency of Tyrone Wallace and Jordan Matthews weigh heavily on Cal’s success to win games. Wallace is a point guard and head coach Cuonzo Martin is not worrying about how much he shoots.

Occasionally Wallace is able to find his guys that are left open with his penetration, Matthews draws more than one defender and Bird principally with David Kravish as well. Martin is trying to get Wallace to fall into the mind set of helping his teammates facilitating in setting guys up. At 19 points a game the challenge is to score and facilitate.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca cover Cal Bears basketball and doi commentary each week for http://www.sportrsradioservice.com

Pro Bowl commentary & podcast: Let’s face it everyone wants to see the Super Bowl players in the Pro Bowl

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by Daniel Dullum

GLENDALE AZ–Not having the Super Bowl players in this week’s Pro Bowl takes a way from the game even in years past when it was the AFC vs. NFC after the completion of the Super Bowl it was a nice reward for those who were in the Super Bowl it was like a little bonus the players got to go to Hawaii and play one more game and didn’t have to exert themselves too much.

It’s understandable that the NFL was looking to build that one week game but not having the Super Bowl players from either New England or Seattle it robs them of their proper recognition of being All-Stars. For that reason it gives other players a chance to step up but at the same time it takes away a little bit and the way they put the teams together where they have a couple of Hall of Famers due like a mock draft of sorts to chose up sides.

Maybe by having that kind of a format in the Pro Bowl that kind of camouflages not having the Super Bowl players. To be honest the Super Bowl is a bigger deal and that’s the one that you should be focused on having starters and it robs the Super Bowl players of proper recognition. The two different conference championships between the AFC and NFC and we’re hard pressed as someone was saying the other day if anyone would remember a collapse like the Green Bay Packers had last Sunday in the NFC Championship game in the last five minutes against the Seattle Seahawks.

Nobody could really recall such a collapse, I do remember years ago when the Tennessee Oilers had that huge lead against Buffalo and it evaporated through the first half that lead up to the Music City Miracle. That collapsed took the course over two quarters and the Green Bay collapse took place over the course over five minutes. We’ve seen teams lose late in the past, maybe the Packers ran out of gas as for the Patriots they look like old business as usual.

The Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was sharp the Patriots were at their best playing mind games with the Colts as the NFL is investigating allegations that the Patriots took a little bit of air out of the footballs for the Packers the visiting team. There is always a mind game of some sort with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. When we get around to the Super Bowl it’s going to be a great match up I would say the edge would go to the Pats.

The number of players who are either declining to attend or play in this year’s Pro Bowl resonates loudly to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that they want this game to be played in Hawaii from now and not in places like Arizona. For obvious reasons Goodell and the NFL owners they’re waiting for Honolulu to upgrade a little bit with a new stadium there. Goodell and the owners want more luxury boxes at Aloha Stadium for the big shots, the fact is they had the easiest time getting players to show up for the Pro Bowl by moving it to Honolulu since the merger in 1980.

Daniel Dullum is covering the 2015 Pro Bowl all week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury to appear at Ricky’s Theatre and Grill this Saturday in San Leandro

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Dear Fans and media your invited to attend Ricky’s Grill and Theatre Grill in San Leandro for the Lefty O’Doul Chapter and Sacramento Chapter joint meeting this Saturday January 24, 2015 at 11:00 AM. I’ll be your speaker that morning with Comcast TV analyst Shooty Babitt, the cost is $35 and the proceeds will benefit the retired members of the Cuban baseball Community. Join us for fun, humor, laughs, and of course my favorite Ricky’s famous Chicken Cesar salad can’t wait for that one especially as Ricky will be making up some great food. Here’s the full details below:

Lefty O’Doul Chapter and Sacramento Chapter joint meeting

WHEN: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015.

WHERE: Ricky’s Sports Theatre and Grill, 15028 Hesperian Blvd, San Leandro, CA 94578
COST: $35 (includes lunch); choice of: 1) Ricky’s flame broiled cheeseburger and fries; 2) Flame broiled chicken breast sandwich and fries; 3) Buffalo wings; 4) Chicken Caesar salad; 5) Tri-tip sandwich and fries-BBQ or French Dip.
RSVP by January 19 with your lunch selection to mvogelsang@sbcglobal.net; make check payable to Pete McPhail and mail to PO Box 7653, Fremont, CA 94537.

CONTACT: Marlene Vogelsang, mvogelsang@sbcglobal.net

PROGRAM DETAILS: Our guest speakers include Ricky Ricardo, owner of the legendary Ricky’s; Amaury Pi-González, SABR member, Spanish language broadcaster and VP of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum; and Shooty Babitt, ballplayer, scout and TV analyst. This will also be a members research reporting meeting, so please start thinking about your participation. We will hold our traditional book raffle as well as offer a very special “Cigar Fund” Silent Auction, featuring items of beisbol de Cuba, with proceeds to benefit “retired” members of the Cuban baseball community.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for Oakland A’s baseball and is the vice president of the MLB Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News, Commentary& Podcast: Great stage set up for Super Bowl XLIX; also more baseball signings

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

The NFC game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers was a super game for the upcoming Super Bowl and the Packers took the lead early and it looked like they were going to run all over the Seahawks but the Seahawks are reigning champions and they came back in a terrific game in overtime and they won it 28-22.

On the other side the AFC game was very boring it was a showcase for Bay Area native Tom Brady quarterback of the New England Patriots whose hero was former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana. Brady will be going onto his sixth Super Bowl and that’s a record and it’s going to be a great, great, Super Bowl and this one is going to be one of the best with Russell Wilson quarterbacking for the Seahawks who has a terrific defense.

The Patriots with Brady handled the Indianapolis Colts with that impressive 45-7 win on Sunday, the Colts have a young team with quarterback Andrew Luck and it seemed just like yesterday when Luck was throwing for the Stanford Cardinal. You can’t blame big crowds and being in enemy territory the Colts have a lot to learn. They’re still a young team and they still have a young quarterback.

Luck just was riding into a hot team the Patriots and with Brady who is entering his eighth post season and going into his sixth Super Bowl and is one of the best ever. Brady is the ultimate leader and in the NFL it would be hard to find a player that typifies the word leader. Brady is one of those guys. The Colts will be back, they have a good head coach, great young players, a fantastic organization but they just ran into a team that was is used to getting into post season and are experienced. Your facing a quarterback (Brady) that’s a future hall of famer and thats what the Colts ran into.

The Super Bowl has transcends sports if it wasn’t on a Sunday it would be declared an American Holiday because on Super Bowl Sunday everything stops they’re expecting the highest TV ratings ever for this Super Bowl as everybody gets together and watches the game on TV and this game is in a neutral city Phoenix. A TV spot for a Super Bowl commercial runs $3 million and this represents a terrific sport which the whole country is fascinated with.

It’s not only the Super Bowl itself that six days before the game will turn Phoenix into a party town and you can see Phoenix by the way will be the spring training home of half of Major League Baseball just next month. Your talking about 15 MLB teams there and then you have the Super Bowl in Phoenix it’s going to be a terrific it’s going to be a boon for the town.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez talks more Super Bowl on his podcast below click on to listen as Amaury has more baseball signings updates on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NCAA basketball Commentary & Podcast: Not your older brother’s UConn coming to the Farm tonight

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by Matt Harrington

PALO ALTO–When UConn (9-6) comes to town fans, media, faculty, front office, and scouts of every kind come running and Maples Pavilion will be no different on Saturday night as the Huskies are one of the marquee schools in NCAA basketball. It’s a school that is a powerhouse in terms of producing powerhouse players. Anytime you have UConn and Stanford (12-4) on the marquee it gets people excited just like UConn’s women’s head coach Geno Auriemma when they play against Stanford.

It’s rivalry in women’s basketball which can now carry over on the men’s side, it’s going to be interesting, UConn gets by on the cache’ of their name. This season where fans and media respond by saying “here is this great team, a former international champion within the last five years, this powerhouse of a squad” the Huskies have scuffled a little bit this year they just lost to Tulsa (11-5) in their first year in the American Conference.

So for UConn it’s been a bump down in the conference, a bump down in quality, and in terms of the quality of players that they put on the court it’s another bump down. UConn still are not the sisters of the poor, they’re not a intimidating team this year, their not the UConn of my older brother’s generation. Their on the downside they rode that ride to prominence, their a middling team right now so it will be interesting to see how they come out.

This is a sort of a reverse of trends for UConn, the Cardinal have to be looking at this game thinking “this is a chance for us to build our resume for the NCAA Tournament. This is also a chance for UConn to get a signature win for their NCAA Tournament resume. The Cardinal had some success with the Cal Bears on Wednesday night and anytime you can beat a rival on the opposition’s court it’s always a night to celebrate.

Stanford was definitely pleased to come away with a victory over the Bears and with a ten point victory because every single Pac 12 win they’ve been getting had been in some close games by one or two points or in overtime. So for Stanford it was nice for them to have a little bit of breathing room towards the end of the game last Wednesday night. As opposed to the game against UCLA and they have gone wire to wire in a lot of these games.

It was a big week for Stanford getting the win over Cal and getting beat in a razor close game against USC (9-8), the Trojans are a younger squad, they are a little less experienced, the Cardinal were coming off a very embarrassing loss when they went into Berkeley on Wednesday. So for USC to come in and battle Stanford the Cardinal really thought they were going for the win but they lost it by just two points last Sunday.

Matt Harrington covers Stanford basketball and is filling in for Michelle Richardson this week for the NCAA Commentary on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cal Bears basketball commentary & podcast: Bird key to assisting on shooting as Cal will start looking for offensive help

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by Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The game between the Cal Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal last Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion was a very interesting game if Cal had come out of either of it’s games in Southern California and played with the intensity and the passion and desire that they played in this game against Stanford they would have at least defeated USC and they might have swept in L.A. against UCLA.

While the outcome of the Stanford game was a ten point “oh well another loss in the L column” the way it got there was a whole different thing and gives them some hope going forward. The Cardinal are a very good team they have two seniors on the floor almost all the time Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown are very, very good players. What was interesting is that the Cardinal’s Stephen Nastic gave the Bears fits in the second half.

Cal had a five point lead and Nastic just gave them fits in the second half for whatever reason, the Golden Bears chose not to double team them Bears head coach Cunozo Martin said after the game that Nastic had such an outside shot who got enough guys outside to block and if you decide to start dumping the post and your leaving somebody open on the perimeter getting burned for twos our liable to get burned for three.

Both teams shot poorly in this game both teams shot under 38 percent in the first half and their shots started falling in the second half and that’s why there was a 15 point differential. It wasn’t that the Golden Bears weren’t giving anything away in fact Cal’s bench had Jabari Bird coming off as Bird was their leading scorer at half time with eight points.

Bird didn’t score in the second half, the Cardinal bench outscored the Bears 19-0 in the first half but only added three more points in the second half. Stanford made some adjustments at halftime and made some defensive adjustments, Cal’s team in general played with a lot more aggression on the floor. Cal’s Sam Singer is a pretty decent defender and a pretty decent reader as a back up point guard but he’s not a scorer with Bird out of the line up.

The burden fell on Bird to try and score and it just wasn’t working and it took him out of his strength area and it highlighted his weak area. With Bird back on the floor it at least allowed then to present the credible outside threat which forces the defense to space it out a little more. Bird was able to do what he does and that’s distribute the ball, get some open looks from David Kravish who was down on the post. Kravish was 5-6 from the floor.

The Bears host the Arizona State Sun Devils this coming Thursday Jan 22 at Haas Pavilion

That’s Amaury’s News, Commentary & Podcast: Giants Aoki won’t have a Panda like bat but he’s needed badly in the outfield

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Giants who just acquired outfielder Nori Aoki from the Kansas City Royals who hit .285, one homer, with 43 RBIs. You would think the Giants would get someone with a little more power this is an indication that the Giants weren’t very active in San Diego during the Winter Meetings in December. The Giants are trying to catch up. They still need another starter, they still need a good hitting outfielder, Aoki is good defensively, he’s a contact hitter, but you already have a lead off hitter in Angel Pagan.

Pagan is the Giants centerfielder, Aoki plays leftfield, Hunter Pence is a rightfielder, guys like Gregor Blanco or Juan Perez those are guys that aren’t going to play everyday. The Giants have a problem in the outfield so they got Aoki because he has some experience he’s a decent hitter, he’s not going to win a batting title and they signed him for one year. He’s a decent hitter he’s got very good speed.

Pagan is not healthy, Pagan didn’t play for most of last year, he has a bad back he had surgery, Aoki could be an insurance blanket. It doesn’t hurt for the Giants however they still need some more power in that line up without ex-Giant Pablo Sandoval. The Giants third baseman Casey McGehee could also play some first base he’s not another Panda either he hit .287 with four homers and 76 RBIs last season.

The Giants are trying but they might have lost the plan already because they were not very active at the Winter Meetings in December. Talk about outfielders Aoki is an outfielder but the San Diego Padres are going to be contenders in my opinion in the off season they signed Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, and Justin Upton. Those are three caliber outfielders, three All-Stars.

The Giants looked like they were going to go after Upton and that would have been a great pick up, he would have been a great hitter, Upton can hit the ball for a home run. AT&T Park is not a great home run hitters park as we know. It’s more of a pitcher’s park but you still need that outfield with a lot of power. In a perfect world Pagan would be a leadoff hitter and then you have Hunter Pence and Buster Posey.

But you still need a power hitter in that line up, the Giants are still short of a power hitter and another starting pitcher but Aoki is not going to hurt the Giants. He’s a decent player, he’s not a superstar and they needed someone else in the outfield and remember Pagan was going to be so healthy that he was going to be the Pagan of three years ago.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s, the TV Spanish voice for the Angels and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sac Kings commentary & podcast: Injuries plaguing Kings, Gay is day to day, Sessions out, and Casspi coming back

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by Charlie O Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Kings head coach Tyrone Corbin really has his work cut out for him this week as Rudy Gay went down against the Dallas Mavericks the other night and it was a knee injury and the Kings haven’t been very forthcoming of what the injury is exactly and that’s not surprising and they didn’t do an MRI and they didn’t do anything that would require surgery.

Their listing Gay as day to day but in a update on Thursday night officially from the team Gay has been downgraded as doubtful for Friday night’s game versus the Miami Heat. In the NBA listings of injuries when your doubtful there is less than a 25 percent chance that your going to play. It doesn’t look good that Gay will be dressed and on the floor for the Kings on Friday against the Heat.

Whether he will be able to bounce back and make it in time and go Saturday night against the Clippers it’s on a day to day situation. Gay did not participate in Thursday’s practice so that’s a precursor that Gay will probably not play on Friday. The good news for the Kings is that Omri Casspi did practice on Thursday and he is at this point questionable which means there is a 75 percent chance that he is going to play.

He comes in as the sixth man off the bench and gives the Kings some help up front adjusting down a little bit especially if Gay is going to be on the bench Casspi’s involvement becomes really critical that could be helpful to them. The King just can’t get healthy is Ramon Sessions who continues to have problems with his back. There has been no statement of when he’s going to be back and get ready.

To be frank with you at this point in time Sessions probably played himself out of a spot to really be in the rotation and there’s always that theory that you can’t play yourself out of the lineup until there’s an injury. We’ve seen over and over again in recent history in all sports that’s no longer true. Sessions has been out due to the back injury Ray McCallum whose in his second year for the Kings has been playing really good basketball.

Sessions at this point is becoming expendable if they can get him healthy Sessions stay as a King is going to be very, very short. Eric Moreland who is the free agent rookie who they added to the team was out for the rest of the season to have that torn labrum repaired. We won’t see Moreland but we will continue to update his situation because he’s on the roster and will be so for sometime.

Charlie O does commentary & podcasts on the Kings each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Golden State Warriors commentary & podcast: A quick look back at the Warriors last season comparing to this season

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Warriors are sitting here in mid January at 31-5 they have the best record in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks have as many wins but they have a few more loses than the Warriors. Golden State just keeps rolling and nothing seems to faze this team it doesn’t matter what adversity they face what injuries they have. They seemed to be able to play right through them. Except that little blip on the radar in Los Angeles against the Clippers and the Lakers around Christmas time.

The Warriors really don’t have any issues on the court, there have been a couple of close games but those are even hard to come by. The Warriors have won eight straight games won by double digits. This is a team that’s not only winning every night but their winning fairly easily, their not facing a lot of close end of game situations. That’s something they struggled with last season.

The Warriors largely came back this season with the same personnel they won 51 games which is a very good season and the made it to the playoffs. One of the problems they have was late in the game when they had a decent lead they let up and when they let up the other team would get another breath of fresh air. The opponents would get a second wind and they would start coming back and the Warriors would have to start fighting them off and hang onto that victory.

Sometimes last season they would get a win and sometimes they didn’t, the big problem was they were letting the other teams back into the game. That poses all sorts of problems, number one it risks the results of the game from getting that win. On several occasions games that seemed pretty well in hand in the third quarter last season ended up going the opposite way and the Warriors ended up losing.

If the Warriors win those games they would have to end up bringing in the starter to close out the game to seal the victory because the second stringers weren’t able to hold and finish. That just wore the team out last year of over the course of the season. When you think about Steph Curry’s ankle and every single body part on Andrew Bogut and just the general wear and tear that goes with the full season.

If you can rest a guy for the last five or six minutes of several games over the course of the season that really adds up and what happens was the Warriors in the playoffs Bogut went down late in the season and didn’t play against the Clippers. Everybody was just generally worn out, when your doing these double digit victories early in the season it bodes well for later in the season because you can cut down on the minutes of the starters and you can get them some rest.

David Zizmor does weekly commentary on the Golden State Warriors for http://www.sportradioservice.com