Author: lleonardbw

Sharks commentary: After rough end of March Sharks improve in first week of April

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by Larry Leavitt

SAN JOSE–The Edmonton game was a pretty close game Tuesday night and it shouldn’t have been and the Oilers are a good team don’t get me wrong but the Sharks all season have played down to their level of their opponents and they had a two goal lead and let Edmonton back in and they didn’t put in a full 60 minute game. They let the Oilers back into it and it was a scary thing but at the end the Sharks held on to win by a goal 5-4.

The game should not have been as hard fought but a win is a win, the Sharks really do have a good team but at this stage they have to put all the puzzle pieces together. The Sharks have a lot of talent. The prepartion for the Sharks was good for this one. The coaches had them prepared at the morning skate for this one and some of the prepartion before each game is amazing.

They just haven’t back down in the last few games they go gack to the board and watch film and watch pass tendency of each player and each goalie. They look at at the last stop on goals or saves and on offense and they look at the goals against on opposing goalies to see if they were high or low and want to check out what the opposing goalies weaknesses are.

They’ll also check the last time the two teams played each other to see how they match up, there is a lot that’s going on in the background before a Sharks game. The problem with the Sharks is getting up for a game where their opponent is not a playoff team. When the came into play Thursday night against the Kings in the Sharks 2-1 win they knew coming in it would be a playoff atmosphere.

You might have to go back when the Sharks played the Philadelphia Flyers the Sharks came out with tenacity with a feirce look in their eyes and they came out hitting. This is a team that you want to come out and watch the Sharks came out physical, they play the body, they play the forecheck, and work hard in the corners and earn the puck and make things happen.

It’s just not a matter of showing up and start skating and see how it goes, they execute a lot of plays and watch and see what a lot of teams like to do. They really get an idea what the coaches want them to do and in the game against the L.A. Kings my first take on that game on Thursday night Kings head coach Darryl Sutter he really ordered a great move at the beginning of the game.

The Kings had played the night before it was a back to back game for the Kings and Sutter put in his back up goalie Martin Jones a native from Vancouver. If the Kings would have won that game they would have a lot of confidence going into the playoffs and they probably might face the Sharks.

Larry Leavitt does weekly commentary on San Jose Sharks hockey each week for Sportstalk radio

Warriors commentary: It’s a tale of two different meetings with the Spurs and the Kings

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by David Zizmor’

OAKLAND–For the Warriors this past week they played in San Antonio the hottest team in the league and then turned around and played the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the Coliseum Arena and held the Kings to 69 points. The Spurs have won 19 in a row and when the Warriors lost to the Spurs they weren’t playing with Andre Iguodala, Andrew Bogut, or David Lee all of whom were out with injuries.

Then you add in the fact that the Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA and the Warriors playing in the Alamodome is the hardest place to play in the NBA where they lost on 111-90 on Wednesday night. The Warriors haven’t won a regular season game there since 1996. It’s just a rough spot and the Warriors were going to have a rough time of it.

For the game against Sacramento it was back home for Golden State and they got their big man back on Friday night as Iguodala was back for that game. It was one of those cases where the Warriors had a really good game and when the Warriors are good their tough to beat. The Kings are already a bad team and when a bad team has a particularly bad game chances are they’re going to get steamrolled and the Warriors beat the Kings by 40 points 102-69.

This game was out of hand by the second quarter and you can even say by the end of the first quarter, the Kings couldn’t hit a shot. Part of it was the Warriors defense, part of it was just bad play by the Kings, also part of it was DeMarcus Cousins was probably the best player with Sacramento and he left the game with about a minute and a half in the game.

With Lee and Bogut out of this game the Kings attacked the middle and the Kings game plan just completely fell by the way side, the Kings were just completely discombobulated and they just didn’t know what to do. The Kings whole offensive game plan disintegrated and the Warriors were able to harrass them enough to keep them from getting any good shots whatsoever.

The Kings simply weren’t prepared and part of that is the Kings are just not a good team and they don’t particularly have good talent and part of it was the Warriors were playing very good defense the combination of the two put the Warriors ahead by about 15 in the first quarter and by 30 by the end of the second and by the middle of the third quarter they were playing the back up guys.

It gave some rest for the Warriors starters and Stephen Curry didn’t play that much, he got his 13 points and exited to have an nice easy night and it was a good chance for the Warriors to get themselves right and give them a little more confidence going into this final stretch here in the last couple of weeks in April.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Warriors arena at Piers 30-32: SF Mayor Lee damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t on Prop B endorsement

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos and former candidate for San Francisco mayor Quentin Kopp (now a San Mateo County judge) asked for the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors, Former mayors of San Francisco Dianne Fienstein, Frank Jordan, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom and current Mayor Ed Lee to join them in supporting Proposition B the height limitation measure for any development along the 7 1/2 mile waterfront.

Three big hopeful developers were on board the Warriors who want a new arena at Piers 30-32 plus a condo tower and hotel, the Giants who want to develop retail, condos, a hotel, a themed entertainment area and restaurants at the waterfront near lot A in the Giants current parking lot, and Forest City who currently owns property and a condo development that was formerly the Presido Public Health Hospital a veterans hospital on federal land at 15th and Lake Street in the City which is known today as the Presidio Landmark want to develop their other property at Pier 70 for retail and condo space.

Under Prop B development would be restricted to 40-105 feet in height unless voters vote in favor of a speciific project that would wave the height limitation. The city held an election last year on height restrictions Props B and C that were called the 8 Washington Condos and that was killed by the voters. The 8 Washington group wanted to develop at nearby Piers 30-32 new condos and hotels and after that election it’s going to be much harder to go to the voters and ask to lift the height restriction.

Lee is in a tough spot as the Yes on B campaign is working on him to endorse B and it would benefit San Francisco and that according to the Port Commission and the Giants in the long term and that the city would profit by $8.5 billion and $124 million for affordable housing fees. The Prop B measure made the ballot after more than double the required eligible ballots came in to put the measure on the ballot.

Acknowledging the momentum for Prop B and advised that Prop B will win Lee who at one time said the Warriors new arena would be a “legacy” to his administration has now turned around and said that he will not endorse Prop B nor would he campaign against it either because he doesn’t want to offend either side and that if he supported Prop B he would have well over 18,000 voters who got the measure on the ballot pleased that he’s with them on height limits.

If Lee was to stay in the pro delvelopment camp he would have such groups as the Sierra Club, Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods and a lot of voters who want to protect the waterfront who will more than likely come out against Lee in his re-election bid for Mayor. It has been said even from Mayor Lee’s stand point that Prop B will pass in June and that any development at the waterfront will more than likely have to be approved by the voters.

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

Michael Duca on the A’s and Giants: Pagan looks like he’ll have banner year; A’s reliever Johnson does he have enough in the tank?

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–San Francisco Giants outfielder Angel Pagan hit the game winning home run on Thursday night in Arizona in a five run eighth inning and they played a little more baseball after that. The A’s had a walk off home run on Thursday night.

Pagan sparks the Giants line up and he has speed that no one on that roster has. He almost and I’m not saying he has but almost has former Oakland A’s lead off hitter Rickey Henderson’s like characteristics and he’s also approaching former late Giant Bobby Bonds like ability to drive the ball out of the ball park.

He’s an RBI guy on the top of the line up which allows you to treat the bottom of your line up differently and like part of the pack, not something to just get through on the way to the top of the line up. Pagan is also a popular figure in the Giants clubhouse amongst his teammates, media and fans.

Pagan is a well spoken guy and he’s a passionate guy and that passion about baseball comes through when he speaks to the press. In general fans are very passionate and they find it easier to relate to players who get excited about the game.

Former Giants announcer Lon Simmons who is enjoying retirement in Maui playing rounds of golf and not as much as he would like to which makes all the rest of the guys on the green captive that Lon isn’t playing very much. Giant broadcasters Jon Miller, Mike Krukow, and Duane Kuiper all grew up with Lon as I grew up listening to him and Kruk and Kuip grew up having their careers detailed by him.

So if the fans don’t get excited by Lon making an appearance shame on them, they don’t have much sense for their childhood and I know that they dearly, dearly love Lon and are thrilled to see him when he’s able to get to the Bay Area from Hawaii. He doesn’t come as much as we’d like any more and as most people who reach the ripe old age of 90 Lon has to take some pretty serious precautions with himself.

After A’s releiver Jim Johnson lost two saves in the first two A’s games at home against Cleveland it’s easy to say Johnson is not too happy about it. Watching his pitching from gronud level there doesn’t appear to be a lot of velocity and a lot of tremendous life on the pitches.

For Johnson coming out of the bull pen that’s not a good combination and you hope that this is a temporary thing that relievers go through their dead arm phase a little bit later because the possibility certainly exists to have to be considered that the Orioles got his best years because they worked him hard and put him away after that. Johnson had 100 saves in the last two years and a lot of high stress innings on that arm in Baltimore.

Michael Duca does commentary on the A’s and Giants each week for Sportstalk radio

Kings downtown arena: Third Court of Appeals paves way for Kings to breakground at the downtown mall

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–With the last piece of the property puzzle solved by the Third Court of Appeals in Sacramento favoring the ruling that the Macy’s building at the eastern end of the downtown plaza will be sold for $4.35 million via eminent domain, building and property owners U.S. Bank certified owners and CalPERS will be forced to sell which paves the way for the Sacramento Kings to start making plans to build their brand new arena.

The Sacramento City Council will hold a vote detailing the blueprints and plans for the new building and the vote will be held on May 13. Sacramento Assistant City Manager John Dengberg was besides himself by the court decision and was relieved that if the appeals ruling had gone the wrong way it could have held the arena build hostage until the appeals process was solved which could have lasted months.

The higher court upheld the Sacramento Superior Court decision on eminent domain that ruled the certified owners and CalPERS to sell the building and construction for the new arena should start at the beginning of June with the demolition of the Macy’s building. For City officials it’s ka sara sara to some of the toughest parts of the court battles in making a dream come true for the Kings and the City, “it’s a huge deal, we’re very pleased” said Dengberg.

The new arena will be at the eastern part of the mall, the Macy’s building will be torn down and it will be turned into a Kings workout, training and player development center. The 17,000 seat arena will run the team $448 million in private and public funding. The City says that the money will come from the general fund for it’s share to the price tag of $258 million.

The City said they will recoup the money to pay back the fund by city owned parking lot fees and taxes on ticket sales made at all Kings games and all events at the new arena, “a lot has been accomplished in the last year we’re negotiating the final wrap ups” said Dengberg.

The issues that the city council will vote on on May 13th will include asking the Planning and Design Commission to review the layout and blueprints for the new arena and the mall, zoning changes that will allow the Kings to construct digital scoreboards at several of the major freeway exits in the city, the council will also vote on the overall terms of the deal for the financial funding portion on the city’s part hence the $258 million, the project will include the new arena, offices, retail, housing and hotels in the neigboring area just a block or more from the arena.

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

Kings downtown arena: Not so fast, Kings face another road block in eminent domain case

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–George Speir who represents the U.S. Bank certified co-owners of the vacant Macy’s men’s store building located at the eastern end of the downtown plaza are the only group that is holding out to sell the vancant department store. The last piece of the puzzle that will open the path for construction for the Sacramento Kings to build their new arena.

The City took the owners of the Macy’s building to court and won an eminent domain judgement to purchase the building from owners CalPERS and the certified owners for $4.35 million back on March 15th. The certified owners said the building selling price should be at $10 million and that the certified owners own the building would not get their fair share as the certified owners say the building and property is worth more than double than the $4.35 million that the city and the Kings are paying. CalPERS owns the property land portion and have agreed to sell their share.

A ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei that the property maybe sold to the city and the Kings for $4.35 million for the benefit of the city while the building is not doing any good sitting empty and CalPERS and the certified owners would lose any business by selling an empty buidling. CalPERS had no problem with selling their share but the certified owners said they’d be shortchanged in the deal. Speir says that the case will now be brought to the 3rd District Court of Appeals even though the city of Sacramento is in control of the property.

While the appeal is pending that further pushes back the time deadline set by the NBA of fall 2017 to have the arena finished, groundbreaking is scheduled for late spring (May). The NBA said that if the arena is not in place and ready to go by fall of 2017 the team will be forced to leave Sacramento and will be moved to another city.

Speir wrote on court documents that the certified owners rights are being violated and that Cadei’s ruling was a rush to judgement and that the certified owners case needs to be heard out, “the city’s needs are not grounds for taking shortcuts and ignoring the (owners) property rights.”

Assistant City manager John Dangberg said the timeline is a major factor in play now that the certified owners have filed an appeal “failure to achieve possession of the property by April 2014 will put the arena project at significant risk (and development) would come to a halt” said Dangberg.

Further the certified owners say the lawsuit filed by the city for eminent domain only covered the land and property which CalPERS owns and not the building which the certified owners own. The city and the Kings are basically $5 million apart from the $4.35 million purchase price of the vacant building which the certified owners will most likely be asking for. The Kings who have purchased most of the downtown plaza at $36 million or more than 96 percent of the mall property, may have to haggle these last $5 million with the certified owners in the court of appeals.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Lots of rain in forecast for A’s first two games

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by Amauary Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–There’s a lot of enthusiasm going for this first series at the Coliseum against Cleveland it’s like Christmas for these baseball fans and most teams are opening the season on Monday night, although the sesaon was already open since the Dodgers-Diamondbacks in Australia played last week as the Dodgers took two out of three from the Diamondbacks.

Then the Dodgers played the Padres at Petco for another series opener this time in North America on Sunday Night Baseball. The Dodgers lost to the Padres 3-1, so the Dodgers are 2-0 in Sydney and 0-1 in San Diego. The A’s are going to try and start sometime in these next two days against Cleveland with all this rain.

The Angels here in Anaheim will start Jarrod Weaver against Felix Hernandez for the Seattle on Monday at Angels Stadium. Weather forcast for Tuesday and Wednesday they expect lots of rain in the Southland. In Northern California it rained hard Monday and it’s going to hit the Southland on Tuesday on Wednesday.

Sandy Koufax helped some of the young Dodgers pitchers while coaching this spring: Koufax the former Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher was out there giving tips to some of the Dodgers pitchers and you know in baseball it goes from father to son, it’s a gernerational thing and that is the beauty of baseball.

You can see at any given moment Koufax in Glendale Arizona with Clayton Kernshaw telling him how he threw a curve ball in 1964 and why it was Koufax’s bread and butter pitch that made him a success. Koufax was the best lefty of all time and former Brave Warren Spahn was a great left hander but Koufax was a sensational pitcher.

The same thing you could say what is great about seeing everybody at spring training is the Giants had Willie Mays in camp during spring training helping out the younger players in Scottsdale. I saw Rickey Henderson at the A’s camp at Phoenix Muni last week giving tips and Rickey is a great player and a Hall of Famer and that is the beauty of going to Arizona for spring training.

I work in broadcasting and I’m a fan of the game and I love it and I’ve been watching baseball since I was seven and eight years old back in the old Cuban leagues back in the 1950s. That is the beauty of spring training fans can go down to Arizona and Florida and go and watch these guys from the past.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Los Angeles Angels and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

Cal Bears basketball report: Monty gave Cal his best years announces retirement to team

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Cal coach Mike Montgomery apologized for shoving Allen Crabbe during Sunday's win over USC. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Cal coach Mike Montgomery apologized for shoving Allen Crabbe during Sunday’s win over USC.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images

by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–Cal Bears head coach Mike Montgomery announced his retirement to the team on Monday after talking with Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour. Barbour was insistent that he reconsider and stay given what’s going on with the program and with the football program struggling and the basketball team being the bell weather with their successes.

This is something they’ve given a lot of thought to and according to reports as recently as a couple of weeks ago that he was looking towards retirement and this is the way Montgomery is going to go. At age 67 he’s done everything that you could do in coaching and nows the time.

Although Montgomery had bladder cancer he’s comepletely healthy at this point, there weren’t any issues in regards to his health this season and it’s hard to say if the cancer was a part of the reason why he’s retiring. He’s healthy now thank God and if he retires he’ll retire healthy.

Monty could have coached at Cal for as long as he wanted to and in his six year run at Cal he is arguably as impressive as his 18 year run at Stanford. Starting from the first year at Cal he took a team that former Cal coach Ben Braun had a real struggle with and turned them into first year conference champions and obviously Cal hasn’t won a conference championship in years.

Montgomery followed that up with four NCAA appearences, NIT appearences, no losing seasons, he’s got two years left on his contract but I’m sure if he wanted to stay longer he could. This program despertately needs him. They need his energy and his ability to win and draw attention to the university.

He could not be a in a more sucure spot in regards to his situation at Cal, in 32 years coaching at Montana, Stanford, and at Cal he’s compiled a win-loss record of 678-316 and 16 NCAA Tournament appearences. College sports is a constant business as Montgomery retires the university will have to move on.

The University will continue to nationally recruit and also in their own backyard at the local Oakland high school with Ivan Rabb at Bishop O’Dowd a top ranked junior a major national recruit and in order to keep that young man at home their going to need a solid situation and a place that doesn’t include Montgomery and they’re going to want to move forward.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips covered Cal basketball for Sportstalk radio during the 2013-14 season

Michelle Richardson on the Final eight commentary: Stanford women move up another bracket beat Penn St 82-57

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by Michelle Richardson

Stanford 82 Penn St 57: The Penn State Lady Lions came into came into this match number three and the Stanford Cardinal came in number two so I expected this match up to go back and forth at Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. Also I expected this to be a ground to pound type of a game.

There were a lot of shooters and a lot of bangers underneath in the paint, Penn St came in 24-7 and the Cardinal came in this one 31-3. Stanford were a little bit higher with their game points average and they were undefeated at home and they were playing this one at home at Maples Pavilion.

With the home fans and playing on the home court it was noisy and the Cardinal left little doubt about dominance in this game. Top four scorers for Stanford Chiney Ogwunmike 29, Amber Orrange 18, Mikaela Ruef and Lili Thompson both finished with 11 points.

For Pen State, Ariel Edwards with 22, Dara Taylor 11, and Talia East 10, the Cardinal fans showed up and supported them well as the Cardinal continued their home perfect record and their road record is not so bad at 11-2.

Minnesota head coach Pam Borton was fired last Saturday after the game against South Dakota State 70-62 in the NITs. Borton had been with the program for 12 seasons and for the fifth consecutive year she had missed making the NCAA Tournament.

This game is about wins and loses and Minnesota went 16-9 overall and in non conference play they were successful at 10-3 but in Big Ten play then went 6-6 and missing the Tournament was the deciding factor for Borton.

Borton was grateful for her time at Minnesota who said, “I am grateful for the 12 seasons at the University of Minnesota. This is a great state and university and I have enjoyed becoming a part of this community. I want to thank my players and staff over the years.”

Arizona riots: Arizona University fans made a name for themselves in the post game riots on Saturday night in downtown Tucson after the Wild Cats loss to Wisconsin 64-63 in the West Region in Anaheim. It’s not often you seen any kind of riot crowds after an elimination loss but this one conjured up a wild riot after the Wild Cats were eliminated.

The student body took to the streets in Tucson and decided to start rioting because the Wild Cats were out of the Tournament. Really guys that is one of the the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. Anytime something like this happens it’s stupid, it’s just a game. Police showed up in riot gear and there was pepper spray and lot of disbursing.

The Wild Cats had a good run, they got to the Sweet 16, and they lost to a very good team. I get so tired seeing this whole character don’t blame it on the game. The blame goes on the students for being drunk, being stupid, but the students shouldn’t blame it on the fact that the Wild Cats lost a game or the referee made a bad call.

These fans need to blame it on themselves for being young, drunk and stupid. There was a picture of a young man standing by himself and the police were coming and it was like “look at him he’s so chilling” no he’s an idiot. He’s not standing in front of a tank at Tiananmen Square freedom fighting.

He’s a drunk frat boy who doesn’t know what’s going to happen when the cops are about to start shooting bean bags into the crowd.

Michelle Richardson is covering the Final Four next week for Sportstalk radio

Larry Leavitt Sharks commentary: Sharks hit skids losing five of their last seven games

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by Larry Leavitt

SAN JOSE–The Sharks right now are slumping they don’t seem to be in sink, they don’t seem to be on the same page, but there are some brighht hopes there. The third and fourth lines are playing good. The first line really have to get it together but the Sharks have a few games to go before the playoffs.

The Sharks really need to standback and regroup and kind of play the game for fun, right now their pressing and putting too much into it. Rather than play the game, their trying to work the game, they should play hockey rather than work hockey. The Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 47 shots in the Avs 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon.

Varlamov saw the shots that were coming at him turned away the shots that were there and was quick to react to them and Varlamov did an excellent job and when you play in the NHL your going to run into excellent goalies but you still have to play the game and you got to put the puck on the net and take advantage of your secondary chances but in the case of the Sharks the puck just wasn’t bouncing for the Sharks.

There were a couple of plays where the puck would bounce over the stick and the Sharks offense couldn’t finish the play. The timing wasn’t right it just didn’t work out and that’s going to happen. The Avs Matt Duchene didn’t get the two points but it’s pretty good to see the Avs a young team celebrating like they did there. They clinched for a playoff spot on Saturday and they worked hard to get to post season.

The Sharks are in the Pacific Division still trying to stay in front of the Anaheim Ducks trying to get home ice advantage which is a key in the playoffs. If the Sharks don’t get it or if they don’t find it it still would be nice if they can get home ice in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Fortunately taking it into their own hands the Sharks are now counting on the Ducks to lose so they can have that home ice advantage.

The Sharks have the Edmonton Oilders (26-39-9) their a young team, they’ve been coming on strong they beat a tough Ducks team 4-3 Friday and they gave the Ducks a ride for their money at the Rexall Center in overtime and the Oilers won the shootout. The L.A. Kings and Nashville Predators are also coming to San Jose and Nashville is one of those surprise teams.

The Preds really compensate for what they lack in offense they make up in defense and what they do is they play a huge defensive game and they wait until that one moment when they make that attack and waiting for that one mistake. The Predators will play a full 60 minute game against you and they really don’t focus on the offense which they lacked in their last game to Dallas a 7-1 loss on Friday but focused on it on the night before against Buffalo with a 6-1 win. Which Pred team shows up at SAP Center on Saturday the Sharks we’ll have to wait and see.

Larry Leavitt does Sharks commentary weekly for Sportstalk Radio