Author: lleonardbw

Kings downtown arena: Eminent domain ruled for Macy’s building Kings ready to buy property

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–It was once a men’s department store but after Macy’s closed shop it remained vacant and the owners one group known as “the certified owners” who are reportedly with U.S.Bank and CalPERS who own the property didn’t have a tenant and it was left empty.

When the Sacramento Kings and the City of Sacramento secured the Kings to stay in Sacramento the shopping at the Westfield Downtown Plaza began. The Kings purchased 96 percent of the Plaza property with the exception of the empty Macy’s building which sits at the edge of the Plaza near the entrance to Old Sacramento.

The valuable property is targeted by the Kings to be used for a gym, work out and conditioning area for the team. On Thursday Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei ruled in favor of the Kings and the City and granted the plaintiffs eminent domain rights to the purchasing price at $4.35 million.

While CalPERS had no objection to eminent domain to take their share of the property the certified owners did, objecting to the purchase price. The certifieds say that the property purchasing price should be raised to $10 million and that CalPERS controls the property and the certified owners own the building.

The Macy’s building is in the footprint of where the Kings arena and property would be. The Kings plan to begin construction in the spring of 2015 and plan to have the arena ready by September 2017 and the NBA pre season begins October 2017.

Cadei made his ruling based on the financial needs of the city and the Kings, saying that CalPERS and the certified owners are not profiting from having a vacant building sit unused when the Kings need the property to start construction for their new arena as soon as possible.

Notice for the tenants at the Downtown Plaza will go out this year asking tenants to move so that the Kings can begin construction and tear down needed retail space. The certified owners and their attorneys plan to haggle with the court and the Kings on the final purchase price for the property right now it’s been declared at $4.35 million for the sale price.

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

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca on Cal basketball: Razorbacks more athletic and can jump better than Cal’s last opponent

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by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The Cal Bears Richard Solomon was out with a concussion that he suffered in practice earlier this week and the line up was changed to a smaller quicker line up and they shared the ball with 20 assists in the game against Utah Valley last Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion. The Bears hit 32 baskets and they played well, which they haven’t done in weeks.

Even when Cal beat Colorado in their home finale in the regular season they won a game missing the last ten shots that it took and the win which was an opportunity for a rebirth for the team and so far so good as the Bears take on Arkansas on Monday at Haas.

The Bears look good at home now winning their last two games at Haas Pavilion and Arkansas is not a team you want to play in Arkansas with the homecooking in that arena they got down there. Cal has already beaten Arkansas this year at the Maui Invitational in November that was one of their marquee wins at that point of the season prior to beating Oregon and beating Arizona in the conference.

Both of these teams were on the NCAA bubble and they just didn’t win enough down the stretch to get into the NCAA Tournament there dangerous teams in the NIT. Whoever wins this game has got a strong chance to get to New York and win the whole thing.

The Bears coming into Monday’s game have to protect the ball that’s going to be the key thing when you play Arkansas your playing a team that’s quick that provides pressure that will attempt to create turnovers, if you can handle the pressure you can get to the basket. It will be a real challenge just to handle a team that is far more athletic and quick and jumps a whole lot better than what Utah Valley was able to do.

If Cal is on their game then they should be okay if they fall into their old patterns of being competitive with their shooting in previous games guys haven’t been making their shots and their not moving the ball and they could be in trouble.

The Bears host the Arkansas Razorbacks on Monday night for a 8 PM tip at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca cover Cal Bears basketball for Sportstalk radio

Kings downtown arena: Judge looks probable to rule for imminent domain for parcel building

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei looks to be leaning toward ruling in favor for the city and the Sacramento Kings to get the last road block removed in order to get the Kings new arena build underway. Although Cadei has not made an official ruling in the immienent domain case for the city and the Kings to buy the old Macy’s men’s store that sits near the Downtown Plaza and near Old Sacramento entrance.

Cadei is expected to be making a ruling this week, Cadei made a tentative ruling in favor of the city and the Kings. The parcel which is owned by CalPERS and certificate owners or U.S. Bank owns the building and CalPERS has said that they have no objection in selling their share of the building. Attorneys for the certificate owners are said not to be satisfied with the purchase price offered by the city at $4.35 million.

The owners argued in court on Tuesday that according to property tax roles the property is more like $10 million. The Kings not the city would purchase the property. The Kings have spent $36 million purchasing the rest of Downtown Plaza. Cadei said he needed more time to study the arguements from the owners side but he did indicate that the property was needed to be sold to the Kings so that they can start building the new arena.

Cadei added that any further delay with a 2017 deadline set by the NBA to have the arena ready would put the project in jeopardy and that the building is sitting vacant and that CalPERS or the certificate owners would not suffer any financial consequences as a result of relinquishing the building but the city would suffer in trying to obtain the property. The property owner’s attorney George Speir said that the imminent domain process was flawed and that the City Council who got the lawsuit started voted only to cover the land and not the building. The land share is controlled by CalPERS and the building is controlled by the certificate owners.

CalPERS who is happy to sell would get their share covered while the certificate owners will not get anything for the buidling which is their share of the property. The debate now is about the price and Cadei could question the city and the Kings about the asking price if Cadei sees that the certificate owners are shortchanged in the deal. Otherwise Cadei could rule for the Kings asking price at $4.35 million and CalPERS and the certificate owners would have to work the shares of the money out.

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

That’s Amaurys News and Commentary: With Parker out A’s will need effective outings from Chavez

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary
by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

PHOENIX AZ–The A’s will be moving next season to a new beautiful stadium for training camp next spring training in Mesa. The Cubs who play there will share the park with the A’s. The A’s will be moving out of Phoenix to Mesa, The A’s and Cubs are two of the original teams that have been in Arizona to train for a long, long time.

Now there is 15 big league clubs training in the Cactus League half of the Major League Baseball teams who train in Arizona. One of the reasons is the location like today I’m going to Glendale which is the home of the Chicago White Sox and they host the Oakland A’s and from Tempe it’s 20-30 minutes.

Most of these towns are within 40-45 minutes drive from one another, Peoria, Glendale, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and the location is the perfect thing, it’s great for the economy and baseball generates millions and millions of dollars every year the hotels are sold out.

Everybody comes to see their favorite team, everybody is in first place of course the regular season starts in Sydney with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. It’s always a great thing to come over here to watch the A’s and Giants who were some of the first teams to train here in the Cactus League including the Chicago Cubs.

Now you have the Dodgers who used to train in Vero Beach Florida for 60 years, the Royals moved to Arizona from Florida. So it’s great for baseball and it’s great for the economy and I have ran into a lot of baseball fans, and the Cactus League is just a great atmosphere and I would reccomend the experience of coming down here to anybody.

The weather here has been very nice 84-85 everyday which for the Bay Area is very hot but here it’s just spring. You come back here in July it’s 110 degrees but this is the perfect time for Arizona.

The Oakland A’s this week who lost pitcher Jarrod Parker to Tommy John surgery will most likely use Jessie Chavez to start. Chavez was used in long relief now will get the call to start. A’s manager Bob Melvin will be starting some guys and also pitcher P.J. Griffin has tendonitis and is not as bad as Parker but will miss games.

Parker will be lost for the rest of this year and maybe he’ll be back for 2015 to pitch, Griffin is out too, Yoenis Cespedes has been in a slump in spring training, with a week and a half left of camp the A’s will be impacted and when you lose the number one pitcher it’s a big hit for any team.

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

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca on Cal Basketball: Bears looking for everyone to step up against Utah Valley

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by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The Cal Bears head to St.Louis to face Utah Valley on Wednesday night and they need to have a strong showing in the NIT to put a positive face on their season and they ended the season with nine loses in their last 14 games and they really struggled to shoot the ball and didn’t look anything like the NCAA Tournament team which their not.

This Wednesday night is really a great opportunity to show that they are a quality basketball team, the NIT has them seeded such that they have a chance to go to New York but first the Bears have to get down and win some games. Utah Valley is also the school that a few weeks ago was involved in that incident with New Mexico State where New Mexico players fought back against the fans who stormed the court.

NMS was coming off the floor after a loss and got pushed around in the crowd by the fans at Utah Valley which resulted in some punches and more shoving this was upon Utah Valley winning and this was an ugly incident. From the Utah Valley prospective they would like to put on a more positive showing from their school than what happened at that game.

On offense coming into this game the Bears Tyrone Wallace needs to shoot the ball better that was one of the issues for Cal coming down the stretch and the Bears Justin Cobbs didn’t shoot the ball poorly but with the pressure put upon him by his teammates missing so many shots he didn’t play very well either and it really became kind of a struggle on whether he should be passing or shooting.

Cobbs enjoys his role as the point guard as a shooter and a facilitator, from an invidual stand point there’s a lot of guys on that team to pick up their performance. The six freshman that are suspected next season they all need to put a positive spin on their season because they haven’t been able to help the team in a reserve role.

Cal guard Jabari Parker played over seven minutes in that last loss against Colorado. Cal should enjoy a nice healthy advantage inside and hopefully take advantage of it and Utah Valley is a smaller size team and are less athleitic. This is an opportunity for Cal’s Richard Solomon to put a cap on his college career, a double double machine this year but could have shot the ball better at the free throw line.

The Cal Bears will need everybody to win this game and to advance in these NIT Tournament games.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips cover the Cal Bears for Sportstalk radio

Michelle Richardson on March Madness: Doubleheader tonight to open up tournament with Stanford-New Mexico on Friday

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by Michelle Richardson

Albany-Mt.St.Mary’s: Mt.St.Mary’s (16-16) had a good run last year and had a good run for it this year and finished the regular season Albany (18-14), St.Mary’s has a better home record of (10-3) and Albany has a home record of (9-3). Albany has a road record of (7-11) and St.Mary’s record on the road (6-13). Both teams are currently on win streaks.

Albany has a three game win streak and St.Mary’s has a four game win streak, if your not familiar Albany plays in the American East Conference and St.Mary’s plays in the Great North East Conference better known as the Moutaineers. These teams are going to be playing in Dayton Ohio to open up the NCAA Tournaments.

So their definitely in the LeBron James neck of the woods, these two teams are going to be a good match up and they have some standouts on both teams you have guard Peter Hooley for Albany he’s the leading scorer with 15.7, Michael Rowley is the Great Danes leading rebounder with 6.7 per game and has 2.8 assists per game. St.Mary’s has Julian Norfleet with 17.6 points per game, Gregory Graves with 5.3 rebounds and Norfleet with 5.5 assists.

NC State (23-9)-Xavier(21-12): The Minute Men against the Wolf Pack who would have thought that NC State would be in the play-in game. Personally this is going to be interesting. NC State has a home record, the Heels are not that great on the road and their on a losing streak right now.

The Musketeers of Xavier University 21-12 out of the Big East out of the American Conference. The Musketeers are averaging 72 points a game. Their averaging 67.9 for their opponents. Xavier’s home record is 15-2 so they played really well and they have a bad road record at 4-6.

It doesn’t mean their not going to get it done, I can’t tell you who I give more of an edge to in this contest because both teams have played the big boys before. It’s not like people are going to be bowing to Xavier but keep in mind the ACC is a very strong basketball conference.

New Mexico(27-6)-Stanford(21-12):The Los Lobos have averaged 23 points a game, the success of the Lobos really goes to the coaching. Everybody thought when former Lobos head coach Steve Alford left to go to UCLA that the Lobos would fall apart.

The Lobos are really letting people know that “were here and were here to win” the Lobos beat San Diego State to win the Mountain West Conference. San Diego is ranked number 13. The Lobos can only be their own worst enemy if they lose to Stanford on Tuesday night at Scottstrade Arena in St.Louis.

The Lobos handled San Diego St they won that game 64-58 to be the Mountain West champions. Stanford is a very good school but please understand the Lobos are a better team not because I’m a Lobos alumn, but mostly because the Lobos are mostly going to give them a challenge. Stanford lost to UCLA 89-59 and they lost big to a Steve Alford coached team.

So how do you think that the Cardinal will do again a formerly Steve Alford coached team? This game is scheduled for Friday night.

Michelle Richardson is covering the NCAA for March Madness

Sharks commentary: Sharks looking to extend five game win streak against Rangers on Sunday

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by Larry Leavitt

NEW YORK–Sharks head coach Todd McClellan says he would be happy about a win but he never shows it and much the same after the win in Uniondale on Friday night 4-3 against the Islanders. He’s really simple in his post game answers to the press and he knows there’s plenty of hockey left. He’s not going to say “this is the best game and were done” he’s always aiming to succeed. In the NHL that’s what you have to do continually fix what’s broken.

There’s always something that’s broken and right now it’s the power play, the best part of these wins are getting secondary scoring which is imnportant because you can’t aways count on your big guy up front to do the work and carry the load. Seconardary scoring can come from every line even the third line with Tommy Wingles, Andrew Desjardins, and Marty Havlet.

Havlet was absolutely fantastic with a goal and an assist, on offense they were shooting at their former teammate Evegeni Nabokov and when your in goal and the puck is in the corner you got to cover that corner shot you can’t leave that open and when the puck comes out front so quickly it’s hard to get ready and set up in time.

The Sharks passing has been absolutely pheonomenal in front of the net and that’s why they’ve had four goals in 26 shots on Friday night. They tried to stay open and find that soft spot in front the blue line and go in for it. The other member of the crew who helped make a difference was James Sheppard he’s on that third line.

Sheppard was filling that hole that Joe Pavelski left open and he’s really elevated his game tremendously, Friday night was a well fought game and to win by one goal against the Islanders show how well this team is going. They played an extrememly tight game for while. The zone coverage doesn’t always say everything because the other night the Sharks were losing on Thursday night when they were in Columbus and won in the shootout.

The Sharks had the edge in the zone and had some good offensive zone time, but the key is find your position and not having a lapse there and making sure if they break out you get all five guys there to help out. There was one goal that kind of trickled through and it looked like Niemi stopped it but it happens sometimes.

The Sharks play at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night against the New York Rangers and the last time these two teams met the Sharks Tomas Hertl really opened the game up when the played at SAP Center. This time Hertl is out with a knee injury so that could be good or bad as far as getting revenge against them or someone who had a grudge against Hertl because of the way he scored that goal against the Rangers. Either way expect a showdown at the Garden on Sunday.

Larry Leavitt does Sharks commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

Warrior commentary: Dubs in Portland can’t afford another late collapse Sunday

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–There is a little bit of concern the loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles last Wednesday night in a 111-98 at the Staples Center it was a loss at the time you could kind of brush off, for one the Warriors were on the second game of a back to back which is always done when the second game is on the road. Also the Clippers are one of the best teams in the NBA.

The Clips were one of the only other teams that were hotter the Warriors at the tine of that game so the Warriors losing to the Clippers on the road was no biggie. You like to get the win but you can understand, losing to Cleveland last Friday night at the Coliseum Arena 103-94 is inexcusable. The Warriors were equally disturbed by it after the game.

That was a really bad loss the W’s went up by 18 early in this game and then they gave back every single one of those points and more and ended up losing and it wasn’t even close at the end and it didn’t help that Clay Thompson was out of the game due to a death in the family. That’s no excuse the Warriors have been missing various players at various times and they still managed to get wins this season.

The loss to Cleveland was just awful for Golden State, the Cavs are one of the worst teams on the raod and their just a lousy team in general. There is no way that Cleveland should score as much as they did against the Warriors. The Warriors have a pretty good defense and letting Cleveland score kind of at will was just awful.

The Warriors have had these issues earlier in the season where they kind of had defensive lapses where players were not in position where they weren’t putting in the effort. That seemed like the case and the extreme on Friday night. They seemed to know it based on the closed door meetings that they were having afterwards in the statements by head coach Mark Jackson after the game.

The Warriors seemed to be very much aware that this was an awful game and their very embarrassed about it they don’t do anything about it in the next game. They will have conversations that hopefully will be effective before the next game this Sunday in Portland. The Warriors have a big stretch here and their in playoff position but there by no means in a playoff spot.

There are nine teams in the Western Conference in line for eight spots. Most of the teams ahead of the Warriors are locked in for those top eight spots. The Warriors are in position to make the playoffs but there is a chance they can lose it if they go on a stumble. So the Warriors can’t take anything for granted they have to play hard every night.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk Radio

Morris Phillips on Cal Basketball: Cal just sputtering on fumes coming into the NIT selections

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by Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The problem with the Cal Bears is their just are not shooting well, their just not a team that you can really count on. They scored 22 points in the first half of the quarter finals against Colorado barely pulled out the season finale at Haas Pavilion against the same team and their offensive short comings and their ability to make shots is what has got them on the slide.

The Bears have nine loses in their last 14 games, Cal however can get an NIT selection and their in the top 75 in the country so they could get in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears are still in the top 75 in the country and they should be a highly seeded team in the NIT and the NIT should be happy to have them and they maybe happy to have them matched up against St.Marys or USF in the first round.

The Bears just need to play better and this will obviously give them an opportunity and for a team that ended the season as poorly as they had that’s really a great opportunity for them because nobody wants to look as badly as they have been lately. Cal would love to win a game at the end and nobody wants to end a season like this and this is a young basketball team.

Cal really needs to build for next year and one of the ways to do that is to gain some confidence and win some games here. Once again a match up in the NITs against one of the local schools especially St.Mary’s since Cal head coach Mike Montgomery has barely faced them in his college career. The last time Montgomery had coached against the Gaels was probably a good ten or 15 years ago.

There is still a lot for Cal to play for but the way they ended their season was improbable that final victory against Colorado they missed their last ten shots of the game and they didn’t make a shot in overtime and found a way to pull it out. Justin Cobbs led the team with scoring in that game with 21 points but he’s not supposed to be the scoring leader and he’s suppose to be the offensive leader.

He’s supposed to be the distributor, he’s supposed to be the playmaker but time and time again his teammates have missed shots in situations where he has got the ball and Montgomery says if he sees you miss a couple and he’s likely to come to you after that. That puts a lot of pressure on Cobbs to go ahead and do it himself and that’s not necessarily his strong suit.

It’s a tough spot for Cobbs and for the team to struggle and it comes back on the team star and Cobbs is just not a team leading scorer type guy. He’s really a playmaker and facilitator and Montgomery would liked to have seen him play better against Arizona’s Nick Johnson and ASU’s guard Jahii Carson and the two other point guards in the Pac 12 that are NBA type caliber players.

Morris Phillips is talk show host and covers Cal basketball for Sportstalk radio

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants: A’s gearing up for state of the art facilty in Mesa

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by Michael Duca
MESA AZ–The Oakland A’s new stadium for spring training known as Ho Ho Kam Park will have the same foot print as it did before, so the soccer field beyond right field will remain. The clubhouse for the A’s will only be smaller than the entire facility of one of the Cactus League parks by 2,000 feet.

The grounds crew is replanting the fields, here’s a clever way to tell you the difference of beating the Cubs and beating the A’s,for all those years the Cubs were in Ho Ho Camp Stadium and downstairs right next to the entrance was a very large place called the Ho Ho Kam Room.

The Ho Ho Kam Room was where the Cubs posted one of two free meals in Arizona and it was notable because it had draft beer. There was beer on tap, there was a 70 inch television on one side of the room and there were photos of Cubs notables and Ho Ho Kam notables all over the room. Well the Ho Ho Kam Room is going away under the A’s it’s going to become a ticket office.

An A’s executive said that the Cubs actually never had to use the office for game of day sales because the games were sold out to sell any tickets. Also advance ticket sales are just a word in the dictionary. The media will get a patio outside of the pressbox which is pretty traditonal that’s the way it’s done in most place in spring training parks.

The big question that was brought up on Thursday was what to do with all those historical photographs? That’s the latest with the A’s facility which the A’s will move into Spring Training of 2015. Meanwhile in Phoenix Municipal the A’s current camp will be taken over by Arizona State University’s baseball program after the A’s leave for the regular season at the end of this month.

On Thursday night it was historical it was the final Major League night game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium after it’s long and historical time hosting Spring Training baseball. The park is 60 years old and they have four light towers in the outfield that were brought in from the Polo Grounds in 1958 by way of Casa Grande by the Giants.

Mesa has always had a team, they had the A’s for awhile and then they have the Cubs and now they will have two teams because it’s kind of in a no man’s land where Scottdale, Mesa, and Tempe all share a demilitarize zone right there and there’s a huge shopping center right next to where they are but your still technically in Mesa.

What people don’t understand is how large the suburbs are, Tempe has almost 400,000 residents now and Mesa is the largest city in the United States that doesn’t not have a Major League Baseball team. There are over 600,000 people living there in Mesa and it’s just astonishing how big these cities are.

Michael Duca is covering the Giants and A’s for Sportstalk radio in Arizona at the Cactus League