Author: lleonardbw

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Sharks and NHL concerned about player safety at Sochi Olympics

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

SAN JOSE–The Sharks ran into a skid previous to Saturday night’s win at SAP Arena, after losing three straight which included two shutouts they tipped the Chicago Blackhawks with a 2-1 shootout win. The Sharks had been playing with a lot of guys who were hurt and now they get a nice break for a couple weeks this month for the Winter Olympic break. The NHL is the only sport where there is a break from the regular season and the selected players can get away and play in the Olympics in Russia.

Some of the players will be away from February 9th until the 26th the NHL will shut it down for those two weeks. Some go on vacation to their native countries and some guys stay here and workout but for example the Sharks Patrick Marleau one of the stars of the Sharks he has a gold medal in the Olympics in 2010 he represented Canada.

The subject of the safety and security of the players have been a concern and I have to be skeptical too, Russia doesn’t have the infrastructure that we have in this country right now we have just concluded Super Bowl week and New York had 911 over a decade ago and I’m very confident that people in New York had a safe time with the security in place.

For the athletes going to Sochi I wouldn’t be too confident, there’s already a lot of threats and a lot of athletes are nervous and I hope nothing happens because it’s sad these guys have trained for four years to do their exercising for

whatever it is in three minutes ice skating, skiing, or in this case hockey. It would be sad to know that something happens because this is for the athletes and for the countries.

I’m a little skpetical about the security there, the Sharks star goalie Antti Niemi is going there and it’s interesting but I hope nothing happens and I would not be surprised and I’m not making any predictions but nobody really knows but I hope nothing happens but if something happens I would not be surprised.

As far as the Olympics are concerned it’s beautiful to be at the Olympics it’s one of those events that ivolves the whole world and the Olympics and the World Cup for soccer but basically there’s really not a World Cup for baseball where you get 140 countries because not that many countries play baseball at the Olympics it’s one of the main events and also soccer.

Your talking about one of the biggest events in the world, the problem with the Olympics unlike soccer, soccer is a very nationalisic sport, at the Olympics since 1972 and before it’s been used for political reasons. Terrorism in the 1972 Munich Olympics and you remember in the 30s that was a great Olympiad it was held in Germany and Hitler and the Aryan race didn’t like American athlete Jessie Owens the black athlete, Owens won a few medals in Germany in 1936.

If you go through the annals of history the Olympics has always been used for political reasons and the problem is it’s more than politicial and you got a couple of nuts in Sochi who blew themselves up to kill a bunch of people, it’s really sad.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is a talk show host on Spanish radio KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio

Kings downtown arena: Confidential memo city attorney warns subsidy can still make ballot with flaws

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Assistant City Attorney Matthew Ruyak says that the subsidy measure that would ask Sacramento voters if public subsidies could be used to build a new arena could make the ballot and that a judge could be persuaded enough to allow the measure to reach the ballot according to a confidential memo. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has said that the ballots are flawed and that the petitions are not legal and should not be allowed.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Voters For a Fair Arena Deal filed a lawsuit that their petitions were following political protocol and that they have the constitutional right to have their measure be legally on the ballot since they met beyond the minimum requirements to be on the ballot with 22,938 petitions over the ten percent minimum and some of the legalees were minor.

Sacramento City attorney James Sanchez sounded off immediately after STOP filed their lawsuit saying the petitions were not up to code and legal, “we believe the legal shortcomings presented by the STOP petitions will be persuasive to a judge, we believe a judge will be hardpressed to conclude they complied with the election code.” said Sanchez

But it’s Ruyak’s confidential memo that lends credence that the measure has a shot at making the ballot, although in basketball parlance it’s not a slam dunk Ruyak says there is no guarantee the city can fight to keep it off the ballot even with some of the legal inconsistencies, “we can not conclude with the requisite level of confidence that a court would more likely uphold an action to disqualify the initiative or it’s signatures. Given the fundamental right of the electorate to assist their voice through initiative, we cannot definitely conclude that there is a greater than 50 percent chance of prevailing in court should the city council refuse to place the measure on the ballot.” said Ruyak

STOP attorney Brad Hertz said that even though there were flaws on the petitions and legal disclaimer errors they are minor enough and that the initiative should go forward on the ballot, “it was a lot of very enthusiastic people with, you might say, too many cooks in the kitchen, all of (the flaws) are minor, technical, no voters were deceived” said Hertz

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

Warriors arena at piers 30-32: Polls show only 38% support new arena when luxury condo and hotel are thrown in

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–A San Francisco poll that was commissioned by the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Club that was done by J. Moore Methods of Sacramento found that of San Franciscans polled when asked if a new 12 story Warriors arena that included a 17 story luxury condo tower and a 10 story luxury hotel only 38 percent of those polled favored the project, 53 percent voted thumbs down.

When KPIX CBS 5 asked if a Warriors waterfront arena would be supported 60 percent polled in favor before the condo and hotel were tossed in the mix in the December poll. In another December poll only 36 percent were in favor of any new development idea at Piers 30-32 among 400 possible voters.

The Warriors are determined to get the new arena done which has a target date of 2017 but the Warriors new arena may have to get a stamp of approval from such groups as the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, State Lands Commission and Army Corps of Engineers. There are many hoops for the Warriors to jump through before ground is broken.

One of the first is the environmental impact report, the report is essential in getting the building certified before construction, the evaluation of wild life and living animals land and in the bay have to be studied. So far the study has not even started and is reportedly behind schedule. Permits for construction can not be started without the environmental study. Once ground breaking starts the completion schedule calls for two years to finish the job.

The Warriors are looking at 2015 to get the project going and finished by 2017 the way things are going the schedule could be hung up by the environmental impact alone. According to Warriors owner Joe Lacob if the team has to wait another year for the project completion say 2018 then so be it, “It’s going to be a challenge, it’s about getting it right, if it takes a year longer, it takes a year longer.” said Lacob.

According to reports the Warriors will have to spend upwards to $180 million double the original figures to fix Piers 30-32, team officials insist that extra public monies will not go into the $1 billion arena. The following costs for the projects read like a laundry list of items that the Warriors must achieve while the clock to meet the 2017 deadline ticks, 2.3 acre property assessment at $30 million, rent credits for the property at $2 million per year or the Warriors can lump out at $30.4 million, and proceeds from bonds which is from property taxes priced at $50-60 million.

The heighth of the building is what got potential voters worried, the Warriors wanted a 12 story sized arena measuring in at 125 feet high on reconstructed piers, the Warriors are planning to recoup on their investment by building a 175 foot condominium and 105 foot hotel across the street from the arena when they can book rooms and sell condos. In November Propositions B and C which were called the 8 Washington condos were rejected rather handily by San Francisco voters.

The rejection of the building of a new condo tower and luxury hotel in props B and C is almost identical to what the Warriors would ask voters to vote on again after they turned down the B and C measures last year to build a new hotel. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee campaigned with two other former San Francisco Mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom for the project with support from the business community and a large number of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the measure still lost.

Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos who is against the new arena at the waterfront said that the residents of the waterfront not only want to retain the beauty of the views of the Embarcadero but the project is a just for profit measure that won’t benefit local residents or the city. Agnos also said at the time that Warriors owners Lacob and Peter Gruber who do not live in the city only care about profit and not the benefit of the neighborhood. When propositions B and C lost in November no one from the Warriors would admit to Agnos’ “theory” that voters will look at the Warriors arena in the same way similar to props B and C, Warriors spokesman Nathan Ballard alluded that the propositions and what the Warriors want are two seperate ideas.

Ken Gimblin is covernig the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings arena developments for Sportstalk Radio

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips on Cal basketball: After Southland sweep Cal looking to avenge with Arizona

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by Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–Are the Cal Bears the team that lost two games in a row in Los Angeles over the weekend and kind of fell out of the picture? Yes they are. They are both, they are and so much more, the loss to UCLA was no surprise. UCLA has an exremely good under performing team this year and on their home court, the last time Cal beat them on their home court it was very long ago.

USC was explicable and inexcusable, it was a team that has not won a single game in conference all year and went out and demonstrated yet again later in the weekend folding against Stanford. You might lose a game against a team like that and they explode and catch fire 73% for the night but SC didn’t do that all they did was go out and jump off to an early lead and held it all night.

You can not allow something like that to happen if your a strong contending team for a conference championship, the Pac 12 is among the strongest basketball conferences in the nation this year they will get at least six teams in the tournament and unless something drastic happens in the second half of the sesaon Cal is probably going to be second or third Pac 12 team.

That’s impressive because they obviously came into the season picked sixth or seven behind Stanford, Arizona State, and the one surge with the win streak allowed them to kind of put themselves on the map. What can be expected, is Jabari Bird going to be a factor? Can Richard Solomon continue to produce? Will the Bears rely too much on Justin Cobbs?

Bird will be a minor factor, we knew that all along, anybody who listened to Cal head coach Mike Montgomery he told everybody before the first tip off in the first practice Bird will play but he’s not going to be as big and effective as everybody wants him to be. He is the local kid that everybody has heard about.

That’s not how things work in Montyland, freshman don’t get to play a huge role, they get to play A role, and they get to become comfortable at the faster pace of the NCAA game in front of the hostile crowds that they never really faced in high school. How many hostile crowds did Jabari face in high school going around in the Bay Area?

Seriously, so Montgomery knows what he’s doing and Montgomery is the reason that Cal was picked sixth or seventh than second in the conference because everybody looked at players and nobody looked at the coaches which is why their ahead of Stanford or Arizona State who they were picked to be behind. It’s always impressive because obviously Montgomery is not the only wonderful coach in the Pac 12 currently it’s a conference full of great coaches.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips do Cal Bears basketball commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Super Bowl certain draw over State of the Union Speech and that’s just the commercials

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

The thing about this Super Bowl it trancends sports and I’m a baseball guy and I respect all the sports like I have two kids and they ask me “dad are you going to have a Super Bowl party?” They could care less who wins it’s the party, it’s the nachos, it’s the beer, it’s an event, I was reading today that they have 14 streets on Broadway closed for the NFL experience.

It’s become America’s game the Super Bowl and the audience is going to be larger than the president’s State of the Union speech. This is not a political commentary but I bet you when the ratings come out the audience for the Super Bowl will be three times higher than the State of the Union speech like him or not and I’m not going to go there this is not a political commentary but the Super Bowl is such a big event.

It would have been nice to have seen the Raiders or the Niners in it but in this case of the Seahawks and Broncos the Bay Area probably doesn’t have a lot of interest but it’s the game to watch. I talked to my two kids, their men their 31 and 32 and they’re going to talk about the commercials in the Super Bowl and Gayle my wife says “we’re going to watch commericals” and I said, “I guess so.”

It’s not sarcasim it’s the truth, even in the bigger markets with New York and New York doesn’t have a dog in the fight because the Giants and the Jets are not there. So everybody is watching, it’s a good question, and everybody watches the commericals and the next day all the shows on radio and TV grade them.

The NFL is in New York and it’s in the number one media market in the country, the league wants to give New York a shot every five or six years. The idea for the Super Bowl was to be in a neutral city usually and a warm city like New Orleans or Miami that was the idea. New York has to get it once in awhile because it’s a huge media market. They generate a lot of revenue in broadcasting.

It could be the coldest Super Bowl ever or at least since the Frozen Tundra in Green Bay in first Super Bowl. When you think of Green Bay you think of the Packers and what else is in Green Bay? In all respects I’ve never been there but what else is there? The Packers, that’s right? It’s three hours to Chicago that’s the difference, it’s the Frozen Tundra there.

Half of this country is under snow Chicago on Tuesday was five below zero, New York is frozen, so that’s the way it goes. It’s either global freezing or global warming I’m confused.

New deal gets A’s Spanish radio contract extension: We’re going to be doing 70 games, mostly home games and if they make to the playoffs we’ll travel with the team. The schedule is 70 games in Spanish we have KIQI radio which is the main station for A’s Spanish radio in San Francisco. Then our affiliate KATD in Sacramento-Stockton, KWU 1300 in Fresno, and KEGY 790 in Eureka.

We have a good network of four stations and we’ll be back doing 70 games with my broadcast partner Manolo Hernadez who will be back, so I’ll see you guys at the Coliseum during the regular season hopefully in Oakland and the first game will be a sell out after that probably 12,000 a game.

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

Larry Leavitt Pro Hockey commentary: Curcio did all he could to save the Bulls

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by Larry Leavitt

SAN FRANCISCO–The prospective owner for the San Francisco Bulls wanted to jump in and save the team this past week but unfortunately his plans were to build a rink in the Monterey area and eventually move the team there but he needed a place to play in the few years it would take to build the new rink and since Oakland and Fresno was not going to be a good location it didn’t work out and he decided to forget the whole deal.

The prospective owner is going to build his own rink without the Bulls financial baggage and apply straight to the ECHL for his own team and start from scratch which is a shame the Bulls had a lot of good fans but they had a bad location. The Cow Palace was run down and it wasn’t really helping team president and head coach Pat Curcio.

Curcio put in a lot of money to get the team started he had to fix the ice surface it was an ammonia system they didn’t shut it down properly, they had to fix all the pipes and change it over from an ammonia system to a legal system for the state of California which is a cost that he didn’t expect to incur. There was a lot of little expenses he really didn’t expect and he went reportedly $2 million in the hole the first year and I could believe that.

I was surprised the team folded only because a lot of those costs were one time costs, you only have to buy the scoreboard one time once it was bought. It’s just maintaining it, you only have to fix the ice, the refrigeration system once and it’s just maintaining it. The team wasn’t drawing and I can’t say they were going to draw a lot because of the traffic to get to the Cow Palace it’s not an easy place to get to. Once you get there it’s one of the highest ticket costs in the league.

The immedities weren’t all that plush, it was not the most favored place to be, the seats weren’t real comfortable and just wasn’t the nice arena setting that people are used to nowadays. I’m not saying it was dirty as in people didn’t clean up after themselves but it’s dusty old it just didn’t have that feel of inviting a team or people to come watch a team.

The Bulls played really well, my only criticism of Curcio would be that he wore too many hats, he had too much going on, he should have focused on the team and had better backers obviously or researched it a little better but he had some good players, they were starting to jell, they played a good game and it was exciting to watch and it’s a shame that the players aren’t going to be around.

As I understand the league is going to eat them up and take the free agents and unrestricted free agents and allow them to play to play on other ECHL teams that takes them. The Bulls just spent too much money which included a state of the art scoreboard, it’s beautiful but they overspent for it. If the Bulls cut some corners here and there they might have been able to salvage the season.One thing you could say about Curcio he did go full all out to make hockey in San Francisco work again and too bad it didn’t.

Larry Leavitt does Pro Hockey commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio

Michelle Richardson on the NCAA: Michigan gets surprising win, Florida stays hot with big win over Tennessee

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by Michelle Richardson

Michigan 80-Michigan State 75: Michigan knocking off the third ranked Michigan State Spartans at Michigan State which is not easy to do. The game with Michiagan State had a six point lead in the half and number 21 Michigan turned it up and scored 15 in the second half to get the victory.

Everything was going through Michigan State’s Gary Harris who scored 27 and the other two Spartans who finished in double figures Alvin Ellis 12 and Keith Appling 10. Other than that it was really a no show by the Spartans. Michigan had three in double figures Nik Stauskas 19, Derrick Walton 19, and Caris LeVert 17.

This is one of those games that you would love to see rivalries and anytime you get to see rivalries and you would love to see what they’ve got to give. You know the steaks are high and it’s about bragging rights. Michigan was 22-49 for field goals made but Michigan’s 22-56.

Florida 67 Tennesee 41: Florida is on a bit of a run at 17-2 and 6-0 in the SEC and they were going up against the Vols who were 12-7 on Saturday. Tennessee is one of those teams they really love to play spoiler they still haven’t figured out how to get themselves into the tournament and into the win column but I can honestly tell you there are a lot of those teams who honestly like to play spoiler.

Everybody who is playing has to be playing up to their potential, four of Florida’s starters finished in double figures. It was kind of a cake walk. It was one of those things that Florida was definitely trying to play for a strong position for the tournament.

Syracuse 64 University of Miami 52: Number two Syracuse just eeking out a win from Miami. The Orange are 19-0 and 6-0 in the ACC. Their definitely at the top in this game it was surprising because Syracuse pretty much had a lock on it they were up 31-26 but Miami played it really hard in the end.

Miami was letting Syracuse know that “hey your in the ACC now” your not in the Big East your in the ACC and you have to travel a whole lot of road to be successful. They did that and they did it strong all but one of the starters finished in double digits Rakeem Christmas with six. Christmas was there on the rebounding everybody else was hitting the net, it was just a pretty evenly played game.

The Orange might have been thinking that they were looking ahead to the next game and they gave them a little scare. Miami’s schedule looks like this they’re at Wake Forrest, they at home against Duke, Notre Dame, then Clemson and Pittsburgh.

Michelle Richardson does commentary on the NCAA each week

Warriors commentary: Defense lacking in the Warriors last four loses

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–If the Golden State Warriors want to be playoff bound they have to step up their game, they’ve lost three in a row at home the latest is a one point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves by one on Friday night at the O.Com and the Warriors have been struggling a little bit losing four of their last six games.

Mostly on the defensive end, their scoring plenty that hasn’t been much of an issue and everybody knows this is a team with a very strong starting line up. Four of the Warriors just got selected to be part of the Olympic preparation team for 2016. Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and David Lee, and Andrew Bogut all named for the team earlier this week. Bogut is not American so he can’t be named to the American team but he has been on the Australian team before and he would have a chance to be named again.

This would put the Warriors with potentially five members that are potential Olympic starters or Olympic players, the Warriors have been great on offense even that one point loss the other night they scored 120 losing by one. The problem has been on the defensive end ever since that ten game winning streak they had a couple of weeks go by where they kind of lost their defensive prowess.

Their playing really good defense up until that point then they lost a couple of games for whatever reason their defensive mindset has been lazy they just haven’t been playing hard on defense and they’ve been giving up a ton of ponts and frankly if you watched their game it’s not that their giving up a lot of points the opposition is scoring every single time their not just able to miss.

This is because the Warriors aren’t getting up in their faces and Bogut is playing pretty good defense in the middle around the perimiter their giving up too much space I don’t know why all of a sudden the Warriors are laxed on defense but it’s just whats been happening. Until the Warriors correct it their going to have trouble winning these games.

If they can score with anybody and against some of the lesser teams they would probably be able to outscore them because even bad defensive teams their the lousy teams who won’t be able to score enough to keep up with Golden State. Against the decent teams their going to lose and right now the Warriors are treading water. They could come back and their a good enough team.

The Warriors are having trouble right now, part of the problem might be their just a little worn out, one of the problems they’ve had injuries on the bench with their starting five. Iguodala missed a month’s worth of games and that didn’t help. Their starting five is healthy and their playing great when their in. The problem is they don’t have a deep bench because of all the injuries and that’s really hurt them.

The Warriors gear up for Portland on Sunday and Washington on Tuesday

David Zizmor does commentary on the NBA for Sportstalk Radio

Kings downtown arena report: Anti arena groups silent on city clerk’s petition findings

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Efforts to reach representatives of the two anti downtown arena groups Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal were fruitless on Friday as Sacramento City Clerk Shirley Concolino said that the Sacramento Registrar’s office had kicked out more than 6,700 petitions that allow the voter to decide if public subsidies should be used to pay for any new sports or entertainment facilities in Sacramento.

According to Concolino on Friday the 6700 petitions in question were flawed that there were nine different versions of the petition, the petitions had wording that were different and non consistant with voter guidelines, the petitions also left out legal language pertaining to the subsidy issue and other specific issues that must be included for the petition to have been able to move forward.

Concolino said of the petitions that were rejected on Friday, “I’ve never seen a petition with so many flaws as this one.” The 6,700 rejected petitions spells trouble for STOP and Fair Arena as they claimed that they delivered 23,000 petitions that were all nice and tidey but now have no comment on the registrar’s decision. The petition drive was largely funded by Seattle hedge fund manager Chris Hansen whose bid to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle was rejected by the NBA.

Hansen paid $100,000 for the campaign to have signatures question the public subsidies on the June ballot if taxpayers should foot the bill for new sports or entertainment facilities. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said that the petition effort by STOP, the Arena Deal, and Hansen was not worth the petitions it was written on saying of the drive that it was an “underhanded attempt to subvert and trick voters with misrepresentations, hidden money and misleading petition language.

STOP and Arena Deal have been critcial of the city’s plan to use $258 million in public subsidies to fund for the new arena. The Kings would pay the other part of the $450 million plus for the downtown arena. The Kings just this past week barrowed $35 million from Goldman Sachs to help purchase the Mall at downtown plaza.

The current owners from San Francisco JM a base development firm sold the mall to the Kings, the deal would give the Kings most of the downtown plaza property. The Kings are trying to get the Macy’s building near the Holiday Inn by eminent domain. The latest on that is CalPERS who owns the property is a willing partner and would sell their share. U.S.Bank who owns the other share is challenging the Kings and the City on eminent domain because the offer from the city and Kings is far below market value.

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

NFL Pro Bowl Report: All-Star game most likely to move in 2015

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by Morris Phillips

HONOLULU–Since 1979 the NFL All-Star game the Pro Bowl has been held at Aloha Stadium with the exception of January 10, 2010 when the game was held in Miami. According to reports NFL Comissioner Roger Goodell wants the game to travel with the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl for 2015 will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium if the move of the game goes to Phoenix the game will be played the week before the Super Bowl.

According to the NFL they will judge how the new format of drafting teams works and if both teams plays with the intensity of last year’s Pro Bowl that Goodell expects as opposed to the flag football type effort from 2012’s game which brought. Jerry Rice and Dieon Sanders are the team captains for this year’s Pro Bowl and selected their rosters on Wednesday. Both Team Sanders and Rice have worked out during the week.

It is the hopes by the league and the players that this format will catch on with fans, if not there is even the possibility that the game could be cancel indefinitely. The players union although not issuing a statement on such a move would most likely object as this game would impact revenue for the union and it’s players. Word is the draft format of teams is crucial to make this game come back to Hawaii again the game format needs to be popular with fans for it’s survival. The players need to make it happen if they want to get back to Honolulu again.

According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority the game sold well in the 2012 game when it brought $25 million for Hawaii. The 2013 statistics weren’t available. The state pays $4 million for the game. The NFL is also aware of a lot of fans who do not take the game seriously and are concerned about advertising revenue and the game’s TV ratings.

The players and league hope it is a game that can survive so it’s survival rides heavily on Sunday’s game performance and the tweets and facebooking feedback from fans watching the game and if they accept the new format. Goodell said the game could move to different sites beside the Super Bowl city each year “There is interest in potentially bringing it back in mulitple sites as early as the following year.” said Goodell

The players have stated since the 2010 Miami game that they want the game to stay in Hawaii and are gearing up this week to make that happen. If the game moves to the mainland most likely a lot of the key players will not show up siting injuries from the regular season or post season they’ve also said that they play in the mainland all year long who wouldn’t want to come to Hawaii. Hawaii according to the players adds incentive and brings out the key players from the regular sesaon.

Pro Bowl Raiders and 49ers representatives: The Oakland Raiders lone representative fullback Marcel Reece says he’s having fun being here in Honolulu for the Pro Bowl and it’s his second time at the Pro Bowl and Reeces was selected on Team Sanders and Neon Dieon says he likes what Reece could do without the football, “that’s who we want, we love him because he’s not getting the ball. All we want him to do is block for that man over there” as Sanders was pointing at the Kansas City Chiefs Jamaal Charles.

Reece got to carry once in last year’s Pro Bowl and he got a yard out of it, Sanders is the boss and wants Reece to stop the rush, “I talked to Dieon after he said that, it’s all part of the plan, hopefully we’re going to catch the other team off guard” said Reece. Although the Raiders finished the season at 4-12 Reece had himself a decent season going 218 rushing yards, 331 passing yards and four touchdowns.

49ers rookie safety Eric Reid: The 49ers lone representative said on Friday he just couldn’t resist the invitation to the Pro Bowl. Coming off the bitter taste of a loss to the Seattle Seahawks last week Reid got the call and almost declined the invitation to play at the Pro Bowl, “I wasn’t sure, to be honest, if I was going to come because it was a hard pill to swallow to lose that game, but when they gave me the call, it was a heck of an opportunity and I had to say ‘yeah’ ” said Reid.

Reid had a chance to be selected to team Rice and had a chance to talk with Rice which made it special being a rookie and representing Rice’s former team the 49ers, “This is truly, truly a dream come true, this is all I’ve ever wanted to do and to be here as a rookie getting picked by Jerry (Rice), I had the opportunity to meet him back at Candelstick (Park), it’s just, I had to come, I had to do this.” said Reid

Morris Phillips is covering Team Jerry Rice versus Team Dieon Sanders for Sportstalk Radio