Tag: Phoenix

Oakland A’s Relocation podcast with Daniel Dullum: Are there any comparisons between the Coyotes move to the A’s relocation?

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The Arizona Coyotes of the NHL will soon make their new home at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City for the 2024-25 NHL season as they played their last game in Tempe Arizona on Thu Apr 17, 2024. The relocation was immediate as opposed to the Oakland A’s who will finish (photo by the Utah Jazz)

On the Oakland A’s Relocation podcast with Daniel:

#1 Daniel, you covered the NHL Arizona Coyotes for years and they’re final game was on Wednesday night in a 5-2 in at Mullet Arena in Tempe which was the final and last game for the Coyotes as they will now move to Salt Lake City. It was a heartbreaking scene how foretelling is this when the Oakland A’s finally play their final game at Oakland Coliseum later this season?

#2 Daniel, You take a look at the fans in Arizona they didn’t have plans to do anything as this deal was floated by the NHL and the owner of the Utah Jazz Ryan Smith wasted no time and took the opportunity to purchase and move the Coyotes with little hesitation.

#3 Daniel, in the Coyotes move they did it a week’s time or less with very little warning. Giving Coyotes fans no time to protest, no time for a reverse boycott, and after the game they basically backed up the truck and called it a day. The feeling for the Coyotes fans that their team was relocating was something of a shock and a lot of heartbreak.

#4 The NHL team in Salt Lake City will be called Utah and no nickname has been discussed yet. They’re last team they had was a minor league AHL team called the Golden Eagles. The Eagles name in the AHL is now the Colorado Eagles. This won’t be a problem for the A’s as the A’s will be known as the A’s in Sacramento and Las Vegas.

#5 The shock value is the thing that everybody is talking about in Arizona that this could happen so fast that a team can relocate that quickly with almost little notice. For the Oakland A’s fans, employees, front office, media and even the players there is a percentage of them will not be going to Sacramento with the A’s when they make the trip north. But as opposed to the Coyotes staff and employees the A’s personnel and contractors have this season to get ready for the layoff and move to Sacramento by season’s end.

Join Daniel for the A’s relocation podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

World Baseball Classic: First time since 2006 WBC will not be hosted in California

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

March 9: Shugo Maki of Japan celebrates after hitting a home run from Su Changlong of China in the 8th inning. EUGENE HOSHIKO, AP

March 8, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

For the first time since  its inception in 2006, the World Baseball Classic will not stage its semi-final and final games in California. San Diego hosted the first championship round, followed by Los Angeles in 2009, San Francisco in 2013, and then it was back to Dodger Stadium in 2017. This year the closest Bay Area fans will get to the action will be Phoenix, one of the four venues for the first round.

Teams representing the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and Great Britain will duke it out in Chase Field. This quintet has been designated as Group C. The  teams with the two best won-lost records in this round will advance to the quarter finals, AKA round 2, where they’ll face the two top finishers of Groups A,B, and D. 

Now, let’s take a look at those groups.

Group A, consisting of  the Netherlands, Cuba, Italy,  Panama  and what the organizers refer to as Chinese Taipei opened the action when the Netherlands beat Cuba 4-0  in Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on what was March 7 here, but the afternoon of March 8 in Taiwan. In what was the nightcap in Asia, visiting Panama pummelled  the host team, 12-5,  but outhit them by only one run, 14-13.

No other scores were in for either of the Asian venues when I took  a break for packing my bags for Phoenix to write this. Group A’s next round, AKA the quarter finals, will be played in Taichung, with the sole surviving squad moving on to Miami for the championship round, i.e., the semi-final  and final series.

Japan, Korea, Australia, China, and the Czech Republic make up Group B. Their first game is scheduled to start in the Tokyo Dome at 4:00 pm here on a west coast Wednesday afternoon, about two hours from now, and will feature Australia and Korea. The advancing teams will remain in Tokyo for the quarter-finals and then go to Miami for the semi-final and final rounds.

Group D consists of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Israel, and Nicaragua. They’ll play their games in Miami, starting with the Puerto Rico-Nicaragua match up at 9:00, Pacific time, on March 11. The team that wins this Group D first round at Loan Depot Park in Miami will  continue to play there as long as they remain in the running.

All of the above invites a few questions. Among them are how does a team qualify,  what is the basis on which a qualifying team is assigned to one group rather than another, how are teams ranked with their pools?

There are three criteria for qualification. They are

• The host country automatically qualifies. As with sausages, it’s best not to inquire about what goes into making the decision of which country that will be.

•  Any team that reached the 2017 semi-finals makes it into the first round in 2023 and will be the top seed in its group.

• This point is delicate.  MLB, the WBC’s parent organization, describes it this way:  “… the remaining teams will be assigned based on December 31, 2021, WBSC [World Baseball  Softball Confederation] rankings in order to guaranteed [sic] competitive balance. Commercial, geographic and geopolitical considerations may also be applied to this process.”

Let that last sentence sink in.  When you’ve done, you can clear your mind by glancing at MLB.com’s ranking of the top ten teams. They are

 1) The Dominican Republic 

 2) The USA

 3)  Japan

 4)  Puerto Rico 

 5)  Mexico

 6)  Venezuela

 7)  Cuba

 8)  Canada

 9)   Italy

10) Korea.

I chose this source because I couldn’t find the final 2021 WSBC ratings and, in any case,  2022 was not a good year for lower level baseball and softball. I don’t know how accurate this MLB.com table is, but I suspect that it’s relevant that, of the four previous WBC titles, Japan has won two and the Dominican Republic and the United States have won the two remaining crowns. Cuba, the Netherlands, and Korea also have had notable success in the tournament.

In my next article, I’ll discuss, among other things, some thorny  “geographic and geopolitical considerations” that could affect the inclusion  and group placement of  a country as well as  individual players’  eligibility  to play for any given team. After that, I plan to send two more dispatches before I begin reporting on the games of the Phoenix round on March 11. They will deal with other tournament rules and with the representation of players from bay area  teams in the WBA.

Lewis Rubman is covering the World Baseball Classic for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings stunned by Suns 115-111 in Phoenix

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @Suns

By: Jeremiah Salmonson

Tuesday night was the second night of a back-to-back and the Kings looked poised to start a winning streak. The night before, the Kings beat the Orlando Magic 111-95 breaking a four-game losing streak. After the game, the Kings traveled to Phoenix to take on the Suns at 6:00 PM PST.

In the first quarter, the Kings came out sluggish. Four minutes into the game, the Kings were trailing 12-8 to the Suns. The Kings didn’t play a bad first quarter, but the Suns had a great quarter. In the first, the Suns managed 35 points compared to the Kings’ 32. It was something that you don’t normally see from the Suns, who came into this game 9-32 on the season.

In the second quarter, the Kings would come out in a big way. Doing what most people thought they would in the first, the Kings scored 40 points to take a commanding 21-point lead. On the other hand, the Suns scored 18 points to dig themselves a deep hole going into the third quarter. At the end of the first half, the Suns trailed 72-53. Leading scorers for the Kings were Buddy Hield and Ben McLemore both with 11 points.

In the third quarter, the script flipped. Just like the Kings scored 40 points in the second, the Suns scored 33 to tie the game. One of the main problems for the Kings was the number of turnovers allowed. The Kings allowed a crippling 25 turnovers Tuesday. That number is uncharacteristically high for the Kings, who are known for not allowing a high amount of turnovers. After three quarters, the game was tied at 86 points apiece.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Kings were by no means out of the game. What they had to do was get the momentum back and seal the win. Unfortunately for Kings fans, they weren’t able to do that. With the minutes winding down on the clock, the Suns and Kings traded shot for shot.

In the end, the Suns scored a few points too many for the Kings to handle. As the final buzzer sounded, the Kings were left to reflect on how they blew a 21-point advantage to lose to the worst team in the NBA. The obvious answer is the turnovers. The Suns received 25 free possessions from the Kings, which is not a good formula for winning. The final score was 115-111.

The loss put the Kings’ record down to 20-21. The win improved the Suns’ season to 10-32.

The Kings return home to host the Detroit Pistons Thursday at 7:00 PM PST.

Kevin Johnson featured on HBO Real Sports

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

MAYOR JOHNSON

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Sexual innuendo, police investigations, hush money, possible cover ups and political intrigue. No that is the latest plot line of the television show, “Scandal”. It is the latest plot line of allegations directed at Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

On Sunday evening, the lead story on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” was about Kevin Johnson and the allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior dating back 20 years. Real Sports is an investigative program that looks at various issues related to the sporting world and also profiles sports figures.

The investigative piece featured the stories of three women who have accused Johnson of unwanted sexual advances. One of the women is from the Phoenix area and her accusations date back to the time of Johnson’s playing days in the National Basketball Association.

The woman – who was 16-years old at the time – claims she saw Johnson as mentor before the NBA star changed the nature of the relationship. The woman went to the police who had her call Johnson in order to trap him into a confession. When that did not work, the investigation faded away.

Eventually, the woman and her family accepted a settlement for at least $200,000 in exchange for keeping the matter confidential. She now says accepting the money was a mistake. She also admits that money is now gone but claims she is speaking out because that is what should have happened 20-years ago.

The Real Sports story also features two young women who were students and then interns at the St. Hope Academy. Both claim that Johnson made unwanted sexual advances toward them.

REAL

Real Sports also focused on the stories of a former teacher and foundation employee at the St. Hope Academy and Foundation. They also claim to have knowledge of inappropriate sexual behavior by Johnson. Both individuals have resigned from their positions because of what they perceive as Johnson’s inappropriate actions.

The program also references a more recent incident where an employee in the Sacramento City Manger’s office claims Johnson made unwanted sexual advances  toward her. That employee put in a claim to receive $200,000 from the City of Sacramento because of Johnson’s actions. The city council voted to deny that claim.

Real Sports implied that the city employee may have received payment from Johnson.

Johnson recently announced that he would not seek a third term as Mayor of Sacramento. There is nothing specific to connect the accusations and the decision not to run but the timing of the events is interesting.

The man who kept the Kings in Sacramento, spearheaded the building of an new arena, has been a champion of innovative education, was an up and coming political figure and will soon be a NBA Hall of Famer is now the subject of some very negative news reporting that cannot be helpful to his future and legacy.

Because Real Sports is an HBO program, it will be repeated by the network multiple times giving readers a chance to watch the reports and draw their own conclusions.