Having just turned sixty, I’ve become accustomed to seeing older crowds at events with the artists I prefer. I anticipated that possibility when I went to see Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan at the Chase Center in San Francisco last Friday, but the crowd turned out to be a mix of ages, with a number …
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Yesterday I saw Logan Webb, the best starting pitcher on the 2023 San Francisco Giants, come within a strike of pitching a complete game shutout against the Texas Rangers, a team with one of the toughest lineups in baseball. I had wanted to see him for a long time since he emerged as the ace …
After a mediocre start over the first two months of the season, mirroring last year’s precisely .500 record, the San Francisco Giants have caught fire in the last two weeks, winning eleven of the last twelve games and eight of nine against their rivals in the National League West, including a sweep of the Los …
The Golden State Warriors’ 2023 season ended last weekend with their conference semi-final series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the final Game 6 result being a 20-point blowout. Though the Warriors had been mostly favored in the series, the result shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone who follows the NBA regularly. The current …
I didn’t fill out an NCAA March Madness bracket this year. Nor was I planning to watch any of the games. A mild illness changed my plans on the latter, when yesterday my brain was too impaired for anything but mindlessly watching most of three games as the first tournament weekend concluded. My first impression …
California has received a late-season load of snow in recent days, including blizzards in unlikely places such as Los Angeles County. This has meant ideal conditions for snowshoeing, an activity that I and my partner took up a couple of years ago as a low-risk release from pandemic-induced cabin fever. During a break in the …
The last few days have brought a flurry of NBA player trades, more than I can remember in the last few years for a mid-season deadline. Even the Warriors participated, trading their former lottery draft pick James Wiseman in a multi-team deal that netted them Gary Payton II, whom they had previously allowed to depart …
Last Saturday, I took my daughter to see the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. It was my first live sports event in three years, reflecting my caution regarding COVID and even the run-of-the-mill bugs that I had previously accepted as part of normal life. I missed Stephen Curry, and I missed the excitement that comes …
Last August, my daughter began an 18-month contract to teach English in China. I decided that this was a unique travel opportunity, so after months of planning, arrangements and probably about four grand out of my wallet, I flew to Shanghai for a week to be with her over Christmas. It was an adventure of …
Once upon a time, the NFL was three yards and a cloud of dust. Below is Bob Griese’s passing statistics in the Miami Dolphins’ victory in Super Bowl VIII in 1974: 7 passes attempted, 6 completed for 74 yards Here are Jimmy Garoppolo’s passing stats for the victorious San Francisco 49ers in today’s NFC Championship …
Two years ago, I got in on the first iteration of Jimmy G fever and watched Jimmy Garappolo and the San Francisco 49ers beat the playoff-bound Jacksonville Jaguars in a 44-33 barn-burner, with the side benefit of being able to brag to all fans of The Good Place that I got to see Blake Bortles …
For those who are into wine, just a helpful announcement that it’s harvest time in the Willamette Valley wine country near Portland. To get the full experience, it’s worth the extra fee to arrange a tour to see the Pinot Noir grapes coming for pressing, as I did at the Domaine Drouhin Winery in the …
Much as I enjoyed seeing the US Open at Pebble Beach last June, I didn’t get much of a chance to see the actual golf course. Last week, I decided to fix that by visiting during a tournament practice day when cameras were allowed. Here are some of the most famous holes in golf. Enjoy. …
When this season started back in April, I had fully expected Madison Bumgarner to be wearing something other than black and orange by now. The San Francisco Giants, under the new regime of Farhan Zaidi, seemed fully committed to a tear-down and rebuild that would hopefully repeat Zaidi’s success as the architect of the current …
It seems hard to imagine that an attack on America’s Pacific Coast was ever a serious possibility, but the remains of the forts and coastal batteries at Fort Stevens State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River indicate that such was the case for much of the nation’s history. Whether the enemy might have …
The Golden State Warriors went down kicking and screaming in the 2019 NBA Finals, but ultimately the devastating injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson were too much for them to overcome against the relatively healthy Toronto Raptors. It was amazing that the Dubs pushed the series to six games, with a seventh only avoided …
To those who plan to attend a major golf tournament, I can offer some advice. Take a chair with you, show up first thing in the morning when the gates open, pick out a spot with a good view, preferably near one of the greens, and stay there to watch the tournament unfold in front …
Between my nosebleed seat ticket, hotel and other incidentals, I spent about $500 this weekend to attend Game 3 of the 2019 NBA Western Conference Finals between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. Some would consider this kind of expense for one game extravagant and possibly a little crazy, but I did …
For those who don’t want to waste time on their own online searches, here are some stories on the upcoming Warrior-Blazer NBA Western Conference Finals: 1. ESPN Expert Picks: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26740169/2019-nba-playoffs-experts-predictions-warriors-blazers-bucks-raptors-series Everybody picked the Dubs. Great “nobody believes in us” bulletin board material here for the Blazers. 2. Best Chances of a Blazer Upset http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26733784/5-5-blazers-best-chance-all-upset 3. …
It’s happening. The Portland Trail Blazers will meet the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 Western Conference Finals. Hard to say which half of the match-up was more improbable – the Warriors eliminating the Houston Rockets without Kevin Durant or the Blazers scratching and clawing out a Game 7 from the Denver Nuggets on the …
Near the end of the first half of the Portland Trailblazers’ first round playoff Game 1 last year against the New Orleans Pelicans, I noticed on the scoreboard that Damian Lilliard and CJ McCollum had combined for a total of 3 points. It looked like a misprint, but in fact it turned out to be …
In the decade when Tiger Woods was in his prime, he won his fourteen major championships in large part by his ability to out-drive his opponents, often by thirty or forty yards off the tee, and even more by the intimidation he wielded on Sundays, when he could show up on the course in his …
Last week, I thought that Oregon had a chance against Virginia in their Sweet Sixteen matchup, and I was right. Though Oregon ended up losing by four points, the margin was never more than five for the last fifteen minutes of the game and was usually less. If there was any consolation to be had …
Judging from the teams that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, it would appear that the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament has gone pretty much according to the seedings. Only two teams remain that were higher than a 4 seed. One is Auburn, a 5 seed, and the other, to the pleasure of most of …
When it comes to leaving a game, there are generally two conflicting principles involved. The first is to beat the crowd to the exits and avoid having to wait an extra hour or two to make it out of the parking lot. The second is to be loyal and not bail early on your team. …
Ever since CBS’s 60 Minutes did a feature last year on Giannis Antetokounmpo, otherwise known as “The Greek Freak”, I decided to make a point of paying a visit to Sacramento when the Milwaukee Bucks came to town. Though I made the trip a few days ago, I was very nearly disappointed. Giannis, a Greek …
Peter Magowan, savior of the San Francisco Giants, passed away last week at 76. His NY Times obit is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/obituaries/peter-magowan-dead.html One might quibble with the details of his purchase of the Giants in 1992, but one point is absolutely certain. If he had not had the vision and acumen to build Pacific Bell Park …
Other than being the daughter of Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash is best known nowadays for a conversation she had one day at eighteen on a tour bus with her famous father. They were talking about music, and when Johnny Cash found that his daughter knew few of the songs that to him were second nature …
For those who don’t follow the NFL, the Chicago Bears experienced a heartbreaking end to their season, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles when the potential game-winning field goal hit both the upright and the crossbar before bouncing back onto the field. It was, as the following post noted, a double doink: https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/1/6/18171422/cody-parkey-doink-chicago-bears-wild-card-playoffs-philadelphia-eagles To add insult …
After their face plant in the first round of the NBA playoffs last season against the New Orleans Pelicans, it was widely expected that the Portland Trail Blazers would acknowledge the competitive ceiling of their roster and trade one or more of their stars in the hope of finding a path at least to the …