Posts Tagged ‘mlb’
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
We took yesterday off to celebrating Bolt’s victory and Jamaica’s independence day… You can imagine, we’re still a bit foggy.
Here’s something interesting: The blue-ribbon committee of Major League Baseball held secret meetings last week in Oakland and San Jose (and San Francisco?) to talk about the Athletics… Interesting, interesting stuff. Nothing is more interesting than the fact that this ‘secret’ meeting is no longer secret. Inquiring minds, like Bud Selig, want to know who leaked…
Here’s something obvious… a new survey ranking the beauty of college campuses puts Santa Clara and Stanford near the top…
From Sunday’s Internal Affairs:
- Could Little Saigon Dust-Up Part 2 be upon us? Not if Mayor Reed and Madison Nguyen have anything to do with it… The issue is a highway sign.
- Speaking of Chuck Reed (and Madison Nguyen?), political consultant Vic Ajlouny is working to beat the minimum wage hike, get Rose Herrera elected, and make Johnny Khamis successful… All while trying to escape the adjective “slimy”…
Today, the San Jose City Council (and the County Board of Supervisors) will consider sales tax measures for the November ballot. San Jose’s will not pass the Council, probably – but the Supervisors will prove themselves to be blind to public opinion and commonsense…
A very strange Editorial in the Mercury News: The Ed Board endorsed (very early) David Ginsborg to replace Joe Judge on the Golden Spigot Board and asked Barbara Keegan, who also wants to run, to step aside (like Scott Knies did last week). Congrats to Suspenders Ginsborg and watch out Joe Judge, because the target is clearly on your back.
In even more crazy political news… Palo Alto’s City Council race gets even larger. We’ll provide a full update of candidates when the filing period closes (mercifully) on Friday…
Scott Herhold is mad at Milpitas… Why? Because they want a guy to take down a “We are the 99%” sign in front of his house… Ironically, nobody in Saratoga minds the “We are the 1%” sign in front of folks’ houses…
Tags: 420, bud selig, Chuck Reed, david ginsborg, golden spigot, herhold, joe judge, johnny khamis, little saigon, madison nguyen, milpitas, mlb, palo alto, rose herrera, santa clara, stanford, vic ajlouny
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Friday, May 25th, 2012
We know politics is the topic of the day, but the Chronicle interviewed San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed about baseball, and there are some gems.
- The City of San Jose has “certainly thought about” suing MLB to challenge their antitrust exemption…
- Reed said, “What the Giants are doing is very anti-competitive…” We know what he means, but the grammar is a not very great… Very anti-competitive is like being a little pregnant…
- Lew Wolff is meeting with Clorox CEO Don Knauss about some Oakland business folk intention to buy the team, which his not for sale…
Well, the money is pouring into the Measure B (pension modification measure) in San Jose. Over a $1 million so far according to campaign reports (reported by the Merc…) Of course, that doesn’t include the anti-Rose Herrera spending, which would increase that total considerably… More on that below…
In other political money news, if you thought Joe Simitian was going to coast into office without a fight, then you don’t know Diddly (or Barry Chang)… Barry Chang’s wife ‘loaned’ the Chang campaign $80,000! This will not get Barry Chang into a run-off, we predict, but it is an interesting factoid. (Remember, he’s the guy the Merc Editorial Board called “fanatical”… and not in a good way…)
The irony in this story is just too good to pass up passing along: Police use stun gun in brawl behind Zen Lounge. A brawl at Zen Lounge… really? (Kudos for Nick Veronin at The Voice for getting the word “donnybrook” into the story…)
To the blogs…
Rich Robinson forgets the number one rule of magic, never give away your secrets. His piece: How people hide political contributions… He left out the obvious example happening right now: having each individual union that is part of the South Bay Labor Council do their own hit on Rose Herrera so it doesn’t look like the South Bay Labor Council proper is spending all that money… Right Rich?
Speaking of Rose Herrera, if you’d like to see the latest anti-Rose piece, Protect San Jose will be happy to show you. We aren’t sure when or where Protect strayed from the original intent of their blog, but whatever:
Tags: barry chang, bud selig, chronicle, Chuck Reed, clorox, lew wolff, measure b, mlb, nick veronin, protect san jose, rich robinson, rose herrera, simitian
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Friday, May 18th, 2012
Is something happening with Facebook today? We can’t tell… (For “our” coverage, head over the San Mateo side of the blog, sorry Palo Alto…)
And while the San Mateo County side of blog goes public today… Palo Alto takes a brunt of the bad news today. Palo Alto is the former home of Facebook, but it is also the home of Hewlett Packard, where “huge job cuts” are rumored. Ouch. Don’t worry HP engineers, Facebook is hiring…
While technology is the big news today, something more past-time-y is also newsworthy today. Bud Selig said something yesterday, but it didn’t amount to much. One thing appears certain, Lew Wolff is hot-to-trot on downtown San Jose.
Remember the story earlier in the week about graves being moved from underneath Valley Med… Well, here’s a human interest story for you from Mike Rosenberg:
Ana Silva always told everyone her mother was buried in a cheap box at a pauper’s grave under a county hospital during the days when fruit-pickers settled in the Santa Clara Valley. Her family believed her, but no one else did — not the county, not the hospital. Silva died without giving her mother’s remains a proper Catholic burial.
To the blogs…
Rich Robinson is now the spokesperson for the labor movement, Sheriff Laurie Smith, no on Measure B, and high-speed rail and is using San Jose Inside as his sounding board.
Also on San Jose Inside, they (and Metro) endorse Rose Herrera, and Pierluigi Oliverio, Ash Kalra…
Protect San Jose (San Jose Police Officers’ Association) is having a scholarship dinner tonight. The Daily Fetch will buy the ticket for Rose Herrera if she is interested in going…
Tags: bud selig, facebook, herrera, hp, inside, kalra, laurie smith, lew wolff, mlb, Oliverio, palo alto, protect, rich robinson, san jose a's, sjpoa, vmc
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Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
We’ll start in Oakland, yes Oakland… with two reasons why Major League Baseball should want to get the hell out of there: Ignacio De La Fuente and Don Perata. From the esteemed paper to the north: “…Consulting payments to Oakland City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente by a group tied to former state-senator-turned-lobbyist Don Perata are raising questions about a possible conflict of interest in the awarding of a $7 million contract to run the Oakland Coliseum complex…” If there was anything shocking about this it would be shocking…
Here’s something you haven’t read in a while: The City of San Jose prioritized road repair work that they’ll (hopefully) fund next year. The times, they are a changin’?
The times might be a changin’ at San Jose City Hall, but not quickly… Moody’s joined Fitch and downgraded the City’s credit rating from AAA to AA1… Who knew that Moody’s was following #pensiongate on NBC Bay Area? (We’re kidding…)
There was a bit of a scare at San Jose’s downtown post office yesterday because there was a package of white powder that someone thought was anthrax (and no one started snorting)… it was “a harmless herbal remedy shipped from Taiwan…”
In Palo Alto High there was a scary scene at swim practice when a swimmer lost consciousness but quick-acting staff pulled him from the water, administered CPR, and all is well…
Tags: anthrax, delafuente, mlb, moodys, paly, perata
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Monday, March 5th, 2012
The City of San Jose’s budget looks better in coming years… The Tracy Seipel at the Merc suggests that this could complicate the Mayor’s pension reform measure… True? And a lot more information about Tuesday’s Council meeting where a pension reform measure may/will be put on San Jose’s ballot… pro-labor forces are on a media tear… they got State legislators to chime in and ask for an audit of San Jose’s finances. Labor folks also proposed a new reform measure that they were pushing on Saturday night… it has “GUARANTEES savings…” By the way, the State doing an audit of San Jose’s finances is ironic at best…
If you would like a tutorial (that labor will not like) please read Daniel Borenstein’s piece on the Editorial page in the Merc... or this: Making sense of San Jose’s pension mess (via John Woolfolk…)
Perhaps a pension reform measure would be a smart thing for Stockton… they are heading for bankruptcy… this presents an interesting backdrop for San Jose’s discussion.
There was lots of buzz/chatter over the weekend about the A’s not getting territorial rights to San Jose… but Ray Ratto breaks all the confusion down for us all…
There is a terrible, and growing, story of a local teacher molesting students at Evergreen’s O.B. Whaley Elementary School…
In other local crime news… the largest meth bust in the history of the United States happened right here, in San Jose. 750 pounds of the stuff. Perhaps the lack of meth had something to do with a shooting at El Tarasco Bar in Japantown on Friday night…
Mountain View is considering an affordable housing parcel tax… but support doesn’t come close to the 2/3 threshold. With the end of Redevelopment, will this be a new trend?
Tags: #pensiongate, meth, mlb, ob whaley, ray ratto, san jose a's, stockton
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Monday, February 27th, 2012
It has been a big few days for Santa Clara County soon-to-be-based professional sports teams… Last week, the Earthquakes’ new stadium was approved by the San Jose Planning Commission… and then later this week:
The Santa Clara City Council will approve a lease agreement for the stadium that will generate revenue for the City, but also require construction to begin before July 4th-ish…
San Jose is preparing to approve road work to connect Coleman Avenue to Cisco Field… Note to Major League Baseball: When the City of San Jose moves faster than you do, you have a big, big problem…
And back to #pensiongate…
The Merc Editorial Board sets the stage for what will be a very, very interesting week inside San Jose City Hall… their take? Talking is good…
This isn’t so much #pensiongate as pension payment… the San Jose City Council will be talking new taxes on Tuesday. That should be fun.
Internal Affairs lets us know that someone is trying to get San Jose residents to call the San Jose City Council to have them voice their concerns over the pension reform measure to be voted on soon… except whomever is planning this advocacy effort called Rose Herrera at home to get Rose Herrera at home to call Rose Herrera at work.
Not to be left out the fun, the City of Palo Alto declared an impasse with their Police Officers union…
We don’t really know what to make of this story, which we found in the San Mateo County Daily Journal… “…San Jose police Friday said actor Ashton Kutcher was present at child pornography raids in Marin County Thursday but did not enter any residences and was not involved in enforcement actions…”
We’d be little more impressed if Ashton Kutcher was riding along when this arrest was made: Hells Angel arrested in killing of fellow gang member… You remember the stories…
Tags: #pensiongate, ashton kutcher, earthquakes, hells angels, mlb, palo alto, rose herrera, san jose a's, santa clara 49ers
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Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
As we’ve said before, this is a big week for the Santa Clara 49ers. Not only is there a huge playoff game this weekend, but more importantly (?) the Santa Clara City Council approved the 49ers’/Great America parking deal… Let’s hope the good week continues over Drew Brees.
In other big Santa Clara (business) news, Intel is going to make chips for smartphones and tablets…
In other sporting news, from Tracy Seipel at the Merc: “…It’s not on their official agenda, but when the owners of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams gather Wednesday in Scottsdale, Ariz., for their first meeting of 2012, observers say a proposed relocation for the Oakland A’s to San Jose is an almost unavoidable topic of discussion…” We guess the Brown Act doesn’t really apply…
The Chronicle found something about San Jose growing up that they don’t hate… The BART extension funding.
Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr. was selected/elected to be the next President of the Board of Supervisors. Insert wise ass comment here ____________…
A violent night in San Jose near the eastern part of Willow Glen. “Man shot, two others stabbed…”
In other crime news, here we go again: A member of a Parents Teachers Organization is suspected of embezzling at an elementary school in Sunnyvale. Sound familiar Trace?
Tags: bart, drew brees, intel, mlb, san jose a's, santa clara, santa clara 49ers, shirakawa, sunnyvale, trace, willow glen
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Friday, September 30th, 2011
That’s from
Sports Illustrated. Nothing locally on this story yet, except right here… The
story goes on to suggest the San Jose-hating Giants don’t want the A’s to move to San Jose, blah, blah, blah. It is as if the Giants are worried that if the A’s move to San Jose, the Giants’ players won’t be able to swing the bat. Oh wait…
The
Merc Editorial Board has read
Protect San Jose… Actually, it seems like the read the pension reform proposals put forward by 5 City of San Jose unions totalling around $500 million. The Ed Board would
like the City to schedule a study session so the proposals get a thorough public hearing…
We’ll end on a sad, yet hopeful, note. Santa Clara Councilmember, and former Mayor, Pat Mahan announced this week that during a routine mammogram, breast cancer was discovered. She will have surgery “
and a few therapies” and is confident in her recovery. The entire
Daily Fetch team wishes her well.
Tags: giants, hells angels, mlb, pat mahan, pension, protect, san jose a's, santa clara, vagos
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Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
We are going to start with Major League Baseball, where there are plenty of Bay Area stories (with perhaps a South Bay impact?)… First, the Giants have proved that not being able to hit was not a fluke. They can’t hit. And they probably won’t be hitting themselves right out of the playoffs, even though they pitch great… Maybe a worse Giants’ team will make them more interested in cutting a deal ($) with the South Bay? To the other side of the Bay. As
Moneyball is slated to open,
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is planning to leave town (maybe?)…
If you think you slow down a lot now when approaching a school during school hours, wait until San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio gets his way.
He’d like the speed limit to be 15 mph around schools… We wonder if
Protect San Jose will have anything to say about not having enough Police Officers to enforce this…
Tags: billy beane, brad pitt, el camino hospital, giants, kabul, mlb, moneyball, pierluigi oliverio, protect, sheriffs deputies, sin jose
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Monday, August 1st, 2011
Ah, August, time when the San Jose City Council gets back to work. And back to work they will get this week. The budget/pension/ballot initiative/head-fake? will be back on the docket. See you tomorrow on Santa Clara Street…
A’s owner Lew Wolff is in the news, and this time not because he’s pissed at Major League Baseball for sitting on their arses on the San Jose A’s issue… This time, he would like to have Frank McCourt, the prick-owner of the LA Dodgers to sell the team and stop embarrassing himself, the City of Angels, and Major League Baseball overall…
In Redistricting drama… Santa Clara doesn’t want to be in the East Bay according to the Merc’s Internal Affairs crew. (Even though the East Bay — Raiders — might soon be in Santa Clara…) On the flip side, Assemblymember Nora Campos appreciates not being in the Central Valley anymore…
That’s all for now… Hey, and thanks for the congrats on the three year anniversary.
Tags: dodgers, lew wolff, mlb, san jose, santa clara raiders
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