FRIDAY PULSE
**Those sparkling new stadium renderings on the pages of the Oak Trib and SF Chronicle look awesome; too bad they're about as close to fruition as the Warriors hiring Rick Barry as their new coach.
I had to laugh (again) to the morning radio guys yakking endlessly about how the A's want to go to San Jose--theta's where the 'money is...and the 49ers want no part of SF--they're "destined" for Santa Clara. Yeah, right, and I'm destined for a night out with Angelina Jolie, (I have slightly better odds)
Want the truth? NOBODY and I do mean nobody is going ANYWHERE. At least for the foreseeable future, all that one hears is a lot of TALK. TALK is cheap. Action speaks louder than words and we're years and years away from any action, if at all.
A little logic is due.
--THE A'S: Yes, the Coliseum is outdated, old, and esthetically speaking, horrible. The "Mt. Davis" edifice wrecked the stadium. There's no doubt, but the subsequent tarping of the upper deck and Lew Wolff's continued anti-Oakland venom is ridiculous on several fronts, not the least of which involves alienating an entire fan base and systematically screwing up the entire Eastbay/CoCo/Oakland minions.
Wolff and John Fisher desperately want San Jose. We get it. We know guys, but at best, at best, that's at least five-six, maybe seven years away. AT BEST. If they broke ground tomorrow on a new A's yard in SJ, it would be 2013 before the SJ ballpark would be ready. Facts are a bitch.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the corporate dough is in Silicon Valley, but corporate dough can't buy off MLB, the SF Giants territorial rights, voter/residential opposition, the works.
Ditto Oakland's PR campaign to offer a plan of three new locations to keep the A's in Oakland. They all look spectacular on paper, but get back to us when you have Lew Wolff's ear. Although the Oakland options, (particularly the existing parking lot at the current stadium) is far more practical and reasonable.
Everything else is fantasy and pipe-dreams. There's a good reason why its hard to build new stadiums in California. The Giants and Padres were the last to pull if off and even their yards were privately financed. Good luck in this climate building stadiums.
**49ERS/Santa Clara--SF: Again, real gorgeous to see that football stadium in Hunter's Point and Santa Clara's beautiful rendering in the parking lot at Great America. While you're at it, why not dub it the Taj Mahal.
Point is, BOTH cities have more obstacles than the Obama health-care bill passing Congress this year. At best, 2014 before the Niners get a new home. Talk about a virtual rubic's cube of mess getting anything concrete on that quagmire.
From this angle, Candlestick is a certified dump; again, we all know that, but barring the Yorks rumored LA interests should they not get a new building agreement within the year, looks like Candlestick will be home for the 49Er's for at least five more years.
**SAN JOSE SHARKS....I'll be heading down to the Shark tank tonight to schmooze with Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda; take in the hockey Nirvana and sit with the guys in the broadcast booth high-atop the HP Pavilion to give you a first-hand account of what these two broadcast-Elvis' are really like. We all what to know and I'm here to tell ya. Its a rough life, but somebody has to live it.
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