The thing that's missing most in our local media (and for that matter in America in this fast-paced, cyber-oriented 21st century) is a sense of community. People no longer have the time or desire (especially here on the west coast) to put down roots. They're always hopping about as the search for that next 'big gig' on the horizon.
I once worked alongside a guy who ended up having something like 24 radio jobs over a period of 21 years. He was a hard working reporter who put in the hours, was smart, interested in people and quite likeable.However he was constantly frustrated by the everyday constraints of small market radio, and the sometimes dysfunctional behavior of the people running the stations. I thought he was nuts to stay in the profession, because he kept doing the same thing at a different station in a different town, year after year. However he always enjoyed getting to know new small communities, and he had a long-suffering girlfriend who didn't seem to mind living with him out of suitcases like some nomads.
It kind of reminds me of the joke I once heard about the nomadic family; they're on the move again and one of the kids in the family asks dad: "Hey dad, when are we gonna get there?" Dad's reply: "We're nomads son, we're never going to get there!"
Kind of reminds me of what a lot of Americans and especially people in the media are doing more of these days. 'Back in the day,' (I guess that's anytime prior to when you were born) people might move two of three, sometimes even four times to get that 'ideal job.' (My friend who hippity-hopped around country was an exception). Now I see people changing jobs six or eight or ten times, and usually by the time they're in their mid 30s.
Stations and companies are not interested in investing in their employees anymore (with rare exception) unless that employee is some kind of valuable asset that will bring the company attention and advertising dollars.
So face and names come and go. Wayne Shannon is a classic example. Very talented broadcaster, very bright and likeable guy. But either a restless spirit or clashes with management led him to leave the bay area after a memorable six year stint. But by today's standards, Wayne Shannon was a stable, steady, identifiable name you expected to see when you turned on KRON.
There are still some good broadcasters out there but the quality and number of them has alarmingly shrunk in recent years, which is a sad thing. People in our community deserve better than what we're now seeing and hearing on our local radio and TV airwaves.
Radnich did acknowledge Shannons death today. Since they didn't seem to have anything but a passing working relationship.Raddy didn't add much to knowing Wayne. And somebody punked him by saying the Beasty Boys Diamond is Neil Diamonds kid as Radnich read on air. He ain't.
What makes Dana King so powerful? She sits pretty in a chair reading stories someone else wrote night after night. And despite her big paycheck, KPIX continues to lag in the ratings.
If I had to guess in the sports dept-Larry Baer? What he decides is good for the owners of the Giants,is what Larry gets. If that's overpowering Comcast and good old Ted with Giant biased "reporters" and columnists..to of course deciding who can speak on KNBR..to his discredit Baer seems to forgive Krueger with no input from the Giants Latin players.. compared to banishing Bruce for his Sabean Jones. If I had to guess..Larry didn't have Bruce fired to save himself a bothersome lawsuit. The Giants have lawyers to advise how far...So,sent him off to the 1050 cornfield instead. My guess.
Speaking of power,you EVER got behind an expensive car that had a license plate holder that said "No,I don't think I'm cooler or better then you,I just really like cars". Neither have I.
I could not believe Radnich told the Neil Diamond reference on the air,without fact checking it first,I hope KNBR has made an on the air correction by now.
Larry Baer doesn't directly tell the stations who to hire and fire, or who to put on the air, but his suggestions are certainly listened to closely by the folks at both KNBR and Comcast. All three entities (the Giants, KNBR and Comcast) are tied together, and it makes it better for all concerned if they promote everything good that the Giants are doing.
One of the big reasons they pack the joint every night (besides winning the 2010 World Series), is that the bay area hard core fan, as well as the casual baseball follower needs a reason to show up. Baer and his team of marketing folks do plenty to give them a reason to fill those seats with things such as Panda hats, bobble head giveaways and old timers days at the park (how about Willie Mays' 81st birthday celebration over the weekend?) All these help bring out the 'little kid' in all of the fans.
Believe it or not, Lou Wolff is also as much a mover and a shaker as Larry Baer, just in a much different way.
But why are the A's struggling at the gate while the Giants have a gold mine? The A's current record is as good as the Giants (though I believe at season's end, a young, mostly inexperienced A's club will fade while the Giants will probably stay in the race until the final weeks unless the injury bug keeps hitting them.)
It's not just the beautiful ballpark that helps the Giants, and it's not just the fact that the A's owners go cheap; (having a minor league announcer fill in for Ken Korach and have a mostly unknown, young lineup on the field), but it's also due to the fact that Lou Wolff won't commit to the area. He complains about the ballpark, expects cities such as Fremont and San Jose to help build him and Donald Fisher a new one so they can make more millions of dollars, and he's been fortunate that his GM Billy Beane, and field manager Bob Melvin have gotten the most out of a mostly unknown group of youngsters and retreads. But Beane can only do so much.
Wolff and Fisher will stay in the game as long as they're making money, and they're making a nice profit at the moment because of revenue sharing and a low payroll.
Meanwhile Larry Baer needs to continue to keep his group of sensitive, sometimes prickly owners happy, and that's never an easy task, given the sometimes super sized egos involved.
So it shouldn't surprise anyone what powerful, rich people do. They do what's best for themselves, and if that means promoting the heck out of a decent club (such as the Giants do) to draw fans, or going cheap and keeping the payroll down to save money (as the A's do) then they're going to continue to do it.
This isn't rocket science and there isn't any conspiracy involved.
It's simply wealthy people doing what they've been doing since 'civilized' man emerged on planet earth.
I don't think any of the on air journalists are very powerful any longer. Not with the creation of the internet. Most likely the most powerful Television news figure currently is 7 On Your Side's, Michael Finney...
An idiot who can make it happen past a contract option with his schtick and still gripe about his "poorness" and his gayness on and on and on and on and on must be in the Top 15.
What's he got, pictures on Hosely and Hart with goats?
Whoever said Larry Baer in the comments above -- wow, that's a great call. Obsequious radio announcers who never question the team's personnel or decision making? Check. Pro-Giants "puppets" populating KNBR's sports talk hosting ranks? Check. Complete mind control of Comcast Sports talent and production? Check. Baer is a cut above the rest. Love how he's survived so many regime changes as well. (And keeps getting promoted with each managing partner who is thrown overboard!) He's a smarter, more ruthless, and much diabolical version of former Warriors general manager Jethro Bodine...ERRRRR I mean Larry Riley.
Thanks. And add that Baer influence also extends to KRON and KNTV. Radnich would never go off on a Giant rant..and KNTV partners with Comcast,that partners with the Giants and 7 degrees of Larry Baer. Or is it two degrees? every other local sports hosts is in his grasp.
Our local Media are nothing but a bunch of "Brown Nosers." Example...We have a local professional Sports team that has been all but destroyed by the Mid-Western ownership for over a decade. Then all of a sudden they pull their heads out of the sand, and put together 1 winning season since they have owned the Professional Sports team.
Now the local Media "Reveres" the Ownership, screw all the fuck-up decisions they have made in the past, our local Media is "ALL" on board with the teams management to move the Iconic team to the Suburbs. No questions asked or objectivity in the matter at all, the Local Media had their lips affixed to Ownership's Asses...Boy do I miss Hank Plant!
Will agree somewhat that the York family all but ruined the Niners, as Denise and Dr John didn't have the 'right stuff' or the passion to own or run the team like Eddie D. But you can also blame Eddie for losing ownership to the Yorks...he shouldn't have been trying to bribe people in Louisiana for that casino license. Why Eddie always revered the mafia-types, I'll never understand. Probably his dad's influence (the old man had some shady associations), but you think Eddie would have learned to have been above that. One of his failings..I guess, but we all have them.
Jed is a little 'full of himself,' but he was smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth when Harbaugh fell into his lap, and certainly the team has found a gem in GM Trent Baalke who has quietly emerged as one of the best in the business.
The moves this team made in the off season have to make it a prohibitive favorite to go to at least the Conference Finals again...and Harbaugh will keep these guys in line and passionate and unified.
He's an amazing coach..all you have to do is look at how he turned around the moribund Stanford program. That 2010 Stanford team may have been the best ever in the schools history.
But the way this 49ers Stadium deal has gone down is a bit unfortunate, as long time fans are getting rewarded by getting gouged for future tickets during a time of economic austerity.
The Giants had to do the same thing to build their park, as local municipalities are not going to pony up money...especially in these times to build stadiums for pro teams (regardless of whether it helps the local economy in the long run or not!). So the Niners had no choice.
Hunter's Point? The site would have been nice for the views...but major cleanup..a new freeway off ramp through one of the most depressed parts of town, and getting the place earthquake proofed would have been a nightmare. It would have helped the economy in that part of town, sure, but building it would have been a monumental task, and San Francisco has never had the stomach to do anything like that for any of it's teams (one of the reasons SF almost lost the Giants in 1976 and again in 1992, and did lose the Warriors to the east bay back in 1972).
If you want to take shots at local team's owners...you can make a case for just about any of them. As I said before, rich people don't get to be rich by being nice...they will step on anyone or anything if necessary to get things done 'their way.' That's not only America...but the way of humankind...and unfortunately has been forever!
Wow, where to begin. -Harbaugh did not "fall into Jed's lap", he was actively pursued by the team, with the Redskins among others also courting Harbaugh. -Hunters Point had nothing to do with the Warriors leaving SF. -Santa Clara is kicking in a ton of $ to get that stadium built (and will most likely get left holding the bag ala Alameda County and the Coliseum). The $ SF was offering to help build the stadium was nowhere near the amount Santa Clara was willing to pledge. Corporate welfare doesn't fly too well in SF. Niner fans would have been gauged regardless to where the stadium was built.
My post was about the "Lack there Of," Powerful People in the Media in the Bay Area.
And heads up, Anonymous @ 11:57 Nailed it...The Giants Stadium was Privately Financied, the 49ers in SC is being funded by the taxpayers.
Hunters Point was "never" just about a proposed 49er Stadium...The City of SF is Building a whole new community out in the Hunters Point/Bay View District, by Lennar Urban SF. The City just received 7 Million dollars to start Building one parcel of land with housing. And cleaning up of the area has been funded & started since 2007 by Senator Diane Feinstein.
The Mis-information about the 49er Stadium in SF & Santa Clara continues...But Follow the money in SC for Gawds sake...SMH
The most powerful people in Bay Area media are likely names most folks have never heard of. It's not the disc jockeys, news anchors or talk show hosts. The "power" lies with the decision-makers: the GM's, Program Directors and others who decide, for example, if KGO should continue to be a great station, or if it should be reduced to a shell of itself. Hey, I didn't say the powerful always make GOOD decisions....
Actually, Jim Harbaugh DID fall into the Niners lap. If you know anything about Harbaugh..yes...he's very ambitious...but he was also looking for a place where he could have maximum control of his situation, and that wouldn't have happened with meddling owner, Daniel Snyder at Washington. Jed York and the Niners were right here in the backyard (remember Harbaugh grew up along the SF peninsula and also coached at Stanford for five years, so he wanted to stay put).
secondly..you didn't read my post clearly enough because I never said that Hunter's point had ANYTHING to do with the WARRIORS leaving SF. They left SF in 1972 after playing the first ten years in the bay area basically in three places; the Cow palace, Civic Auditorium downtown (now Bill Graham arena) and the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Oakland Coliseum Arena was the most attractive facility and usually the crowds there equaled those at the Cow Palace, and always outdrew the ones at Civic (which could only hold just over 7200.)
The reason the 49ers left SF was that the Santa Clara alternative made more sense....the new stadium will be right across the street from their training facility and the space near great America was available. Hunter's Point would have taken a lot more money and a lot more time to have built, and some SF voters would probably tried to find have found a way to 'nimby' that proposal to defeat, even if it would have helped the local economy. The city also (despite what former Mayor Gavin Newsom says) didn't approach the Niners with the kind of 'sales pitch' that folks in the south bay used to attract York.
Again, I'm no big fan of Jed York either...but he simply did the 'expedient' thing and made the move south to get out of a crumbling, inadequate (by 21st century standards) m facility as quickly as he could.
Jed York DID heavily pursue Harbaugh, just like Miami did, Harbaugh's College Michigan did, and Denver did. Imho, the "only" reason that the 49ers had the upper hand in the deal is because Harbaugh was coaching at Stanford, he had childred in the community, and his Wife was Preggers...harbaugh's wife did not want to leave the community of Palo Alto.
KPIX is investigating the Cal Stadium Sports Complex, I can't wait for them to do the same for the Santa Clara Stadium...but I won't hold my breath!!!
And you might think Santa Clara makes sense...but you will never convince me of that...An NFL Stadium on 17 acres of land for 70,000 fans....Nah....It will soon be discovered that this stadium project was Flawed from jumpstreet.
The thing that's missing most in our local media
ReplyDelete(and for that matter in America in this fast-paced, cyber-oriented 21st century) is a sense of community. People no longer have the time or desire (especially here on the west coast) to put down roots. They're always hopping about as the search for that next 'big gig' on the horizon.
I once worked alongside a guy who ended up having something like 24 radio jobs over a period of 21 years. He was a hard working reporter who put in the hours, was smart, interested in people and quite likeable.However he was constantly frustrated by the everyday constraints of small market radio, and the sometimes dysfunctional behavior of the people running the stations. I thought he was nuts to stay in the profession, because he kept doing the same thing at a different station in a different town, year after year. However he always enjoyed getting to know new small communities, and he had a long-suffering girlfriend who didn't seem to mind living with him out of suitcases like some nomads.
It kind of reminds me of the joke I once heard about the nomadic family; they're on the move again and one of the kids in the family asks dad:
"Hey dad, when are we gonna get there?" Dad's reply: "We're nomads son, we're never going to get there!"
Kind of reminds me of what a lot of Americans and especially people in the media are doing more of these days. 'Back in the day,' (I guess that's anytime prior to when you were born) people might move two of three, sometimes even four times to get that 'ideal job.' (My friend who hippity-hopped around country was an exception). Now I see people changing jobs six or eight or ten times, and usually by the time they're in their mid 30s.
Stations and companies are not interested in investing in their employees anymore (with rare exception) unless that employee is some kind of
valuable asset that will bring the company attention and advertising dollars.
So face and names come and go. Wayne Shannon is a classic example. Very talented broadcaster,
very bright and likeable guy. But either a restless spirit or clashes with management led him to leave the bay area after a memorable six year stint. But by today's standards, Wayne Shannon was a stable, steady, identifiable
name you expected to see when you turned on KRON.
There are still some good broadcasters out there but the quality and number of them has alarmingly shrunk in recent years, which is a sad thing.
People in our community deserve better than what we're now seeing and hearing on our local radio and TV airwaves.
Savage is top dawg in bay area media personal. somthing big going down?
ReplyDeleteSavage is not heard in the Bay Area so he is not a mover and shaker here.
DeleteRadnich did acknowledge Shannons death today. Since they didn't seem to have anything but a passing working relationship.Raddy didn't add much to knowing Wayne.
ReplyDeleteAnd somebody punked him by saying the Beasty Boys Diamond is Neil Diamonds kid as Radnich read on air. He ain't.
That ranks up there with Gary confusing Michele Williams the actress with Michele Williams of Destiny's Child. Tries too hard to be in the flow...
DeleteMost Powerful Person ON THE AIR:
ReplyDeleteDana King (KPIX), hands down
What makes Dana King so powerful? She sits pretty in a chair reading stories someone else wrote night after night. And despite her big paycheck, KPIX continues to lag in the ratings.
DeleteAre you including the Whole Bay Area, or just SF
ReplyDeletePhil Matier and Andy Ross.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Matier and Ross are the definition of trustworthy journalism. Love their work.
DeleteIf I had to guess in the sports dept-Larry Baer? What he decides is good for the owners of the Giants,is what Larry gets. If that's overpowering Comcast and good old Ted with Giant biased "reporters" and columnists..to of course deciding who can speak on KNBR..to his discredit Baer seems to forgive Krueger with no input from the Giants Latin players.. compared to banishing Bruce for his Sabean Jones. If I had to guess..Larry didn't have Bruce fired to save himself a bothersome lawsuit. The Giants have lawyers to advise how far...So,sent him off to the 1050 cornfield instead.
ReplyDeleteMy guess.
Speaking of power,you EVER got behind an expensive car that had a license plate holder that said "No,I don't think I'm cooler or better then you,I just really like cars". Neither have I.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know there were any left......
ReplyDeleteI could not believe Radnich told the Neil Diamond reference on the air,without fact checking it first,I hope KNBR has made an on the air correction by now.
ReplyDeleteLarry Baer doesn't directly tell the stations who to hire and fire, or who to put on the air, but his suggestions are certainly listened to closely by the folks at both KNBR and Comcast. All three entities (the Giants, KNBR and Comcast) are tied together, and it makes it better for all concerned if they promote everything good that the Giants are doing.
ReplyDeleteOne of the big reasons they pack the joint every night (besides winning the 2010 World Series), is that the bay area hard core fan, as well as the casual baseball follower needs a reason to show up. Baer and his team of marketing folks do plenty to give them a reason to fill those seats with things such as Panda hats, bobble head giveaways and old timers days at the park (how about Willie Mays' 81st birthday celebration over the weekend?) All these help bring out the 'little kid' in all of the fans.
Believe it or not, Lou Wolff is also as much a mover and a shaker as Larry Baer, just in a much different way.
But why are the A's struggling at the gate while the Giants have a gold mine? The A's current record is as good as the Giants (though I believe at season's end, a young, mostly inexperienced A's club will fade while the Giants will probably stay in the race until the final weeks unless the injury bug keeps hitting them.)
It's not just the beautiful ballpark that helps the Giants, and it's not just the fact that the A's owners go cheap;
(having a minor league announcer fill in for Ken Korach and have
a mostly unknown, young lineup on the field), but it's also due to the fact that Lou Wolff won't commit to the area. He complains about the ballpark, expects cities such as Fremont and San Jose to help build him and Donald Fisher a new one so they can make more millions of dollars, and he's been fortunate that his GM Billy Beane, and field manager Bob Melvin have gotten the most out of a mostly unknown group of youngsters and retreads. But Beane can only do so much.
Wolff and Fisher will stay in the game as long as they're making money, and they're making a nice profit at the moment because of revenue sharing and a low payroll.
Meanwhile Larry Baer needs to continue to keep his group of sensitive, sometimes prickly owners happy, and that's never an easy task, given the sometimes super sized egos involved.
So it shouldn't surprise anyone what powerful, rich
people do. They do what's best for themselves, and if that means
promoting the heck out of a decent club (such as the Giants do) to draw fans, or going cheap and keeping the payroll down to save money (as the A's do) then they're going to continue to do it.
This isn't rocket science and there isn't any conspiracy involved.
It's simply wealthy people doing what they've been doing since 'civilized' man emerged on planet earth.
I hope Rich includes himself on the list. Maybe not top 5 but definitely top 6 through 15 material.
ReplyDeleteYes of course, a person 99.8% of the bay area has never heard of belongs on the list of The Most Powerful People in Bay Area Media. LOL!
DeleteIt's more accurate to say Rich is one of the most powerful people in his own mind.
It seems like there is always something big coming soon but where is the beef?
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long wait...
DeleteI don't think any of the on air journalists are very powerful any longer. Not with the creation of the internet. Most likely the most powerful Television news figure currently is 7 On Your Side's, Michael Finney...
ReplyDeleteI bet I can name at least ten of them:
ReplyDeleteThe GM's and ND's of KTVU, KRON, KPIX, KGO, and KNTV.
Karel
ReplyDeleteAn idiot who can make it happen past a contract option with his schtick and still gripe about his "poorness" and his gayness on and on and on and on and on must be in the Top 15.
What's he got, pictures on Hosely and Hart with goats?
COMING SOON!!
ReplyDeleteThe CURE for CANCER!!
developing....
Whoever said Larry Baer in the comments above -- wow, that's a great call. Obsequious radio announcers who never question the team's personnel or decision making? Check. Pro-Giants "puppets" populating KNBR's sports talk hosting ranks? Check. Complete mind control of Comcast Sports talent and production? Check. Baer is a cut above the rest. Love how he's survived so many regime changes as well. (And keeps getting promoted with each managing partner who is thrown overboard!) He's a smarter, more ruthless, and much diabolical version of former Warriors general manager Jethro Bodine...ERRRRR I mean Larry Riley.
ReplyDeleteThanks. And add that Baer influence also extends to KRON and KNTV. Radnich would never go off on a Giant rant..and KNTV partners with Comcast,that partners with the Giants and 7 degrees of Larry Baer. Or is it two degrees? every other local sports hosts is in his grasp.
DeleteOh? Cummulus and KleerChanel gonna trim their payrolls further??
ReplyDeleteVicki Nguyen
ReplyDelete9:32pm faps as he laughs at his own jokes.
ReplyDeleteOur local Media are nothing but a bunch of "Brown Nosers." Example...We have a local professional Sports team that has been all but destroyed by the Mid-Western ownership for over a decade. Then all of a sudden they pull their heads out of the sand, and put together 1 winning season since they have owned the Professional Sports team.
ReplyDeleteNow the local Media "Reveres" the Ownership, screw all the fuck-up decisions they have made in the past, our local Media is "ALL" on board with the teams management to move the Iconic team to the Suburbs. No questions asked or objectivity in the matter at all, the Local Media had their lips affixed to Ownership's Asses...Boy do I miss Hank Plant!
The most powerful people in Bay Area media are in Texas and Georgia. And, they won't return the mayor's call.
ReplyDeleteWill agree somewhat that the York family all but ruined the Niners, as Denise and Dr John didn't have the 'right stuff' or the passion to own or run the team like Eddie D. But you can also blame Eddie for losing ownership to the Yorks...he shouldn't have been trying to bribe people in Louisiana for that casino license.
ReplyDeleteWhy Eddie always revered the mafia-types, I'll never understand.
Probably his dad's influence (the old man had some shady associations), but you think Eddie would have learned to have been above that. One of his failings..I guess, but we all have them.
Jed is a little 'full of himself,' but he was smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth when Harbaugh fell into his lap, and certainly the team has found a gem in GM Trent Baalke who has quietly emerged as one of the best in the business.
The moves this team made in the off season have to make it a prohibitive favorite to go to at least the Conference Finals again...and Harbaugh will keep these guys in line and passionate and unified.
He's an amazing coach..all you have to do is look at how he turned around the moribund Stanford program. That 2010 Stanford team may have been the best ever in the schools history.
But the way this 49ers Stadium deal has gone down is a bit unfortunate, as long time fans are getting rewarded by getting gouged for future tickets during a time of economic austerity.
The Giants had to do the same thing to build their park, as local municipalities are not going to pony up money...especially in these times to build stadiums for pro teams (regardless of whether it helps the local economy in the long run or not!). So the Niners had no choice.
Hunter's Point? The site would have been nice for the views...but major cleanup..a new freeway off ramp through one of the most depressed parts of town, and getting the place earthquake proofed would have been a nightmare. It would have helped the economy in that part of town, sure, but building it would have been a monumental task, and San Francisco has never had the stomach to do anything like that for any of it's teams (one of the reasons SF almost lost the Giants in 1976 and again in 1992, and did lose the Warriors to the east bay back in 1972).
If you want to take shots at local team's owners...you can make a case for just about any of them. As I said before, rich people don't get to be rich by being nice...they will step on anyone or anything if necessary to get things done 'their way.' That's not only America...but the way of humankind...and unfortunately has been forever!
Wow, where to begin.
Delete-Harbaugh did not "fall into Jed's lap", he was actively pursued by the team, with the Redskins among others also courting Harbaugh.
-Hunters Point had nothing to do with the Warriors leaving SF.
-Santa Clara is kicking in a ton of $ to get that stadium built (and will most likely get left holding the bag ala Alameda County and the Coliseum). The $ SF was offering to help build the stadium was nowhere near the amount Santa Clara was willing to pledge. Corporate welfare doesn't fly too well in SF. Niner fans would have been gauged regardless to where the stadium was built.
@May 9th, 10:07AM
DeleteMy post was about the "Lack there Of," Powerful People in the Media in the Bay Area.
And heads up, Anonymous @ 11:57 Nailed it...The Giants Stadium was Privately Financied, the 49ers in SC is being funded by the taxpayers.
Hunters Point was "never" just about a proposed 49er Stadium...The City of SF is Building a whole new community out in the Hunters Point/Bay View District, by Lennar Urban SF. The City just received 7 Million dollars to start Building one parcel of land with housing. And cleaning up of the area has been funded & started since 2007 by Senator Diane Feinstein.
The Mis-information about the 49er Stadium in SF & Santa Clara continues...But Follow the money in SC for Gawds sake...SMH
The most powerful people in Bay Area media are likely names most folks have never heard of. It's not the disc jockeys, news anchors or talk show hosts. The "power" lies with the decision-makers: the GM's, Program Directors and others who decide, for example, if KGO should continue to be a great station, or if it should be reduced to a shell of itself. Hey, I didn't say the powerful always make GOOD decisions....
ReplyDeletePowerful today gone tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteActually, Jim Harbaugh DID fall into the Niners lap. If you know anything about Harbaugh..yes...he's very ambitious...but he was also looking for a place where he could have maximum control of his situation, and that wouldn't have happened with meddling owner,
ReplyDeleteDaniel Snyder at Washington. Jed York and the Niners were right here in the backyard (remember Harbaugh grew up along the SF peninsula and also coached at Stanford for five years, so he wanted to stay put).
secondly..you didn't read my post clearly enough because I never said that Hunter's point had ANYTHING to do with the WARRIORS leaving SF. They left SF in 1972 after playing the first ten years in the bay area basically in three places; the Cow palace,
Civic Auditorium downtown (now Bill Graham arena) and the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Oakland Coliseum Arena was the most attractive facility and usually the crowds there equaled those at the Cow Palace, and always outdrew the ones at Civic (which could only hold just over 7200.)
The reason the 49ers left SF was that the Santa Clara alternative made more sense....the new stadium will be right across the street from their training facility and the space near great America was available. Hunter's Point would have taken a lot more money and a lot more time to have built, and some SF voters
would probably tried to find have found a way to 'nimby' that proposal to defeat, even if it would have helped the local economy. The city also (despite what former Mayor Gavin Newsom says) didn't approach
the Niners with the kind of 'sales pitch' that folks in the south
bay used to attract York.
Again, I'm no big fan of Jed York either...but he simply did the 'expedient' thing and made the move south to get out of a crumbling, inadequate (by 21st century standards) m facility as quickly as he could.
Jed York DID heavily pursue Harbaugh, just like Miami did, Harbaugh's College Michigan did, and Denver did. Imho, the "only" reason that the 49ers had the upper hand in the deal is because Harbaugh was coaching at Stanford, he had childred in the community, and his Wife was Preggers...harbaugh's wife did not want to leave the community of Palo Alto.
DeleteKPIX is investigating the Cal Stadium Sports Complex, I can't wait for them to do the same for the Santa Clara Stadium...but I won't hold my breath!!!
And you might think Santa Clara makes sense...but you will never convince me of that...An NFL Stadium on 17 acres of land for 70,000 fans....Nah....It will soon be discovered that this stadium project was Flawed from jumpstreet.