The new NFL labor contract brings the 49ers’ stadium in Santa Clara closer to reality.
As team President Jed York pointed out in a conference call this week, the new collective bargaining agreement has a provision setting 1.5 percent of revenue aside for new stadiums. This is why the owners wanted a new deal reducing the players’ share, so they’d have money for new stadiums.
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The Giants’ trade for Carlos Beltran, which is apparently done but can’t be announced until Beltran agrees to waive his no-trade clause, is a bold move that gives the team a chance to repeat as World Series champions.Beltran is exactly the kind of middle-of-the-lineup hitter the Giants sorely need, with 15 homers, 30 doubles and 66 RBIs in 98 games. The Giants don’t have anybody close to those numbers.
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The new NFL labor deal will include one provision that will be better for fans, but retain another practice that is the biggest rip-off in sports.
The positive move is dropping the plan to go to an 18-game regular-season schedule. This was a terrible idea, spawned by a desire to increase already fat TV deals. Pro football already is racked by injuries, and adding two regular-season games would have increased the injury rate.
When star players are injured, fans are getting a product whose quality has been reduced.
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The next two weeks will be critical for the Giants if they are going to have a chance to repeat as World Series champions.
For openers, they’re going to face possible playoff teams in their next nine games, a weekend series at AT&T Park against Milwaukee, then two three-game series on the road against Philadelphia and Cincinnati.
Then, they return home to face the Arizona Diamondbacks before playing another four games against the Phillies and three against Pittsburgh — the surprise team in the National League this year.
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An agreement appears close on a new NFL labor deal, which is good news for everybody, but both the Raiders and 49ers will face formidable problems when the lockout ends.
Raiders owner Al Davis had hoped the new agreement would give clubs the right of first refusal on three potential free agents, but it does not, so the Raiders could lose cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, tight end Zach Miller and running back Michael Bush.
Asomugha is almost certainly gone. Who will sign him? I’d bet on the New England Patriots because they have the smartest front office in the NFL.
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Will the NBA season be canceled? Players are already looking at signing with European teams if the lockout continues, as it will.
New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams is working on a deal with a Turkish team and Kevin Durant and Amare Stoudamire have both talked about playing in Europe. Union chief Billy Hunter has given them all his blessing, which tells you he thinks this stalemate is going to last for some time.
There is a precedent: The NHL lost the 2004-2005 season to a labor dispute. Most American sports fans didn’t even notice until it was time for the playoffs.
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The Giants should trade Barry Zito now. They’ll never have a better opportunity.
Zito has pitched very well since coming off the disabled list. That might fool a contending team that is desperate for pitching help, but we’ve seen similar streaks by Zito that haven’t lasted.
Remember April 2010? He had an ERA under 2.00. And do you remember the rest of the season? Not so good. He reverted to form, with his ERA rising to 4.15 and his win-loss record declining to 9-14, and was left off the postseason roster.
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The Giants go on the road and score 13 runs in one game, 15 in another. Then, they return home and it’s the same agony of low-scoring, one-run wins or losses. They scored six runs Wednesday night — but it took them 14 innings.What’s going on here?
Two things:
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Because Bud Selig ignored his professed guidelines, he and the sport he administers are in deep trouble over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 2005, when the A’s were for sale, I championed the cause of the group that had Andy Dolich as its front man.
That group couldn’t get Major League Baseball’s approval. When I phoned Selig to ask him why, he repeatedly used the phrase “due diligence,” as in “baseball has to do its due diligence in making certain the prospective buyer has the money to run the club.”
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The best-run sports organization in the Bay Area is clearly the Giants, the only team to build its own stadium and the first to win a world championship since the 49ers won their fifth Super Bowl in 1995.
But those are not the only reasons to crown the Giants as the area’s best. In every area, from marketing to taking care of their fans to looking to the history of the club as well as the present, the Giants are the best.
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Jim Harbaugh’s foresight will mitigate the damage done to the 49ers by the NFL lockout.
With a complete turnover in the coaching staff, the 49ers needed spring workouts more than other teams. In years past, teams with coaching changes were allowed an extra minicamp. The 49ers, along with every other NFL team, were prohibited this year from having any spring workouts.
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Who is the worst owner in modern Bay Area sports history? The A’s Lew Wolff.
Others might nominate John York, who took the 49ers from Super Bowls to also-rans, but York was at least trying, and he’s turned the team over to his son, Jed, who has made a coaching hire with Jim Harbaugh that should turn the team around.
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Buster Posey is mature beyond his years. Sadly, he is also mature beyond Brian Sabean’s years.
Posey felt it necessary to issue a statement saying he didn’t blame Scott Cousins for his devastating season-ending injury after Sabean had unleashed a virulent tirade on KNBR (680 AM) against Cousins, hinting strongly that there would be reprisals when the Giants next meet the Florida Marlins.
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As hearings resume in the 8th District Court of Appeals today, the Sports Fans Coalition has filed a brief with the court asking that the NFL lockout be lifted.
The NFL coaches association has also filed a brief. Coaches want to be able to work with players, as they usually do with minicamps in the offseason, but they are hamstrung by the lockout.
The most interesting part of this to me is the involvement of the fans group. Because of social networking, fans are now able to make their voices heard on this issue and others in the NFL that affect them.
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The A’s have the best pitching in the majors, with an ERA a half-run lower than the Giants, but inconsistent hitting has kept them mired around .500. Since a big trade is highly unlikely, here are two suggestions to improve their hitting with the current roster:
- Quit trying to pretend that Daric Barton is a major league first baseman.
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