This narrow and dimly lit tavern in Hayes Valley offers bibliophiles and connoisseurs of classic cocktails a chance to chat about literature over drinks. Its monthly book club, which meets the last Wednesday of every month, revolves around novels relating to either San Francisco or booze. And if you want access to the $5 specialty cocktail associated with said book club, you had best bring the book. You do that, and Michael Cecconi will serve you a cocktail with a twist — a drink you aren’t likely to get anywhere else. Oh, and they cater, too.
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It was the first trick of his final run, and Garrett Reynolds thought he was going to crash it.
He almost did.
“Even when I landed it, I was so loose. I like barely, barely got it. I almost hit the filmer,” Reynolds said of his 540 bar spin during his last run of the BMX streetstyle final. “I got lucky. After I got away with that, I was just having fun.”
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A mere day into the Dew Tour Toyota City Championships in San Francisco, and scores of extreme athletes — who rank among the best in the world at what they do — were eliminated from competition Thursday.
But Ryan Nyquist wasn’t one of them.
The Los Gatos-native was just good and gutsy enough to earn a No. 11 in the BMX dirt prelims, sneaking into the semifinals today. The top 15 advanced.
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Killing time in a Las Vegas hotel room, a 21-year-old quarterback for Fresno State suddenly remembered his pal Kevin Moen was playing.
“I was just waiting for our game,” Jeff Tedford said, who on Nov. 20, 1982, was preparing for UNLV, “and I wanted to see what Kevin was doing.”
From his TV set, Tedford saw that Moen and Cal were down 20-19 to their then-Pac-10 Conference Bay Area rival Stanford, with a mere four seconds left to play.
But “play” Moen and his teammates did.
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A haven for action sports it may be, but San Francisco — despite it’s association with high-flying skaters and bike riders — has never hosted a Dew Tour event.
Until now.
Thursday through Sunday, the heavyweights of skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross will convene in San Francisco, competing at the vert ramps and skate parks at Civic Center Plaza and Harrison Street in pursuit of the coveted Dew Cup — a renowned prize in the realm of action sports.
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It was risky move, but Ryan Nyquist never bailed.
“It’s been a fun one,” said the Los Gatos native on his action-sports career — a career that ranked him among the best BMX riders in the world. “But it was never guaranteed that it was going to work out money-wise or career-wise. So it was kind of a bit of a gamble. But it’s been a real fun ride, and I’m trying to continue that ride for as long as I can.”
That ride will continue this weekend, as Nyquist will compete in the San Francisco-stop of the Dew Tour in the BMX dirt event. And it’s an event he’s won before.
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When in the prize ring against a heavy hitter, it’s wise to employ sound defense. Ava Knight, the IBF female flyweight champion of the world who trains out of Oakland, is a heavy hitter. And Mariana Juarez, likewise a titlist at 112 pounds, doesn’t employ sound defense.
“She boxes well, but she just gets hit too much,” Knight (9-1-3, five KOs) said of Juarez (35-5-3, 16 KOs), whom she’ll meet Saturday in Mexico City. “And with someone like me, it’s gonna be dangerous.”Knight, 24, might be right.
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Judging from his left hook — a punch that has left numerous fighters quivering on the canvas of the ring — Nonito Donaire shouldn’t have much to fear.
But he does.
“Growing up, I was always scared, because I was bullied,” said the 122-pound boxer, who is regarded among the best practitioners of professional fist fighting. “But being scared, it’s human. It’s human nature. And what I’ve learned from that is how to look at punches, how to not get hit, how to be smart ... there’s no shame in being afraid of something.”
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They were only 2-0, and already pegged as Super Bowl favorites.
But San Francisco’s humbling pummeling last weekend in Minnesota illustrated precisely why the Lombardi Trophy isn’t awarded a mere two weeks into an NFL season.
“I think when you come off a loss,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said, “you wanna get back to work and make darn sure it doesn’t happen again.”
But as lagging as the Niners defense looked against the Vikes, the New York Jets, who San Francisco will face today at MetLife Stadium, have their own darn defensive problems.
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Anyone still pondering how good the 49ers are, can just ask Adrian Peterson.
“It’s a heck of defense, bro,” said Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings’ premiere running back who suffered a torn ACL last Christmas Eve. “I’m not scared. I’m excited. I’m accepting that challenge.”
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For 58 minutes, a Detroit Lion didn’t cross the goal line.
But when tight end Brandon Pettigrew finally did score on a 9-yard pass from Matthew Stafford, it was simply too little too late.
On a Sunday when every team representing the NFC West was victorious, the 49ers tamed the dangerous Detroit Lions, mauling them 27-19 at Candlestick Park in front of a national TV audience.
And though physical throughout, it wasn’t that close.
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This time last year, neither team that will be taking the field at Candlestick Park today was considered a playoff contender.
But as both coaches — San Francisco’s Jim Harbaugh and Detroit’s Jim Schwartz — have so adamantly stated this week, what happened last year no longer matters.
As the 49ers prepare to host the Lions in a matchup of young unbeatens this weekend, both clubs are being touted as championship hopefuls. But only one team played like it last week.
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The experts have Stanford — which haven’t lost to Southern Cal in three years — pinned as the underdog for Saturday’s matchup in Palo Alto.
But David Shaw heeds none of that.
“We play well — we get a chance to win. We don’t play well — we get a chance to lose,” Stanford’s second-year coach said. “I never go into a game thinking of being an underdog.”
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ALAMEDA — He’s only caught 32 total passes in his NFL carreer, but that doesn’t matter.
This season, Raiders tight end Brandon Myers, after only three modest years of professional experience, will be asked — and expected — to be the big man on the gridiron.
“I’m expecting him to produce like an NFL tight end,” Raiders coach Dennis Allen said of Myers. “That’s why he’s here.”
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Prizefighting — justifiably so — is closely associated with savagery.
But anyone, media type or casual fan, who attempts to attach such a brutish label to Saturday’s super middleweight championship bout between Oakland’s Andre Ward and his challenger Chad Dawson, will have erred.
Both combatants, who are among the best American professional fist fighters active today, favor the careful employment of boxing intellect over the blatant display of violent bravado.
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