The *Most Popular* Threads of the Quarter
I was taking a look at the stats of the blog this morning–We actually had approximately 2000 more visitors in January ’12 than we did in January of ’11. That’s a little surprising to me since we were coming off a WS win last year and this year we’re not really coming off of anything. I guess we’re coming INTO something. There are many reasons to be extremely hopeful for this coming season…….
Here’s a list of the top 21 posts since 11/10/11. You’ll notice the *BB of the Day(!)* at the top–that’s a little misleading because I just change out the pics and the comments every day but it remains the same page. If you never check out that page you should should give it a go. It’s evolved into a daily *write the caption* contest and there are 7-10 regular Flappers who have me laughing my ass off on a daily basis. I’ve expanded the the criteria of what it takes to *qualify* for BB of the Day–I found this loosening of the standards encourages more creative captions. Anyway, as usual, you guys churn out the best of this blog with your comments………
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Dennis last night mentioned Slappy white, one of redd foxx old buddies from the chitlin comedy circuit. He and moms mabley types used to show up on daytime late afternoon talk shows like merv griffin/mike douglas and do short routines with the host. what a funny mother for ya.
“you don’t want to invite ali and liston to the same party, because last time they got together they almost had a fight. I paid $100 for a front row seat, but Sonny liston sat down before I did.”
One of his other routines was about running for president, and he talked about shaking down DeGaulle over an economic issue of foreign policy. “He said, Lower your dollar. I said, Up your franc.”
One thing the bay area used to have a lot of back in the days of LPs was great record stores. There was one on Mission blvd. in Daly city called Roland’s Soul city that used to stock so called “party records” by the black comedians like redd foxx and rudy ray moore with naked chicks on the covers, so you knew what you were getting.
I just used to love going into these places, like the Tower on columbus, the berkeley one on Durant that sold used/low price stuff, discount records in menlo park that was mentioned in the chron article on Kepler’s book store, the used jazz one out on 46th ave where the guy would actually spin a disc you were interested in before you bought it, etc.
Like Joni Mitchell’s line “Don’t it always seem to go/you don’t know what you got til it’s gone.”
Those were the days. Back in the 80’s Aquarius and Streetlight in Sf were my fav haunts. Then Village Music when I moved to Mill Valley in 89. Owner was a bit of a d..k, but he had an amazing collection.
Never forget me and a buddy selling some records while we were in high school to a guy in Berkeley. He had records all over his apt, in the kitchen cabs, the bathroom, all over the floor.
A year or so later I’m bopping down Telegraph and lo and behold, I see the guy in a new store he’d just opened called Rasputin’s.
Streetlights was/is great (I think they are still there). The place on Clement next to Green Apple. And, Village music was an institution. I think John the owner still sells LPs from his garage or something. The Tower in New Orleans was great and the Music Factory there is still great. I still have a lot of vinyl.
Was it Ray’s Used Records on Laurel St in San Carlos? That place was an institution for years.
Town & Country (not the pool hall on 20th and El, the record store on 3rd and El) in San Mateo was great as well.
Subtle Matt Cain at Pebble
http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/#2947-4
Hey flappers! What do ya say? What do ya hear?
I’ve been in Costa Rica (Quesos on the Pacific coast) for a week and want to leave on Friday, back to Panama, where I have some gear and money I left in my cabana – then catch a flight to Quito, Ecuador on the 16th. Having a blast here, but I am having difficulty getting across the border because of a teensy itsy bitsy issue that has just occured between the indigenous indians and government . . .
Costa Rica closes border due to protests in Panamá
The native protests in western Panamå have become guerrilla warfare. Costa Rica has closed the border, and public buses are not running. The United States has issued a traveler’s warning, noting that while the Pan-American Highway is reported to be open, protesters continue in their attempts to block it with rocks, trees, and burning tires at various points between Chiriqui and San Felix, Panama. Native sources in Costa Rica said the protesters are being pursued by special troops of the Panamá Policía Nacional with helicopters and armored vehicles. Expats who were in the middle of the protest reported Monday that the national police acted aggressively and brutally against the natives. Said one expat who asked that his name not be used: “I was in Ojo de Agua en route to Costa Rica when the police attacked the indigenous demonstrators who were passively standing near a blockade they had set up. The police used extreme violence, even against women and children. I saw one pregnant woman thrown violently to the ground. Others stood around laughing as she struggled to get up. One policeman chased down a boy of about 11, threw him down and ground his boot into his head until he was screaming in pain.” Another expat who lives in David, Panama, close to the Costa Rican border said he had to pay a Costa Rican immigration agent two $100 bribes to be let though Sunday so he could return home. In addition to the Paso Canoas crossing at the Costa Rican-Panamá border, the border post at Sixaola north of Bocas de Toro also is believed to be closed. There is disruption in that part of Panamá on the Caribbean, too. Eric Jackson, editor of The Panama News, issued this warning: “This is not a good time to travel through Panama by car. If you are going to be driving, take extra water, food, wet-wipes and a good book, in case you get stuck in a monumental traffic jam. Do not be so foolish as to try to fight your way through a roadblock. These protests are not aimed at you, even if they affect you. But foolish behavior on your part could easily affect you in unfortunate ways.” The border closure is sure to affect expat perpetual tourists who travel to Panamá every 90 days to renew their visa. There was no indication as to how long the border would be closed. There were reports of food shortages and water shortages in western Panamá Jackson said that “There are protests by indigenous people who were promised last year by the government that their mineral, water and environmental resources would be protected from exploitation by outsiders, but now see the government reneging on that commitment by promoting a new mining law that would supersede and cancel these commitments.” The native peoples are the Ngöbe and the Buglé, who live on a sprawling reservation, which is called a comarca here. Heidy Bonilla, a spokeswoman for the Costa Rican immigration department, confirmed the border closing. She said travel to Panamá by plane still was possible. A manager of Tica Bus in Paso Canoas and a San José agent for Expreso Panama confirmed the buses were not running south.
Flav, I’m asking you to coordinate the hostage negotiation Flap team, should I be captured by the indians. 🙂
Blade, you need a plane man, find someone with a plane and maybe a couple of machetes and a shotgun or two, also maybe a box of those Ninja throwing stars just in case (you can never have enough of those things around).
Seriously dude, stay safe.
Thanks Bozo. Actually the planes out of Quepos (spelled it wrong in my 1st post) are booked. Trying to get a flight out of the capital in San Jose.
Seriously, blade, if we can’t come up with ransom money, I’m sure we can afford to pay Danny Trejo to come and get ya. Good luck my man
Yeah but what happened with you and la chica?
Blade, after I posted that picture of you just prior to storming the city I thought you’d have that place secured by now!
As usual and even more so than before…….stay outta trouble.
Bye Bye….Justin Christan as I predicted.No way was he coming back.
He wasn’t coming back regardless. And yes, I also predicted it, along with several thousand others.
Before someone can say they “predicted it”, I propose it be something that actually had a chance of happening/not happening.
Christian actually made a little more sense on the roster last year. But we’ve now added two speedy outfielders (Pagan and Melky) and we’ve got 2 fairly quick utility infielders BUrriss and Theriot) who could come off the bench to PR.
Christian just doesn’t add anything to the team that isn’t already here right now……..
Andris Biedrens: Over his last 8 games he’s played 140 minutes. He has scored 5 total pts. In 7 of the 8 games he’s scored 0 pts. He’s attempted 5 free throws this year. THIS YEAR. It is an absolute joke that Jackson continues to start him. In fact, he should be released immediately. The money owed to him is of no consequence. He’s giving you literally nothing. At least a guy like Zito can get you an inning or a strikeout, SOMETHING.
$9 million salary / 66 games = $136K/ game. Just use the amnesty on him. Ooops…
I just threw up in my mouth.
Jackson keeps saying that he’s going to hold people “accountable”. He’s reminding me of another oakland coach named Jackson.
The Dubs are a lost cause. Forever. Biedrens is just the latest example of not getting the right big man. You’d think after 20 years of trying they’d find someone with an inside game.
I can’t even muster the energy to remotely dislike them. Every good game is followed by 3 bad ones. I haven’t been to a game in 14 years. They beat the Bulls and the Heat and then lose to the Nets. And the Kings. And the Suns. And the Jail Blazers.
I’m just hoping they finish with the 7th or better pick. Not getting a first round pick this year would suck. This is actually a pretty good draft. Of course, they could use it on a guy like Diogu or O’Bryant or….etc….
Jerry West must really be bored in retirement. Why else would he hook up with such a sad sack outfit, even with the new owners? They are in a box. Their draft picks are conditional over the next three drafts, so they can’t even trade them away for bodies. They’ve got no big man. Their guards are too small, can’t defend, though can score, and one has an ankle as strong as string. Their only decent big forward can score, can’t defend. I don’t know what Udoh can do, they don’t seem to know either. How they sell out so many games is a mystery to me…
Anyone here buy the theory that the Warriors can’t get a quality big man because no one wants to play in Oakland? And that if they moved to San Francisco, as the owners are pondering, that would be the key?
What diff would that make? The fans are totally supportive now. And, some of the players live in SF anyway, a top flight player star would probably live in SF. Baron Davis lived in some super duper flat in SF when he was with the Dubs. I think it’s the horrendous rep of the franchise for being losers. Geography won’t cure that…
I’ve seen some random posts on other sites that Baggs jumped ship to comcast. Anybody else heard or seen?
I broke that story last night. he was on Comcast and they were very excited to have him. i guess urbs got the heave.
In the NBA, who doesn’t make too much money? Biedrins was an effective big man until after 2009. Don’t know what happened, but he was a double-double in 2009. Not exactly Kareem but very respectable, then he nose dived.
The Dubs can’t get anyone to come to Oakland because they have a history of sucking shit. If they moved to SF they still wouldn’t get anybody until they stop sucking shit.
I don’t think West is doing anything with or for this team. I think he was around early on to answer some questions for the new ownership group but I think he’s been playing golf since then…..
From Baggs himself:
“For the past eight seasons, it’s been a privilege to cover the Giants and write for what might be the most engaged, passionate fans in all of baseball,” said Baggarly. “Now it’s a privilege to join the tremendous team at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. A beat reporter’s job is not only to inform and entertain, but also to be a storyteller. Now I’ll have the opportunity to tell those stories in new ways, while staying true to an old-school approach to covering the beat.”
AKA, I can make more dough on TV.
Hey, I’d jump, too…
Is he joining the Bipper or replacing him?
Wisco said Urban was odd man out . . .
I’d give the new owners more than 3 minutes to turn things around.
Not too many players refuse to go to the teams that draft them. They’ve sucked in the draft for 20 years. The only decent big guy they got was Chris Webber. And he wasn’t really a banger down low. As far as signing guys, who would want to come? In the 70s, being a baller with big dough in Oakland was like a ticket to Cocaine Disneyland. Drugs and women 24/7. I think that kept some players away as well. Too much of a good thing.
I like Kawakami’s article. Trade everything for Howard and if he leaves you just start over. It would also probably mean that we get a top 7 pick this upcoming draft and likely the first pick in the draft the following year (the top 6 picks are protected). It is time to start over…….
Kawakami is saying Curry, Lee, Thompson and Udoh for Howard and maybe Turkoglu. The only way I do that is if they take Biedrens too. If not, I’d give them Curry, Lee and Udoh but not Thompson.
Then we have Howard and Thompson and Monta and not much else. If Howard signs a big deal in off season, that’s fine. If he walks we have all the cap room in the world plus lotto picks (and probably the FIRST lotto pick in ’14 unless the lotto fucks us) in the next two seasons. Starting over never sounded so good…….
When the Admiral went down with injury years ago, the Spurs reeked that season and ended up with the 3rd worst record. Lightning struck, they won the lotto #1 pick, and got Duncan. If that doesn’t happen, the last decade and a half of Spurs dynasty doesn’t happen. That’s akin to blowing up a team and starting over. That’s what the Dubs need to do. All this endless crap about “pieces”. Pieces, schmieces. They suck, regardless of their pieces. Blow it up, get a big man if you can, get new pieces and move forward. Their endless crapitude needs a Big Bang to clean it out….
How stupid or the Dubs,they drafted Chris Wasburn when every other GM knew he was stealing computers and stero’s out of the dorm rooms at NC ST.Come to think about it’s perfect he ended up in O Town.
Good old Chris Crashburn. Saw that one coming from 100 miles away.
I think if you take it game by game , anyone should be able to enjoy the Warriors. That was was a terrific game last night. If you couldn’t enjoy that…. well, I’d feel sorry for anyone who couldn’t..
As to Washburn, although he never salvaged his career, I understand he did finally get his life together…
Well, good for him. His was a tragic trajectory that too much resembled the Joe Barry Carrol fiasco playing-wise. I don’t get to watch the games where I am, so I don;t know what I’m missing. Yeah, the games I’ve seen are OK. Ellis is good in spurts, Lee I haven’t seen enough of, and Curry has his moments as well. Great. Still little to no defense, no inside presence, no power game, and they live and die by the trey.
.
When you can’t make the playoffs in the NBA, you are a shitty team. When you make it once in 20+ seasons, that’s serious sucking. Yeah, there’s a new regime. Yeah, it may take some time. However, I was disappointed that Keith Smart was canned. He didn’t deserve that fate. Mark Jackson may be OK, but Jackson was a commentator last year. Smart paid his dues for years as an assistant. This new regime seems to be already pulling out band aids to try to stop the bleeding. Thus far, I’m not impressed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Kings do well under Smart, and the Dubs to fade back down the ladder of suckitude.
Game to game they seem to be fun. But really, one playoff run in 20 years is awful.
I’m sort of a *fuck the game to game* thing. I want to see them get to the playoffs and advance. Playoff basketball is just a lot different than the regular season. The ’07 season was insane. I can’t even get myself to imagine or dream of an NBA championship. Just get to the playoffs and give it a good run. That’s what I want and I don’t see it happening with this team. And I think we really need that draft pick this year. I’m not rooting for them to lose or anything, but if they’re gonna be in that 7-8-9 range of worst records I would prefer and at that point *hope* for it to be #7………
I’d love to see them back in the playoffs, too…but I do enjoy most of their games.
The Dubs are so hopeless and hapless over 20 years, I fully expect them to win the final game of the year against whoever it is, in a meaningless contest, and it will put them in draft position #8, so they’ll lose the pick. Jackson will praise the effort, and extoll the virtues of a good start into next season. I wouldn’t bet against that scenario, or something close to it…
I see why you enjoy them, they are playing close games. They should have won more of those this year just based off the law of averages. Or is it the end of game coaching/play calling? I don’t know, I’m not watching the games closely enough. Mostly, I just check the box scores, I think I’ve seen 2 games in their entirety this year……
Snarkk—I could absolutely see that happening. It’s the Warriors. Of COURSE it’s gonna happen. Again, that’s why I’m totally down with the Howard trade. If he leaves (and for what it would cost to get him) they would basically be a D-league team next year. Hello #1 pick. Plus a shit load of cap room and NO BIEDRENS AND HIS DUMB TAN AND SLICKED BACK HAIR. I’m so tired of looking at that guy. Try looking like a gym rat even if you aren’t–it might help your game out a little……..
Someone mentioned Hue-they’re the same fucking guy. To even mention playoffs this year was dumb dumb dumb.
Lin just got his 800K contract guaranteed. Couldn’t be happier for him. This guy, who is probably like a lot of NBA players who never make it, worked his ass off to get to this point. I saw him play one high school game against Gunn (at Gunn). WILLIED–if you are reading this, did you ever see Lin play in HS? Anyway, I’ve never seen such an electric crowd at any sporting event. He dominated, too. Everywhere I go in PA people are talking about him. For a city with 70K or so, that’s not bad.
I don’t really begrudge the Warriors for letting him go. Players get let go all the time and turn out to be useful. Most turn out to be nothing and Lin could turn out to be nothing. Shit, I’d rather have Nate Robinson. It’s just great to see a guy who I KNOW is from a great family who isn’t the prototypical basketball player from the hood rise up and succeed at this level. It’s unexpected. I like it.
Good Night.
The Dubs are just a joke.They haven’t had a star center since Nate”The Great ” Thurmond for freakin out loud.And that was the 60’s mid 70”s, and yeah I know Twin will chime in about Clifford Ray , who couldn’t hold Nate’s jock.By then Nate was old but I feel they could of won their lone championship with him still with George Johnson coming off the bench.Dubs fucked Thurmond out of a long overdue ring.
I’m changing this post because I really don’t want to get into it tonight. But you had zero reason to speculate as to what I might say about Clifford Ray..thinking I might liken him to Nate is really ignorant.
Don’t make up shit, pal. Are you so starved for an an original thought that you totally make up what your dumb ass thinks *I* might say ?
If anyone ever tells you or suggests that you overreact to shit in the blog world, just re-read what Ally wrote and your response…….
Telling me what I’d I’d say about a guy I’ve never discussed is ignorant.
that’s may be true, but did his suggestive post deserve that type of venom-infused response? I’m sorry I brought it up, it’s not that big of a deal
OK, Flavor thinks it’s cool for Kat to completely fabricate what I would say about about Thurmond and Ray.
Twin…Don’t get your dander in an uproar.You just like to bash anybody thoughts alot.Figured you would just say “Well they don’t win a title without Ray”.And No I could give a “Rats Ass about Ray.”But I will apologie to you for adding your name in my post that was wrong..
Of course it was wrong- I don’t give a flying fuck if you disagree with me, in fact I consider it a badge of honor, but you just flat out made up what I might say.
I had words with Thurmond in the Shea Stadium parking lot back in ’71 when the Jints were in town. I always wondered why he was there. He tried to run me down but his knees were shot…
some would argue that you little legs would counteract the bad knees of Thurmond—slow speed, choppy chase to the death? lol. I’d pay a great deal of $ to see this……..
I think I would’ve been a youtube sensation many times over…
you are *viral* waiting to happen. What’s your experience with *dwarf tossing*? Just kidding. Loo, to me you’re 10 feet tall. I can’t ever meet you. 10…Feet…..tall.
Can one of you guys confirm/deny something for me? This crew might be able to remember this. I was pretty young but I remember reading a story in the Chron (I might have heard it on the radio) near the end of a season in the late 70’s/maybe 1980 that indicated Clifford Ray didn’t play the last 2 games of his final season and, in fact, when they called his house he just said “I’m retired” and hung up. I wouldn’t give a rats ass about this except i re-told this story to someone at work about 3 weeks ago and he didn’t believe me. In fact, we searched the internet for box scores or stories that would corroborate this memory and found nothing. And I looked for like 2 hours…..
Do any of you remember any of this? Or am I just going crazy? Again, I was young, maybe 8-10 years old or so. Could be just dumb time passing.
But there is nothing about this anywhere on the internet (at least that I could find)……
I remember it and it’s one of the fucking reasons I despise Ray.
ha, that’s rad. Anyone else remember it? I’m going to use these responses as a way to *win* my bet with my friend at work
In fact I brought it up on SFGate but couldn’t find anything on the web at all, it caused a lot shit. Ray would never do that, I made it up yada yada, the usual..
well than shouldn’t you and I both get credit for remembering this? I’m serious, since I remembered this and had a co-worker call me out on it, and then I couldn’t find evidence that it happened, I’ve been doing a slow burn ever since……….
It used to be easier to find bloggers lying their ass off but both Google and SFGate changed their formats so it’s much tougher. And if *you* get accused of making up an obscure or old story you either to have spend hours finding what you read or put up with shit from somebody who already checked and *knows* you can’t prove it…
I know! What the fuck did they do?9
And more importantly, why did they do that? I would think that the passage of time would lead us closer to better technology not worse…
Try it yourself.
I ‘m happy to give you all the credit, you have more details than I did. Is it OK with Kat if I say I loved George Johnson?
Another big game for LIn, Flav. Kobe in NY on Friday.
of course, I’m not watching these games, but the box score looks fantastic. I think I need to figure out a way to catch that Friday game. I finish coaching the girls at 6pm, do I at least get to catch the 4th Q around that time?I don’t catch to many east coast bball games (at least on purpose)
Maybe the whole 2nd half. Doesn’t start till 8:00 here…
delicious.
I’m not kidding, with no baseball, no football, no strippers (Pawlie’s not here) and no hockey unless I’m tied to a burning stake, there isn’t a whole lot of sports related stuff for me to roll with right now. I could do another draft at mockdraftcentral.com but that just seems like overkill.
Lin vs Kobe on Friday night?
Gimmie.
Knicks fans are so desperate for any kind of competent point guard that they’re going ape-shit over this guy — Linsanity! I thought it was more just lousy defense by Deron Williiams in Lin’s first big game Saturday, but the guy has continued to play pretty damn good. And the last two games have been without Stoudemire and Anthony.
I was at the Wiz-Knicks game tonight. Lin was quite impressive–and brought out a lot of NY fans. He would score and John Wall went right back at him. Turns out they had a summer league duel last year that may have fueled the competition. Although Wall outscored him, Lin had the better overall game in that he managed his team better. Then again, the Wizards are completely unmanageable. Their Jordan Crawford led a 1 on 5 failed fast break. Their big man Javale McGee, an athletic but immature swatter, went 1 on 4 trying to dribble to the hoop–and was promptly pulled. I miss a guy you all would know–Antawn Jamison–who would leave it all out on the floor. Literally saw him diving on the ground against the Celts in a meaningless game for them. I’d have hoped his veteran presence would have made a difference, but this is a real crew of shameless knuckleheads.
I remember Ray quit on them too.Found something on google about it.Suprised Rick Barry always had his back,just wondering deep down if he really did,after Quitting on them.
well re-post the link!
I need it.
There’s always college hoops…good game tonight as Duke stuns NC at the buzzer.
The win over Washington was, at least at the time, one of the great upsets in NBA history. My favorite player was the other Johnson, the late Charles Johnson.
Day shift clocking out. You night shift Flappers be good. Remember there is a lady with a night stick over on the BB page ready to go all Ted Nugent on ya.
Warriors, huh, good God
What are they good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
Well, I said goodnight awhile ago, and the very next post I’m supposedly trashing Nate Thurmond. Do me a favor and make sure I’m asleep this time. You can tell, I snore..
Best wishes on the test Twin.
Can’t sleep.
Ed, it’s not not a test. it’s an operation. 6:00 A.M. Friday.
Keith Law of ESPN today ranks Gyros farms system as 26th best in MLB. I’m assuming this dude knows at least a little about what he’s saying. If even close to accurate, and from what I’ve read elsewhere, I think it is, in about 2015 the Giants are going to be crap, as Sabes leaves the GM chair and the organization in shambles…
Well, now you finally have something to really look foward to.
Better late then never..Thanks for the Candlestick pics Flav. My wife put my name up in big block letters on the scoreboard as a surprise for my 30th. Cool.
Biedrins worst / least productive player in NBA. Last night 0 points on 0 shots, 0 rebounds and 5 fouls. Seriously we would have won if we played 4 on 5!!
Well, despite all the other issues with Nellie, Biedrins averaged 11 and 11 in Don’s last year. I think he’s had some injuries but I don’t think the other coaches have known what to do with him. At this point, sure, get rid of him. No value anymore.