Where Were YOU?
There was a LOT going on back then….
But this is an easy one for me. Since I’ve never watched a full hockey game in my life we can rule out that one. Knicks/Rockets? Pfffftttt. Doubtful. I remember being in Santa Cruz at the Boardwalk with my then-girl friend Ann Marie. We were in a bar and the OJ chase came on. It’s possible we had been there watching the soccer game because it was a World Cup game and I sometimes like to pretend I like soccer by watching World Cup games. But I don’t remember a single thing about that game.
Just OJ and his main man Al slow riding their way through the streets of LA. I’m guessing OJ doesn’t tweet about this anniversary today but we’ll see….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
And this was the day, in 1972, of the Watergate break-in. I remember shit like this. On the radio, it was the last item on an hourly news update, a throwaway.
which one?
I just finished watching that American Crime Story Series “The People vs. OJ Simpson” on Netflix. It’s fairly entertaining. Nathan Lane absolutely kills it as F. Lee Bailey. In fact they should make a series about him with Nathan Lane in the lead role. His real life drunk driving trial would be epic on its own.
also, who could forget about these naughty boys?
LMAO, Flav. The OJ/White Bronco fiasco is the only thing I remember from all of that, too.
I just started reading “24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid” last night. While I am early in the book, I can tell this is going to be a wonderful read.
Good stuff from the Athletic. hope the whole article posts
https://theathletic.com/1876139/2020/06/16/mike-mccormicks-remarkable-career-was-about-more-than-a-single-cy-young-award/?source=dailyemail
https://theathletic.com/1870621/2020/06/16/giants-draft-may-provide-clues-about-farhan-zaidis-biggest-trade-plans/?source=dailyemail
sorry about the McCormick not coming through. i guess some do and some don’t.
OJ, man. SF kid, Galileo HS, CCSF football star, onto national stage at USC Buffalo Bills, then making $$$ on commercials after he retired. wow all down the drain.
Saw something yesterday at F/G, a podcast with one of their regular writers they put into a column. One blogger mentions list of teams who apparently don’t want to play at all this season, and the first one on his list is A’s.
Think that could be true? They won 97 games last season with a very good young team and would seem to have excellent chance to get back into playoffs especially if they were expanded. Also with no games they could lose Marcus Semien to FA.
John Shea said today in Chron re:owners–“I can’t get over why they think having a shortened season is a worse option than having no season at all.” Oh thx to Chi for tip on Shea’s book too. Have to check that one out.
YW, on the book info. I just started it last night, but can tell already that it will be an excellent read.
“none said yes.” This is what I was talking about yesterday. Owners don’t care because they are playing the really long game. Players have a finite window to make their $$$
yep
yes but union has refused to negotiate and still hasn’t backed off one iota from full prorated salary. Crawford was set to make $8mil for half season. At 70% he still makes $5 mil for 3 months work and if playoffs go on successfully that turns into $6 mil. How many seasons he have left at $6 mil?
Went downtown to worksite Saturday– fair amount of foot traffic often sans mask, lot of stores open, some like ours still closed (3 months now), others with limited days (maybe 5 instead of 7) and hours (like Main St. burgers we went to for lunch), in store restrictions yada yada. Couple popular restaurants just gone for good. Also found out when/if we do reopen no more health care for mgmt. I paid $250-300 month for nice medical and dental package company covered rest. Not anymore says Clouseau.
Willie, I don’t see why the players should take a pay cut. Besides revenue income (ticket sales, tv deals and brand name) the owners have franchise worth but the players only have contractual worth. So even if the owners lose ticket sales this year, they’ll still get TV and brand name revenues plus the Giants franchise will still be worth $3 Billion+ next year. The Giants signed a contract saying Crawford was worth $15.2 mil per 162 games, 55 games would make that about a 3rd of his annual pay ($5.1) and the owners want to take another $1.5 off of that? Yes, $3.6 mil is still a shit load of money to all of us and I’m sure it is to Crawford as well, but it’s not paying him what the two sides agreed was his worth. Also, the owners are not opening up their books to justify to Crawford why he should take an additional cut in salary and basically nullify his contract this year.
just think both sides have to compromise and give a little to reach common ground, and for greater good of baseball getting played. Read something today where Yanks owner still thinks baseball could work out, even if all salaries are fully prorated, with fewer games. Sure hope so.
Excellent, concise post John. You spell out exactly why Crawford or for that matter, any player, would be insane to accept this one way deal.
The owners pulled their deal that was agreed to. They bear most of the responsibility.
Fuck this. The owners want to expand the playoffs to 16 teams PERMANENTLY. Fuck. Will they shorten the season by 12 games, say? Of course not. We will have December baseball.
Another spin to the continuing saga of the 2020 season –
NEW YORK (AP) — MLB letter obtained by The Associated Press says several players and staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
I wonder why that’s being kept as top secret information by MLB. That’s hugely relevant information that has to come out at some point.
At a bar on Capitol Hill just started an internship and watching the bball finals game when the OJ story broke and the tvs at the bar went full OJ…
One of the major problems in the macro baseball world is that the owners unfairly have the anti-trust exemption so they cannot be held accountable legally. No ome can force them to reveal their real revenue projections or losses. Of course some myopic bottom line owners (A’s owner anyone???) look and see they will lose money this year if they pay the players anything so they rather shit the season. That is a myopic view that is likely going to burn the owners with fans who actually pay the frickin bill…the owners are not bothered with ling-term health and instead this looks more and more like a bargaining ploy for end of next season and the end of the CBA….bastards…
Colin Kaepernick is on the Los Angeles Chargers summer workout program and fits in they’re system supposedly.So will Kappy be back in the NFL this upcoming season?
I don’t think he is good enough to be an NFL starter and he is way too polarizing to be a backup. (Your backup QB needs to be the least controversial dude on the whole team IMO)
But in this climate, it would be an incredible PR move for a team to sign Kaep, so it won’t surprise me if it happens–even if it makes zero sense football-wise.
totally agree Diggity, totally agree.
The whole OJ episode coincides with my first wedding. Leading up to the big day, I remember my friend telling me OJ’s wife was murdered and that there were rumors that OJ was the killer–which seemed crazy to me. Then a day or two later I vividly remember sitting at my desk (I was just getting started in my teaching career back then) after school reading the LA Times and realizing it was obvious OJ was the killer. I was bummed out, because I always really liked OJ. Then we had our rehearsal dinner at this nice restaurant in La Jolla. As we were all leaving the banquet room, the bar area was buzzing with excitement and the TV’s were all showing the Bronco chase. We all just stood there in the bar and couldn’t believe what we were watching.
I know exactly what I was up to that day. After avoiding all coverage of the Rangers parade, I was assigned by the newspaper where I was working to cover Bobby Hurley playing in his first organized game since his near-fatal accident six months earlier in Sacramento. Hurley was playing for a team in the Jersey Shore Basketball League at St. Rose High School in Belmar, N.J., just a few blocks from the ocean. (The Hurleys likely had a summer home somewhere nearby). This was a summer league consisting mostly of college players, but sometimes NBA players like Rod Strickland and Anthony Mason would show up and play. Hurley finished with 13 points on 4-14 shooting. Don’t remember if all the OJ stuff was already going down by the time I got back, but in an office full of sports fans, I’m pretty sure we weren’t too happy with Knicks-Rockets Game 5 being interrupted. The Hurley game also somewhat interrupted my plans for the weekend. I was going to drive out that day to my brother’s in Pittsburgh and go to the US Open at Oakmont. I ended up by driving out there on Saturday and went to the Open on Sunday.
these are some great stories you guys are telling.
I have Wave-Deficit Understanding (WDU). Are we in the First Wave? The Second Wave? Wasn’t the Third Wave something to do with French cinema?
definitely still in the first wave my man
The whole “first wave” and “second wave” talk was a talking-point victory of sorts for the Trump administration. It probably originated in the highly politicized Pandemic Response Team (remember that useless thing?), and Fauci and Birx allowed it. It made it sound like a first wave was going down and things were getting better. It helped Trump create a false narrative.
It’s just been one big wave all along because of such terrible non-leadership at the top of the nation.
Fauci admitted the other day the Response Team (what’s left of it, that hardly meets anymore) hasn’t spoken to Trump in weeks.
A big wave that is now crashing into the middle of the nation.
our cases remain super low in Santa Clara county because we are not a county of idiots….
Jon Heyman reporting (about half an hour ago) the owners and union are close to a deal to play the 2020 season. Will include pro-rated pay and expanded playoffs.
good. Let’s see it.
the owners of the Oakland a’s must be pissed off. Now they’ll have to re-hire the crew that spray washes bird shit off the tarp on Mt. Davis. Moreover, in a regional short season they won’t get the usual spikes that occur when the yankees and red sox come to town.
Too funny seeing these events linked together. In the early ’90s I was going through some rough times/barely getting by yada, yada and didn’t have a TV among other things. There were quite a few events like the Waco standoff in ’93, OJ car chase etc that I was completely unaware of. I played organized soccer into my 20s and remember being genuinely excited about the World Cup games/watching them.
I saw the slow speed chase in the Atlanta airport while waiting for a plane back to SF. The people chilling or milling around me either obsessed over the news feed, striking up conversations about it, or they ignored it completely. (wtf is OJ? Who cares? I got things to do, places to be.)
Off topic, but I know Zumiee will enjoy this . . . Without looking Zum, tell me what year this was taken? Also, I found it hilarious that the sign says, faggots and peas are for sale . . . No, not a slur, i.e., sometimes wood kindling would be referred to as “faggots” (not cigarettes, as they are called fags over there). Learned all this when I was stationed overseas for 2 years in Great Britain.
Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan show in February of ’64. Based on their haircuts then, and in this picture, my guess is ’63, maybe ’64.
based on the hair i’d say 1965.
Yeah, I’d say ’65 or ’66.
Chi wins. 1963.
The Beatles’ impact was so big and immediate.
Ringo looks great in those hot pants.
John, what I thought was weird about her – hahaha, that’s not Ringo – wearing those short, short, shorts – is that hot pants weren’t around just yet. I do remember my mom and other young ladies wearing something called “pedal pusher pants” (spelling?) back around that time, but not hot pants.
The shorts are what threw my guess off.
That is a pert ass. It really is, baggy shorts notwithstanding.
expanded playoffs? So you’re telling me we might have a chance this year???????
Crazier shit has happened. I remember some crazy shit happening in 2010, and 2012, and also 2014. 😉
Now without looking it up, what kind of van are they driving? Bonus for telling me who, where and when they crashed that very same vehicle?
Dodge. Based on the headlight valances protruding from the front.
No Chi. Good guess, but not the correct van.
The new proposal is a 60 game regular season. Teams can probably make the playoffs by winning 35 games. LOL. OK, whatever. I’d watch it. A farce of a season, but it is what it is.
We had a 3 year old and a 1.5 year old, so we were chilling at home in San Carlos when the fun ensued.
Gotta be a Dodge. Those Fords had the triangle window behind the front doors.
Jan and Dean on Dead Man’s Curve?
The van crashed on the way home from a Led Zeppelin concert.
Sooooooo, 10 years later? Is it a Dodge?
No, it isn’t a Dodge.
lol . . . Come on Zum, got to be better than that. Led Zeppelin wasn’t even a band back then.
Oh, I thought the crash was later. Is the van already crashed in the photo.
It occurred in 1963. Although, another source says 1992 . . . Consequently, it could have been repaired prior to this photo being taken.
Looks like a Volkswagen van to me?
No AK . . . Running out of manufacturers (give me a model too). lol
corvair, chevy
Nope.
Actually, the accident must have occurred in either February or March 1963. A few days after the accident, their lives changed forever, when Please Please Me reached #1 on the charts.
Well, since US mfrs are out, is it a Morris whatevertheirvansarecalled? Did they hit Marc Bolan’s tree?
I never said US manufacturers are out. Hint – when I was stationed in England for a couple of years, the USA sold cars there, but they had different model names.
Good guess Charley regarding the Morris. I actually drove a Hillman Minx sedan (made by Ford I think at the time).
Man, there aren’t many snubnose vans with the front wheels that far forward. And it’s not a ford econoline eithe? I’m stumpted.
or I may be either stumped
Ford is correct, model is incorrect Xoot.
I will give it until 4:30pm Pacific Coast time . . . I doubt anyone will guess the model or what they crashed into.
they didn’t make a god damned falcon van, did they?
Great guess, but no.
Ford Thames 800 and Harrison drove it into the Burton’s factory fence in a place called Goole.
looks like a limey falcon to me, mate
Say hello to interminable 3:45 long games to be common now in the NL.
More HRs and Ks…
How is that going to attract younger people to the game?…
Juice the ball, come back just as the owners did after 94-95 by turning the blind eye to the steroids Bart Giamatti and Fay Vincent went after, before the owners’ coup installed Selig. Let it fly!
If they keep the three-batter minimum, and I think that’s a long-gone done deal, then the HRs will soar. Fireworks, fog horns, whale spouts at the park? HRs, baby. Corporate suites sanitized before and several times during a game? We got you here.
DH in NL? Wondered how they were gonna sneak that one in. Yet another nail in the coffin. I’ve always called it the dink-hitter fule. In the inimitable (but I’ll use it anyway) spelling of a Flapper departed: “Stoopid!”
Ah, it’s the Beatles in the photo. You stumped me on that one. Well played! I only just now noticed John sitting in the van.
Wow! I thought that was apparent???? Regardless, you made my day. 🙂
I think I would have seen it well on a computer screen, but I was looking on my little phone screen. I just thought they were anonymous young hipsters. 🙂
Today we learned that the police officer that shot two bullets into the back of Rayshard Brooks, and shot a bullet into a car full of witnesses, then yelled “I got him!” and ran up to Brooks and turned his body over by giving him a big kick. The other officer then stood on Brooks’ shoulders. Both officers waited two minutes before doing any first aid. Brooks was still alive at the time.
Both cops need to end up in prison, with the shooter in prison for a long long time.
I’m in agreement with snarkk and whomever else has said that the game is driving away “purists” like myself. I’ve told both him and Chi that I would rather see a minor league game in San Jose this season versus the abortion they are proposing. Quite frankly, they’ve likely lost me in 2021 and beyond too, if these bonehead proposals, such as the DH, timers, uniform advertisements, robot umpires, etc., are implemented permanently.
Seriously, the ONLY games I will attend are minor league games that have some semblance to the game I grew up loving and playing as a kid.
yeah, it’s really gotten bad. Manfred gets a lot of the blame but really he’s just a stooge for the owners. He’s their water boy. The owners have killed the game not manfred.
The thing I’ve always said is, in trying to attract younger fans by changing the rules and the game, MLB is pushing the older fans away. The older fans have, by the most part, been the ones who introduced the younger ones to the game and helped turn them into fans (in many cases fandom for the game and/or team was handed down through families). So MLB having these knee jerk reactions with rule and game changes to attract short attention spans, are actually driving away the fans that actually promote the game and can afford, or justify, the high prices of being a fan. IMO, these short term gains MLB is going for, will probably not equate to longevity for the game.
Good take, Bozo. Makes sense all the way.
Commercial messages on unis? Whadda they think this is, friggen Nascar? Those penny-pinching billionaires will stoop to no end of desecration.
Back a few posts ago I suggested that fans get together in something resembling a credit union—pledge a bunch of bucks–give the owners an offer they cannot refuse (with the “or-else” clause coming on like a ca. 1949 model labor union and threaten boycotts and picketing if they still won’t sell their teams to the fans). A precedent does exist. The GreenBay Packers belong to a bunch of their fans. As NFL teams go, that outfit hasn’t done all that badly over the years.
this is about as negative as I’ve ever seen good ol’ Daniel so you know shit is bad
Yeah I miss the days when they’re we’re baseball tryouts and every kid had a white cloth with a number on the back and you would hit,throw and run to impress coaches and managers who might pick you for they’re teams..
They’re just no love for the game anymore, just greedy players and owners..
I pinned those numbers on my sons every year for tryouts.
So the Giants tv feed tonight showed that odd early April 2018 game against the bums — Willie Mays riding in a convertible bobble-head game, celebrating the arrival of the Giants in SF 60 years earlier. My son and I attended that 2018 game. McCutchen went 5 for 5 and made some good plays and then came up in the 14th, with the Giants trailing, and, after fouling off about ten pitches, went 6 for 6, hitting a 3 run walk off. Everyone went wild. Buster, who was on deck, and who had hit a bomb earlier in the game, went wild. Our pitching hadn’t been great. Austin Jackson in CF hadn’t been great. Pence in LF had been terrible — he was obviously ailing, unable to throw to SS without a bounce. But Buster and Cutch were gonna carry us through. We were on our way. Or so it felt.
Even the disappointing seasons sustain. A short season this year will disappoint. But damn it’ll be better than nothing.
60 games in last year we were 2 games behind the nats!
Ted Turner really was ahead of his time:
bleh
Fuck John Bolton and his obscene walrus moustache. So now he “gets religion”? Fuck ’em all, especially the GOP Silent Enablers (reminds me of the “good Germans”).
We know where Bolton’s ethos is.
In front of the bank teller’s window with a book advance, not in the White House reading a copy of the US Constitution…
Then he has the gall to criticize the case the Democrats put together, after he gave them ZERO help.