Here is a very good article in the New York Times about the A’s and the Giants and Oakland and San Jose. Nothing new for most of us, but a good primer to send to your friends and relatives who haven’t been following the saga.
If you want to blow another of your 10 free NYT articles for the month, here is an interesting story about the University of Nebraska Press and its leadership in the baseball book world.
And here is a lovely piece by the lovely and talented Angela Woodall of the Oakland Tribune about the history of our beautiful pile of concrete and some of the people who’ve kept it together, such as:
Harold Miller, 82, who worked as a ticket-taker that day (the Raiders’ opener) and is now the longest-serving employee at the Coliseum. His full-time job while the Coliseum was being constructed was as an equipment operator, and he helped lay the water main to the complex.
Meanwhile in stadium news, the 49ers groundbreaking ceremony date has been set for April 19.
Who’s going to the Bay Bridge games? I’m going tomorrow night….
Given how trivial it is to bypass the NYT block by simply trimming everything that looks extraneous at the end of the url, their recent reduction from 20 to 10 “free” articles per month is both pointless and ridiculous.
Is there an easy way around the LA Times block?
I’ve noticed that clearing the cookies from my browsing history seems to work against the LA Times paywall. Not sure if that will work for everyone, though.
:-(
are you speaking as a journalist who likes to get paid for his work?
Yes.
Should’ve thought of that 10 years ago.
Stupid industry thought it was irreplaceable.
I was just getting started 10 years ago. A columnist from the Contra Costa Times got me all inspired, not letting me know that it’s a dying industry. I’ve just been too stupid over the past 10 years to get it out. I don’t wanna get too far into this, because I’m not really coming from a position of any kind of authority in this kind of argument, but it does kinda hurt when I hear about people trying to get around paywalls.
I’m trying to get out, though. It’s amazing how much people FKing bitch and moan about something that is largely free to them. (Not directed toward you, gonealookin, ptbnl or anyone on FK, who are all outstanding people. Just a general gripe.)
Specifically WRT the LA Times, I have very limited reasons to go there, mostly for their college football stuff and occasionally for the Angels, so there’s not enough there to induce me to pay for the content. I survived the 80’s and 90’s without ever reading a single LA Times article and it’s pretty easy to go back to that so their choice is to have me as a limited free customer or not have me as a customer at all and as best as I can tell they’ve chosen the latter. Screw ’em, I deleted the bookmark a while back.
there’s very little reason for me to ask women out, mostly for sex, but that’s not enough for me to pay for dinner. i survived most of my life masturbating and it’s pretty easy to keep doing it, so women can just fuck me hungry or not fuck me at all, and as best as i can tell they’ve chosen the latter. screw ’em, i wasn’t going to call them back anyway.
Are you… me?
Tagline!
We are very different.
i get it. this comment is groundwork…
It’s how my family buttered its bread, my man.
Leopold Gripe, of the General Gripes?
Pulliams. Aka…Quayles.
Gunman opens fire in East Oakland – stay safe people.
Meanwhile, the Feds are busy with the much more important business of raiding Oaksterdam University.
What would the feds have done with a gunman in Oakland? That’s local police work, unless you want a detail of feds patrolling oakland on a regular basis…
It was more a comment on the relative regulation of guns and pot.
I see.
Shooter’s in custody, apparently he got all the way to Alameda South Shore Center before they apprehended him. This was a small Korean American religious post-secondary school across the freeway from the Coliseum, near the In-N-Out/Walmart. Shooter may have been a student.
Wow, I used to work a block from there, on Capwell.
As apposite a street name as Shotwell
6 years, $127.5 million for Cain, plus (if I’m reading this right) a player option for a seventh year at $13.5 million. With full no-trade clause. Damn.
Looks like they went back and edited the story. Now it says 5 year extension with $112.5 million guaranteed (including $7.5 million buyout on the player option for sixth year.
still. damn.
It’s a terrible baseball decision but you can’t fault the Giants for building and maintaining their brand.
He’s a better investment than Zito was, at least.
…in retrospect. But then again, maybe not. Time will tell.
Zito was a terrible investment from the start. He was average at best his last year with the A’s.
okay.
In retrospect, that was a shitty response by me.
okay. kisses!
Would it be wrong for me to hope he blows out his arm in his first start of the season after signing that contract and, like Mulder, is never the same? I mean, I don’t wish anything bad on him, per se, but having another albatross contract right off the bat would have quite the schadenfreudey value. And at least Cain would walk away with a shit ton of money.
Yes. Very very wrong. Shame on you. (Fingers crossed.)
No, I hope he just loses 12mph off his fastball and turns into an ineffective soft tosser, just like Zito.
Thanks, and go As.
Well… I just drafted him for my fantasy team…
Except they’re not going to keep Lincecum.
Thanks, and go As.
And if Oaksterdam U is closing down, there goes our chance of luring Timmy over here….
It’s really too hard to be sure of that as a lot could happen in 2 years. The Giants could be in line for one of those billion dollar TV deals, something might happen to Lincecum that hurts his value, etc. Lincecum’s ratios have been steadily declining every year as well.
In any case, extending Cain makes more sense as Cain’s extension begins with his age 28 season whereas whoever signs Lincecum will be getting him age 30 and beyond. I’d say locking up Bumgarner right now is critical for them.
Yeah. It’s an awkward situation for them — they *have* to hold onto Lincecum and Cain, and yet they can’t hold on to Lincecum *and* Cain.
…I’d much rather have that problem, though, than ours.
Crossing my fingers that Cain turns into Zito Mark II (since, y’know. I’m a bitch like that.)
I would rather our guys turn into Lincecum, or Felix. (Saves me a lot of hate.:)
To be fair it’s never the pitching that lets us down.
It’s true.
But the issue of which of the pitchers to keep is never an issue for us, since the answer is always ‘ahahaha NONE OF THEM’.
:(
On a related note, are you still outside in the bushes?
And it’s all Beane’s fault: “Quick this pitcher has value and the fans are taking a measure of enjoyment from watching him throw a baseball. Trade him now and replace him with a AAAA guy who puts up a 4.00ERA”.
Every. Single. Time.
Yeah, seeing the Cain extension news did hurt a little bit. The last guys to get extensions in Oakland (who were not traded) … Anderson and Suzuki (?).
I’m 90% sure he planned to trade Zooks, only he got worse. Same with Anderson.
I’m still waiting for Fuentes’ extension and subsequent trade.
We’d be stuck with the extension.
lol
Thanks, and go As.
I am. I look forward to the two weeks of sunshine I hear you Brits have in the summer. I think I’ve started to grow lichen.
If Billy would just get us crappy pitchers all the time, it would hurt less. It’s getting the nice, shiny toy, and then having him punch us in the face and take it back.
(I will actually for-real be in your neck of the woods in a few weeks, SO WATCH YER BUSHES.)
Where is my ‘neck of the woods’?
Just above your “torso of the woods”.
#christina hendricks
Cambridge.
Oh really? Cool, what are you doing there?
Also I’m available for booty calls and ‘might as well go to the tourist centre’ tours of the city.
…to make this comment enticing.
90% sure Kster prefers your answer.
Hey now, if anyone’s going to be her booty call…
Fine. I’ll stick with the Texas School Marm then.
Pfft… like it’s up to either anyone but them.
Well, I think it’s clear as day that Shoes digs me.
There’s a shovel and burial joke in there, but it has escaped me.
She would crush you.
Is she Ivan Drago?
holy FK that would be awesome
Thanks, and go As.
yes. yes, it would.
Death by Kyli would be fun.
i could think of worse ways to go.
Thanks, and go As.
You say that like it’s a difficult thing to do… or that I’d mind…
Sigh.
So. Drinks are on Cain tonight, then.
There was a part of me that was really, really hoping they wouldn’t get a deal done and Cain would end up a Dodger. Just for the lulz.
And Cincinnati has supposedly signed Joey Votto to a 10-year, $225 million extension with full no trade that doesn’t even start until 2014. Insanity.
Better him than Ryan Howard
True, but this contract is twice as long for almost twice the money.
But it starts sooner after it’s signed.
Holy crap.
So it’s a 10 year contract that doesn’t even start until he’s 30? Wow.
If I have this right, the first year of the extension will be 2014. Assuming in 2014 the $/FA-win is $5.5MM, and that that value will increase at a rate of 5% per year, then the Reds are banking on getting 30-35 WAR over the life of the contract. You gotta figure they’re counting on him for 7-10 WAR in 2012-2013.
Votto has 20 career WAR already. So, the Reds are counting on Votto turning in a borderline HoF career.
Dave Cameron sees the Votto deal as the first reflection of the new world of TV revenue, where teams are expecting that the recent LA deals (LAD and LAA TV and LAD team sale) will mean that everyone else’s next local TV deal (for Cincy 4 years off) will be much, much more lucrative. So if true, the dollars for WAR ratio is going up fast.
SPWC sees the new world of TV revenue as a temporary bubble that will be popped within a decade by the further erosion of cable to new media happening faster than the re-valuation of TV content that people actually (supposedly) watch live with commercials.
or something like that…
10 years from now there will be less geezers with cable and more DFA’s that eschew it.
It’s possible and certainly an eventuality, but I don’t know if I’d bet on it within a decade. TV as currently constituted is pretty obviously a dying content delivery system. Compared to on-demand, commercial-less streaming, there is absolutely no benefit that TV has. Streaming provides more choice, more convenience and more control. The reason for these massive TV deals (the fact that live sports is one of the few things that people still reliably watch TV for), could easily change with further advancements in baseball streaming.
Of course, as MLB has full control over streaming as an MLB content delivery system, there’s not much chance things will change too much in 10 years. If TV deals are bringing in this much revenue, MLB is going to do everything they can to extend them, even if it means screwing over fans to the full extent of its capabilities. Pretty much, I expect MLB to drag this out as long as there’s even a dying breath in TV left to squeeze money out of.
Yeah, but when cable companies refuse to pass the huge increases on to customers and instead don’t carry RSN content AT ALL…
San Diego will be an interesting test case if Time/Warner (or whoever the cable megalith is…) doesn’t cave.
In many cases the cable companies are the ones that own the RSNs. Even in cases where they aren’t the owners , passing those costs along to consumers – and more generally bundling channels together in expensive packages, even if you only want a few of them – is basically their whole business model.
I agree that that business model will die off eventually, but it will take pressure from outside competitors – in this case, improved versions of the netflix, roku, apple tv, etc. a la carte model. But that’s complicated by the fact that the very companies that want to sell their expensive TV packages – in the bay area Comcast and AT&T with Uverse – are the ones providing most people with internet connectivity, and they use tactics like bandwidth limitations and traffic shaping through throttling to make competing technologies harder to use for their customers.
It will take some small company making 100 Mbps fiber to the home widely available (like Sonic is trying to do) before the incumbents’ business is really threatened.
And even then, MLB’s TV revenue will start to fall off, but it will be made up for at least partially by getting more people to pay via MLBAM. The leagues are starting to realize that, even with illegal streams available, lots of people are still willing to pay for the legitimate source if it is available, reliable, and reasonably priced.
Lessons learned from RIAA/Napster.
The whole profit model is based upon non-watchers paying for RSN’s as part of their basic packages.
IF only people who watch baseball pay for it, the revenue will go WAY DOWN.
Cain is <.500 W-L lifetime. Loser.
Tyler, remember us? (perhaps NSFW)
based on the URL name that can’t possibly be safe for work
Thanks, and go As.
I’m the one with least idea about that. And not to provoke any more controversy (it’s only text, but who the hell knows), lemme label that
there’s no nudity. and it’s hilarious. but yes, it says the same thing you saw on the URL.
I hope that sign wasn’t bigger than 3 x 6.
That would depend on how big he is
https://twitter.com/#!/Athletics/status/186921077233029121
Thanks, and go As.
What a hose!
There goes our 1B man
Yay, EM! Me, too, tomorrow night. :)
Double yay EM – just heard your piece on the radio. Nice job!
and i thought ticket prices were expensive for fans…
AV, I heard the Mets have this super pitching prospect. Sidd Finch. He’ll be fun to watch!
byline says april TWO!!!
It seemed like a really lame April Fools attempt. The user even signed up this morning.
crap. should have finished reading before posting.
now i can’t tell if this is for real or not.
Really
Thanks, and go As.
okay, okay! so i went in hook, line, and stinker!
Is the game not FKing televised???
Thanks, and go As.
CSN-CA at 7:30
wow that’s a late start…
I was raring to go, but now I’m gonna watch a cooking show first while I make stir-fry.
The Bay Bridge games have always been my favorite to watch, but being in a new city/time zone every year is starting to catch up to me. Damn it.
Yeah… I’ve lived in this time zone for almost a decade straight… back in my hometown, until the levees or the sewer plant fails…
That is a good overview of the sitch by the NYT. I’m glad they gave some ink to the proposition that Wolff wants to make Oakland look bad to make his South Bay case stronger. Would have been even happier if the NYT writer had then presented “but maybe they’re just incompetent” as a counterpoint.
Also helpful that the Grey Lady finally debunked the idea that we’re just “one big patchouli party” out here. That misconception has been allowed to persist long enough.
baseball, hurrah.
Hi, beautiful!
Your multi-faceted awesomeness is diamondlike yet warm and fuzzy
awwwww…now i feel warm and fuzzy! hello, sweetheart! :)
I hope all is well for you.
Today was an emotional rollercoaster for not a whole lot of reason(s)… I’ll chalk it up to the hormones.
I’ve had a few like that lately.
it’s a good thing to chalk it up to. i know those feelings. >:(
mercury direct in two days!!!!!!!! :D
Finally, I think I might go tomorrow!
Awesome AB for Yoenis, do we actually have a bit of threat in the lineup?
Good inning from godfrey
yup.
Premature Posey was pretty satisfying.
I maded a game thread.
This is an April Fools prank that was turned in late right, right?
Schadenfreude.
I love the song at the end of Moneyball.
Gets me strange looks when I sing it though.
tell ’em to just enjoy the show.
I’m just a little bit caught in the middle, life is a maze and love is a riddle….I don’t know where to go, can’t do it alone I’ve tried and I don’t know why….
So. Damn. Catchy. I prefer her pacing to the actual song too.
It made me choke up a little bit in the theater.
Like most of the film, it just hit the nail on the head.
I really didn’t want to enjoy it (cos I’m bitter about the current team), but it’s a wonderful movie. And yes I choked up a little and I don’t even have kids!
Are you sure it isn’t because you’re not wearing any pants?
I had my appraisal today. My boss lofs me.
“Appraisal”? Are you being rezoned?
Yes.
Rezoned for death by Kylie… most neighbors don’t want to deal with the subsequent mess.