A Press Democrat Blog

Cohn Zohn

Lowell Cohn's pertinent and impertinent take on sports

More praise for Raiders

The Raiders sent out a news release yesterday with lots of names in it. The names form the new personnel dept. for the Raiders. In a sense, the word “new” is not accurate. In the past, the Raiders did not have a personnel dept. They had a bunch of guys writing reports for Al Davis and he made all the decisions. Now the Raiders have a real dept. with division of labor. This is another way they are entering the… Read More »

Angel Pagan’s fielding

Quick observation here: Angel Pagan just turned a single into a two-base error by coming in on a ball and letting it get past him. Not so good, that. He seems to make fielding mistakes. I saw him go for a fly ball last week, and let the ball drop at the last instant and it fell in for a hit. Does he seem like a questionable fielder to you in terms of judgment? Oops, the Rockies just scored the… Read More »

Darren McFadden says he’s healthy

Here is the opening to my Wednesday column about Darren McFadden: ALAMEDA He advances straight at you with his head held high and a slight smile on his handsome young face. He is the prototype of a great running back and when he is good — that means healthy — he may be the best back in the NFL, better even than Adrian Peterson. On a scale of 10, he is an 11. He is walking out of the Oakland… Read More »

On dental flossing

This is not a sports blog. It is about dental floss. Proceed at your own risk. I am a fervent flosser. The dentist told me I probably won’t lose my teeth if I floss nightly, so I do that most of the time with Glide, that stuff that easily gets in and out of the tight crevices between my teeth. Here’s the rub. Some nights I’m just too pooped to floss. The whole idea of going through the process seems… Read More »

In Praise of Bob Melvin

Here is the opening to my Tuesday column: This is in praise of Bob Melvin. He is doing better with the A’s than just about anyone expected, and that is the mark of a good manager. The preseason talk about the A’s was blunt and brutal. They would lose 90 games, easy. They still may lose 90, but based on what they have done so far, that seems unlikely. They can’t really hit and sometimes they don’t pitch so well,… Read More »

Friendlier Raiders

The Cohn Zohn attended the Raiders’ rookie and undrafted free agent camp today (Saturday) and enjoyed the newly-found hospitality of the Raiders family and the workouts and the lovely weather. Many coaches made themselves available to the media, quite a departure from the siege mentality of the previous leadership. That was a polite way of putting it, I guess. I spoke at length with new defensive coordinator, Jason Tarver, quite an interesting coach. To read my Sunday column on the… Read More »

A.J. Jenkins doesn’t attend graduation

Here is the opening to my Saturday column about A. J. Jenkins and his graduation from college and the 49ers: SANTA CLARA — It is important for a college graduate to attend graduation and to make that dramatic march in cap and gown in honor of four years of hard, rewarding work, and to pose for photos with the family and to introduce the proud family to professors and to possess that special day for a lifetime. I applaud professional… Read More »

Grant Cohn upsets Anthony Davis

It has come to my attention that Grant Cohn, my son, has upset Niners offensive tackle Anthony Davis. Radnich and Krueger were talking about it this morning on KNBR. This upsetting of Davis is a serious matter. Grant wrote a blog on Thursday from practice and Davis took offense and fired off several tweets criticizing Grant. Davis subsequently removed the tweets — I can’t imagine why. But I take this matter of Cohn vs. Davis very seriously. I told Grant… Read More »

Which is better: A’s or Giants?

I attended the A’s loss to Toronto on Wednesday. And that night I watched Tim Lincecum implode vs. the Dodgers. The announcers kept saying he was back and his stuff was great, and he still got his head handed to him. Everyone expected the Giants to be good — they still may be. And everyone expected the A’s to be a non-factor — they still may be. But which team is better at this moment? Got that? My answer: They… Read More »

Brandon Morrow on the rise

I attended the A’s-Blue Jays day game on Wednesday — day baseball is a little rare these days but it’s great — and I wrote my Thursday column about Toronto pitcher Brandon Morrow who is from the 707 and is a graduate of Rancho Cotate High School. He won and he struck out 10 in six innings, and he’s clearly coming into his own as a starting pitcher in the American League. So, the column is about a hometown sports… Read More »