Here is the opening to my Sunday column, which occurred to me on a whim:
I’m in the mood for a game today, and I hope you’ll play along with me.
Let’s name which local pro teams are on the way up and which are on the way down. Simple enough, right? I exclude the Sharks because I don’t cover them and can’t write intelligently about them. My apologies.
OK, that’s the opening. I think you can see where this is going, although there is a twist. I hope you will give me your take on these teams and I promise not to disagree with you — it’s all subjective, anyway. To read the complete column, please click here.
Neal
Lowell,
I remember your column about a year ago, about best GM’s in the Bay Area, and you think highly of Sabean, what are thoughts about him now, yea he won a World Championship and made good trades with Pagan and Melky but the ongoing bad contracts this guy does is overwhelming, with Huff, Rowand, and Sanchez to name a few, well you know that Rowand got cut from the Marlins, Sanchez had a history of beeing injured and their are rumors that he does not want to come back until he is 100%, which will never happen because the guy is made of glass, he reminds me of Chris Brown, former third basemen for the Giants so he can get another contract next year, hopefully not from the Giants. Lastly Huff, how much longer are they going to keep him?, Sabean already said he is a lost soul, not in those exact words.
June 3rd, 2012 9:37 am
CohnZohn
Neal, you make good points. Forgive me, but I still feel Sabean is a very good GM. He’s been to the World Series twice, won once and he does have all those great pitchers. On balance, he’s very good. But he will have to make a significant move soon for the Giants to improve. Let’s see what he does.
June 3rd, 2012 9:40 am
Dennis
“Subjective” is an understatement. The Raiders have a rookie head coach, a rookie GM, they haven’t played one single game let alone won anything and you think they are on the way up? Maybe, but I need to see some wins. Allen could be in over his head and then they would be on their way down. The 49ers will, by your own admission, field a better team next year than last, but because they “had no significant injuries” last year (not true – Patrick Willis missed a bunch of games) and because they had so many takeaways they may not be as good? What? I know this is subjective, but you have got to at least use the same criteria in your evaluation. If the Raiders are on the way up because they got a new “unproven” head coach and GM, you have to say the same of the 49ers because they have a better team than last year with a “proven” head coach and GM. It seems to me you can only evaluate what you know at this point and for that I would say that both the Warriors and the 49ers have better teams than last year and thus are headed in an upward direction. Right now the Giants, because of injuries, Lincecum and an inability to bring in hitters, are in a downward direction. Not enough information is known about the Raiders to make any determination of direction other than they are obviously nicer to the media and vice versa. (Just kidding.)
June 3rd, 2012 10:04 am
CohnZohn
Dennis, Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed response. I basically agree with you and, as I said in the article, I am conflicted re: the Niners. What holds me back from a complete thumbs up for them is the SF Giants. After they won the Series I wrote they would be even better in 2011. You saw what happened. My point is lots of strange unexpected things happen in sports. And it’s made me cautious.
June 3rd, 2012 10:34 am
Stan
The 49ers..down. The NFL gifted them last year’s schedule and Harbaugh caught the league by surprise. Add the 13-3..and there’s no place but down this year on paper. Opening the season AT Green Bay is far worse then last year opening vs The Seahawks. Well,maybe sideways if they go 10-6 and playoffs.
The A’s..trending down to Hades. When you openly admit you wont pay what stars are worth..your worthless as a ownership.
Raiders up..no more beauty parlor visits from the Head Coach,no more fistfights like during the Cable era…and No more wildly over paid players as for the last decade. Just a big “?” as how good is Allen. Nobody knows.
The Warriors? will never be as good as the owners proclaims..but to draw the fans only ask then to be competitive…trending sloooowly up.
Giants ..up up and away..IF Lincecum eats…they could…. go…. all…the…..waaaayyy!
June 3rd, 2012 10:51 am
Stan
I wrote mine without reading your article first. We agreed on some things..not so much on others.
June 3rd, 2012 11:22 am
Raffaele
Since we can’t include the Sharks, I don’t see any of the local major league teams on the way up.
The A’s have been stripped of solid talent and have a bunch of nice guys who are enthusiastic and underdeveloped. Wolfe is satisfied to take them don and hope for glory in a new location.
The Giants have spurts of being good and then they revert to marginality. I agree, Sabean is not a good GM and lives off the miracle of two years ago. Now the El Gordo is in trouble the team will barely play .500 ball.
The Warriors are dismal, have been for years, and will be. The owners and the coach talk a good game but the players on the court don’t perform well.
It’s difficult, being a sports fan in Santa Rosa these days.
June 3rd, 2012 5:04 pm
Neal
Talking about the Sharks who I do follow and watch 99% of the games or at the games, the Sharks are on the way down, every year, so much optimism and every year disappointment. Wilson has made some really bad trades this year, the Sharks are a slow team and speed is very important, we only have 5 guys that can score and rely too much on them, also Marleau got to go, he has the heart of a worm, also the goal tending was not great this year. Niemi is just a average goalie.
June 3rd, 2012 6:48 pm
Streetglide
I think teams should be more afraid of the Niners than the other way around. Who cares about the Raiders? They should move back to L.A. Warriors? Zzzz… NBA is a fixed game of thugs. I feel sorry for the A’s, they should move too, perhaps to Sacramento. ;;;
June 4th, 2012 8:42 am
Brady
Having a harder schedule and getting unlucky does not mean the Niners are on the way down. It means their record is likely to soften a little bit, but it does not mean the team itself is doing anything but going up.
Also I’m not sure it’s “hard to say they are bound for the super bowl” – almost every analyst (Maicco included) – has said it with relative ease.
June 4th, 2012 10:25 am
CohnZohn
Brady, no matter who said it with relative ease does not mean they are correct.
June 4th, 2012 10:51 am
Dennis
Lowell, no question that it is hard to say that any team is bound for the super bowl. However, I just read on Yahoo sports that the 9ers are now the odds on favorites WIN the super bowl at 4-1 at MGM in Vegas. Green Bay is second at 9-2. So the elevator is going up on the Niners in Vegas
June 4th, 2012 3:09 pm
Brady
Lowell, I never said it was correct; I said it wasn’t hard to say.
June 5th, 2012 12:19 am
Stan
One thing people forgot…Harbaugh is hated by other coaches..that’s good for having the 49ers nosed rubbed in it. They all want to bring him down a few pegs.
June 6th, 2012 3:39 pm