Rejected

Giants

Those that had an idea that I would become the new General Manager of the Giants are going to be disappointed.  I had a preview interview for the job in the library at the Gordon Getty Manson in December.  The interview was very cordial but in the end he did not say that he would recommend me to Farhan Zaidi head of baseball operations to interview me. The handwriting was on the wall.

Homer with Larry Baer

Larry liked the idea that I didn't think Bochy gave the Home Run signal enough.

I also told him I am not a great believer in platooning like the new Director of Baseball Operations Zaidi.  I explained to Larry that if a Giant left hand batter had 3 hits in a game and he came up in the 8th inning in a crucial situation.  The opponents brought in a left hander,  I would not pinch hit.  I believe in going with the hot bat. Now, if the batter had 0-3 and a coupled of strike outs I would pinch hit a right hand batter.

I also told Larry the truth and that was not what he wanted to hear.  I said to knock out triple valley and convert that right centerfield into the bullpen.  I understand that the Giants do not want to change anything about their award winning stadium.  The game has changed.  Besides because of the heavy cold air at the stadium, it's never going to be an easy park to hit a home run .

Homer with Granddaughter Emi

We did socialize for awhile and he was very envious of me when I told him that the first major league game I saw was the Giants and the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in April of 1954 the year the Orange and Black won the World Series.  He told me he only wished he could have seen a game there.

I wished the Giants luck this year and he gave his card and told me to contact him when I am in 'the city'.

Larry may never have attended a game at the Polo Grounds in New York but he saw plenty of them at Candlestick Park.  I received a Crouix of Candlestick 't' shirt for Christmas.  Once the Giants discovered they could not fool the fans about the weather at the 'the stick', they began giving the crouix away to fans who stayed to the end of extra inning games. I can't believed we have a few of those orange buttons still laying around the house.  I guess I was crazy in those days.  Pictured with me at the left is my granddaughter Emi without an U of Arizona shirt on for the first time in a year.  She made 1st string All Pac-12 Freshman Soccer and second team NCAA.  Like me, she doesn't understand how she was chosen since the coach kept her under wraps.  I am not a soccer expert at all but it seems to me they played 'not to lose' so when they played a powerhouse like Stanford they only lost 2-0.

The 49ers

The Ram game was a disaster to end a disasterous season.

The Warriors

I am getting tired of hearing"Well that's the NBA" after the Warriors get routed on Christmas Day or lose an overtime game to Portland. Warrior fans were spoiled a few years ago when 'The City' won all the big TV games and most of what was considered important games.  It's not the same for 'The Town'.

The Warriors did defeat Portland in Portland in a game that showed signs of how they can win.  Everybody participates and their passes our crisp, fast and sharp.  It makes a difference.  Thompson was allowed that extra second that made all the difference in his shot.  There are going to be games in which Durant, Curry or Thompson are going to lead.  But that only wins games.  To win a championship, everybody needs to participate.  If they do that like they have in the past, and Cousins gives them a different look they will have a good chance of repeating as NBA champions.

The Monday Night Pool

Some of our blog members have told me that they play the Monday Night Football Pool that we announce every year.  I have played it for about 15 years or so and always end up around the middle, sometimes a little above other years below.  I do the usual NFL review.   I only concentrate on those teams that will be playing on Monday night.  I check their local papers regularly on the internet, purchase Pro Football magazines,  watch the replay of their pre seasons games on the the NFL channel, listen to experts on the NFL network and ESPN,  review their predictions and then make my picks.   The results have been disappointing to say the least.

This year I decided to try what I call the Kitchen Bowl approach.  I fold a 'post it' in half and write the name of each team playing on Monday night on one of the papers.  The first game this years was the Jets against the Lions.  So I would put the name of the Jets and Lions in the bowl and without looking  and pick out a team.  I would do this for all 17 games listing the team chosen on the Football Pool form. Then I would number 17 'post it' papers 1 -17 and put them into the bowl.  I would start down the list and pick out one paper for each game.  In this example I picked 3  for the Jets.  If the Jets win I  would get 3 points.  Most players give 17 points to the team they think is almost a chinch to win down to 1 for a game they are only guessing.  A perfect total would be 153 points.

Well the 2018 results are in and I had 130 points good enough for 5th place.  The  winner had 134 points and I believe won something like $1500.  For 5th place I was awarded a check for $125.   Thank you Oakland for beating the Broncos in that last game.

College Football

It's Clemson and Alabama.  What else is new?  I just wonder if there is anyway the game can be a sell out.  Only a very large contingent of fans from the South will make a sell out possible.  The Bay Area is the 'hot bed' for many activities but not college football.  Flights from Atlanta to the Bay Area are almost impossible with many choosing to fly to Las Vegas, Chicago, Kansas City, Denver and other places and then catching a flight to the Bay Area.  Even Amtrack has added an extra car to their train and  planes are being moved from their grave in Arizona for this one day and Greyhound sales are up.  Suites that normally go for $50,000 have been priced as low as $10,000.

The Pac 12 actually won a couple of games this bowl season but they were not very impressive.  The Stanford - Pitt game had a play that was hard to believe.  Stanford was on about the 2 yard line, and the qb faked a handoff to a back going through the middle.  The qb then got hit and the ball few out of his hands directly into the running back hands who was standing in the end zone for a td.  It was a forward fumble but looked like a shovel pass.

This reminded me of the "forward fumble" play made famous by Slip Madigan coach of the St. Mary's College Galloping Gaels from 1921-1939  My father told me about this play many times when I was very young.  The only difference is St. Mary's would plan the fumble while for Stanford it was an accident.

In 1920 the University of California defeated St. Mary's 127-0 and that was before the two point conversion.  Madigan took over as coach in 1921 to start the rebuilding process.  He coached the Gaels for 19 years with a record of 117-45-12.  It was not unusual to see the Gaels beat UCLA, USC, Cal and Stanford when they met.  In 1938 St. Mary's defeated Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl.  One might say that the Gaels were the 'hot bed' of Bay Area football.

Happy New Year!