Bay Area Sports Blog

If you watched the U.S. Open on TV today you might have noticed fans and golfers looking up. They weren’t checking the movement of the cumulus clouds, they were probably checking out the banner flying above Pebble Beach.

For the second time since he returned to golf, Tiger Woods was mocked by anonymous Tiger-haters who sprang for a not-so-witty message to be flown above the course. Today’s message: “TIGER: ARE YOU MY DADDY?” A fitting message for Father’s Day.

The message ran in stark contrast to the image on the 18th green after Graeme McDowell won his first major. McDowell’s dad ran up to him and hugged him to provide a fitting cap to the proceedings.

That was the second tear-jerking moment of the afternoon. The first was when Tom Watson walked up the 18th, clearly overcome with emotion at playing the hole for the final time in a major. We even saw an HD-enhanced tear hit the green as he lined up his final putts.

And as that happened, we saw the future: Some day, Tiger Woods will be strolling down the 18th green, overcome with emotion about playing Pebble for the final time. And a banner will fly overhead, with some crass message, and ruin the whole thing.

Such is the legacy of Tiger Woods.

JaMarcus Russell might be done with the Oakland Raiders, but he’s not done annoying football fans. Russell showed up at local product Andre Ward’s boxing match last night at Oracle Arena and even wore some Alabama gear. Thanks for all the memories, LSU!

Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune reported the scene: Apparently Russell showed up 2/3 of the way through the fight, and fans booed him roundly when he arrived and when he left.

A Raiders fans wearing a crisp, new Rolando McClain jersey (No. 55), stood up and began taunting Russell, asking him for his money back on his season tickets.

Good luck with that, big guy. Somehow we don’t think any of the $39 million Russell “earned” from the Raiders is going back to fans. Come on, he needs that money to buy Alabama gear! And various diamond-encrusted things.

Really, it’s shocking that JaMarcus is still in the Bay Area at all. We would’ve figured he would be back in Mobile, where he is literally a king. Maybe the ‘Bama gear is an homage to his kingdom.

Image of Russell at the fight via Twitter user “BabyHuey83″

Occasionally we’ll post rebuses: word puzzles based on images. Put the images together and you’ve got a name.

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Welcome, to the 2010, family day, at the, CANDLESTICK, PARK! BOOP BOOOOO!

The Warriors unveiled their new logo today and the reaction was mostly positive. UniWatch’s Paul Lukas called the team’s nod to its past a swell logo, while Ball Don’t Lie’s Trey Kerby says the new look, which features the yet-to-be-completed Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge, jumps into the top 5 of all NBA logos.

So yeah, high praise all around, even if there were some questions about the ‘SF’ secondary logo. Just don’t get the critics started on the typeface. Woooooo boy.

Says Lukas:

Copperplate Gothic is sooooo early 1990s, guys.

Says Golden State of Mind:

I like the new logo, but someone please fix the font! My word, they really messed that one up.

Says @Bloomizzle:

It looks like someone’s project from Typography 101. Copperplate Gothic? Bleeeech.

Poor Frederic W. Goudy. Everyone hates your font, or at least the idea of putting it on an NBA uniform. According to MyFonts.com, Copperplate Gothic is “often seen in advertisements, but it has also made a place for itself in private and business correspondence and corporate design.” Maybe Berkeley Old Style, one of Goudy’s favorite fonts, would’ve been a better choice. Then again, it’s the Warriors. Be thankful there’s at least something to like about the redesign.

Isn’t minor-league football just the best? Every time a team exits our collective Bay Area consciousness, a new one takes its place.

In 2008 the San Jose SaberCats played in yet another Arena Bowl before disappearing like a supernova, but 2009 gave us the UFL and the California Rockfish Redwoods. The ‘Woods moved to Sacramento but then we got the San Jose Wolves, who somehow play at the Cow Palace. We didn’t hear much about the Wolves, but it’s all good, because now the SaberCats are back. How circular is that?

The newly reformed AFL will start play in 2011 and we’re sure the Bay Area will welcome back its most successful team with open arms. The SaberCats won three Arena League titles in the darkest of days for the rest of the region’s pro franchises. Plus, you know, SaberKittens.

The Mercury News caught up with SaberCats golden boy QB Mark Grieb, and while he did say “don’t count me out,” we don’t think he’ll be bringing his short-field cannon back to San Jose.

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Former Cal star and 2003 first-round draft pick Conor Jackson, whose career stats pale in comparison to his father’s filmography, was acquired by the A’s in a trade with the Diamondbacks today. Oakland sent minor league pitcher Sam Demel and cash considerations to Arizona, which sweetened the deal by including a boxed set of the once-popular TV series JAG. Jackson’s father played Adm. AJ Chegwidden on the show.

In Jackson, the A’s add a player who is hitting .238 with one home run and 11 RBIs in 42 games. Jackson missed time earlier this season with a bum hamstring and almost all of last year after being diagnosed with Valley Fever. The A’s intend to play him in left field, which could signify the end for Eric Patterson.

Let’s get to know Conor Jackson:

• Jackson made his major league debut at Wrigley Field, where the A’s open a three-game series tonight, on July 28, 2005. He went 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter but started and went 2-for-4 two days later.

• Jackson lost 30 pounds while battling Valley Fever last season. (Is there a Silicon Valley Fever that Pablo Sandoval could try to catch?)

• When Conor was about 7, his father played an abusive father on a television movie. “It was so convincing, after I saw it I was so scared of him,” Conor told the Daily News in 2003. “Because it was the first time I’d seen him play a really, really bad guy. He had to sit me down and say, ‘Hey, listen, it was just a movie.’”

• Jackson made a guest appearance on “General Hospital” last year and said he was “more nervous doing that than standing in the batters’ box.”

After the jump, Jackson goes grocery shopping with Eric Byrnes. Hilarity Bickering over hot dog buns ensues.

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Well any thoughts of a Pac-10 mecha-conference stomping across the land have ended. Texas and its followers are staying in the Big XII, and that means the Pac-10 is left with Colorado and probably Utah as members 11 and 12.

Suddenly, we’re viewing that as a disappointment. Only 12 teams in the conference? What is this, 1993? When the 16-team idea was introduced it was a blow to the gut. It was exciting. The Pac-10 was going to leapfrog the SEC and become the premiere conference in the country. There was no way ESPN could ignore the West Coast now!

But with Colorado and Utah in the conference? Meh. Cartographers are happy because the map looks good. But ESPN is going to continue to ignore the new conference. One Pac-10 team is going to get screwed in a football title game.

Basically, the Pac-12 isn’t as exciting as the Pac-16. The Pac-16 was legend. The Pac-12 is just a natural extension of what came before it.

That said, if they have one of those Dr. Pepper football-toss games at the Pac-12 championship, all is forgiven.

Image via.

BASB’s weekly baseball roundup from both sides of the Bay — and an excuse to post a photo of Crazy Crab knocking Stomper off a tricycle.

CRABS UP

HR Huff and Stuff: Aubrey Huff, who is making Giants fans forget all about offseason flirtations with Nick Johnson and Adam LaRoche, homered twice and drove in four runs Sunday. Huff, who has hit 8 of his 10 homers this season at AT&T Park, is quietly off to his best start ever.

Sweep Swap: The Giants and A’s split this year’s Bay Bridge Series, with each team sweeping at home.

First of Many: Buster Posey CRUSHED his first major league home run at Cincinnati.

CRABS DOWN

(Really) Mad Bum: Madison Bumgarner was ejected from a PCL game and suspended for three games. Bumgarner’s inability to keep his cool may have cost him a call-up to take Todd Wellemeyer’s spot in the rotation.

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Raiders owner Al Davis, already widely heralded as the master of the crazy press conference, now wants to conquer another part of PR: The press release. On Sunday, Davis boldly announced to the media via press release that … he is confident in the abilities of one of his top draft picks.

The gist of the release is that second-year receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey will soon join the ranks of great Raiders receivers like Fred Biletnikoff, Tim Brown and Randy Moss. Yes, Randy Moss. Heyward-Bey can only hope he develops an ability to disappear in key moments, loaf around, and get traded to the Patriots.

The press release is meant to boost confidence in Heyward-Bey, who had only nine receptions for 124 yards in his rookie season but has looked good in offseason workouts. But obviously, the release is quite unnecessary. We assume Heyward-Bey will have a better second season. It’s almost impossible not to.

Luckily, our sources in Alameda have provided us a working list of some of the other press releases Al is working on at this hour:

• The Raiders would like to announce that JaMarcus Russell was a bust.
• The Oakland football club would like fans to know that we encourage dressing up in silver and black while attending games. Skull adornments are a bonus.
• The Raiders would like to announce: Suck it, Kiffin.

Watch your desks, these press releases will be landing soon.