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″

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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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.

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.

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

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So today the Licoln (Neb.) Journal-Star will live blog the Nebraska Board of Regents meeting. Will it be the most exciting live blog of a regents meeting in this history of regents meeting live blogs? Potentially.

Nebraska is considered the large red domino at the top of the line of major conference realignment, and the school’s regents are debating whether to join the Big 10 today. The Journal-Star lays it out thusly: “Potentially at stake: the future makeup of college athletic conferences, including the possible demise of the Big 12; historic rivalries;  millions of dollars in sports television revenue; even academic programs and research.”

So, not much then.

Nebraska rival Colorado officially joined the Pac-10 on Thursday, but Nebraska still holds the key to the conference becoming the Pac-12 or the Pac-16. As the Merc’s Jon Wilner reports, if Nebraska stays in the Big XII the conference could survive and the Pac-10 could add only Utah to become the Pac-12. But if Nebraska joins the Big 10, the Big XII could end and the mega-move would happen.

Colorado, the first little domino, is pretty damn excited to be in the Pac-10. The Buffs lost six scholarships this year because of poor academic performance, and school president Bruce Benson said the academics were a main positive of the move to the Pac-10. “Look at the Ivy League. Seven of eight are in the AAU (American Association of Universities). You’re judged by your peers. I like to be judged against UCLA and Stanford and Berkeley and USC and Washington.”

Comparing the Pac-10 to the Ivy League? You’ll fit in around here, Bruce Benson.

So, just as USC gets slammed with sanctions for Reggie Bush’s transgressions (Cal and Stanford fans can now look back fondly on the 2005 season where they each beat USC), the rest of the nation instead will be focused on Nebraska, and that live blog. Orangebloods.com reported that Nebraska’s Big Ten move is already writ, but tune in to see.

Former Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers, normally the quiet guy of the group, will be the one complaining that the jokes weren’t funny enough when you take him to the comedy club during SketchFest.

Well, that’s the conclusion you can draw from this one completely random fact: Rodgers prefers the Monday Night Football comedic stylings of Dennis Miller over Tony Kornheiser. That’s what he said in an interview with a Milwaukee radio station, according to Sports Radio Interviews:

You know who was better than Tony Kornheiser? Dennis Miller was ten times better. Dennis Miller was a great comedian, but one of the worst Monday Night Football guys ever. And he was ten times better than Tony Kornheiser.

Sure, as Rodgers acknowledged, it’s the lesser of two broadcasting evils. But was Miller really the lesser? These are some of his top MNF quotes:

Warner had more hands in his face than an OB-GYN delivering Vishnu’s triplets!

Hey, Cunningham — Andy Warhol called. You’re at 14:55 and we’re tickin’ big-time here, Chachi.

I haven’t seen anyone rely on the ground game this much since the battle of Verdun.

Kornheiser might not have tried as hard to be funny, but at least he didn’t send viewers scrambling to Wikipedia after every sentence. Sorry, Aaron, but Kornheiser was better.

Former 49ers and Raiders tough guy Bill Romanowski is not exactly striking fear into the populace any more. Last year, he blogged about how he once listened to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” before every game. Then he appeared on Comcast after Raiders games with a mildly lame “Romo Report Card” segment. Now, it turns out he’s been voluntarily writing advice columns for an online content clearinghouse for almost no money.

Romo’s “sex advice column” on Associated Content has been making the rounds today. Like the Romo Report Card, Romo’s column is tame and entirely inoffensive. It’s more of a health column, probably meant to boost sales of his health supplements, and who doesn’t need health advice from a guy who injected himself with 8,000 different drugs over his career?

Clearly Romo needs a report card for himself. Sure, we’ll oblige.

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Did you enjoy your Memorial Day? Hopefully. Chad Barrett of Toronto FC didn’t enjoy his. During Toronto’s game in San Jose on Saturday, Barrett celebrated a goal by grabbing the corner flag, using it for a 21-gun salute and then saluting the crowd. The celebration, according to Canadian soccer blog The 24th Minute, was in honor of his family’s military history.

Of course Barrett got a yellow card for using a prop in a goal celebration. The 24th Minute appeals for the yellow card to be rescinded considering the circumstances. Judge for yourself:

This is reminiscent of Totti’s thumb-sucking celebration. Sure, it’s to honor his son and daughter. But he’s still sucking his thumb. We say: Keep Barrett’s yellow card.