Bay Area Sports Blog

The California Redwoods’ long expected move to Sacramento was made official today, with UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue introducing the team at a news conference attended by more than 100 fans, city officials, and media. That’s an impressive turnout, considering there may not be 100 people in the Bay Area who were aware that the team formerly known as the Redwoods had hit the road.

The City of Trees is dropping the Redwoods nickname and holding a name the team contest on UFL-Football.com. One of the prizes is an opportunity to meet Dennis Green on the field before a game, so, you know, be sure to enter early and often. Sacramento Rockfish sort of has a nice ring to it.

The team, which will cover some of the cost of the new artificial turf field it will share with Sacramento State, is expected to pump $10 million into the local economy. Team owner Paul Pelosi should see better turnout in Sacramento, if only for the fact that the city has been absolutely dying for a championship since the Sacramento Surge won World Bowl II in 1992.

Sacramento residents, like the first guy in this news report, are certainly excited.

I think it’s a good idea to bring happiness to Sacramento. I think sports bring happiness and make people happy.

You have no idea, Matthew Eddington. You have no idea.

Well this is depressing. After just one season, Dennis Green and the rest of the UFL’s California Redwoods are close to booking it out of San Francisco and moving to Sacramento. That’s the report from the Sacramento Bee this morning. The team would pay for and play on a new synthetic field at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State.  Green has already been out to inspect a potential training facility on a former Air Force base.

Apparently San Francisco wasn’t doing it for Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, the owner of the Redwoods. The man who once dreamed of taking the UFL teams public in IPOs to “increase community involvement” must have meant “the Sacramento community.” Or maybe the Bay Area community spoke loudly enough with attendance. The Redwoods “drew” 6,341 and 6,837 fans (half of them stoners) in two games at AT&T Park, and 4,312 to their one game at Spartan Stadium in San Jose. There were rumors the team might move to San Jose, but the low attendance there might have killed any hopes.

So now the team that was the Rockfish, before correcting to the Redwoods, will now have a new name. From the Bee:

…the league is expected to change “Redwoods” to a more Sacramento-specific mascot and to announce the addition of two local minority owners.

Sacramento specific? How about the Sacramento Schwarzeneggers? Hasta la vista, minor league outdoor football in the Bay Area.

BASB favorite and original California Redwood Shane Boyd was one of 10 UFL players to sign with an NFL team this week. The former University of Kentucky standout and trivia answer joined the Indianapolis Colts practice squad, sending Peyton Manning owners rushing to the waiver wire to handcuff backups Jim Sorgi and Curtis Painter for the fantasy playoffs.

At least one person has speculated that the the Colts signed Boyd to simulate Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young. If that’s the case, he could be dumped after Sunday in favor of Redwoods teammate Mike McMahon, with the Colts in the market for someone to simulate Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton.

Quick, what UFL team has sold the most jerseys this season? If you answered, “That’s impossible to say because they all wear the same uniform,” you are both a smart ass and correct. DJ Gallo offered several suggestions for improving the UFL over at Page 2 today, and we have to hand it to him; changing the league’s slogan to “Our Games Are Played On The Moon And 10 Lucky Viewers Will Win 1 Trillion Space Bucks Redeemable At All Space-Marts!” would definitely get our attention. You know what else gets our attention? Free stuff, except for those hats. You would have to threaten to lock us in a room with a New York Sentinels highlight reel playing on repeat before we would be caught dead in one of those.

A free ticket offer, however, is something we can all get behind. Enter Shane Boyd.

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When he’s on the football field, Patrick Willis is a frickin’ beast. When he’s off the field, he’s a frickin’ beast with some nerdy undertones. While Madden and EA’s other offering are the typical games of choice for NFLers when they get on the sticks, Willis prefers the third-person adventure game Assassin’s Creed.

During yesterday’s chat on NFL.com, Willis hyped the release of Assassin’s Creed II, a game that helps him realize, on some level, his childhood dream of becoming a ninja. Willis says he has a lot in common with the game’s main character, Ezio, who lives by the Assassin’s Creed:

1) Do not harm the innocent.
2) Be discreet.
3) Do not compromise the brotherhood.

Willis exhibited his loyalty to the third tenet when asked about the 49ers’ quarterback situation:

“Let me start by saying I respect Alex and Shaun both for their efforts at being our QBs. It’s not easy being a QB, in any form or fashion. But I think Shaun is a good QB, he just went though a tough time, and that happens. When it comes to Alex, now, he gotthe opportunity, and he made the best of it. It’s not to say Shaun’s not a good QB, he’s done well for us. In this league, when you get the chance to shine, you have to make the best of it. That’s what it’s about. And Alex has done that.”

If that’s not going out of one’s way to protect the brotherhood, we don’t know what is.

…Other linkage, not including an amazing local story that should give you pause the next time you’re thinking about writing a negative review on Yelp…

Al Davis must be looking for a a way to drop the dead weight that is Tom Cable and there are plenty of possibilities for a replacement, including a guy from the Bay Area college ranks. Hint: not Jeff Tedford. Kawakami

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The Giants made the rumored official Monday by hiring Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens from Fresno to be the club’s new hitting coach. Of course we will never actually use his photo and instead use this photo of Bamm Bamm Rubble every time we need to write about him.

Even though the nickname is missing two “m”s, it does come from Flintstone land. Apparently Bam Bam, the baseball player, was playing softball in his homeland of Curacao, and bombing the ball so much that other players compared him to the youngest Rubble. That’s a story we can support. He also has the nickname written on the back of his shoes and can say it in five languages, including Papiamente/u/o, which is itself a mix of a few different languages.

But does that make him a good hitting coach? He certainly wasn’t a good major league hitter, and that worries some. Whatever. Who needs good natural hitting skills when you can teach them instead, and have a cool nickname while doing it? Just ask Thaddeus “Beer Barrel Arms” Smith, who was the Detroit Tigers’ hitting coach in 1925. Actually that’s made up.

Bam Bam’s first project could be Buster “Bus Bus” Posey, who’s struggling down in Arizona Fall League. Buster, just hit it hard. It’ll work out.

…Other linkage, not including Bill Walton — the ultimate hippie athlete — quitting sportscasting…

Lane Kiffin gives his thumbs-up to Tom Cable from afar, saying “Tom has not had enough time.” Yes, there’s never enough time. CCT

Former Stanford 3-point master Ryan Mendez wants you to vote for him as one of the best Texas high school stars ever. But Michael Crabtree, yes, the 49ers wide receiver, is one of the other options. How to choose??!!??? Streetball

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Yikes. This tremendous contribution to Fear the Fin’s Halloween Photoshop Expo by ievans will give us nightmares for weeks. The entire thread is definitely worth a look.

Quiet night in the Bay Area on Thursday, with the Sharks and Dubs both idle. We’ll be back with some more goodies later today. In the meantime, enjoy the links on All Hallow’s Eve eve.

…Other linkage, not including 10 awesome Halloween costumes that it’s much too late to make at this point…

Alex Smith returns to a starting role against the same team — and fellow No. 1 pick –  that welcomed him to the league as a starter with a whipping. NBC Bay Area

Matt Steinmetz attempts to make sense of Stephen Jackson. Then his head explodes. Golden State of Mind

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Jim Harbaugh isn’t shy about speaking his mind, so when he was quoted as saying that Stanford redshirt freshman Andrew Luck is “the best quarterback in the nation,” we didn’t really bat an eyelash. A coach who approaches his job with an enthusiasm unknown to man kind is going to indulge in some hyperbole from time to time.

Except Harbaugh appears to actually believe it. When asked if Luck was better than Florida’s Tim Tebow or Texas’ Colt McCoy, Harbaugh didn’t back down. Not surprisingly, there were plenty of people willing to tell Harbaugh that he’s wrong.

As part of the Cardinal’s “improvement week” festivities, Harbaugh will be dissecting Saturday’s Oregon-USC game, which features inferior quarterbacks Jeremiah Masoli and Matt Barkley.

…Other linkage, not including the Governator’s curious letter to the state assembly. Word play is fun!…

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Don Nelson has put his foot down. Slowly and with a little bit of a huff. But it’s still down. Stephen Curry will start the Warriors’ season opener Wednesday against the Rockets instead of CJ Watson. And damned be the player (Monta Ellis) who doesn’t like it (at media day he said “can’t win that way,” talking about playing alongside Curry).

According to Nelson, “Right now, anyone who plays with Curry looks good. I would think Monta should love it.”

The decision gives the Warriors a slightly undersized backcourt. Both players are listed at 6-foot-3. So they can be twins. Just what Monta wanted. A twin. He doesn’t want full control of this team, not at all.

…Other weekend linkage, not including a UCLA player’s horrific Tweet…

So this is why they named them the California Redwoods instead of the San Francisco Redwoods: After the lightly attended opener at AT&T Park, the UFL’s not-so-darlings will move to Spartan Stadium in San Jose for one of two remaining home games. FanHouse

Reports have Tony LaRussa returning to the Cardinals next year, and hiring Mark McGwire out of roided-up obscurity to be the team’s hitting coach. Which means awkward testimonials about taking on 3-0.

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SF Weekly has a wondrous breakdown of the Redwoods’ home opener Saturday. It contains everything you could hope for, plus just a little bit more. There’s light mockery of the light attendance, reviews of the entertainment options, and of course tales of lesbian breakups and pot smoking.

When I approached a pair of gloriously stoned teenagers sitting in the almost completely abandoned first-baseline endzone section, I asked them what attracted them to the game. Simultaneously, they blurted out “Free tickets!” One quickly added “God bless whoever paid for this.” Since the score was, at the time, 7-7 midway through the third quarter, the stoners noted that their sedation of choice made the game “bearable.”

We’re pretty sure this will be incorporated into the next slogan for the UFL. Crowds so sparse, you can do whatever the f— you want!

…Other linkage, not including robots replacing sportswriters. But they can’t match the dazzling wit of the sports blagger. Blogger. Sorry. A robot is writing this…

The Sharks got down big but came back much, much more bigger when they overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Rangers 7-2. Devin Setoguchi had two goals and Dany Heatley had one after the Canadian press criticized him for being dropped to the second power play unit. Read this article, you can practically hear the guy grinning and cracking his knuckles.

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