THERE’S NOTHING more distasteful to most sportswriters than a new idea. The latest one is teams using computer models as part of their talent evaluation, and never mind that NFL teams were doing it more than 40 years ago and the A’s have been doing it for a quarter-century. It still counts as a new idea for writers. I mean, Connie Mack never used computers, did he?

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Opening Day: Who’s On First?

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – Nomar Garciaparra is playing first now? For the Dodgers? Am I crazy? I thought the Cubs just got the former all-star shortstop from the Red Sox, and to play third base at that.

It doesn’t seem very long ago that the Red Sox brought in Cabrera to replace him at short.

But Cabrera plays third for the Marlins now. Oh, wait, that’s Orlando Cabrera. Miguel Cabrera plays short for the Angels. Doesn’t he?

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Choosing which teams will make the playoffs in 2006 is a very risky proposition.

As I analyze the opening day rosters all the teams look better. Starting pitching has been upgraded throughout all of baseball.

Teams with deep starting rotations and balanced bullpens must be feared over the course of the taxing 162 game season.

Now the “if” factor comes into play.

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Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter. World Series champions. Yankee gods.

And former A’s.

Nobody in New York even remembers that Maris was an Athletic first. Or that the “invincible” Yankees of 1927-28 were utterly destroyed by the A’s of 1929.

Our Reggie wears a Yankee cap in Cooperstown. That hurts. (At least Catfish stuck with us. He would.) And there was the Berkeley Brawler, Billy Martin. Wanting to be a Yankee for life, he was demoted to the A’s (the Kansas City version). For a New York loyalist, it was the equivalent of a degrading banishment to baseball Siberia.

Sounds like some bad blood, or maybe even a rivalry, doesn’t it?

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At least here in the Bay Area the 2006 Major
League Baseball season will be welcomed.
The San Francisco 49ers were bad, like bad,
before the kids meant to call bad=good.
The Oakland Raiders were also very bad, the
Warriors have not made it to a playoff since
the Korean War, the San José Earthquakes
moved out of San José into Houston, Texas
and the San José Sharks playoff hopes are
hanging in the rafters of the HP Pavillion.

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Marty: It will shortly be announced, if it hasn’t already, that George Mitchell has been chosen by Bud Selig to conduct an investigation into the past use of performance enhancing drugs in the sport. Mitchell is the widely respected former Majority leader from Maine. Since leaving the Senate, he has been called upon to lend his deserved reputation to tasks such as bringing together the parties to the century long Irish dispute, the cause of bloodshed, death, broken lives and despair. In the judgement of many, he was largely successful.

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Saturday’s Show:

Vince Cotroneo – 1/6
David Feldman – 2/6
David Feldman – 3/6
David Feldman – 4/6
Memories of the game – Ryne Sandberg – 5/6
Rattle the Lumber with Ken Korach – 6/6

Sunday’s Show:

Marty – 1/6
Shooty Babitt & Larry Krueger – 2/6
Shooty Babitt & Larry Krueger – 3/6
Larry Krueger – 4/6
Memories of the game – Jim Landis – 5/6
Rattle the lumber with Vince Cotroneo – 6/6
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Musical Chairs

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – They left Philadelphia. Twelve years later they left Kansas City.

Now the Athletics are packing again. Lewis Wolff, A’s majority owner and one-time champion of a new baseball-only facility within the city, appears to be looking elsewhere for a new suburban home for our nomadic nine.

“Doesn’t anybody stay in one place any more?” lamented Carole King.

No, they don’t. Goodbye Brooklyn. Hello Hollywood. See ya’ Coogan’s Bluff. Open your Golden Gate, San Francisco. Toot-a-loo, Boston Braves, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators (twice), and Montreal Expos.

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Marty: Great that you brought Rick aboard. I started to insert this in the “comments” section of his article but quickly realized that it would be too lengthy for a simple comment. I agree with his jeremiad respecting the media’s “selective spinning and pontificating” concerning Bonds alleged steroid use. Evidences of cheating throughout the years are legion and well known.

One doesn’t have to look very hard to find an answer to the media’s preoccupation with Bonds. Bonds is simply a very unpleasant character. There is no point in delineating the well known ways in which Bonds has shown his lack of respect for the media. Whether this came before the media displayed their lack of respect for him, or after, is up for grabs. If Bonds was a likeable fellow, something he is unlikely to be given credit for, the attitude of the media might be more kindly.

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