Anthony Morrow’s summer league record 47 point performance was the latest in a string of events producing optimism for East Bay sports franchises. It’s been a well-document rough decade for fans of the Warriors, Raiders, and A’s. The Warriors have one playoff appearance in the last fifteen years. The A’s days as the low budget cinderella sto
ry are long behind them. And the Raiders, well, they’ve become the subject of ridicule to the say the least, and quite possibly have earned the reputation as the most dysfunctional franchise in all of pro sports. Outsiders will often question Oakland fans’ blind faith, but the fact that there is hope is always enough to keep us coming back. These teams don’t exactly lay dormant during the offseason like some I can think of. I couldn’t imagine being a Royals fan, or a Pirates fan, or a Grizzlies fan. Almost every offseason, these three teams give reason for optimism. Hope, if you will. The Raiders bring in guys like Randy Moss and Deangelo Hall. The A’s bring in guys like Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi. It may be all there is to cling to, but I’ll take that over just going through the motions any day. True, the lows have far outweighed the highs, but, at the end of the day, we’ve still seen a Super Bowl berth, an American League Championship Series, and one of this decades greatest NBA Playoff runs of all time.
The Warriors are now two full seasons removed from their lone playoff appearance that we can remember. They followed that up with the best regular season record to NOT make the playoffs, and then came crashing back down to earth last season. They lost Jamal Crawford this offseason, but as great of a player as he is, the team didn’t live or die by him. In other words, they’re just as good with or without him. The only major addition this offseason was Stephen Curry, but that came as a surprise to many who expected GSW to draft another big man that may or may not see the floor. You know, someon
e like Joe Smith, Todd Fuller, Brandan Wright, Jordan Hill maybe. Instead, they got a shooter that is so desperately needed. Not only that, they got a player who has never been regarded as a “project” or having “potential.” Someone that HAS been labeled as such is last year’s lottery pick, Anthony Randolph. Those who have seen him play know he could be a one of a kind superstar in this league if he hones his game to match his potential. It seemed to be a big IF last season, as the first few games I saw him play left me declaring him one of the most clueless off-ball defenders I’ve ever seen in the NBA. However, a few blocks and dunks later and it’s all forgotten. This summer, Randolph has vowed to take his game to the next level, and he’s backed it up in the Las Vegas Summer League. It’s pretty much a forgone conclusion that he’ll win the MVP award, and he’s opened many eyes across the nation, including those of Team USA, who has extended an invitation to the team’s camp.
With Randolph sitting out Thursday night, it was the other Anthony who stood in to fill up the box score. Shooting 18-26 from the field, including 7 three-pointers, Morrow broke the 2 day old summer league record by 5. Critics might say it was just a summer league game, which is fair. Von Wafer shared the 42 
point record. Donte Greene even managed to score 40 last year, and he looked, in 08-09, like one of the worst players in the league at times. However, this was no fluke. This was not Morrow beating helpless D-league players off the dribble and taking it to the rack over 6’8″ stiffs. Morrow is a spot up shooter, both from the pass and off the dribble. He has a quick release that renders whoever is guarding him insignificant. After all, the guy led the NBA in 3 point shooting last year – hardly a fluke. Chappy and I were also in attendence last November for what we’ll forever refer to as “The Anthony Morrow Game,” when he torched the juggernaut that is the Clippers defense for 37 points in the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (You can see us in the second row just to the right of the basket)
The best part about all of this is Randolph and Morrow are, for all intents and purposes, afterthoughts on this Golden State Warriors roster. They’re not right now, but during the season you look at the team and you see Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, and Andris Biedrins. Now, factor in the new and improved Anthonys, along with Steph Curry, and this team is pretty stacked. Warriors fans can’t wait for the season to start! Will they make they make the playoffs, or even have a .500 season? Maybe, maybe not. But that’s the beauty of being an Oakland fan. Every upcoming season is going to be one to remember…………….. for better or for worse. -MCeezy
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It shouldn't be long before scenes like this return to the Arena in Oakland
Rickey Henderson is getting honored for his services in Oakland as the Athletics will retire his 
I even bought those ridiculous neon green Mizuno batting gloves, and practiced the snatch catch in my little league days. He played 14 of his 25 seasons in Oakland wearing green and gold for most of his prime including his lone MVP season. It’s only fitting that they retire his number, as he was arguably the greatest leadoff hitter of all time and always an Athletic at heart. It will be a long time until we ever see a player that can steal bases and hit for power (81 leadoff homers the MLB record) from the top spot in the order.
His stats speak for themselves as he is on top of some of the all time lists:
During the tirade of trades that would be off the books by 2010 the projected cap was in the $60 million range. Now it appears that number will be around $8 million less than what was projected a year ago to spend on the superstar summer. Basically, instead of signing two superstar free agents, they will have to settle for one superstar and one MLE player. In the Knicks case, it seems that not developing a team worthy enough to entice a superstar, is going to hurt them next summer. As of now, it seems much more likely that Cleveland, Toronto, and Miami can retain their franchise guys, and possibly, for slightly less money than they had originally thought. Does it sound very tempting to a player like Lebron to go to a lottery team like the Knicks or stand pat and keep trying in Cleveland where he knows he’s close. If Lebron isn’t moving to a team with a player like Bosh, Wade, or Amare there isn’t a point for him to leave. I’m sure he believes he could make them a playoff team, but I doubt he could talk himself into thinking that they were a championship caliber team.
This recent news has helped our horrible owner have what alcoholics like to call “
I watched the Macha era, and he is about as boring of an interview as you’ll hear, but it seemed like the team was having fun playing for him. Maybe they overachieved for some of those division title years, but they always looked like they were having fun and were battling every game. This year’s team doesn’t have that same feel, they have the feel of the Bonds era Giants clubhouse, and rarely give me the feeling that they will come back when they are faced with any adversity in a game. I’ll attribute their downfall on two areas that sunk them: the fun and loose clubhouse, and the loss Ron Washington 2006!
He was well documented in Moneyball for the role he played in transforming Scott Hatteburg into a serviceable first baseman. He’s an old school type coach, that preaches his philosophies with many examples and details. Wash wasn’t just the infield coach to the players, he was a mentor and the soul of the team that kept them loose all the time. In years past I didn’t worry about defense, because I expected them to make every play, even the tough ones! Instead of getting hired as the head coach, which I lobbied for heavily, he was picked up by the Rangers, and we hired Bob Geren. 
When you lose a coach of Washington’s status from a leadership standpoint, it doesn’t matter who you sign in the offseason, or what savvy decisions you made to get some young prospects if there’s nobody helpful coaching them.
That was, until Anderson was moved up to AAA in time for the PCL playoffs last year. I would finally get an up close look at the next great Oakland pitcher. I won’t lie, it was sort of a letdown. He had a great outing, don’t get me wrong. If I recall, he threw 2 or 3 scoreless innings, giving up 1 or 2 hits. But nothing really stood out. Not one dominant pitch, no crazy velocity, or filthy strikeouts. I guess he was just a placement pitcher – not flashy, but efficient. Fine by me, I guess.
For some reason, searches about Matt Forte are off the charts. More people end up at Doin Work after searching for Matt Forte than any other topic, BY A LANDSLIDE. Can someone leave a comment and explain what the fascination with Matt Forte is? I thought maybe the guy himself is searching himself every day to see what people are writing about him, but why would he click on our fantasy football mock draft over and over again?
The Marlins are giving away $2,500 towards a mortgage or rent payment for 11 Saturday’s this season. They are also giving away free tickets on Monday night games to any person with proof that they were laid off. Baseball, more than other sports, is driven by ticket sales, and this year has shown that even the mighty Yankees and Red Sox aren’t immune to the recession, as many games aren’t selling out the way they have over the past decade and a half.
So far it’s shaping up that way. The Red Sox, Phillies, Giants, and Mets seem like the only teams that are willing to take on a significant amount of salary. The economy has made GM’s much more cautious. Even if there are trades made, I doubt it will be much more than a 7-9 hitter or a 4th or 5th man in the pitching rotation. I hope we see some fireworks from one or two teams before it’s all said and done. I need something to look forward to, since my A’s were placed on the sellers list a month ago by positioning themselves firmly in last place in the AL West. Hopefully they can get a few parts via trade, that can be immediately inserted into their D rated offense for one of their proven players (their old guys or Holliday).
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