Well, it's been a scorcher of a week, and not just with the weather, because a LOT happened.
Congrats to those that survived Folsom St Fair and SF Ducal Coronation in San Francisco this weekend! Lots of unique "harness tans" I saw this week!
San Francisco Giants: Yep, we are starting with baseball, as the season has ended, and the baseball playoffs are on, and the Giants are not part of those playoffs again, finishing with an 80-82 record and in 4th place in the National League West. Not too many bright spots, but a lot of the youngsters showed great promise for future seasons, and 3rd baseman Matt Chapman has committed to the team for the next six seasons, so there is that! Oh, pitcher Logan Webb, (who, like Chappy, is going to be a father, possibly this week!), did win the honor of most pitched innings by a pitcher for 2024! Congrats Logan, on both fronts!
Barely over 24 hours after the final pitch, the Giants organization made a HUGE move in their front office, by dismissing their President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaldi, and replacing him with......Forever Giant, Future Hall of Famer, and Eye Candy master, Buster Posey to a three year contract! The immediate reaction from the fan base is that this is a grand slam of a move for the SF Giants organization, as Buster is so loved here in the Bay Area. Posey moved back to the Bay Area a couple of years ago, and bought in to Giants ownership, and just recently, was the key figure that helped seal the deal to get Matt Chapman to sign long-term with the Giants (this was my notice that Farhan was on his way out- but did not expect Buster to fill the position!). Buster does not have front office experience, but he is so well respected by players and front office officials from around the league, that SF Giants street cred just jumped up dramatically. Posey said in his press conference he will be bringing on a general manager to handle the minutiae of day-to-day operations, so that will be a bonus as well for the team. Just like that, SF Giants fans are excited about baseball again!
Eye Candy Hall of Famer, President of Baseball Ops, Buster Posey!
In other baseball news, Pete Rose passed away. That's all I have to say about that. The Oakland A's played their last game in Oakland last week to a sold-out fan base. It was a very emotional day in the Bay Area, and for Oakland A's fans, as after decades of games, the A's will play the next three seasons in Sacramento before moving to Las Vegas as their permanent home. (The Vegas move is far from a done deal, but greedy A's ownership didn't give a damn about the Oakland fans). Here is a snap of one of the final shots from the Oakland Colosseum:
San Francisco 49ers: The team got back Deebo Samuel and George Kittle to give QB Brock Purdy some of his offensive weapons back, but are still without star running back Christian McCaffrey, who after a visit to a specialist in Germany last week, it was discovered he has achilles tendinitis in BOTH his ankles- so CMC's return will be pushed back probably to November at this point.
As for the game itself, the Niners played the woefully inferior offense that is the New England Patriots at Levi's, and the 49ers defense had their way with the Patriots, with six sacks of the Patriots QB, choking up their run game, two interceptions, one by last week's 49er Eye Candy Fred Warner, who snagged an INT and brought it back to the end zone for a pick-six! RB Jordan Mason once again ran for over 100 yards, Purdy threw for 288 yards, with two touchdowns, WR's Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings had excellent receiving games, but it was the catch of the early season that Purdy threw to TE Kittle for a spectacular touchdown! Special teams for the Niners is still a problem, as on one kick-off return, the Niners returner fumbled the ball, allowing New England to strike for a quick TD.
This was a "get right" game, as the 49ers won, 30-13. Next up is division rival Arizona Cardinals! From the 49ers website, the Kittle Catch link below:
Other NFL game notables: Steelers were baffled by Indy Colts back up QB Joe Flacco, and lost, 27-24; the New Orleans Saints were upset by the upstart Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears beat the LA Rams (thanks- i needed that Rams smackdown!); the Tampa Bay Bucs pulled of the upset of the week, defeating the Philly Eagles, 33-16, the Buffalo Bills ran into a very focussed Baltimore Ravens squad, as QB Lamar Jackson had his way and the Ravens upset the undefeated Bills, 35-10. Monday Night Football saw the Detroit Lions maul the Seattle Seahawks, 42-29, where Lions QB Jared Goff had a rare 18/18 pass completions/attempts ratio...his QB ranking was dang near perfect!
Random Eye Candy Alert!
Detroit Lions tight End Sam LaPorta, one of QB Jared Goff's favorite targets!
The Game of the Week though was between the Minnesota Vikings and the Packers in Green Bay. Well, it seemed that hype balloon got popped as the Vikings led at half time, 28-7! The 2nd half though was a different ballgame, as the Vikings only scored three points, and the Packers made a furious comeback, scoring 22 points in the 4th quarter, and was driving for a game winning field goal, but were foiled, and the Vikings BARELY held on to win, 31-29! This game reminded me of another from college football....which became an instant classic.
College Football: The California Golden Bears had the weekend off, but won a major PR/Marketing victory, as ESPN has decided that they will bring their "College Game Day" pre-show to Berkeley- the first time ever this has happened! As my fellow Cal Bear fan Amber knows, this is a BIG DEAL! One of the reasons ESPN is doing this is that now that Cal is in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) with a 3-1 record, and that they are playing the ACC leading and ranked 7th nationally, the Miami Hurricanes. it also explains the 6am PST start time/ 9am East Coast time. The actual game will be played later in the evening on ESPN, with Miami favored by 10. Two great defensive teams, so offense will be key for the Bears to pull off the upset, especially running back Jayden Ott! The other reason GameDay is coming to Berkeley for the first time is because of the "Calgorithm", which you can read all about here- highly recommended, along with the cheesy music video! I totally thought of Amber when I read this! :) https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41532952/cal-football-calgorithm-social-media-community-2024
Not too much to report on this past college football game weekend, except for the biggie, #2 Georgia traveled to Tuscaloosa to face off against the #4th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. If you made it to halftime, and switched off the game, understandable, as 'Bama rolled over the Bulldogs to take a 28-0 lead at halftime. Georgia made it a game though in the second half, but fell just short, losing 41-34! With #1 Texas barely beating a so-so team, Alabama was ranked #1 by AP, with Texas falling to #2, and Georgia dropping to #5 in the AP poll. The upset of the day goes to Kentucky, who defeated 6th ranked Ole Miss, who dropped to #12th in the AP poll.
Formula One: More in the next Zoom Zoom when F1 racing returns in two weeks, but RB has announced who will be taking the recently dumped Daniel Riccardo's seat, and F1 fans were not that surprised that it was the young Kiwi, Liam Lawson, will now race for RB alongside his teammate Yuki Tsunoda starting in Austin, Texas. Liam has filled in on a couple of Grand Prix races the last two seasons, so he is not going in cold, but now he is an official F1 driver!
Let the Kiwi jokes begin for Liam, as he reps his home country New Zealand with RB!
Tennis: Yes, the "tennis season" is over, but there are some tourneys outside that season, but there was a major tourney held in Beijing, China, and the final came down to the current top two players, #1 Jannik Sinner and #2 Carlos Alcaraz. In the end, Carlos held on to beat Jannik, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 to capture his 16th ATP title, the most in men's pro tennis this season.
This also gives me a good reason to post more pics of the boys!
The way they look at each other! And they flew to their next tourney in Shanghai on the same private jet the next day! :) :) That's a wrap for this week! Here's to a Cal Bears upset this weekend in Berkeley!
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