Warning: Potential rant coming: In a move that not only shocked San Francisco Giants fans, but the baseball world, and the sports world at large, the Giants have decided to not retain Giants Public Address Announcer Renel Brooks-Moon after opening the baseball park and serving in that position for over 20 years. Renel has been gracious since the news broke Monday, but I have it on very reliable sources that it was NOT a mutual decision, and the front office has not been happy with Renel's positions on certain social issues for a while. This is a travesty of a move, and a huge black eye from a public relations perspective. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Renel the last few seasons, and she is kind, gracious, funny, smart as a whip, and in this case, knows her job well. She has been a major influence in leading the way to have groundbreaking hires of women and people of color and orientation into various other public address announcers with teams from al sports around the country. To call her a trailblazer is a huge understatement, and for the team to make this decision right after Black History Month and during Women's Empowerment Month just goes to show just how tone-deaf the front office of the team is. I'll finish with this: SF Giants, correct this unforced error and re-sign Renel, the Golden Voice of the San Francisco Giants (the title I gave her while I was a King for a year for a non-profit charity.).
Late, late breaking news that will make our blood boil even more! At Thursday's Media Day, the Giants announced they willl have a rotation of PAA's for the beginning of the season! So, you dismiss a national treasure with no plan on her replacement and opt for basically real-time auditions???!!!! Grrrrrr!
Moving on to on-field baseball news, I believe I put out there in print in the last Grab Bag or 2, that the Giants sign free agent pitcher Blake Snell...and lo and behold, it was announced on Tuesday that Snell had indeed signed a two-year, 62 million dollar deal, with an opt-out after the first year. Now the Giants have something that looks like a strong rotation, with Logan Webb, Snell, and Kyle Harrison as our top three. The 2024 season is set to start in a couple of weeks, so final roster cuts are getting harder on which 26 players make the opening day roster. Giants fans had mixed feelings about the signing, because this is what they had hoped for, but the Renel news is still too raw to absorb. I should also mention that for those fans who thought the Giants were not going to make moves in this off-season, the Giants were second only to the LA Dodgers in spending on new players, and were the most active teams in the free agency market, and got most of their target players.
In football, I listed some of the big moves that happened last week as free agency officially kicked off. I'll mention a few here worth noting: Defensive lineman Arik Armstead did leave the 49ers for a three-year, 51 Million dollar contract to join the Jacksonville Jaguars. Calvin Ridley left those same Jacksonville Jags to sign a four-year 92 million dollar contract with AFC South rival the Tennessee Titans.
The Los Angeles Rams signed Jimmy G, QB Jimmy Garoppolo to a league minimum salary for one-year to be Matthew Stafford's backup QB. Don't shed too many tears over that minimum salary, as the Raiders are paying Jimmy G, who they released, the remainder of his 72 million dollar contract! There have definitely been reactions from 49er fans over this move!
In a move that definitely surprised me, Defensive tackle and winner of three Defensive Player of the Year awards, Aaron Donald has announced his retirement at the age of 32. The ten year veteran was a menace to opposing quarterbacks, and definitely earned his accolades. In his press conference, he thanked the LA Rams organization and their fans, basically saying he feels its the right time to leave the game. A BIG hole for the Rams to fill for sure!
This next paragraph is for a friend of mine (and other Steelers fans). In the Last Grab Bag I sensed that with the Pittsburgh Steelers letting back-up Mason Rudolph sign with another team, I was sensing smoke coming from Steelers HQ that something was UP! And oh boy, was I right! As I suspected, the Steelers signed free agent QB Russell Wilson and hours later, traded their first-round pick and starting QB Kenny Pickett to the Eagles for pocket change. That enough was a WOW move...but the Steelers were not done. Turns out the winner of "Who will the Chicago Bears Trade Their Starting Quarterback" drama was....the Pittsburgh Steelers!
A little bit of photoshop at work here for Steelers fans!
Now former Bears QB Justin Fields will be Wilson's backup, and is under contract for three years, and all the Steelers had to give up for the other fleet-footed (Wilson being fast on his feet as well) is basically loose change found in the seat cushions and a lowly 2025 draft pick. The Steeler organization has just taken massive steps to improve their offense to complement their already stout defense! Should be fun watching Steeler football this season! To wrap up the football segment, I'm posting this link here of all the 49ers signings and trades, cuz it will save me a lot of typing and the ESPN writer does a nice job of the pros and cons of each player (We did sign a pretty good backup QB for Purdy!) https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39571251/49ers-2024-free-agency-tracker-offseason-moves-signings
This is not the Locker Room Buzz segment, but an un-bee-livable moment that has never happened in professional tennis. In a semi-final match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zberev in the first game at Indian Wells, California. Never has any tennis match has a banner popped up on your viewing device stating: Match Suspended- Bee Invasion! Carlos did get stung, but that may have inspired him, where he played outstanding tennis, chasing down every ball, and delivering devastatingly brutal forehand shots to defeat Zberev, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the the semi-finals against Jannik Sinner.
Carlos then went on to play Danii Medvedev on Sunday's finale, and was struggling in the first set before a three hour rain-delay suspended play. Well, BEEtween the bees and the rain, Carlos adjusted his game plan and came out strong , defeating Medvedev, 7-6(7-5 in the tiebreaker,), 6-1 to defend his Indian Wells Championship. A cherry on the cake is that Carlos, both career and consecutive, has been in the men's tennis top ten! Hasn't left it since he started getting ranked! Oh, and he had tennis fan and awesome movie star Cherlize Theron in the stands as well!
In other tennis news, after being suspended for 568 days, and then having her suspension reduced recently, Simona Halep played her first match at the Miami Open on Tuesday. She gave it a good go at it, but eventually lost to Paula Badosa, 6-1, 3-6, 3-6. It was great to see that Simona smile back on the court again!
And in some very sad and tragic news, #2 ranked Aryna Sabalenka ex-boyfriend has committed suicide by jumping off a hotel balcony in Miami. Sabalenka has decided she will play in the Miami Open, but will not be giving any interviews post matches. A lot of folk have opinions on what she SHOULD be doing, but if playing is what helps Aryna cope with this tragic loss, that is how she has decided to deal with the grief of losing a loved one.
Moving to basketball, some housekeeping: I will not be writing a lot (if at all) about the NCAA March Madness tournament as I feel I don't have enough knowledge of the college b-ball circuit. I will just throw out that like a lot of the pundits predict, I shall guess U-Conn. Update: As I get ready to hit the Publish button, #11 Duquesne Dukes upset #6 BYU, 71-67, and will face off against #3 Illinois on Saturday. I'm sure my Pittsburgh fans are happy their Dukes have won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1969!
For some fun and nostalgia, I found this picture of the various logos of the team over the years- Enjoy, Dukes fans!
Also, due to time constraints I've decided to add Golden State Warriors games here in the Grab Bag for the previous week so lets review! Coming back from a mild ankle injury, birthday boy Steph Curry dropped 31 points met J.Lo and helped the Warriors defeat the LA Lakers, 128-121 road victory at Staples Arena Saturday. Klay Thompson was hot coming of the bench, scoring 26, and Draymond Green was making plays, with a stat line that showed 13 assists and 12 rebounds to keep the offense humming!
Returning back to Chase Center, the hum was gone, as the Dubs fell to the New York Knicks, 119-112. What I did see of this game was a not buzzing offense, sloppy play with the turnovers, and just out of sync play. The only highlight worth noting was rookie Trayce Jackson-Smith became the first rookie in NBA history to make all his shots, going 9 for 9. Added note- both friends of mine and the basketball pundits hated the officiating in this game!
Next up is the Memphis Grizzlies visiting the Dubs at Chase. The Grizzlies entered the game with a severely depleted team, with its two stars, Ja Morant and Marcus Smart out with injuries. The Dubs took advantage of that, as Jonathan Kuminga, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Trayce Jackson-Davis went off, leading the scoring for the Dubs as Steph Curry had a rather quiet game, so he let his teammates cook. Draymond Green and Chris Paul were excellent at controlling the tempo of the game, as Golden State rolled to a 137-116 victory.
Locker Room Buzz! See Renel story...there is so much more going on there, that I can't put in print, but you can take a look at the main shareholders and see who they make political donations to as homework, though.... We are in the a F1 race every two weeks cycle, with the next race being in Melbourne this coming weekend. I had no F1 drama all last week to report on, and then the Locker Room angels rewarded me for my patience over the weekend when the BBC Sports dropped this bombshell via multiple media outlets: The FIA is evaluating an official complaint surrounding the behaviour of Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner, with the company’s dismissal of allegations against him also set for appeal.
There is also reporting that besides this complaint of inappropriate behavior, there were TWO other complaints filed in the last two months to F1 (separate from the corporate FIA), that have not been followed up on! F1 racing fans asking themselves, how long will this go on? Oh wait, breaking news just dropped! Susie Wolff, Director of the F1 Women's Academy, and wife of Mercedes principal Toto Wolff, has filed a CRIMINAL suit against FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in a French court early in March. What's important here is that Susie Wolff filed what I am guessing is a defamation suit in a French court, so FIA can't do another cover-up. Why is this happening ? Here is an excerpt from Yahoo Sports on the background story:
Wolff’s actions will once again raise the pressure on Ben Sulayem, the Emirati who was elected in December 2021, succeeding Frenchman Jean Todt, and whose presidency has been marked by regular clashes with Formula One, and with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. Susie Wolff’s criminal complaint dates back to December when the FIA announced that it had launched an inquiry into a magazine’s claims that rivals believed her relationship with her husband presented a conflict of interest in the sport.
The Yahoo Sports writer does a much better job than I on all the tentacles this story, and the all the behind the scenes drama that has been riffing through Formula One the last few months, check it out and connect your own dots: https://sports.yahoo.com/susie-wolff-files-criminal-complaint-224147231.html
I should mention this is the same Emirati that has "cleared" any charges against Christian Horner of his accuser, until the the formal complaints were filed as mentioned above.
I thought F1 would have the market cornered on the Buzz, but here I am, Wednesday night, updating, as the LA Dodgers said about that F1 scandal stuff......"Hold my beer!"
I'll just drop the headline from ESPN to get to the point: Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani's interpreter amid allegation of 'massive theft' That theft, is in excess of 4.5 million dollars. Ohtani's interpreter is also his best friend. From reporters's accounts, a very nice guy. A nice guy named Ippei Mizuhara, who has an allegedly MASSIVE gambling problem. A problem that Ohtani allegedly loaned him money to pay off debts on gambling on other sports, but not baseball games. Ohtani's name is on a couple of wire transfers, allegedly. A question NOT addressed in the story or by anyone interviewed by the story is how/why does Ippei have access to Ohtani's financials?? I'm going to post the original story in a link below, but one wise pundit broke down how the poo hit the fan today in a rough timeline order: A) Ohtani rep goes on record w/ESPN stating that Ohtani transferred 4.5M himself to the bookie on behalf of Ippei.
B) Spokesperson for Ohtani delivers Ippei to ESPN for statement. Ippei says Ohtani NEVER bet and felt bad for him and paid off Ippei's debt so he would never do it again. (insert my eye roll here!)
C) Spokesperson for Ohtani says Ippei is LYING after Ippei gave his 90 minute statement to ESPN. D) Ohtani's lawyers claim "massive theft". E) Ippei then says Ohtani had zero knowledge of his debt or his gambling habits in general. (Big secret to keep from your best friend!) All this played out in South Korea, where the Dodgers were playing the San Diego Padres. Here is the link for the great investigating reporting done by ESPN's Tisha Thompson and her contributors to this story...it gets REAL technical, hence why I have the above list of just how much this hot pile of poo stinks! https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft
Oh, and we are all STILL asking: Where is Princess Kate??
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