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Colby Michaels

Random Grab Bag notes: F1, Giants, Aussie Open, and NFC Champion 49ers

Updated: Feb 7



Coming off a thrilling, character building win over the Detroit Lions, the San Francisco 49ers are heading to Las Vegas to play in Super Bowl XXVIII. If you are looking to purchase a ticket to the game, you gonna need the lucky 49er ladybug, as ticket prices range from a "low" of ten thousand dollars, and have been reported as high as 100+ thousand dollars, according to Stubhub.


Art Credit: Fivefingaz Art/Facebook


Coach Jim Harbough has left Michigan and college football to go to the NFL and coach the Los Angeles Chargers. Chargers quarterback Justin Hebert must be thrilled to the bone of getting a coach that knows what he's doing! The Washington Commandeers have selected Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to be their head coach. The Seattle Seahawks have announced their pick to replace Pete Carroll as the head coach of the franchise, former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Macdonald was very key to leading the Ravens defense improve over the last two seasons, and at 36, he is now the youngest head coach in the NFL. Netflix has announced the debut date for season six (which covers 2023 season) of Drive to Survive- the show that got me into Formula One racing! I'm sensing a binge watch at the end of February! More zoom-zoom news! Charles LeClerc of Ferrari and Lando Norris of McLaren have both signed extensions with their respective teams. Fans of these two drivers are ecstatic to know Charles (the s is silent), and Lando will be sticking around for the foreseeable future. The zoom news continues! If you were looking for racing legend Michael Andretti to field a Andretti-Cadillac racing team, you are going to have to wait a few more years, as the commercial arm of Formula One rejected Andretti's to become the 11th team in F1 racing next year. Here is and excerpt from ESPN on this story: Michael Andretti's dream of becoming a Formula One team owner was dealt a significant blow Wednesday when the sport's commercial arm rejected Andretti Global's proposal to join the grid in 2025 or 2026. The door has been left ajar for Andretti to enter F1 with a General Motors-built engine in 2028, but for a team that has claimed it is ready to make its debut next year, four years on the sidelines will feel like an awfully long wait.

F1's reasons, which were documented in a lengthy statement, boil down to a belief that an 11th team alone (i.e. without a power unit manufacturer) would not bring enough value to the sport to warrant the upheaval of its addition. Here is the full article on this F1 breaking news: https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/39430557/why-f1-rejected-andretti-bid-join-grid-2025-2026 In baseball, the San Francisco Giants did make a free agent signing, as Jordan Hicks put ink to paper! Terms below as reported by Jeff Passan from his X/Twitter account: Right-hander Jordan Hicks and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a four-year, $44 million contract, a source familiar with the deal tells ESPN. Hicks, 27, is expected to work as a starter after spending the majority of his career in the bullpen.


Joc Pederson has left the Giants to sign a one-year deal worth 10.5 million with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Fans will miss his goofy personality in the Giants clubhouse. The SF Giants exodus continues, as free-agent pitcher Alex Wood signed with the Oakland A's. a few days later a rare Bay Area trade occurred as the Giants sent pitcher Ross Stripling and cash to the Oakland A's for a minor league rookie. So as of this writing, our starting pitching rotation is: Logan Webb........and that's it, as Alex Cobb won't return till May, as with newly acquired Hicks missing the start of the season. I look forward to seeing who the pitchers and players are that Farhan and the Giants sign as Spring Training is about a month away! Pitchers and catchers report to camp next week.


I rarely report on golf, but the PGA came to Pebble Beach in Monterey, California this weekend, and just before the skies opened up, the leader going into Sunday's final round (Update: Sunday's round been delayed to Monday), Wendell Clark, set a Pebble Beach record with a round of 60....very rare to get a round under 60. Second update: Due to the strong storm that is battering California, the PGA has decided to cancel the 4th round, leaving Clark as the 54 round winner of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am! The last PGA Tour event to be called after 54 holes was the Zurich Classic in 2016, and the last tournament at Pebble Beach to finish after 54 holes was the 2009 event. A late note from the recently concluded Australian Open. Both Aussie Open champions, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Salalenka monetary winnings were just over 2.1 million dollars each. Let's give a big cheer for fair pay equity!


Oh, and in somewhat breaking news on the Olympics front, due to a Russian skater's disqualification, the 2022 US Skating team will now be awarded the gold medal in Team Competition! Nathan Chen, Evan Bates, Karen Chen and rest of the team SHOULD be getting their gold medals at the World Skating Championships in Montreal in March. More on the details of this story here: https://apnews.com/article/olympics-valieva-doping-russia-054a24fada41ae8e4b3d28244ccd0473 Locker Room Buzz: In Formula One racing, now that Lewis Hamilton has announced he is leaving Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025, the buzz is who would Mercedes pick to fill that 2nd seat. All of what we hear will be buzz until Mercedes and Head Principal Toto Wolff make the official announcement, but this story from ESPN poses a few ideas of which driver could take that seat: https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/39477092/who-replace-lewis-hamilton-mercedes-2025 In F1 buzz....Red Bull Principal Christian Horner seems to be on the hot seat as apparently he and the father of the best F1 driver in the world, Max VerStappen are at odds right now. Jos Verstappen and Horner are butting heads as to best manage young Max, and since Max is, in his own words, is loyal to two men: his father and co-owner of Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko. Keep an eye on on this plot-line! There may be trouble afoot for the team formerly known as Alfa-Romero; Sauber-Stake1 is being investigated by Swiss officials over possible rules violations pertaining to gambling. Sauber feels confident they are in compliance, but to us F1 fans, just another blunder team ownership has made, topped off by the name change that us fans just hate! At least their livery (Paint scheme of the car, I finally looked up this odd word definition!), looks very cool! Everyone else's livery seems to be all carbon black...boring!



The mayor of Las Vegas made a statement to the media, which is massive, due to the Super Bowl week, that the baseball team Oakland A's moving their team to her city may not be what's best for Las Vegas, and suggested the A's try to work with Oakland to keep the team there. I LOVE the timing of her throwing shade, well played, Madam Mayor!


Lastly, the NBA trade deadline is tomorrow. No buzz on the Golden State Warriors, if any, I will include it in the Warriors weekly roundup on Friday!

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