MY MAID GETS THE MONTH OFF BUT IT’S STILL TIME FOR SOME OVERDUE DUSTING
During this once-a-month Dusting schedule we spend a lot of time reading emails and messages from the 49er fandom. The scores, seasons and stars all sort of blur together but what does stand out is the desire by the faithful to “bathe in reflected glory.”
That would explain why a baseball series in chilly Philly would draw so much interest from the left coast. The feature fellow in this matter is Evan Longoria, the presumptive AL rookie of the year, a franchise player who – just six days after being called up to the big leagues in April – signed a six-year, $17.5 million contract that includes three option years that could add $30 million to the deal.
Now that is a ton of money but not exactly “Manny Being Money," as the New York Post headlined about the guy from Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers rented offense was good but Longo’s body of work, AL All-Star who hit .272 with 27 home runs and 85 RBIs in his first season was better. And unlike Mr. Ramirez, his team got to the Series. You all look good in that reflecting pool.
Next up on the glory meter are senior shooters Donovan Morris and Karina Figueroa. Both were selected for the 2008-09 Preseason All-Big West Basketball Team. The difference is that Morris will play all season (he averaged 21.2 last year) while serious leg injuries will delay the start for Karina and many folks fear, will end her career. TBD, will Karina’s absence (she did not play in the exhibition loss to previously winless Love and Basketball) have a domino effect on Coach Hegarty (69-78) who is in the final season of her five year deal?
Men’s hoops also was cuffed around in a closed scrimmage by San Diego so better you make up your own mind. You can help the athletics department by purchasing an inexpensive Family Plan for the upcoming seasons, $100 for four season tickets and some less expensive ($35) five game specials if your portfolio is hemorrhaging and you are afraid to miss a single episode of Survivor, Lost or 30 Rock.
Back to the present, both women’s soccer and volleyball are well positioned for their post season glory. Soccer kept Coach Mauricio Ingrassia was sweating out a cool night in Santa Barbara before tying the chippy Gauchos in the last minute of regulation and then winning in the second overtime. Cal Poly went more easily, 3-2.
Those wins earned the Beach booters (13-4-3 overall) the George Allen Field top seed in the BWC tourney semi-finals starting Thursday at 2 p.m. vs 4 seed Pacific.
For the Queens of Kill, Coach Brian Gimmillaro has his team on the road this weekend against his old rivals UCSB and Cal Poly. LB is resting on top of the Big West and closing in on the 20-win plateau. The volleys have no post season tourney but finish the job and likely host a first round NCAA party. Their last five games include Irvine, Riverside and Colorado State at home.
NAME DROP DUST--If I have calculated Dan Monson’s contract correctly, and quality of his recruits, the Niner men’s hoop skipper could be right on target for a return with his new team to his old home in Minnesota when the Gophers host the 2014 Final Four.
The Pyramid basketball court now features a more difficult three point shot when the NCAA moved the arc from 19.9 to 20.9. Two many cheap home runs at the old measure. “The old line was so short,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said. “I’m 55 and I could go out there and shoot 45 percent if nobody played defense on me.”
Speaking out on the national stage recently was one of the talented PA voices that work baseball and other sports at the Beach, insurance guy Josh Banker, on Wheel of Fortune. He won just under $24,000.
Back to Evan, the Rays gave him $3 million to sign two years ago and there is a qualified rumor that he and Troy Tulowitzki may have a little hitting clinic at Blair before Spring Training begins. The Rays player payroll is 29th-highest among the 30 major-league teams so a little can go a long Ray.
Where are theys…Tamara Inoue, who played three seasons for the 49ers after transferring from California Berkeley, begins her first season as an assistant coach for the Santa Clara women's basketball team. She played and coached for six years Australia.
More new coach chat John Hawks joins men’s volleyball after working with USA Teams the past two summers on staff with Alan Knipe and Andy Read and Cal Poly Pomona announced the hiring of ex Dirtbag assistant Scott Lemone who knows the CCAA well, having played at Chico State.
Last of the “wheres”, old Dirtbag coach Troy Buckley, the pitching guru for the Pittsburgh Pirates, is busy in the Arizona Fall League including trying to coach up RHP Jared Hughes, the 6-foot-7 pitcher, was a fourth-rounder in 2006 out of Long Beach State, where he was a teammate of Evan you know who. Hughes was 5-11 with a 4.68 ERA (ninth-best in the system) this season at Lynchburg and Altoona, fanning 72 while walking 66 in 143 innings.
House ads. The 49er Athletic Club has redrawn the fund raising landscape and announced that the first annual 49er Athletic Club Golf Tournament will be held on Thursday, November 20 at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. Beginning at 8:30 a.m., the tournament will feature two separate competitions and a full day of golf action. The day begins with the Pre-Tournament Horse Race Golf Competition, where twosomes will play alternate shots in an elimination-style competition prior to the regular event.
The induction ceremony for the 2008 Hall of Fame class has moved to Carpenter Center, dropped the dinner deal, but will still honor a great class November 19. The seven inductees include the late and truly great Dan Bailey (Athletics), Don Baird (Men's Track & Field), Jade Carvalho (Field Hockey), James Cotton (Men's Basketball),Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Women's Volleyball/Track & Field), John Kahler (Football), and Pete Manarino (Coach/Softball).
Now a bunch of closing quotes while I draw your reflected glory bath. “Too bad Johnnie Cochran wasn't alive to see OJ being led off to jail the other day. He probably would have just shrugged and told the Juice ‘No need to shed tears; I gotcha 13 extra years.'" Semi final quote, “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.” And finally commentator George Will, who must hate booth reviews and not-so-instant replay as much as I do. “Football combines two of the worst things in America, violence punctuated by committee meetings.”—DR. DAN
That would explain why a baseball series in chilly Philly would draw so much interest from the left coast. The feature fellow in this matter is Evan Longoria, the presumptive AL rookie of the year, a franchise player who – just six days after being called up to the big leagues in April – signed a six-year, $17.5 million contract that includes three option years that could add $30 million to the deal.
Now that is a ton of money but not exactly “Manny Being Money," as the New York Post headlined about the guy from Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers rented offense was good but Longo’s body of work, AL All-Star who hit .272 with 27 home runs and 85 RBIs in his first season was better. And unlike Mr. Ramirez, his team got to the Series. You all look good in that reflecting pool.
Next up on the glory meter are senior shooters Donovan Morris and Karina Figueroa. Both were selected for the 2008-09 Preseason All-Big West Basketball Team. The difference is that Morris will play all season (he averaged 21.2 last year) while serious leg injuries will delay the start for Karina and many folks fear, will end her career. TBD, will Karina’s absence (she did not play in the exhibition loss to previously winless Love and Basketball) have a domino effect on Coach Hegarty (69-78) who is in the final season of her five year deal?
Men’s hoops also was cuffed around in a closed scrimmage by San Diego so better you make up your own mind. You can help the athletics department by purchasing an inexpensive Family Plan for the upcoming seasons, $100 for four season tickets and some less expensive ($35) five game specials if your portfolio is hemorrhaging and you are afraid to miss a single episode of Survivor, Lost or 30 Rock.
Back to the present, both women’s soccer and volleyball are well positioned for their post season glory. Soccer kept Coach Mauricio Ingrassia was sweating out a cool night in Santa Barbara before tying the chippy Gauchos in the last minute of regulation and then winning in the second overtime. Cal Poly went more easily, 3-2.
Those wins earned the Beach booters (13-4-3 overall) the George Allen Field top seed in the BWC tourney semi-finals starting Thursday at 2 p.m. vs 4 seed Pacific.
For the Queens of Kill, Coach Brian Gimmillaro has his team on the road this weekend against his old rivals UCSB and Cal Poly. LB is resting on top of the Big West and closing in on the 20-win plateau. The volleys have no post season tourney but finish the job and likely host a first round NCAA party. Their last five games include Irvine, Riverside and Colorado State at home.
NAME DROP DUST--If I have calculated Dan Monson’s contract correctly, and quality of his recruits, the Niner men’s hoop skipper could be right on target for a return with his new team to his old home in Minnesota when the Gophers host the 2014 Final Four.
The Pyramid basketball court now features a more difficult three point shot when the NCAA moved the arc from 19.9 to 20.9. Two many cheap home runs at the old measure. “The old line was so short,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said. “I’m 55 and I could go out there and shoot 45 percent if nobody played defense on me.”
Speaking out on the national stage recently was one of the talented PA voices that work baseball and other sports at the Beach, insurance guy Josh Banker, on Wheel of Fortune. He won just under $24,000.
Back to Evan, the Rays gave him $3 million to sign two years ago and there is a qualified rumor that he and Troy Tulowitzki may have a little hitting clinic at Blair before Spring Training begins. The Rays player payroll is 29th-highest among the 30 major-league teams so a little can go a long Ray.
Where are theys…Tamara Inoue, who played three seasons for the 49ers after transferring from California Berkeley, begins her first season as an assistant coach for the Santa Clara women's basketball team. She played and coached for six years Australia.
More new coach chat John Hawks joins men’s volleyball after working with USA Teams the past two summers on staff with Alan Knipe and Andy Read and Cal Poly Pomona announced the hiring of ex Dirtbag assistant Scott Lemone who knows the CCAA well, having played at Chico State.
Last of the “wheres”, old Dirtbag coach Troy Buckley, the pitching guru for the Pittsburgh Pirates, is busy in the Arizona Fall League including trying to coach up RHP Jared Hughes, the 6-foot-7 pitcher, was a fourth-rounder in 2006 out of Long Beach State, where he was a teammate of Evan you know who. Hughes was 5-11 with a 4.68 ERA (ninth-best in the system) this season at Lynchburg and Altoona, fanning 72 while walking 66 in 143 innings.
House ads. The 49er Athletic Club has redrawn the fund raising landscape and announced that the first annual 49er Athletic Club Golf Tournament will be held on Thursday, November 20 at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. Beginning at 8:30 a.m., the tournament will feature two separate competitions and a full day of golf action. The day begins with the Pre-Tournament Horse Race Golf Competition, where twosomes will play alternate shots in an elimination-style competition prior to the regular event.
The induction ceremony for the 2008 Hall of Fame class has moved to Carpenter Center, dropped the dinner deal, but will still honor a great class November 19. The seven inductees include the late and truly great Dan Bailey (Athletics), Don Baird (Men's Track & Field), Jade Carvalho (Field Hockey), James Cotton (Men's Basketball),Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Women's Volleyball/Track & Field), John Kahler (Football), and Pete Manarino (Coach/Softball).
Now a bunch of closing quotes while I draw your reflected glory bath. “Too bad Johnnie Cochran wasn't alive to see OJ being led off to jail the other day. He probably would have just shrugged and told the Juice ‘No need to shed tears; I gotcha 13 extra years.'" Semi final quote, “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.” And finally commentator George Will, who must hate booth reviews and not-so-instant replay as much as I do. “Football combines two of the worst things in America, violence punctuated by committee meetings.”—DR. DAN
