This is a very good and detailed explaination of the behavior of the principal actors in the 49ers Stadium deal.
Why talks on 49ers stadium fell apart
City and team misunderstood each other's positions
Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The same faces gathered in the same room at San Francisco City Hall, just as they had done every week for almost a year, to come up with a proposal for a new 49ers stadium.
The conversation Oct. 30 centered on when to show the world exactly what a stadium, retail and housing development at Candlestick Point costing $1.4 billion to $2 billion would look like and the best time to put the project on the ballot and ask voters to approve it.
What most if not all of the people in that room didn't know -- not the city officials, not the real estate developers brought on board by the 49ers, possibly not even 49ers representatives themselves -- was that the meeting would be their last.
Nine days later, the team announced that plans for a new San Francisco stadium were off. The 49ers were moving to Santa Clara.
Exactly how the talks fell apart remains as much a mystery to fans as to many of those involved.
But in interviews with sources close to the talks and others who know the people involved, two themes emerged.
The two people pivotal to the talks -- Mayor Gavin Newsom and 49ers co-owner John York, men with strikingly different personalities -- never formed the kind of relationship that breeds success.
York, at times, felt blindsided by the mayor's public pronouncements and snubbed by his failure to return phone calls.
Newsom's team and developers working with the 49ers found York obsessed with minor details at the expense of the big picture and inexperienced when it came to overseeing a high-stakes deal.
Beyond that, the interviews suggest that the two sides mis-communicated and misunderstood each other's position in the talks. The result was that when city officials thought they were on the verge of an agreement, the 49ers were becoming exasperated with a process they found tedious and politicized.
"We were completely taken aback," Newsom said the day after learning the team planned to leave San Francisco.
"We were baffled and surprised that they were baffled and surprised," 49ers spokeswoman Lisa Lang said last week.
City leaders still hope that the team will stay and that a plan to build a stadium in San Francisco can be salvaged. A Board of Supervisors hearing to explore the proposal for Candlestick is slated for today in City Hall.
The effort to rebuild the aging city-owned stadium at Candlestick Point is more than a decade old. In 1997, city voters backed a $100 million bond issue for a stadium-mall, but that project never came to fruition.
After years of false starts and turmoil within the family that owns the 49ers, the push for a new stadium gained momentum last fall. Eleven months ago, a coalition of city officials, the development company Lennar Corp. and the 49ers began weekly meetings to try to hammer out a plan.
But problems emerged early.
In April, The Chronicle broke a story that San Francisco officials had been lobbying Sacramento to pass state legislation that would allow a judge to decide whether the team and city could -- without returning to the ballot -- proceed with a stadium plan different from the one voters approved in 1997.
The mayor reacted by saying he never had any intention of denying voters a say on a new stadium -- a statement that stunned the 49ers, who already had fought and narrowly won a multimillion-dollar campaign and had no intention of going through another one.
Making matters worse, team co-owner York first learned that the 49ers would have to go before the voters again by reading about it in the newspaper, rather than hearing it from city officials.
"The assumption was that we would not have to go back before the voters," Lang said. "That was certainly a big surprise to read about that in the paper."
Another person in the talks said the mayor's response certainly frustrated the team, but the 49ers never gave any indication it was a deal-breaker.
"That got them miffed," said the source, who like many involved asked to remain anonymous so as not to disrupt future discussions. "But it wasn't the end of the world."
Though neither York nor Newsom was present, representatives from the mayor's office, the 49ers and Lennar continued meeting nearly every week.
Economic and political pressures were mounting.
The 49ers play in the oldest unremodeled stadium in the NFL, according to York. The team, desperate for a venue comparable to those generating much more money for other franchises, has set 2012 as its deadline to play in a new stadium.
In 2004, Newsom set next year as his deadline to have a new stadium in the works.
"I'm not going to wait until the last year of the 49ers' lease to start something," he told The Chronicle, referring to the agreement under which the team plays at Candlestick, which expires in 2008.
Newsom also had political reasons for wanting a deal with the 49ers before next year. He will be up for re-election, and having the stadium proposal settled, as well as a plan to bring thousands of new housing units and retail establishments to the impoverished Candlestick area, would be a campaign boost.
By July, everything seemed in order. The 49ers went public with their preliminary plans for a new San Francisco stadium to test the climate among voters and fans.
Team officials excitedly showed computer renderings of what the 68,000-seat arena would look like.
Still, Lang, the 49ers spokeswoman, cautioned at the time that if the proposal fell through in San Francisco, Santa Clara was the backup.
At the same time, Newsom was pushing ahead to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to San Francisco and to hold the Opening and Closing ceremonies at the new 49ers stadium.
By September, a partnership was in the works between the team and the committee working to bring the Olympics to town to make hosting the Games at Candlestick possible.
But during a City Hall meeting Sept. 11, Lang said the team's chief financial officer explicitly told city officials and developers that the 49ers had major reservations about the project, particularly when it came to a proposed parking structure, which the team felt would have cost fans too much time to get in and out of and would have inhibited the age-old ritual of pregame tailgating.
And by Sept. 14, York had sent a letter to Newsom saying the city should not base the centerpiece of its Olympic plans on a stadium project that had not been finalized.
The mayor and his team appear to have not taken the warning seriously, some sources say. But representatives for York also continued to show up for City Hall meetings, signaling that everything was on track, others contend. City officials said that by Sept. 18, the team had even agreed to work further on parking challenges in the proposal.
"Yes, issues came up," a city official said. "But that's the nature of the development process. Issues come up, and you solve them."
The miscommunication trickled down to the most basic issues -- like whether the two sides were even really engaged in negotiations all along.
The 49ers now say they believed their participation in the talks, even as recently as the meeting Oct. 30, was simply about wading through the details of a complex real estate venture to see what worked best for the team. To them, the city and developers were jumping the gun.
"It was not a negotiation," Lang insisted, saying there was no signed agreement or contract between the parties. "We were in the midst of a long feasibility study."
Many in the talks on behalf of the city and developer Lennar Corp. found that assertion puzzling, given the amount of time spent on detailed discussions.
"What is this, the twilight zone?" one asked, rhetorically.
Versions vary about what happened behind closed doors.
"The tone of the meetings all the way along was pretty excited," one source said, meaning many involved in the talks thought that they were movingly along smoothly and that all parties were content.
"There were meetings when people were yelling at each other," another source said.
Adding to the confusion was city officials' insistence on having tight control over the meetings and on Washington-style secrecy, according to those involved in the talks. They often insisted that communication be spoken, rather than written, in case the media requested copies under government open-records laws.
When some documents were generated reflecting the direction of the discussions, they couldn't be removed from City Hall, sources said.
The resistance to put anything down in black and white could have contributed to a perception by the 49ers that doing business in San Francisco is a difficult, sometimes tedious, process.
It wasn't just economic and political issues associated with the project that made the talks complicated. The people who had the final say on each side were complicated, too.
York and Newsom couldn't have more opposite personalities or more different approaches to the business deal. York was so concerned with details that he reportedly reviewed carpet samples. Newsom was so removed from the project that sources said he failed to return important phone calls, an assertion the mayor denies.
York and his wife, Denise DeBartolo York, took control of the franchise in 2000 after a bitter, public battle with Denise's brother, Eddie DeBartolo Jr.
Many who know John York, a pathologist by trade, say he is not skilled enough in business to manage a $600 million-$800 million stadium proposal -- much less hundreds of millions of dollars worth more of housing and retail construction.
"He drags his feet along and can't decide on details," said one person involved in the negotiations.
Instead of being engaged in the larger issues in the deal, York busied himself with fabric samples for seats and carpet swatches for luxury boxes, the source said.
"He was a pathologist. He studied how people died," the source said. "The trouble is, this was a live stadium development, and John's too deathly afraid to make a mistake."
York may have been the lead decisionmaker for the team outside of City Hall, but he wasn't present regularly during the discussions. His 25-year-old son, Jed; the team's chief financial officer, Larry MacNeil; and Lang, the team's vice president of communications, were. And insiders said the 49ers group lacked the real estate and political experience necessary to understand the complicated deal.
But many also blamed Newsom for not reaching out enough to the Yorks over the course of the talks.
The mayor did not return several calls York made in the spring to address concerns he had with the proposal, sources involved in the talks said. Eventually Newsom assigned his chief of staff, Steve Kawa, to sit in on all the meetings and be a point man in meetings with York.
"John has a lot of respect for Kawa," a person involved in the talks said, "but he would have liked to continue to have connections with the mayor."
The relationships -- or lack thereof -- may have further damaged an already troubled deal.
"He should have made sure it was rolling along properly, schmoozing with John some," said another source who knows both men.
Newsom, however, said he did have "plenty of dinners and dozens of phone calls" over the years with York. But there were no dinners as the deal progressed this year, others countered.
"I gotta run a city," Newsom said. "I can't give up all my time and say I'm going to spend it with you. I'm not going to spend all my time giving up on everything else."
The talks -- carried out by surrogates -- persisted right up until the last meeting Oct. 30.
Those involved debated whether to place the new stadium proposal on the ballot in June or in March, the month before the city would learn whether it was a possible contender in the 2016 Olympic Games.
The thought was that if voters approved a new stadium measure, it would practically secure San Francisco's chances of being picked by U.S. Olympic officials to host the games.
To Newsom's staffers and the developers in the room that day, the talk was a sign they were close to finishing this long-anticipated project. To the representatives from the 49ers, though, it was yet another meeting in a long series of discussions that seemed headed down the wrong path.
One person on hand said there was no mention of the 49ers' intention to leave town that day.
"I left that meeting," the source said, "like a kid going to a Christmas party. I'm thinking this is about to finally happen."
Others said they also left the meeting feeling that a public announcement about the proposed stadium at Candlestick was imminent.
The location to unveil the plan had already been selected -- the impoverished Bayview community that stood to gain the most from the new development. The press release was ready to go.
Then, on Nov. 8, York phoned Newsom to deliver the news the 49ers were headed to Santa Clara; the call ended abruptly. The next day the team held a news conference and made the announcement official.
Since that announcement, elected officials at City Hall and from San Francisco in the state Legislature and Congress have threatened legal and legislative action to keep the 49ers in the city in which they were founded.
Newsom and York, or his son, Jed, have on three occasions sat down face to face -- a departure from the meetings of underlings that had been routine for months.
On Monday, there was no sign that progress had been made in persuading the team's owners to reconsider.
Jed York sent an e-mail to undisclosed recipients noting that he had received a death threat after the announcement of the 49ers' plan to leave the city.
"Keeping the 49ers in the Bay Area is essential," he wrote. "We have looked at many sites, but the one in Santa Clara is the best option to date."
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
Rumor: San Francisco 49ers Considering Hunters Point - SF Chronicle / Matier and Ross
This also reports that the 49ers would rather deal with Forest City than Lennar. Why?
Hunters Point could be in play for the Niners
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Monday, November 20, 2006
With the 49ers' plan for a new stadium at Candlestick Point sunk in the mud, insiders at San Francisco City Hall are revisiting the idea of building at Hunters Point -- in an area that could be paved over with lots of parking.
Here's why.
Cut through all the double talk, and the 49ers' problems come down to two key points.
One: All the Niners are really interested in is a new stadium and a parking lot. Despite all the smiles and public pronouncements over the years, they are not comfortable with the mega housing and retail development deal they cut with the city and Lennar Corp. to pay for the stadium. And they don't want the multilevel parking garage at Candlestick that was going to go along with it.
And two: Their relations with Mayor Gavin Newsom haven't been great and aren't getting a lot better.
Team spokeswoman Lisa Lang said Friday that "our goal is to build a stadium -- not a small city." Trying to get the malls and 6,500 units of housing done along with a 68,000-seat stadium, all while playing in the existing Monster Park, put the team's envisioned 2012 finish date in jeopardy, she said.
Hence the Niners' decision to turn their attention to Santa Clara, where co-owner John York and his family thought building would be easy.
"They sort of have this Midwestern, suburban 1970s view of how things can get done,'' said one San Francisco official who talked with the Yorks in recent days.
"They want a new stadium," said the official, who didn't want his name used because of the ongoing talks. "They want a smooth transition from the current one to the new one. And they don't want all of this other stuff that they just don't understand.''
Unfortunately for the Yorks, the idea of leaving San Francisco also set off an avalanche of threatened lawsuits, legislative roadblocks and bad publicity. And, of course, it did nothing to endear the Niners to Newsom.
Which brings us back to Point Two.
The mayor's absence from talks with the team, and his decision to have underlings handle the negotiations, is said to have rankled the Niners' owners. Then, for some reason, York expected the mayor to turn down the temperature once the team shifted plans, according to sources who spoke with the co-owner after his meeting with Newsom last week.
Instead, the opposite happened. Newsom made it clear he would use every weapon he had -- from lawsuits to Congress -- to keep the team here.
Newsom also told York he wanted the team to spell out the specific problems with the Candlestick Point deal, be they lousy access roads, inadequate public transit or whatever else York felt was a deal-breaker.
In other words, Newsom wanted a checklist that, if dealt with, would mean the team stayed.
Since speaking with Newsom, York and his son Jed have had several meetings and phone conversations with both city officials and others close to the deal.
Recipients of the Yorks' calls, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the talks, said the Niners' concerns appear to be far greater than the fear John York expressed publicly that the stadium proposal wouldn't provide for a good "fan experience.''
Among other things, it has started to surface that if the team is to build anything at Candlestick, it would much rather do so with Forest City Enterprises -- builders of the recently opened Westfield San Francisco Centre downtown -- than with Lennar.
At the same time, city officials are looking for another way to make the general area work for the team. So, if not Candlestick, where?
One idea starting to simmer: Build the stadium across the way on the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, an idea that was looked at earlier and rejected.
The shipyard site would require a new four-lane road. But the Niners could get all the parking they want, plus they could keep playing at Candlestick while the project was built.
At this point it's just an idea, and the mayor remains committed to seeing if the Candlestick deal can be saved. At the same time, York appears just as firmly committed to pursuing Santa Clara.
But until the whole deal sinks -- if it does -- word is going out for everyone with the city to calm down.
State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, even had a pack of the mayor's most vocal critics -- Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and Supervisors Chris Daly, Jake McGoldrick and Ross Mirkarimi -- in her office Friday. Later, she got Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval by phone.
The message: Hold off on the potshots at the 49ers or Newsom, at least for the time being.
Hunters Point could be in play for the Niners
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Monday, November 20, 2006
With the 49ers' plan for a new stadium at Candlestick Point sunk in the mud, insiders at San Francisco City Hall are revisiting the idea of building at Hunters Point -- in an area that could be paved over with lots of parking.
Here's why.
Cut through all the double talk, and the 49ers' problems come down to two key points.
One: All the Niners are really interested in is a new stadium and a parking lot. Despite all the smiles and public pronouncements over the years, they are not comfortable with the mega housing and retail development deal they cut with the city and Lennar Corp. to pay for the stadium. And they don't want the multilevel parking garage at Candlestick that was going to go along with it.
And two: Their relations with Mayor Gavin Newsom haven't been great and aren't getting a lot better.
Team spokeswoman Lisa Lang said Friday that "our goal is to build a stadium -- not a small city." Trying to get the malls and 6,500 units of housing done along with a 68,000-seat stadium, all while playing in the existing Monster Park, put the team's envisioned 2012 finish date in jeopardy, she said.
Hence the Niners' decision to turn their attention to Santa Clara, where co-owner John York and his family thought building would be easy.
"They sort of have this Midwestern, suburban 1970s view of how things can get done,'' said one San Francisco official who talked with the Yorks in recent days.
"They want a new stadium," said the official, who didn't want his name used because of the ongoing talks. "They want a smooth transition from the current one to the new one. And they don't want all of this other stuff that they just don't understand.''
Unfortunately for the Yorks, the idea of leaving San Francisco also set off an avalanche of threatened lawsuits, legislative roadblocks and bad publicity. And, of course, it did nothing to endear the Niners to Newsom.
Which brings us back to Point Two.
The mayor's absence from talks with the team, and his decision to have underlings handle the negotiations, is said to have rankled the Niners' owners. Then, for some reason, York expected the mayor to turn down the temperature once the team shifted plans, according to sources who spoke with the co-owner after his meeting with Newsom last week.
Instead, the opposite happened. Newsom made it clear he would use every weapon he had -- from lawsuits to Congress -- to keep the team here.
Newsom also told York he wanted the team to spell out the specific problems with the Candlestick Point deal, be they lousy access roads, inadequate public transit or whatever else York felt was a deal-breaker.
In other words, Newsom wanted a checklist that, if dealt with, would mean the team stayed.
Since speaking with Newsom, York and his son Jed have had several meetings and phone conversations with both city officials and others close to the deal.
Recipients of the Yorks' calls, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the talks, said the Niners' concerns appear to be far greater than the fear John York expressed publicly that the stadium proposal wouldn't provide for a good "fan experience.''
Among other things, it has started to surface that if the team is to build anything at Candlestick, it would much rather do so with Forest City Enterprises -- builders of the recently opened Westfield San Francisco Centre downtown -- than with Lennar.
At the same time, city officials are looking for another way to make the general area work for the team. So, if not Candlestick, where?
One idea starting to simmer: Build the stadium across the way on the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, an idea that was looked at earlier and rejected.
The shipyard site would require a new four-lane road. But the Niners could get all the parking they want, plus they could keep playing at Candlestick while the project was built.
At this point it's just an idea, and the mayor remains committed to seeing if the Candlestick deal can be saved. At the same time, York appears just as firmly committed to pursuing Santa Clara.
But until the whole deal sinks -- if it does -- word is going out for everyone with the city to calm down.
State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, even had a pack of the mayor's most vocal critics -- Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and Supervisors Chris Daly, Jake McGoldrick and Ross Mirkarimi -- in her office Friday. Later, she got Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval by phone.
The message: Hold off on the potshots at the 49ers or Newsom, at least for the time being.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Matt Leinart - Arizona Cardinals QB Loosing Confidence In Denny Green - Profootball Talk.com
Pro Football Talk.com has this report on Matt Leinart:
LEINART LOSES CONFIDENCE
As the Arizona Cardinals pack it in under coach Dennis Green, a source close to quarterback Matt Leinart says that the 2004 Heisman winner and the No. 10 overall pick in the draft is trying to prop up his teammates by telling them that things will get better, but he can get no positive response.
The source also believes that Leinart's swagger from losing only three games in four years at USC is evaporating.
"He is really rattled by the losing," said the source. "He is searching for a way to get [the team] to buy in to his attitude, but it's getting harder because his confidence is almost gone."
The growing concern among those close to Leinart is that he'll end up as another David Carr, the No. 1 overall pick in 2002 who has been tossed around like a Chihuahua at a Doberman convention in five seasons with the Texans.
"Lots of talent but too many sacks to realize the full potential," the source said.
In our view, it's all the more reason that the Bidwills should make a good decision about the future of the franchise, hiring a coach who can help give Leinart the confidence to be the on-field leader that this team hasn't had since the days of Jim Hart.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
NFL - Cowboys' Emmitt Smith Wins "Dancing With The Stars" - Video
For the second time in as many years, an NFL star has won Dancing with The Stars. Last year, it was Jerry Rice; this year Emmitt Smith's the winner.
Here's a clip of his dancing:
Here's a clip of his dancing:
ALL NFL GAMES SOLD OUT FOR 10TH CONSECUTIVE WEEK - NFL Media.com
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(212) 450-2000 * FAX (212) 681-7573
WWW.NFLMedia.com
Joe Browne, Executive Vice President-Communications
Greg Aiello, Vice President-Public Relations
FOR USE AS DESIRED
11/10/06
ALL GAMES SOLD OUT FOR 10TH CONSECUTIVE WEEK
The unprecedented NFL sellout streak continues. It’s now 10 straight weeks of advance sellouts.
All games of the NFL schedule for this Sunday and Monday -- Week 10 -- have sold out in advance of the local TV blackout deadline. That means every NFL game this weekend will be televised in the home-team market for an unprecedented 10th straight week.
Every game this season has been sold out at least 72 hours in advance and televised locally. Previously, the most sellout weekends in one season was four in 2004 and 2005.
It will be the 23rd time since the NFL blackout policy took effect in 1973 that blackouts have been lifted for all games on a single weekend. The 23 times have been once in 1998; three times in 2000; once in 2001; four times in 2002 and 2005; and 10 times this season.
The NFL blackout policy states that games sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff can be televised in the home city.
280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(212) 450-2000 * FAX (212) 681-7573
WWW.NFLMedia.com
Joe Browne, Executive Vice President-Communications
Greg Aiello, Vice President-Public Relations
FOR USE AS DESIRED
11/10/06
ALL GAMES SOLD OUT FOR 10TH CONSECUTIVE WEEK
The unprecedented NFL sellout streak continues. It’s now 10 straight weeks of advance sellouts.
All games of the NFL schedule for this Sunday and Monday -- Week 10 -- have sold out in advance of the local TV blackout deadline. That means every NFL game this weekend will be televised in the home-team market for an unprecedented 10th straight week.
Every game this season has been sold out at least 72 hours in advance and televised locally. Previously, the most sellout weekends in one season was four in 2004 and 2005.
It will be the 23rd time since the NFL blackout policy took effect in 1973 that blackouts have been lifted for all games on a single weekend. The 23 times have been once in 1998; three times in 2000; once in 2001; four times in 2002 and 2005; and 10 times this season.
The NFL blackout policy states that games sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff can be televised in the home city.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Reggie Bush Fires Mike Ornstein - Yahoo! Sports
This was something Reggie should have done a while ago. But this is just as well. Mike's -- pictured on the left in the photo -- made some money so he should not be totally negatively impacted. It's just that he could have ran a cleaner business.
Bush drops Ornstein as marketing agent
By Josh Peter and Jason Cole, Yahoo! Sports
November 12, 2006
Reggie Bush has parted ways with his marketing agent, Mike Ornstein, a controversial figure who helped Bush land about $50 million in endorsement deals before the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner even signed his rookie contract with the New Orleans Saints, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
Ornstein revealed his split with Bush when he called a New Orleans-area businessman last week and canceled a $5,000 order for 120 turkeys that Bush planned to give to Saints players and team officials for Thanksgiving, said Glenn Mistich, owner of the Gourmet Butcher Block that filled the order.
"He told me, 'Reggie and I aren't working together anymore,' " Mistich said Sunday. "I don't know what happened. I don't know if Reggie even knows about [the canceled order]."
A second source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Bush had fired Ornstein.
Ornstein hung up the phone when a reporter identified himself, and he did not return a subsequent phone message. Bush declined to comment after the Saints' game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
In addition to losing his marquee client, Ornstein recently was subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney's office to answer questions before a grand jury in Ohio. Ornstein received the summons on the opening week of the season, when New Orleans played at Cleveland on Sept. 10.
Four sources confirmed that Ornstein received the subpoena, and one said Ornstein was served in clear view of several witnesses. The subpoena is said to be related to Ornstein receiving Super Bowl tickets from the Cleveland Browns several years ago in exchange for the use of cars.
Ornstein was convicted – along with two others – of defrauding the NFL while he was a league employee in 1995.
In September, a Yahoo! Sports investigation showed that Bush and his family appear to have accepted improper cash and benefits from Ornstein, in potential violation of NCAA rules. The Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA are investigating the matter.
Ornstein was instrumental in helping Bush amass a fortune in endorsements and ingratiate himself to a New Orleans community still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
Negotiating on Bush's behalf, Ornstein secured deals with adidas, Pepsi and Hummer. He also hooked up with Subway and EA Sports video games in an unprecedented windfall for an NFL rookie. The deals were signed well before Bush agreed to a contract with the Saints that included a $26-million guaranteed bonus.
Ornstein also played a prominent role in helping Bush carve out a favorable image in New Orleans. Following the April 28 NFL draft, Bush and his sponsors donated more than $50,000 to Holy Rosary Academy to help keep the special-needs school operational, funded an $86,000 installation of a new playing surface at a stadium used by many of the area's high school football programs and arranged for Hummer to donate a dozen of its vehicles to the police department in a city adjacent to New Orleans.
Bush's charitable efforts also have included partnering with the international hunger relief organization Feed The Children, the NFL Players Association and Urban Impact Ministries to help deliver food and toiletries to needy families in New Orleans.
Y! Sports NFL writer Charles Robinson also contributed to this report
No Bay Area Olympics; No Bay Area Super Bowl - Anatomy Of A Loser Region
Yesterday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that the effort to bring the 2016 Olympics to San Francisco was over. As the head of the Oakland Super Bowl XVIV Bidding Committee, which from 1999 to 2001 worked to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland, I hated to witness that event. I thought San Francisco had its best chance yet to land the Olympic Games because it had a large set of people who seemed to be equally committeed to doing it.
The SF 2012 Olympic effort was the largely the story of the work and energy of one person, Anne Cribbs, whereas this time the heavy lifting was spread out more to others. In the case of Oakland's Super Bowl that effort was totally the story of my work and enthusiasm. But in all three cases, one element of Bay Area society came forward again and again: the selfish action of one key player, perfectly timed to wreck the chances of winning. What makes the Bay Area a great place to live is also that which keeps it from really growing as a society: the insistance of individuals that they "do their thing" and sometimes at the expense of everyone else.
In the matter of the Oakland Super Bowl, it was Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown who threw the monkey wrench into our bid effort by not following our specific instructions and by not totally endorsing the effort, even as his city manager, Robert Bobb, was Oakland's executive pushing for the Super Bowl, and I was the point person. It wasn't the Oakland Raiders, who were very supportive behind the scenes and of me.
But in the Super Bowl-Oakland effort, it wasn't just Jerry, but also the San Francisco Chronicle, who's op-ed page editor John Diaz first supported, and then for terrible and tempermental reasons didn't back our effort. If we had both elements in place, everything else would have worked and the 2005 Super Bowl would have been here, and not in Jacksonville. We had a terrific plan.
In the case of the first Olympics effort, Anne had almost all of the elements in place, except a clear financial package. That was the fault of the State of California and other municipalities, which didn't really want to fiscally back the effort. Anne also didn't have all of the key players behind her that were in place for the 2016 project. Many people did not think she would get as far as she did, and so kind of sat back and watched but never helped -- then they were surprised when she got as far as she did.
That was exactly what happened in my case with Oakland's Super Bowl Bid. Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner once told me "You know, we were all surprised and didnt think you would get as far as you did." But there were a lot of people who thought that, and I had to ignore them. Even Ralph Barbieri of KNBR, who promissed to have me on his radio show to talk about the Oakland Super Bowl Bid, but never followed up on his promise. In fact, KNBR as a whole seemed almost hostile to the idea and for no reason other than they knew they could damage the effort.
It seems in the Bay Area for any one person that wants to do something, there's several who don't want it to succeed because either it's not there idea or doens't benefit them. The same elements of behavior that cause more than one new Bay Area resident to complain that "friends here are not really friends but acquaintences" or that they only have friends via the work place are the same factors that work to prevent the area from joining together to draw large scale sports events, and even seem to be hampering the timely construction of the East Side Of The Bay Bridge.
One may ask if this is the case, how did we land the 1984 Super Bowl, where the 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins 38 - 19? During that time, the way the NFL selected Super Bowl Host Cities was completely different than it is today. First, there was no official set of guidelines. Second, there were no contracts, everything was done via handshake. Thus, it was easy for then-San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein to go to then-NFL Commissioner the Late Pete Rozelle, and work a deal to bring the Super Bowl to the San Francisco Bay Area, where it was played at Stanford. The entire San Francisco bid book was just 20 pages.
By contrast, bidding for the Super Bowl today is a massive effort, where there are over 25 contract sets that must be distributed to almost 1,000 different people and organizations -- and signed, and returned to the bid organization. That alone is a huge undertaking which takes over a year to do. I know because we did it. That's on top of negotiations to use faciltiies, political issues, and so on. That's a lot to do and it requires community coorperation.
With the exception of contracts, the San Francisco Olympics Bid has the same complex set of elements and people. All it takes is one person or organization to decide it doesn't want to do something, and the entire work of many people is trashed. Here, the San Francisco 49ers played the role of "heavy" and all of this was John York's fault. He could have handled all of this in a behind-the-scenes way, but he's acting like he's angry with someone over something. Moreover, I'll bet the issue he's upset about not only could have been handled without involving the media, it was a misunderstanding to begin with.
Look, it wasn't just the configuration of the proposed stadium -- he could have worked that out -- I'll bet it was someone talking to him in a way he didn't like, and so he decided to pull and go to the media. In other words he dropped a bomb on someone, and the person may have been Gavin Newsom and Kofi Bonner of Lennar. My instincts and information tell me this, and I'm seldom wrong in this matter.
Regardless of the details, other cities have faced similar problems of politics, from Atlanta to Miami, Houston and Jackonville -- all cities have landed Super Bowls. In other words, individuals worked out their problems behind the scenes and maintained the progress of the bid effort. Butn in the Bay Area, when individuals are unhappy with the smallest matter, they tend to work to destroy things for everyone else.
This happens again and again and again. I've never seen a part of a country where people are so jealous and critical of each other for the smallest and dumbest of reasons. It's that dynamic which makes poor friendships here and the same one that consistently wrecks efforts to bring Super Bowls and Olympics to our region. Some in the San Francisco Bay Area think that because our land is pretty anyone should want to come here. That's not always true. We Bay Area residents have got to put our collective narcissisum aside if we expect to improve our society, let alone land the Super Bowl and the Olympics.
Monday Night Football - Carolina Panthers 24, Tampa Bay Bucs 10
Second-half surge lifts Panthers, 24-10
NFL.com wire reports
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Nov. 13, 2006) -- After a 15-day layover to stew about their fourth-quarter meltdown against Dallas, the Carolina Panthers came out so flat on offense that the crowd booed them off the field at halftime.
Steve Smith was feeling sick, Keyshawn Johnson fumbled, Jake Delhomme threw an interception and punter Jason Baker was awfully busy the rest of the time.
In the second half, the bumbling Tampa Bay Buccaneers bailed them out.
Delhomme threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Johnson for the go-ahead score in the third quarter and Julius Peppers had three sacks and recovered a fumble as the Panthers beat the Buccaneers 24-10 to end a two-game losing streak.
Smith was seen repeatedly vomiting into a garbage can on the sidelines, once after a long catch early in the second half. But he stayed in the game, catching eight passes for 149 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter that sealed it.
"My little girl was sick," Smith said, "and so, she's a daddy's girl, kissing on me and so -- I got the flu. What happens in the house just goes around the parents."
Smith said he fought through the wooziness, because "this is how I feed my family."
Rookie quarterback Bruce Gradkowski threw two interceptions and lost a fumble for the Buccaneers (2-7), who committed turnovers on four of five possessions in the second and third quarters to blow a 7-0 halftime lead in their third straight loss.
"I'm just sick about the outcome of the game," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "Carolina is a good football team. We turned the ball over and missed some opportunities to make some big plays."
The Panthers, who had said they couldn't wait to play again after being outscored 25-0 in the final quarter against the Cowboys, managed only three first downs and 98 yards in the first half. Their drives in that half went: punt, fumble, punt, punt, punt, interception.
"The first half we didn't run it well enough, we didn't throw it well enough," Delhomme said. "It was an embarrassment in the first half. Second half we answered. The defense forced turnovers and we made more plays. We did enough things to win in the second half."
Fans, upset with the play-calling and the Panthers inability to run, showed their displeasure early and saved the loudest boos as the Panthers walked off the field at halftime with only three first downs against a team missing three defensive starters to injury, including Simeon Rice.
Despite feeling ill, Steve Smith had eight catches for 149 yards and touchdown.
Carolina scored on four of their first six drives in the second half -- but then, the Buccaneers made it easy for the Panthers to come back. Gradkowski's third turnover of the game, a fumble forced by Chris Draft and recovered by Peppers, gave Carolina the ball at the Tampa Bay 44.
Delhomme then found Smith for a 21-yard catch-and-run, setting up Delhomme's 4-yard TD pass to Johnson. It gave Carolina its first lead, 10-7 midway through the third quarter.
Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, held to 44 yards on 15 carries, fumbled on the next possession and Mike Minter recovered at the Tampa Bay 16. Four plays later Brad Hoover's 5-yard touchdown run put Carolina up 17-7.
"I got careless with the ball," Williams said. "I think my turnover created momentum for Carolina."
It marked the eighth time in nine games the Panthers held the lead going into the fourth quarter, unlike on three previous occasions, the Panthers held on with Peppers, who took over the league lead with 11 sacks, making life difficult for Gradkowski.
Coming into the game with only one interception in 186 pass attempts, an NFL record for most attempts without two picks, Gradkowski struggled with his accuracy. He overthrew open Joey Galloway for what would have been a touchdown in the first quarter.
"I have to go out there and not try to do to much," said Gradkowski, who became the starter when Chris Simms suffered a ruptured spleen in the first meeting with Carolina. "I feel like I was competing. Sometimes you just try to do too much."
Gradkowski later underthrew two passes near the end zone, resulting in interceptions for Ken Lucas and Shaun Williams. He even bounced a pass off Peppers' helmet and Gruden started screaming at him in the first half.
"I think the first series, we had Galloway wide open. You've got to make those plays," Gruden said. "Then we had (Michael) Clayton at the end of the half and we didn't make that play. It's a turnover. We fumbled the ball in successive series to start the second half. That's a big reason why we lost."
Gradkowski, who was 17 of 32 for 173 yards, did take advantage when Ronde Barber ripped the ball away from the ex-Buccaneer Johnson near midfield late in the first quarter. Five plays later Gradkowski tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ike Hilliard.
That was enough to take a halftime lead on the Panthers. The boos started early when offensive coordinator Dan Henning called for a running play on third-and-11 and DeShaun Foster gained only five yards.
By the end, everyone in Carolina -- even Smith -- was feeling better with the win.
"It means in the second half of the season," Smith said, "we're 1-0."
NFL.com wire reports
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Nov. 13, 2006) -- After a 15-day layover to stew about their fourth-quarter meltdown against Dallas, the Carolina Panthers came out so flat on offense that the crowd booed them off the field at halftime.
Steve Smith was feeling sick, Keyshawn Johnson fumbled, Jake Delhomme threw an interception and punter Jason Baker was awfully busy the rest of the time.
In the second half, the bumbling Tampa Bay Buccaneers bailed them out.
Delhomme threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Johnson for the go-ahead score in the third quarter and Julius Peppers had three sacks and recovered a fumble as the Panthers beat the Buccaneers 24-10 to end a two-game losing streak.
Smith was seen repeatedly vomiting into a garbage can on the sidelines, once after a long catch early in the second half. But he stayed in the game, catching eight passes for 149 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter that sealed it.
"My little girl was sick," Smith said, "and so, she's a daddy's girl, kissing on me and so -- I got the flu. What happens in the house just goes around the parents."
Smith said he fought through the wooziness, because "this is how I feed my family."
Rookie quarterback Bruce Gradkowski threw two interceptions and lost a fumble for the Buccaneers (2-7), who committed turnovers on four of five possessions in the second and third quarters to blow a 7-0 halftime lead in their third straight loss.
"I'm just sick about the outcome of the game," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "Carolina is a good football team. We turned the ball over and missed some opportunities to make some big plays."
The Panthers, who had said they couldn't wait to play again after being outscored 25-0 in the final quarter against the Cowboys, managed only three first downs and 98 yards in the first half. Their drives in that half went: punt, fumble, punt, punt, punt, interception.
"The first half we didn't run it well enough, we didn't throw it well enough," Delhomme said. "It was an embarrassment in the first half. Second half we answered. The defense forced turnovers and we made more plays. We did enough things to win in the second half."
Fans, upset with the play-calling and the Panthers inability to run, showed their displeasure early and saved the loudest boos as the Panthers walked off the field at halftime with only three first downs against a team missing three defensive starters to injury, including Simeon Rice.
Despite feeling ill, Steve Smith had eight catches for 149 yards and touchdown.
Carolina scored on four of their first six drives in the second half -- but then, the Buccaneers made it easy for the Panthers to come back. Gradkowski's third turnover of the game, a fumble forced by Chris Draft and recovered by Peppers, gave Carolina the ball at the Tampa Bay 44.
Delhomme then found Smith for a 21-yard catch-and-run, setting up Delhomme's 4-yard TD pass to Johnson. It gave Carolina its first lead, 10-7 midway through the third quarter.
Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, held to 44 yards on 15 carries, fumbled on the next possession and Mike Minter recovered at the Tampa Bay 16. Four plays later Brad Hoover's 5-yard touchdown run put Carolina up 17-7.
"I got careless with the ball," Williams said. "I think my turnover created momentum for Carolina."
It marked the eighth time in nine games the Panthers held the lead going into the fourth quarter, unlike on three previous occasions, the Panthers held on with Peppers, who took over the league lead with 11 sacks, making life difficult for Gradkowski.
Coming into the game with only one interception in 186 pass attempts, an NFL record for most attempts without two picks, Gradkowski struggled with his accuracy. He overthrew open Joey Galloway for what would have been a touchdown in the first quarter.
"I have to go out there and not try to do to much," said Gradkowski, who became the starter when Chris Simms suffered a ruptured spleen in the first meeting with Carolina. "I feel like I was competing. Sometimes you just try to do too much."
Gradkowski later underthrew two passes near the end zone, resulting in interceptions for Ken Lucas and Shaun Williams. He even bounced a pass off Peppers' helmet and Gruden started screaming at him in the first half.
"I think the first series, we had Galloway wide open. You've got to make those plays," Gruden said. "Then we had (Michael) Clayton at the end of the half and we didn't make that play. It's a turnover. We fumbled the ball in successive series to start the second half. That's a big reason why we lost."
Gradkowski, who was 17 of 32 for 173 yards, did take advantage when Ronde Barber ripped the ball away from the ex-Buccaneer Johnson near midfield late in the first quarter. Five plays later Gradkowski tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Ike Hilliard.
That was enough to take a halftime lead on the Panthers. The boos started early when offensive coordinator Dan Henning called for a running play on third-and-11 and DeShaun Foster gained only five yards.
By the end, everyone in Carolina -- even Smith -- was feeling better with the win.
"It means in the second half of the season," Smith said, "we're 1-0."
Tom Walsh - Vince Carlucci Reports Andrew Walter Unhappy With Raiders Deep Passing Obsession
It's right here in black and white and from Vince Carlucci's column in NFL.com:
"The Oakland Raiders insisting on having quarterback Andrew Walter take deep drops on his throws against Denver's strong defense on the way to a 17-13 loss to the Broncos. Walter sounded off to reporters after the game that he was unhappy that pass plays continue to have him taking five- and seven-step drops, which makes him an easy target for pass rushers, and that the Raiders' offense is too predictable. The Broncos sacked him three times and pounded him repeatedly, which had plenty to do with the fact the Raiders gained only 77 yards and three first downs in the second half after producing 167 yards and 10 first downs in the first two quarters. Walter also lost two fumbles on a day when the Raiders seemed too quick to abandon their running game, which only added to Walter's problems. I'm never in favor of finger-pointing by a player or a coach, although it should be noted that Walter said he had gone to Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh "numerous times" with plays he would rather run. Walter's preference is to throw more short passes -- such as swing and flat routes -- that he can get out of his hand quickly."
It's clear to many that Tom Walsh's offense does not work at all. It's to the point that the Raiders are two teams - a great defense, hampered by one of the worst offenses in league history.
I tried to tell everyone in pre-season, but they didn't listen.
"The Oakland Raiders insisting on having quarterback Andrew Walter take deep drops on his throws against Denver's strong defense on the way to a 17-13 loss to the Broncos. Walter sounded off to reporters after the game that he was unhappy that pass plays continue to have him taking five- and seven-step drops, which makes him an easy target for pass rushers, and that the Raiders' offense is too predictable. The Broncos sacked him three times and pounded him repeatedly, which had plenty to do with the fact the Raiders gained only 77 yards and three first downs in the second half after producing 167 yards and 10 first downs in the first two quarters. Walter also lost two fumbles on a day when the Raiders seemed too quick to abandon their running game, which only added to Walter's problems. I'm never in favor of finger-pointing by a player or a coach, although it should be noted that Walter said he had gone to Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh "numerous times" with plays he would rather run. Walter's preference is to throw more short passes -- such as swing and flat routes -- that he can get out of his hand quickly."
It's clear to many that Tom Walsh's offense does not work at all. It's to the point that the Raiders are two teams - a great defense, hampered by one of the worst offenses in league history.
I tried to tell everyone in pre-season, but they didn't listen.
SF 49ERS Owner John York - Video On Olympics Bid
San Francisco 49ers owner John York explains that he made it clear to SF Mayor Gavin Newsom not to base the region's Olympic Bid on their stadium. If that's the case, the 49ers should not have made a presentation to the SF Chamber of Commerce with the idea that the stadium would be part of the Olympics Bid.
John's really pissed off a lot of people. Oh and KNBR's Ralph Barberi's totally wrong about this matter -- the Olympics are important to the region and the 49ers screwed up.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Santa Clara Politicians Wreck Bay Area Olympic Bid For 49ers Dream
When I was a City Planning graduate student at Cal Berkeley, I was first introduced to the concept of "regionalism" where one city's economic development policies are shaped to benefit not just its municipal jurisdiction, but the region it's within.
It came as no surprise to me that this concept was discussed in the backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area of which UC Berkeley is a major part. There are nine closely linked counties here and cities that are at times in the same county and find themselves competing for the same resources.
Like sports teams.
Sports teams are more than just economic impacts, they're an expression of the culture of a city. Game day is a great time to see friends, relatives, and your doctor, and all at the stadium. When sports teams leave, a part of the city goes with them. This would be true for the 49ers. But it's also true when a region's cities work together to draw a sports team or event. This is what has happened with the San Francisco Bay Area Olympic Bid. Over the last decade, this effort has been a model of regional coorperation. A kind of unwritten contract. A contract that's about to be broken by Santa Clara's elected officials, led by Mayor Pat Mahan (pictured).
In one fell swoop, Santa Clara's not only threatened to damage San Francisco's culture, but trash the Bay Area's chances to land the Olympics. In the case of the Olympics, Santa Clara and Santa Clara County would have enjoyed overflow use of their hotels, so they would be an economic gainer -- but so would San Francisco and Oakland.
In the case of the 49ers, Santa Clara also gains if they move there, but it's at the expense of the Bay Area. That's not a good tradeoff, and it's for that reason Santa Clara should teminate its pursuit of the 49ers.
Santa Clara's argument is that it's the best choice for the team to build a new stadium in. But with an organization that has as much history and social impact as the 49ers, that's not true from a holistic standpoint. Indeed, look at the bad feelings that have already been generated. That's not going to go away and can effect everything from State politics to the direction of Federal dollars to the needs of Santa Clara. So when you add it all up -- politics and negative economic impact on San Francisco, as well as the loss of the good international will generated by the very act of bidding for the Olympics, let alone getting the Olympics -- Santa Clara's being a real selfish meany of a municipality.
The best solution is for Santa Clara to be a uniter and not a divider. The best action is for Santa Clara's Mayor to say to 49ers Owner John York "You know. You should really sit and work things out with San Francisco and that Olympics Bid and if things aren't workable, then have Mayor Newsom call us and say so. This way, we'll have a clear go-ahead."
That's a great example of regionalism. Santa Clara, be a Bay Area team player.
