National League (MLB)

Tea Party to Land in San Francisco Waving NOBAMA Foam Fingers

You can always bank on it being a good time when Tea Partiers descend on San Francisco for the day. Those obnoxiously hardcore conservatives are planning to flood Justin Herman Plaza on Saturday, where 10 Bay Area Tea Party groups will spend three hours demonstrating ... oh, where to start?"The whol ... More >>

Emily Luchetti Hawks Giants-Themed Cookies on Opening Day

The terms "baseball" and "baked goods" don't normally go together -- unless you're talking about Dock Ellis, the former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who managed to toss a no-hitter while high on acid. Well, San Francisco does take on Pittsburgh in Friday's home-opener. Ellis retired more than 30 years ... More >>

Brian Wilson's Beard to Fly Through Bay Area Skies -- Literally

​If the airlines are deficient at anything, it's making the skies friendlier -- or friendly at all. But in its never-ending quest to be cute, Virgin America Airlines has made another attempt to show us just how much personality the Silicon Valley-based company has.   SFist snapped  this ... More >>

Giants' New Aircraft, Sandbox, and Beer Kiosk Won't Replace Matt Cain

​Giants fans are getting the Opening Day jitters, as they prepare to watch their favorite World Series team take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in San Francisco on April 13. And this year, fans have more than the return of a healthy Buster Posey to look forward to.

Caffeine Buzz: Philz Coffee and Silverstone Coffee Open, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Shutters

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene. The Namu Gaji team let us know the opening of its Mission restaurant has been postponed to Apr. 11 due to equipment issues. Caffeine buzz: The latest Philz Coffee is readying to open. Noe Valley SF repor ... More >>

Bragging Rights

Out of the Park

Beyond the Big Show

Giants Spring Training: A San Franciscan's Guide via Google Maps

​The fact that Buster Posey is off the disabled list gives Giants fans even more reason to flock to Arizona for spring training this weekend. Simply put: Everyone is eager to see their favorite Giants catcher back in action after his painful knee injury derailed him last May.Let's face i ... More >>

Giants High Heels -- a Shoe Even Brian Wilson Wouldn't Wear

​You can glean a lot about the sartorial decline of Western civilization by going to a ballgame. In the days of yore, men -- and they were all men -- dressed formally when heading out to watch men hit balls with sticks. When members of the Greatest Generation, trapped in a frozen foxhole in Bastog ... More >>

San Francisco Giants Heart Bruce Lee

​On Sept. 4, you might notice lots of inappropriate chicken-like kung-fu noises in the vicinity of AT&T Park. In honor of the Year of the Dragon, the San Francisco Giants are hosting Bruce Lee night, which includes, among many other treats, your free Bruce bobblehead. Hosting a Bruce Lee n ... More >>

Super Bowl Bar Viewing Spots Where You Might Actually Eat Well

​Super Bowl Sunday also doubles as National Corn Chip Day, National Cheap Beer Day, and National Sloppy Joe Day. But if you, or your partner, aren't an expert in Super Bowl Day cooking, head to a bar instead. These bars will give you guaranteed viewing of Super Bowl 2012, and perhaps food slightly ... More >>

49ers Game to Air On All Six Cumulus Stations

The only thing you won't find on Cumulus. ​Even you hipsters out there who are completely ambivalent about all things football, who got your ass kicked by the jocks in high school, who would only wear a 49ers sweatshirt to a theme party, and, like our vice president, are apt to confuse the 49ers w ... More >>

Vice President Joe Biden Discovers the 49ers in San Francisco Yesterday

​There's nothing we enjoy more than a good gaffe from high-profile politicians. But the foot-in-the-mouth moment Vice President Joe Biden had yesterday in San Francisco was so unfortunate it made Rick Perry's brain farts a little more forgivable. Yesterday, San Francisco welcomed Biden with open a ... More >>

Boof Bonser Returns to Giants -- Harmonic Convergence to Follow?

​The news that pitcher Boof Bonser is returning to the San Francisco Giants received little fanfare -- and deserved less. But, for those who love to wallow in sports arcana, the move represents the closest one can come in real life to hitting the "undo" button. Of course you can't hit the undo but ... More >>

The Old Guard

Robin O'Connor, Giants Payroll Manager, Admits to Embezzling $2.2 Million from Team

Robin O'Connor ​The woman who was accused of diverting millions of dollars from the San Francisco Giants for personal use pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom today. Robin O'Connor, 41, the former payroll manager for the team, admitted to transferring more than $2.2 million from the Giants into h ... More >>

MC Hammer, Brian Wilson, Other Non-San Francisco Voters Shill for Ed Lee

By now you may already be recovering from watching the Ed Lee music video featuring MC Hammer, Brian Wilson, Ashkon, Willie Brown and others. The video was funded in large part by Hammer's good pal and right-wing piñata du jour Ron Conway, as well as Sean Parker (who you may recall having paranoid ... More >>

Giants Get Sued Over Team's "San Francisco" Logo

The 1,101 Trademarks of San Francisco

​Earlier this week, we reported on the San Francisco Giants' summer of discontent carrying over into a fiasco at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The team was barred from trademarking the script "San Francisco" logo featured on Giants jackets and an armada of other team memorabilia since 1993 ... More >>

Giants Barred From Trademarking "San Francisco" Logo

​It was that kind of year for the San Francisco Giants. The team scored the fewest runs in the National League -- the fewest runs the team has scored, in fact, since it lost 100 games in 1985. At the plate, the Giants just couldn't deliver. Bizarrely, the franchise has been unable to do so in the ... More >>

A Giant Beer Dinner at Jardiniere

​You've done a lot to support the Giants. The orange wig, 'Let Timmy Smoke' t-shirt, and beard implant were all grand gestures. Next week, there's another way to celebrate the home team, and all you need to do is indulge in some quality food and beer.As the season winds down, Traci Des Jardins and ... More >>

Sorry, Simba Moneyball is King of the Jungle

Jackpot​Back in 1994, The Lion King's Simba gave his competitors fair warning via song -- "I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware" -- but that didn't stop Moneyball from dominating San Francisco's box office this weekend. In fact, you could say it was a home run for the Oakland A's baseball ... More >>

Dodgers File Civil Action Against Accused Bryan Stow Attackers

Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood​The Los Angeles Dodgers filed papers in court this week, taking civil action against the two men accused of beating Giants fan Bryan Stow into a coma at Dodger Stadium earlier this year.Stow, who remains in critical condition, and his two children filed a lawsuit o ... More >>

Jerome Williams Was Called "Jeremy" By Giants Teammates -- For Two Years

It turns out Jerome Williams pronounces his name like everyone else named Jerome. That's news to the Giants.​You haven't arrived until you end up as an answer to a trivia question -- and, hopefully, not one akin to "this was the man who fell into the gorilla enclosure at the zoo and was passed amo ... More >>

San Francisco's Top Five Diners

​Even San Francisco natives like me are sometimes alarmed by the pressure applied to denizens of this city to publicly acknowledge that we live in the best place on earth. That being said, we certainly do have access to the best of things here: The best intoxicants, stimulants, and ingredients; th ... More >>

The Franchise Episode Six Recap: Searching for Answers

SD Dirk/Flickr​In conception, The Franchise is not a very complicated show -- it tells human interests stories in the context of the Giants season with a healthy dose of insider access. It's built for a large audience, and as such is at its best when it's largely positive. The Giants need to be go ... More >>

The Franchise Episode Five Recap: The Agony of Defeat

jkorn//Flickr​The Franchise has been on a nice run lately, alternating Cliff's Notes of the team season with human-interest stories in the right balance. However, for all its successes, the producers have had a relatively easy time drumming up content. The Giants have been an absolutely stellar te ... More >>

The Bachelorette's Ben Flajnik: Five Reasons He Should Run for San Francisco Mayor

Those who tuned into ABC's The Bachelorette season finale earlier this week witnessed San Francisco's very own Ben Flajnik get dumped in favor of New York's J.P. Rosenbaum. For all the SF Weekly readers who thought to themselves, "I would have picked him instead," here's your chance. If we are to ... More >>

This Week in Food Bloggery

CT Young/SF Weekly Flickr pool​ Highlights from the blog this week: 1. Caroline Chen discovers that huge numbers of San Francisco restaurant staffers are working illegally. The San Francisco Health Code declares no one with a venereal disease -- or bubonic plague, for that matter -- should be al ... More >>

The Franchise Recap Episode 4: Carlos Beltran Is a Giant

Tedkerwin via flickr​Last week, I said that The Franchise had finally found the right balance between broader storylines and behind-the-scenes intrigue. It turns out that I was in the minority: many non-San Francisco reviewers, including Claire Zulkey of the AV Club, thought it was an episode tha ... More >>

The Franchise Episode 3 Recap: Got Heem!

​Over the past few weeks, I've complained that The Franchise has too often focused on establishing and teasing out narratives rather than using their access to its best advantage. The first two episodes spent most of their time introducing the audience to players, sometimes more than once, and ... More >>

Pablo Sandoval Helps the Search for Missing Children

He's good -- on and off the field ​Like the Kung Fu Panda he is nicknamed after, the Giants' Pablo Sandoval makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. And not just because he recently made the All-Star roster, fulfilling a lifelong dream. He's also a giving guy. Last week, the Giants star financed 40,0 ... More >>

The Franchise Episode 2 Recap: Hey Now, You're an All-Star

​I've written before that "The Franchise" is not really a show for Giants fans. In theory, it's a way for Major League Baseball to introduce some of the game's personalities to a broader audience at a time when they're finding it difficult to market most of their players. In its basic conception, ... More >>

San Francisco Giants to Visit White House, Maybe Resolve Budget Talks

Just what Washington needs​It's probably a good thing for all involved that the San Francisco Giants will be paying a visit to President Barack Obama next Monday. The Giants deserve their hard-earned recognition as World Series champs, and Washington needs a dose of good sense as negotiations grin ... More >>

The Franchise Episode 1: Promising Rookie Looks a Little Raw

UCinternationa​When Showtime aired a preview for The Franchise in April, the Giants were only two weeks into the MLB season and still riding high in defense of their World Series title. Back then, the show looked like a window into the lives of baseball players, rather than a rough-and-tumble vie ... More >>

Five Reasons San Franciscans Have No Style

San Franciscans might be total sluts, but we definitely do not attract our partners based on the way we dress. According to GQ magazine, San Francisco ranked No. 20 on the list of the worst-dressed cities in America. It seems like a head scratcher to us, considering we are No. 1 in so many other way ... More >>

SFoodie Has a New Editor: W. Blake Gray

Why It Matters That San Franciscans Pooped 87,000 Tons Last Year

There are 556,800,000 more where that one came from​You've heard of shitloads. But that's nothing compared to a "SFload," a term we've coined to identify the unbelievable amount of crap excreted by San Franciscans last year.According to the just released "Resource Conservation Ordinance -- 2010 An ... More >>

Madison Bumgarner -- It Gets Better!

Keep smiling, champ​With Thursday's loss to the Cincinnati Reds, Giants starter Madison Bumgarner entered into the running for a most undesirable laurel. Is he the greatest 2-8 pitcher in Major League history? Despite the 21-year-old's lopsided record, his earned-run average just keeps getting low ... More >>

Giants Release "It Gets Better" Video

SF Weekly first reported that the San Francisco Giants would become the first professional sports team to produce an iconic "It Gets Better" video. Today, the World Series champs released a short video aimed to curb LGBT bullying and teen suicides. The roughly 60-second clip begins with Giants pitch ... More >>

Buster Posey Update: Send Giants Star a Get Well Card

​We've got official news about Giants catcher Buster Posey, and it's not good. The team is reporting that Posey has suffered a lower leg fracture and torn ligaments in his ankle, which could put him on the sidelines for a while. Ouch.Fans aren't happy seeing the Giants star taken out of the game. ... More >>

Buster Posey's Injury Could End His Season After Smash-Up at Home Plate

dirkhasen/FlickrWill Buster be on DL for rest of 2011?​UPDATE: Giants just confirmed that Posey has suffered a lower left leg fracture. He's been placed on the 15-day DL, with an MRI scheduled for today, but he'll be indefinitely out until they know more. "There's no time table for his return," sa ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Bryan Stow Family Sues Dodgers over 'Lax Security'

Family sues LA Dodgers​Two days after Los Angeles police arrested Giovanni Ramirez, 31, on suspicion of beating Giants fan Bryan Stow, the victim's family has filed a lawsuit against the Dodgers and its owner, Frank McCourt, claiming the team's lack of safety at the stadium contributed to the brut ... More >>

Here Is Your Best Chance to Sleep with Buster Posey

If there was a chance ... ​SF Weekly spent a lot of not-so-free time deciding what is truly San Francisco's best ... including best bars, food, and yes, best chance to sleep with Giants heartthrob Buster Posey. Here is our best guess:The reigning Rookie of the Year is a married man, as the ladies ... More >>

Giants Head to Los Angeles, Dodgers to Boost Security for Game Tomorrow

Leave the rivalry on the field ​Will any Giants fan step foot at Dodger Stadium for tomorrow night's game? After what happened to Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was savagely beaten outside Dodger Stadium, it would seem inconceivable. But you never know with those hardcore fans, which is why the Do ... More >>

Will the Atlanta Braves Follow the Giants' Lead and Create an "It Gets Better" Video?

Case in point that it does get better​It isn't enough that the San Francisco Giants will be the first professional sports team to create an "It Gets Better" video for LGBT youth. What we need now is a more macho, unsuspecting, conservative group of athletes to follow the Giants' lead -- like the A ... More >>

Giants to Create "It Gets Better" Video for LGBT Youth

The champs are here to tell you that it gets better​The San Francisco Giants told SF Weekly today that the team will make an iconic "It Gets Better" video to encourage LGBT youth across the nation. The Giants will be the first professional sports team to join the spirited campaign aimed at curbing ... More >>

Giants Fan Petitions Team to Create "It Gets Better" Video for LGBT Youth

Do the Giants believe it gets better?​SF Weekly readers might recall the recent Giants games against the Atlanta Braves. Yes, we got swept, but what was even more upsetting was the fact that the Braves pitching coach, Roger McDowell, accosted Giants fans, asking a group of men if they were homos. ... More >>