Subject: Tim Lincecum

• Blue in the Bay: Dodgers Edge Giants in Season Opening Series

  April 4, 2008

• Interview with the Bartender: Chug Pub's Terence Pon

  November 19, 2008

• San Francisco Giants Make Their Sales Pitch -- And It's Zito-Esque

  As baseball fans, I think we can all agree that Tim Lincecum is spectacular. Even homeless men told me last year that the Giants were too painful to follow -- this coming from men who have slept on pavement for 30 years -- but they still peered through the fence when the Cy Young Award winner pitched. Unfortunately, the team's sales pitch regarding their young prodigy is something like this: "So, you like Tim Lincecum, right? Everyone likes Tim Linceum. So, are you interested in ... some term li

  January 13, 2009

• Giants Try Their Sales Pitch Again -- and Whiff

  A short while ago, a well-meaning sales rep from the San Francisco Giants called and wanted to make a deal. He knew I loved spur-of-the-moment decisions to get cheap tickets to go see the team's sensational young pitcher, Tim Lincecum. So, how about this offer: Four-packs (kills the spur-of-the-moment element) at a modestly reduced rate (kills the cheap element) to go see the rest of the Giants' pitching staff (kills the chance to compete in the National League West). This week, I got another ca

  January 22, 2009

• You Don't Have to Be a Psychologist to Figure Out the Deeper Meanings of Giants' TV Ads

  Let's be honest, the Giants could use this guy, too. The San Francisco Giants' entire ad campaign used to boil down to "Come watch: We Got Barry." Now the overriding message is, "Come watch: Barry's gone." A quartet of new Giants ads have been playing on San Francisco screens, and the theme couldn't be clearer: These guys are young, fun, and just like you! Hey, they even take Muni! To wit: A man in a business suit running around the street is gunned down at "home" on a toss over all the park

  March 17, 2009

• Long Shot

  San Francisco-based Women's Professional Soccer takes its shot on a treacherous field.

  November 26, 2008

• Wait Until Next Year

  September 17, 2008

• SF Weekly Letters

  July 9, 2008

• Music for Swingers

  The Giants' theme songs get us thinking outside the batter's box.

  June 25, 2008

• Taking a Shot for the Team!

  A drinking game to get you through the Giants' dismal season.

  June 25, 2008

• Baseball Savant Pablo Sandoval Is Must-See TV -- And That's What Giants Need

  Just prior to the season, we chatted with the impresario behind the Giants' latest round of TV ads. As we put it then, "The San Francisco Giants' entire ad campaign used to boil down to 'Come watch: We Got Barry.' Now the overriding message is, 'Come watch: Barry's gone.'" Needless to say, it hasn't worked out that way -- despite the team's effort to, in effect, ride Barry as far as he would take them and then, when he grew to be a liability, derive what energy it could by burning his corpse. No

  June 17, 2009

• Will Ghost of Atlee Hammaker (Who Isn't Dead Yet) Haunt Tim Lincecum?

  Redrum...redrum...redrum...As we wrote on opening day, San Francisco Giants fans have been all too well trained to listen for that other shoe to drop. A team that has never brought a championship trophy back to this city has subtly taught us that every joyous moment will be eventually ameliorated by great sadness; every scintillating win will eventually only serve to lead to someone else's hometown team piling up after the final World Series victory. Our tradition of searching for dark clouds wi

  July 14, 2009

• S.F. State Senator Blasts Pay Increases for U.C. Executives

   We recently wrote about a bevy of protesting University of California faculty members and researchers incensed that they were facing pay cuts and furlough days while top U.C. executives were earning more than the president of the United States -- or, even more unforgivably, Tim Lincecum. The unionized workers' mood didn't brighten at all with the U.C. regents' recent decision to augment many of the execs' salaries while dipping into theirs. Also miffed was State Sen. Leland Yee, who has

  July 23, 2009

• When it Comes to Trade Deadline Sluggers, Ryan Garko Is About as Big as the Giants Go

  Ryan Garko is not supernatural -- but, then, who is?​Moments after the San Francisco Giants obtained first baseman Ryan Garko in exchange for a Single-A pitcher 99 percent of the team's fans had never heard of, the Internet critiques came in two flavors: No. 1 -- Ryan Garko ain't all that. No. 2 -- The Giants will rue the day they parted company with young hurler Scott Barnes. Addressing No. 2 first, for all those who are lamenting solely because of Barnes' statistics in the low-level minor le

  July 29, 2009

• Baseball's Bizarre Cost-Benefit Economics Means Brad Penny Signing Has Already Paid Off For Giants

  Keith AllisonBoston castoff Brad Penny has already earned his keep with the Giants​Raise your right hand high over your head if you predicted that the San Francisco Giants' scrap-heap recovery project, Brad Penny, would come within three outs of throwing a shutout last night in a dominant debut vs. a very good Philadelphia team. You are all liars. How a pitcher who was getting regularly lit up in Boston like a San Francisco outhouse managed to immediately "revert to All-Star form" when pitchin

  September 3, 2009

• Lo, the Madison Bumgarner Era Begins -- But Will It Be Any Good? And Can *Any* Pitcher Save This Giants Team?

  ​Shuffling dejectedly out of AT&T Park last night, Giants fans were left to ponder many pressing questions -- perhaps none more mysterious than what, exactly, prompted someone to commission a message on the stadium board reading "I'm Sorry, Kim. I Love You!" Baseball-wise, the situation was just as grim. You don't like to hear the terms "back spasms" and " 25-year-old" in the same breath, especially when that 25-year-old is Tim Lincecum. Without a healthy staff ace, this team and its anemi

  September 9, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  Need someone to help you figure out how many grams are in an ounce? Here's your ace.​Gavin! Timmy! Tyson Beckford! Grizzly Bear! Immunity to cereal! What a week. But were you paying attention? 1. Putting the bizarre cherry atop a surreal sundae, an expert witness gave what rationale for 21-year-old homeless man Kenneth Herron entering the San Francisco Zoo's Grizzly Bear Grotto? A. The defendant believed he was a spiritual cousin of the bears, and wished to free them from their metaphysical bo

  November 6, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  He's frightfully busy...​Resignations! Condemnations! Tribulations! It's your Friday morning news quiz! 1. SF Weekly broke the story this week that former Supervisor and State Senator Carole Migden did what? A. Ran over more peopleB. Cursed a former staffer out on live televisionC. Opted not to run for supervisor againD. Failed to pay taxes between 1991 and 20062. Just how many SEIU workers are facing pending layoffs anyway? A. 546B. 500C. 45 to 100 D. Any of these3. What was found hidden bene

  November 20, 2009