bearister said:
wallyball2003 said:
When I was a boy they were the San Francisco Warriors and played at the Cow Palace. They changed their name to the Golden State Warriors when they moved to Oakland. Now they've moved back to SF and will once again be the San Francisco Warriors. I'm OK with that. Much bigger things to get worked up about.
I think the fact you need to focus on to more fairly evaluate the negative feelings that have been generated is that although the team played in Oakland for 47 years, out of deference to San Francisco fans, none of the series of team owners changed the name to the Oakland Warriors.
Lacob was faced with the same sensitive issue when he moved the team back to SF. However, Lacob chose to follow the same path he takes every time there is a decision to be made involving the city of Oakland: "Oakland, go f yourself!" (Oakland has had to make claims against Lacob twice for parade cost reimbursement and now for his share of the cost of improvements to the Arena).*
*Im not sure if the official transition from Golden State to San Francisco has occurred yet but it's comin
I hadn't heard the name "Golden State" was out of deference to San Francisco fans. This article says the name arose out of a supposed bluff by Warrior owner Franklin Mieuli, who was negotiating with Oakland and San Diego to move the Warriors and play half the games in Oakland and half in San Diego, thus the Golden State name. Oakland came through with a good lease, and the San Diego games were moved to Oakland. The uniforms were already made with the Golden State name, and some said Mieuli was too cheap to rename the team and make new uniforms. Mieuli was forced to move the team out of SF, because it had lost money every year but one, and the city had no interest in building an arena for a money-losing team. I was sorry to see the name change to Golden State at the time, and even though I live in San Fran, I thought he should have changed the name to Oakland Warriors. All NBA teams are traditionally named for cities, not states. As for the 49ers, don't get me started on that one.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/How-the-Warriors-became-Golden-State-10856924.phpI'm not sure this venture will pay off. Lacob is moving the Warriors at the peak of their popularity, and the product is already not what it was the last few years. It will take draft after draft and trades to make it good again. San Francisco fans are harder to please than East Bay fans, I feel. We'll see if they keep coming in huge numbers.