bearister said:
concordtom said:
And don't even try to compare what the Warriors did to what the Raiders did.
It's actually amazing, now that I think about it, that you praise the Raiders, yet demonize the Warriors.
Is that really so? By your logic, it makes NO sense.
And you are sensible, except for this issue.
Set me straight here, will ya?
You are right about the Raiders, and probably the Warriors too. Oakland has to be a maddening city to make a business deal with. I suppose it can all be excused by "it's just business," since both teams made better deals elsewhere.
I don't like Lacob. He had to be sued twice to pay for the team's share of the Championship Parades and brought to arbitration for the team's share of the arena renovation costs ($50m):
"An arbitrator and a California Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Coliseum Authority, concluding the Warriors must pay up. In August, a state appeals court panel reaffirmed that decision. Now, the Warriors are asking the state supreme court to take on the matter." Mercury News
The latest is Lacob had a plan to have rapid testing at Chase Center so he could have 50% fan capacity at Warriors' game. The City health officials kabashed it. How much do you really think he cared about fan safety? Do you think the fans were going to be asked to sign a comprehensive Release of Liability that would include a release of liability even if ownership was negligent?
So in other words, IMO, Lacob is greedy and I don't approve of how he does business, which undoubtedly is why he is so successful, because he makes sure he is never on the short end of a business deal.
In conclusion, my hard feelings are based on the old school doctrine that loyalty was worth something. The Warriors and the Raiders each sucked for a solid 20 years and yet they maintained a loyal fan base (much more so than the SF teams during their lean years). The problem is that loyalty has no market value in pro sports. If you can move and do better financially than your loyal fans can go f themselves. That's just the way it is.
*I will always love Klay Thompson, however. It is liberating to watch Raider games and literally not give a sh@it if they win or lose (and they will always manage to gyroscope back to their true mediocre as long as Blond Moe owns the team).
Okay, great, thank you for expanding.
I haven't had an opinion on Lacob, but I agree that the W's should pay for city parties, to the tune of at least 50%. I have no idea how to quantify the expenses and city-wide benefits, so I guess I'd start there. Probably some businesses profited from the party, so I wouldn't put the W's tab at 100%.
I don't know about and so can't have a quick opinion of the Chase testing 50% seating thing. I mean, that would just be knee jerk of me, and I do enough of that on this forum. I'll accept that you don't like that, or the way he does business.
That said, I do not have a problem with him moving about 8 miles across the bay - not at all. Like the 49ers, they've stayed true to the region, and that, I think, is "
everything" as Rachel Nichols on The Jump likes to ask her guests. I have Oakland roots historically and lived there for 5 years as a youth, too, so, I feel my opinion can count here. I don't think the team MUST reside within the geographic boundaries of the City of Oakland! I mean, if they moved to downtown (somehow), then Coliseum locals could complain that they are moving too far away.
And as someone else points out, the Warriors were at the Cow Palace before, and totally abandoned that whole area of businesses and fans, so.... them moving to SF has NO standing in my opinion and that's why I'm busting your chops.
If you are bitter about Lacob moving for more money, just think of it this way - with the team being more profitable, they'll be able to go after better free agents, and if the facilities and aura of the team rock, they'll be more apt to come. THUS, the team won't suck for another 20 years of misery.
Competition is the way of the world. Compete or die.
Think of it, we could be Seattle - no NBA team at all.
Meanwhile, the Raiders SUCK and will ALWAYS SUCK for what they did to Oakland, and northern california, 3 times: twice in leaving and once in returning. They were my team as a kid, and I still have their special logo trash can from xmas as a child and plenty of their football cards! I was #25 Blitnikoff and my brother was #12 Stabler. He still loves them, but I can't support them. Booooo! You suck, Al Davis!! I gave the trash can to my brother. He likes it.
Go Bears! They can't move.