Last week I felt like getting a glimpse of Mark Appel, the Stanford hurler and East Bay product who may eventually be the #1 pick in the June draft. So off I went on Friday to Stanford’s Sunken Diamond, one of the many immaculately kept athletic facilities at The Farm. My baseball cravings have come [...]

A ceremony was held today at the San Francisco site where the Pac-12 Network studios are expected to be constructed. Officials called it a groundbreaking, but it was more of a wallbreaking, since the studios will be in the same building as the Comcast Sportsnet studios on Third and Harrison. The new network, which will [...]

In keeping with its efforts to maintain relevance in the high stakes world of college football, San Jose State University will build Bill Walsh Center, a $9-13 million football training complex on the north end of Spartan Stadium. The Merc’s Jon Wilner has the details. The Bill Walsh Center is expected to house the football [...]

Now that the tryptophan has worn off, we’re starting to get some news again. Wolff Urban Development (Lew & Keith Wolff among others) is buying the Hotel Sainte Claire in downtown San Jose. The hotel, on the corner of Market and West San Carlos, is currently owned by Larkspur Hotels. Marin-based Larkspur dozens of other hotels [...]

Tomorrow morning I’ll be in SF to check out oral arguments for the State vs. Redevelopment case. If I can liveblog it, I will. The regular media (SFGate, Merc, MLB.com, KGO) covered yesterday’s proceedings fairly well, though I’m surprised there wasn’t a bigger mention of the discussion about the referendum requirement. No matter, the San [...]

Several weeks ago buzz surrounded SB 286, a redevelopment reform bill working its way through the state legislature. That bill has stalled in committee and has been replaced by AB 1250, written by Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Salinas). AB 1250 is working its way through committee, and the reasons why may be related to what it [...]

An announced crowd of 22,197 braved near-freezing temperatures to catch the inaugural game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, new home of the College World Series. The 24,505-seat stadium, which also serves as the home for the Creighton University Blue Jays, fared well despite the dreary skies. Designed to be easily (not sure exactly how) [...]

Cal Baseball is safe for at least the next 7-10 years, thanks to relentless fundraising efforts. Tonight marks the last NBA game to ever be played in Sacramento, at least for the foreseeable future. As part of the new federal budget pact reached over the weekend, Congress is looking at numerous transit projects as low-hanging [...]

Not to be outdone, a rival to the dome/town at UNLV has emerged. The $1.5 Billion complex, called the Las Vegas Sports Center, would consist of three separate venues instead of one multipurpose domed stadium. Included would be a NBA/NHL-quality arena, a 50,000-seat football stadium for UNLV football, and a 9,000-seat partially covered baseball stadium [...]

Good ballpark articles this week, everyone. Baseballparks.com (Joe Mock) just named their Ballpark of the Year for 2010. And the winner is… BB&T Ballpark in Winston-Salem, NC. What/where/why? you ask? Read the review and the press release (PDF). And note that one of the firms involved was none other than 360 Architecture. BB&T Ballpark won [...]