Excuse me while I put on my rumormonger political/business/entertainment/tech blogger hat.

Like many of you, I’m less than excited about decidedly non-sports gabber Michael Savage filling the drive-time slot at “All Sports” XTRA 860 (KTRB). Though I don’t agree with his politics, it’s more the betrayal of the station’s format that irks me. Depending on what KTRB’s ratings goals for Savage are versus his syndication cost, we’ll see if this experiment lasts. Based on the unease that marked Rush Limbaugh’s stint on KNBR, it probably won’t end well. Either it will be a ratings winner, prompting an increase of talk, or a loser that forces some other rethinking of KTRB’s format. Meanwhile, A’s fans are once again caught in the middle.

Last week at AN, Nico chatted up broadcasting veep Ken Pries to figure out what the hell was happening in A’s radioland. What it appears to be is KTRB exercising control over the pre- and postgame programming. By limiting the amount of pre-game stuff and spending money on talent like former KNBR employee Chris Townsend, they’re protecting their investment in Savage. I like Townsend, he’s developed an edge over the years since he was “exiled” from the Bay Area.

This is where rumormongering comes in. KTRB has been changing programming on a semi-regular basis since they’ve switch to sports talk, and surely they’ve been looking for an opening to launch local programming. I wasn’t sure if that opening was really there until KNBR’s weeknight host Damon Bruce jumped from Sportsphone 680 to sister station KNBR 1050’s noon-4 slot. That’s a really big deal, as KNBR long ago chose to use syndicated and often tape-delayed programming to avoid competition with its local hosts on 680. Bruce, who has made no secret of his displeasure with being constantly preempted by Giants and Warriors games, won’t have many conflicts on 1050. I suspect that Bruce, knowing that KTRB has been looking for some kind of local programming anchor, may have talked about truly jumping ship to new show – probably the preferred drive-time slot – at 860. When KNBR found out, they scrambled to keep Bruce from moving, inevitably giving in to his demands for a better slot. Now Bruce can bash the Giants and Warriors as much as he likes (at least as long as he doesn’t call Dominican hitters brain-dead). In steps F.P. Santangelo to work Sportsphone, where he’ll work relatively cheap and as a Giants homer (though he acknowledges his time with the A’s as well). Perhaps KTRB had been banking on Bruce or someone else, or Savage was option 1 all along. To me it looks like KNBR felt it needed to preserve its hegemony over the market, and so far it has succeeded, leaving KTRB scrambling and the A’s and A’s fans in the lurch.

Of course, I have no factual basis for anything in the above paragraph. But it sounds like as plausible an explanation as anything else. Your thoughts?

I don’t need a caption for this one.

Well, I’ll describe it anyway. The pic above comes from the California High Speed Rail Authority’s community workshop presentation, held last Wednesday in San Jose (additional workshop preso). CHSRA has also released its update on the Bay Area-to-Central Valley segment called “Revised Draft EIR Program Material.” This option, which IMHO has the best chance of moving forward, has the train running in an aerial south of the ballpark and along I-280 and CA-87. One of the pics below has portion done up as a cable-stayed bridge with suspension towers. Can anyone identify which ballpark was lovingly placed next to the tracks?

None of the other pictures have a ballpark in it, but hey, it’s a start. But back to the the pic at the top. We see the new open air, elevated platform, plus a garage next to the arena. Additionally, the blocks between the ballpark and the arena have been developed. Based on funding and timelines, everything you see in the pic couldn’t be completed until 2025-2030. The ballpark and garage would come first, with BART construction holding up the commercial development. It’s also likely that the triangular area above the new development would also be built out, as Adobe is planning an expansion on those parcels.

This one’s the view from the Cahill Park neighborhood. Note how tall the structure is, it appears to dwarf the five-story Plant 51 loft/condo building on this side of the tracks. The next pic really shows the scale of the platform and aerial.

While there is much talk about going with a tunnel alignment (just like the advocacy on the Peninsula), such an option may prove to be cost-prohibitive. I can only hope that San Jose’s city fathers learn from the Bay Bridge debacle and stay away from adorning the aerial option. San Jose isn’t a place for distinctive bridges. Nothing would send a worse message than the city putting resources into designing aesthetic appeal into a bridge that can’t be used by cars, pedestrians, or bikes. The towers could violate the FAA’s height restrictions for SJC. The bridge wouldn’t even be visible from the ballpark’s seating bowl.

This may be your last chance to see this:

The UFL’s California Redwoods are headed up I-80 to Sacramento, where they’ll play at Sac State’s Hornet Stadium and undergo a name change as well. As part of the deal, the team is footing the bill for a new playing surface, perhaps a new Field Turf or next gen Astroturf. Will the new nickname have something to do with the river (a la River Cats), or the oft-used gold miner theme? Dry your tears, people, there’s plenty of other football in the Bay Area.

Follow-up: Apparently there’s rumor going around about the NFL being interested in buying a major stake in the UFL. If true, ~$50 million is relative chump change for a league that could effectively replace the defunct NFL Europe as a feeder/development league, with owners in tow. Now that’s a lot more than the $6.1 million shelled out to buy the assets of the AFL in a bankruptcy sale, but it’ll take much more to its successor, AF1, up and running again.

Pollster Rick Lindholm (not to be confused with actress Riki Lindhome) is back with a new set of polls of Santa Clara and San Jose residents regarding their respective stadium “propositions.” This time the results are a bit different – though the polls’ wording may have something to do with it. Consider the following two questions:

QUESTION FOR SANTA CLARA VOTERS:
Shall the City of Santa Clara adopt Ordinance 17.20 leasing City property for a professional football stadium and other events; no use of City General or Enterprise funds for construction; no new taxes for residents for stadium; Redevelopment Agency funds capped for construction; private party pays all construction cost overruns; no City/Agency obligation for stadium operating/maintenance; private party payment of projected fair market rent; and additional funds for senior/youth/library/recreation to City”s General Fund?

QUESTION FOR SAN JOSE VOTERS:
Question: Do you approve or disapprove of moving the A’s baseball team to San Jose?

Obviously, the San Jose question leaves a bit to be desired. We don’t know anything about how narrow or broad the final San Jose measure will be, or what commitments it would make of the city if approved. We also don’t know how much money is on tap for the pro-ballpark folks to use in their efforts. That said, the A’s-to-San Jose effort has practically gotten a Colbert bump, from 45% for/43% against to 53% for/37% against. The difference, as implied in the article, is that the issue has more visibility only two months later and may be viewed as more tangible. Lew Wolff has stated San Jose as his preferred landing spot. That’s without any ad push by pro-ballpark folks, and most importantly, without the official blessing of one A.H. “Bud” Selig.

On the other side of the Airport, the results are more of a mixed bag. That’s not surprising, given the wording of the question. It’s the exact same language as what will appear on the June ballot. Unfortunately, that means when asked, voters might have to consider most if not all of the words in the question. Keep in mind that the 49ers have signed off on the language, and that there’s no mention of either the $114 million in contributions or the Santa Clara owned public authority that will ultimately be responsible for up to $330 million more in funding. As confusing as the question looks, it’s about as 49er-friendly as it can get. That’s not to say that the Niners are in trouble. They have been spending in force and will continue to do so until the measure gets passed. At this point, I’m certain that the only hope for stadium opponents is for some serious money to drop out of the sky for their cause. I should also point out that on KQED’s Forum two months ago, I mentioned the $330 million. That’s not to say that I’m against the 49ers stadium – I don’t take a position one way or the other. I’d simply prefer that it be a fair debate and dialogue with voters, and it’s quite apparent that one side is much better at getting their message out.

San Jose boosters shouldn’t be thinking about season ticket waiting lists just yet. Rest assured that after the SEIR is certified in April/May and SJ’s City Council drafts ballot language for November, that measure will come under greater scrutiny. I don’t expect that the final question will include anything about new public funding, since Redevelopment has just been authorized to spend another $30 million on site acquisition. However, there remains a small chance of eminent domain proceedings for one or two existing landowners, and if that’s the case the measure will prove to be much more potentially divisive – though we’re talking eminent domain against a business, not a homeowner. Personally, I’m at best lukewarm on voting for an A’s stadium if eminent domain is involved (I would’ve felt the same way about San Jose Arena if were of voting age back then). At the same time, I’m definitely not down with a holdout jacking up the price significantly above FMV + relocation costs – there has to be some give and take involved.

Another thing to take into consideration: timing. Previously I had opined that having both the 49ers and A’s ballot measures in the same election cycle would be harmful to one if not both initiatives, since there would be some amount of comparison. This is setting up to have the 49ers have a full leadup to the June primary, whereas the A’s campaign will pick up almost immediately afterwards, thereby eliminating the possibility of a direct, concurrent comparison.

Don’t get too comfortable with the poll numbers. Lindholm has been gathering data on roughly a monthly basis, so when the next pulse is taken we may see something very different. I’m an huge fan of Nate Silver‘s poll aggregator FiveThirthyEight, and frequent readers to that site know that the half-life of a poll can be measured in weeks or days at best.

Other numbers to chew on regarding San Jose:

• Population: 905,180
• Registered voters: 346,227
• Petition threshold for ballot initiative: 5% or 17,312 registered voters
• Normal turnout for a November election: 64% or 221,585 registered voters (36% for primaries)
• Possible necessary Yes votes for a San Jose ballpark: 110,793 (16.3% of San Jose’s adult population)

Full disclosure on my feelings about the Santa Clara 49ers stadium: I’m rather torn on it. I’m not a 49ers or Raiders fan, so I don’t have any personal feelings about either team. I was born in San Francisco and lived there until I was 4. My dad, fearing the rise in violence there in the late 70’s, got a job at a Valley tech firm and moved us to Sunnyvale in 1979. He was attracted to the wide open spaces, the prospect of having a decently sized yard to grow fruits and vegetables, and the lower crime. In hindsight I sense my mom was ambivalent since she knew San Francisco well, but she signed on in the end. My dad’s employer was located in the “Lockheed/Moffett Park” area near 237, and next to the company parking lot was a still active cornfield, where he took me and my twin brother on occasion.

Eventually, that cornfield was paved over. We’ve seen what happened to the Valley over the next 30 years. My mom passed away nearly three years ago, my dad retired last year and now spends most of his time watching CNN and Discovery/Animal Planet while on Facebook. He goes to his homeland, the Philippines, twice a year to tend to family matters and land (no, he is not rich).

My dad likes Sundays. He still goes to church, albeit irregularly, the same Catholic church you can see from 101 when going to Great America. Sundays are the one time during the week when it feels a little like the slower pace of 1979, when people weren’t in such a damn hurry to get everywhere. With the Niners coming in, traffic cops will be posted at the entrances to his little neighborhood, to protect the parking from football fan invaders. He hated the inconvenience when Great America forced this policy for their Independence Day fireworks shows, he’ll hate it much more when it’s 10 or 20 additional dates – mostly Sundays – per year. I don’t want there to be yet another reason for him to leave. As much of a curmudgeon as he’s become, I love him and want to keep watch over him once in a while.

Over those 30 years, the neighborhood has become a Filipino enclave. My parents were one of the first families to move into what was then and still is today a decidedly middle class neighborhood. They sponsored one family, who became citizens and sponsored other families, who became citizens and sponsored yet more families. This happened for both my dad’s and mom’s side of the family. Mom, who toiled at Security Pacific/Bank of America for 35 years, wrote the script that all of the newcomers would use to become Americans. There are still new relatives coming in, all legally, all wanting to be citizens. One is in her mid 60’s and has been here for a decade. She just got her paperwork to start the citizenship process. She has been working as a seamstress – a damn good one – at Great America much of that time. If Great America goes away, whether or not it’s due to the 49ers, she’ll have to do something else, go somewhere else. Maybe that’ll be a final return to the Philippines, where she has been sending what little money she has to her husband, who see sees maybe once a year. Two other relatives are newcomers, both in the hospitality industry in the area. Both would welcome the new jobs, they could both easily and willingly do the food service work – those jobs that so many criticize as “meaningless” – so that they could save money and eventually bring their families over.

So you see, there’s an intensely personal debate going on within me over this. Because of that, I’d long ago recused myself from the debate. And that’s the way it’ll stay since my own extended family will be split over the outcome.