The Pelican Brief was a great movie. One of the few instances where the movie adaption was actually better than the book. John Grisham in the 90’s was tough to beat, but to follow one of his best works with a cast starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts was pure genius. It’s a shame what Grisham has done as of late, but I digress.

Pelicans, neither an intimidating animal nor relating to sports in any fashion, are now rumored to be the newest mascot in the National Basketball Association. I’m sure owner Tom Benson has his reasons — the state bird of Louisiana is indeed a pelican — and we are forever grateful that he bought the franchise from the death claws of David Stern, but this is simply ridiculous. I thought the ABA names were a thing of the past.

That’s not to say the NBA has 29 other menacing mascots: I still don’t know what a Pacer is, a Piston can stay under the hood for all I care, Magic isn’t scary, I can just close my door if a Bobcat is loose, the only Wizard I fear is Saruman, a Knick is just another name for shorts, I can cut down a Net at any time, my barber is solid with the Clippers, Nuggets are meant to be eaten and Jazz music is very soothing.

The New Orleans Pelicans though? The only positive development coming from this report is the fact that Charlotte may be getting the Hornets nickname back (finally a good move by Michael Jordan!). Just imagining the poor Pelicans PA announcer “…and the Kings turn it over! Pelicans ball! (insert Pelican noise here).” Or what the uniforms will look like, or if by some chance they actually have a Pelican mascot carousing the arena. In other words, WHY DO THIS!?

This leads me to the Golden State Warriors, a solid, neutral mascot. Warriors is one of the more popular mascots in sports. It’s an ample name, and the term “Warrior” itself is rather subjective. It’s a solid mascot, even if it’s passed around more than Rita Ora. It’s not necessarily menacing or frightening, but it’s not the Jazz, Nugget or Pelican either. It’s on the same level as a Athletic or a Giant: we know of it, we just don’t really understand it.

No, I’m not calling for a drastic mascot change. I don’t think the Golden State Bears (kinda already taken) or the Bay Area Moguls (not bad actually) would really work, but this issue isn’t a moot one either. I, for one, really like the name “Warriors” and think of it as unique to our Warriors, for better or worse (mostly worse). The mascot may not be changing, but the region/city before it might be.

Despite what city officials or lawyers may say, Joe Lacob plans to open his Bay Area basketball mecca in 2017 in San Francisco. Long rumored to be in the works, Lacob (and Guber) will finally have their own home, free of the name of the man that they had to outbid to own this very team. The 17,000 seat, privately funded arena will cost upwards up $1 billion.

Goodbye Oakland, Hello San Francisco. Much to the disdain of Oakland residents the Bay Area’s only professional basketball team will be hopping across the bridge to a shiny, bright new palace. The Warriors are the first sports team from the Oakland trio (Warriors, Athletics, Raiders) that have successfully made an agreement to move said franchise. The other two want to move, they just haven’t yet.

The “Golden State” meme is tiresome and boring. We are not the only team in California and the fact that the Bay Area is nowhere to be found in their name is despicable. This is the Bay Area’s team, not California’s. Yes, we’re in California, but so are the Kings, Clippers and Lakers, and two of those three have more impressive pedigrees than the Warriors.

When the Warriors move to San Francisco so should that tiresome and boring meme. The “Golden State” meme should be thrown out and the proper, correct “San Francisco” should replace it. It’s only natural and it’s only right. Forget wrongly representing the state, represent the city you’re now playing for. It always irked me that we weren’t representing us, but instead representing what we’re largely not.

This franchise isn’t immune to the “San Francisco” name. The Warriors played in the Cow Palace in Daly City (just south of the city) from 1962-1964 and the San Francisco Civic Auditorium from 1964-1966. The Warriors occasionally played games in the Oakland Coliseum Arena after its development in 1966, all while being known as the “San Francisco Warriors.” The team finally changed to “Golden State” in 1971.

The Warriors are long overdue for a new arena and the name change should coincide with the move. Oakland-ers shouldn’t argue because the team was never technically theirs. The hovering fear of having a team from Oakland will no longer be a problem. From the NBA’s perspective it’s an easy call, from ownerships perspective it’s an easier call.

We’re not dealing with a befuddling, pointless name change such as what’s going on in New Orleans. We aren’t the Bobcats, Pacers or Magic, we’re the Warriors. The move to San Francisco in 2017 should bring along the San Francisco name. That’s where the games will be played, that’s the city ownership chose to represent and that’s the city fans should accept. The Warriors should and will stay with us, it’s time to return to our 1960‘s glory.

Make the San Francisco Warriors happen again.

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In the third episode of the WarriorsWorld podcast, Ben and myself talk about the major deal with KNBR and the Warriors and the radio wars between KNBR and The Game.

In our second segment we interview former Warriors big man Ekpe Udoh and talk about the transition from the Bay Area to Milwaukee, his off the court hobbies, his infatuation with Betty White, his music choices of the past year and his thoughts on fellow Baylor Bear Robert Griffin III.

We wrap it up by talking about the Warriors and their small forward debate: who should start? Who do we think will start? Finally, we talk a little Brooklyn Nets and JaVale McGee.

We continue to work on the podcast getting on iTunes, it’s in the process of approval and should be done very soon. We’ll keep you posted.

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Despite what Damon Bruce and his sources have to say, it seems the Piers 30-32 waterfront complex the Warriors have promised is still going as planned.

The Warriors announced this week that Snøhetta and AECOM have been selected as the architecture team for the new “sports and entertainment complex” on the waterfront of Piers 30-32.

Peter Guber, Co-Chairman of the Warriors had this to say of the move:

“We conducted an exhaustive search of local and global architects and designers and, in the end, we felt that the combination of Snøhetta and AECOM was the best team to design what we envision as the most state-of-the-art multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex of its kind. We want to build a venue that is not only innovative by today or tomorrow’s standards, but that will stand the test of time and befits the importance of the location. Great cities have great buildings in great locations. San Francisco is a great city.”

In addition to privately financing the complex, the Warriors have also agreed to pay for repairing the piers, a move that would cost an estimated $100 million.

Notable works by Snøhetta include the New National Opera House in Oslo, the National September 11th Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State and the recent expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

(Google them, they’re pretty cool)

AECOM brings about technical expertise and creative achievement through multiple clients around the world. They are ranked #1  in Engineering News-Record’s 2011 Top 500 Design Firms’ rankings and for four consecutive years, Newsweek included AECOM on its U.S. Companies Green Rankings list.
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Adam is a San Francisco lawyer who will probably buy tickets when the Warriors come to the Embarcadero. While I wouldn’t be so rude to ask him about his salary, I’m assuming Adam does decently enough. In theory, this is the profile of someone who should sap future Warriors games of their enthusiasm. In theory, this is a smartphone-juggling suit who knows less about basketball than he does about playing polo in a monocle and lounging on a tiger skin rug.

Except, this Adam is Adam Lauridsen. The dude needs no introduction in these parts, but I should mention to non Dubs fans that Adam writes the fantastic Fast Break Warriors blog. Perhaps Adam’s not the norm, but I wonder if we’re stereotyping a professional class fanbase as a worse one. Guys with advanced degrees aren’t bad fans by definition. We have no clue what the new crowd will sound like at the end of a tight game.

It’s taken as an article of faith that a new San Francisco Warriors crowd will be a diminished one. I’m not so sure. For all the mockery of stuffy, latte-sipping Giants fans, you’ll be hard pressed to find a louder ballpark in the playoffs. And baseball is a bit different from basketball. The buzz in a destination arena can build on itself. Madison Square Garden and Staples Center derive a heightened sense of excitement from being places to be.

This isn’t to say that the San Francisco atmosphere would be exactly the same. Oracle has a beautiful harshness to it that I expect to lose. It’s the only arena I’ve ever been to where fans jump up and point at humiliated players.

But, I would balk at dismissing any Bay Area crowd before it gets a chance to roar. This place isn’t like, say, San Diego, the city I originally hail from. The Bay Area is old and deep rooted like towns on the Eastcoast and in the Midwest. The 1849 Gold Rush birthed this place, not World War II’s Sunbelt expansion. And the region maintains a sense of community because everyone is looking at each other from across the water. So I expect a damned enthusiastic, knowledgable, partisan Warriors crowd, even with all the tailored suits.

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I would highly recommend Marcus Thompson’s piece on GSW’s San Francisco PR gaffe. Marcus thinks Team Lacob could have used some humility and compassion to cool tensions with Eastbay fans. I agree, but I would have advocated an alternative method.

The message always should have been, “We’re one BART stop away, Oakland. C’mon down!” If you even thank and acknowledge Oakland fans, you’re signaling that this is a breakup, that the Warriors are turning the Bay into a moat by which to keep Eastbay hooligans shaking their fists from afar.

Except, it doesn’t have to be that way. The proposed stadium is as close to Oakland as you can possibly get while being in San Francisco. The trip from the West Oakland BART to the Embarcadero BART is seven minutes. Seven! This should be the selling point. Something to the effect of, “We’re trying to get as central in the Bay without being in the water.”

But Lacob kept talking, defending, rationalizing, promising. And then, he had to say that there are more Warriors season ticket holders from San Francisco than Oakland, a city less than half SF’s size. I’m not one to lecture people on proper PR, but: Dude, what the hell?

If you’re not a Bay Area reader, know this: It’s not just about Oakland, this is an Eastbay gripe. Folks in front of and behind the hills will be inconvenienced by this move, and it’s probably not a good idea to tout how they never mattered that much. And while season ticket holders are the most important way teams get attendance money, it’s probably not a great look to act as though they’re the only way. It sounds a bit like, “Hey locals who filled the upper bowl! My bowels have filled another bowl, feel free to eat the steaming result.”

The Eastbay region has twice the population of Oklahoma City’s metro area. Yes, the Bay Bridge folks are losing teams to San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, but this is still a massive part of an intra-Bay fanbase. You don’t part with this population lightly, or at least this crassly. Not when you’re leaving five years from now. If Lacob thought the boos were bad before…

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According to @GSWFastBreak, the Warriors have finalized plans to move from Oakland to San Francisco in 2017. The move would provide the Warriors with a brand new, modern, multi-use arena on Pier 30/32 that would be utilized not only for basketball but other various events. The privately funded arena — assuming all goes smoothly — would cut the tape before the 2017-2018 season.

The move to San Francisco shouldn’t be a surprise as owner Joe Lacob has made it clear of his plans for a move since his ownership began. Oracle Arena is currently the oldest arena in the NBA — it first opened in 1966 — and while renovations took place before the 1996-1997 season, the rust was clearly showing.

While many Warriors fans have fond memories of the arena, the move to San Francisco should be met with open arms. The move not only provides fans with a new arena, but gives potential free agents, players and coaches added incentive to come to the organization. Whether admitted or not, San Francisco is simply a sexier destination than Oakland.

Time and time again the Warriors have lost out on free agents, and while Oakland might not be the sole reason of players hesitance towards committing to sign, it surely didn’t help the cause.

The Warriors will now have a new home in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, awarding fans for their constant loyalty that has been apparent throughout their stay in Oakland.

An official announcement is expected next week.