Here's todays sports news...

Well, that was fun. Last night out in the center-left bleachers, each time Barry Bonds came to bat, the crowd rose giddily to their feet. The stands brimmed with grins and shouts of encouragement and nervous energy. Mitts were pulled on. With each pitch thrown to him, photoflashes flared all about the stadium like Chinese New Year firecrackers....

Here's todays sports news...

-- Will Harper has it that Chris Daly might run for mayor now that Gonzalez is out. Whoa, a real contender! Interesting. [The Snitch (SF Weekly)] -- Proposed designs for the new Transbay Terminal revealed, each one niftier than the next. Compared to what we have now, anyway. [Chron] -- Neighborhood group in the Inner Richmond might stop Starbucks from setting up shop. Amazing job, you guys. [Examiner] -- Train accidently kills a pedestrian......

We have to admit that we're not terribly excited about the All Star Game next Tuesday. None of the players who play really care despite the "This Time it Matters" hype and usually by the sixth inning, when most of the actual stars are flying back in their rented private jets, you get all the excitement of watching some reliever for the Devil Rays facing off against some guy from the Nationals. The only thing that will make it worth watching is to see the ball park and the city get shown off. Well, that and they're expecting so many boats in the Cove that the Giants will only allow boats that register to be out there. We love when the Cove is filled with boats. ...

So with the passing of the trade deadline, we have the answer to this weekends' big Giants' question-- wave the white flag or go for it. We're going for it. Unfortunately, we're going for it with the same team that is currently enjoying an eight-game losing streak. So unless Sabaen can somehow pull off a Benitez for A-Rod trade (Sabes?) , the question out there is what if anything can the Giants do to get off the schneid? Well, here's something to ponder, something that for whatever reason isn't really being discussed even though it should, and here it is; Fire Felipe. Like right now before it's too late. ...

Well, that wasn't what we were hoping for. Yes, the Giants did indeed lose their first game of the big road trip, 8-6 to the Washington Nationals. We haven't seen a road trip start off so badly since a camping trip we took years ago in which on the first night of the trip, we hit a deer (true story. The deer, luckily, was only dazed). And after being in first place a mere seventy-two......

The best professional road cyclists in the world are competing for the maillot jeune on the rolling plains and brutal mountain passes of Europe right now, but this weekend, we've got our own battle for cycling supremacy going on right here in the Bay Area.

Today through Sunday, road cyclists from Pro down through Cat 5 and beyond can compete in the Cougar Mountain Classic on and around the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. As an added bonus, the Cougar is playing host to the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships. That's the Nationals baby, right here, almost within sight of Mt. Tam, mountain biking's Hoboken.

">After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States, a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... Austinist read a book about Olympian Bode Miller and liked it. They also took a few pictures of......

SFist goes to the Crash National races at Watsonville...