Jesus! Will you look at that smile? How unbelievably disarming is she with that incredible cuteness? Union City native Vicky Galindo is the Roberto Clemente of adorable, petite girls with radiant perky smiles. She plays second base and bats leadoff with power well beyond what that tiny, inviting frame would suggest. And while you were asleep or else losing last night to meth, Vicky was busy allowing zero opposing batters to reach base in......

You guys remember our emeritus weatherman, SFist Ted, right? Well, when SFist Ted wasn't licking a finger and holding it up to find out what direction the wind's blowing, he was running everyone's favorite pet networking blogs, Dogster and Catster -- so we're thrilled to read in the paper that our very own Al Roker's just secured $1 million in angel funding! Whooo! Party at Ted's house! Ted's particular pet guardian investors include Goldman Sachs......

Barry Zito outpitched Curt Schilling this afternoon to lead the Athletics to a 7-2 beat down of the Dead Sox. That's what they in the business call a "sweep." The A's have won 15 of 19 games and were 21-6 in August and the Chron notes that the A's are an amazing 124-45 in August since 2001. Crikey. ...

Welcome SFist Jessica, our undercover tourist! The all-Alcatraz outfit was definitely a nice touch -- and we're still looking forward to the poignant watercolors she's going to paint of her time on the San Francisco Bay Quackers tour. Lots of local news tidbits this week: the musical saw competition, Hitler references by a departing Niner, the police escorts for the renegade sound system on the N Judah -- and we noted the difficulty of complying......

For the first time in the 29 years they've been running the event, a man died while running the San Francisco Marathon yesterday. Bill Goggins, a former senior editor at Wired Magazine, suffered a heart attack after passing the 24-mile mark in Dogpatch. His friends cheered him on at Mile 21 (in the Mission) and said he looked great. Apparently it's not totally uncommon for racers to die in marathons -- two men died during......

This was first mentioned in a Leah Garchik column, but we have actual first-hand knowledge of CapGate from someone who was involved in l'affaire. Our story began last week when a mens softball team headed off to the Connecticut Yankee for some post-game celebratory drinks. As is softball players' wont as the Yankee is known as a sports bar and a good home for wayward New Englanders. So the group began to order and when the last person, a person who was most definitely wearing their baseball cap backwards, ordered, the bartender told him that they wouldn't serve him unless he turned his cap around. When the guy protested, the bartender announced to all of the backwards baseball cap wearers in the group that none of them would be served again unless they all turned their caps around. Some stayed (hey, they already paid for their drinks), some left in protest. ...

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the......

Proving yet again that life is very, very, very unusual, here is a photograph of the SFist softball team...on a gigantic General Electric billboard in Times Square...making an obscene gesture. The story behind it is this: back in February, GE was soliciting Flickr users to submit pictures of themselves doing "healthy" things for use in a GE ad campaign. We didn't care what the product was; we only cared that their marketing people had requested......

Boris Delepine in Ross Mirkarimi's office wrote to let us know that the supe's team, the B.O.S. Hogs, beat the mayor's team, the Blues, in Softball on a chilly evening in the Presidio yesterday. The B.O.S. Hogs, composed mostly of aides to the supes, finished the regular season with nary a loss to their record, and the only actual supervisor on the team, Sean Elsbernd, is leading the league with an astonishing nine dingers......

And with that, we bid adieu to the Giants' season as baseball has moved to the playoffs and everyone's favorite drama, Waiting For the Sox/Yanks. Which means it's time for Your San Francisco Giants Season Replay, a season which we think can be summed up thusly: you know, it could have been worse. ...

As we all know, it doesn't matter if you can write your way out of a paper bag, all that matters is if you can compete on the field of intramural athletics. We have a theory that your personal relationships won't ever really evolve past high school, so the kings on the field will be the kings at the office for the rest of your life (it applies especially to you Ivies). Self-reflection and......

Well, the internets are all abuzz over the 8th annual "One Night Stand," put on by SomArts. We're willing to go with the flow and recommend an erotic art party -- not to mention Indra, known as the "Courtney Love of Cabaret." Wow. That's a reputation to live up to. The Bay Guardian peeps are throwing a Hell-Raiser Happy Hour at the Cannery Building. Yes, we're biased -- but it can't be worse than......

We realized that we were living our rock and roll fantasy when we started getting chances to write about zombie movies. (What can we say? We're a simple person, and we have simple needs.) Things got even better when we got to start talking or emailing with directors of said zombie movies -- like Matthew Leutwyler, Bay Area native and director of Dead and Breakfast, a zombie film with musical interludes by Zacharia Selwyn.......

SFist interviews Steve Jones, city editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian...

Last night we went to a see a new play called 'Sleeper,' written by the lovely and talented Samantha Chanse and directed by Friend of SFist Oliver Saria. We've seen Sam and Oliver slay an audience doing stand-up, so it came as no surprise that the play came with a healthy dose of laughs. There's one more show tonight and tomorrow at eight at Bindlestiff Studio, 6th and Natoma. Finally, some actual summer weather,......

This week in Stage Fog: theater for people who hate theater. That would be dramatic renderings of people scaring the shit out of you and people making fun of cat allergies. Cool!...

SFist Ted, Weatherman, set a new standard for self-sacrifice that is going to be hard to top yesterday. On a cool evening at Jackson Park, SFist and friends took on Wired Magazine in a friendly game of softball. In the bottom of the first inning, on a short pop-up to center field, Ted came charging in and tried to make a diving catch. The ball dropped, but the inning ended when the runner was......

New SFist Jake gets us up to speed on what the A's have in store for us this season....

One night SFist was watching the Daily Show when we noticed Jon snarking on the questions of a White House Reporter. In a news conference just after Bush’s election, a reporter asked a question so patently softball that it didn’t even qualify as softball, more like t-ball. The question was asked by one Jeff Gannon, "White House Correspondent" for the Talon News Service. Turns out the guy’s been a little on the famous side for......

Bay Area crime roundup...

Softball article on Maureen Dowd....

[Ed. Note: The next few posts are the debut of EssEffist Jon as contributor. Good to have you, Jon!] When we first saw a t-shirt for an actual kickball league, we were pretty sure it was the coolest thing we had ever heard. After playing for several seasons, we can say that it really is the coolest thing we have ever heard. Now in its third year, San Francisco's very-own Division of the World Kickball League (or as it's known by those truly in the know, WAKA) features two leagues, one on Wednesdays and one on Thursdays. WAKA is for those who think that all those playground sports that were played in Elementary School could have been vastly improved with the addition of beer-bongs and jello shots. For those who don't remember that far back, kickball is a kind of a hybrid game that combines softball with soccer. Instead of hitting a ball with a bat, players kick a big red ball. Even better, fielders are allowed to throw at base runners. Who doesn't love throwing things at people? The best part of the league is the All-Day Playoff Tournament, when the remaining eight or so teams compete to crown the Kickball Champion in round-robin fashion. It's not uncommon to see teams make a day of it by bringing stuff to grill, catered spreads, and the occasional shrimp cocktail. And lots and lots of beer. What happens afterwards is usually a blur but we seem to remember something about dunk tanks, electric trolley cars, and table dancing. Fall season starts September 2, but spaces are still available for both nights....

EssEffist loves us some women's beach voleyball. Sand, sun, world-class athletes and hot girl-on-girl action [Ed. Note: We really hope this doesn't get us filtered out of our own site at work.]. Our dream matchup - the United States versus Brazil in the gold medal final - totally came true. And after a quick forty-five minutes, heavily favored southlander Misty May and Stanford grad Kerri Walsh prevailed over Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in straight sets, 21-17 and 21-11....