Why does every radio station go on commercial break at the same time? Is it some sort of conspiracy in which Clear Channel makes it so you won't be able to switch to another station because they’re all doing commercials too? If you were a radio station, wouldn't it make sense to stay on when every other radio does commercials just to lure all the people who flip through channels?

Blazers 109 Warriors 91- So much for all that good mojo gained from the Spurs victory. Playing against one of the hottest teams in the league (Jesus, just think how good the Blazers would be with Oden), the Warriors didn't do much of anything. As the saying goes, or should go, as Davis does so does the Warriors and Davis only scored four points. The Warriors have now lost three out of four, all against Western Conference foes.

-There has been one local franchise that’s been quiet lately so we checked in to see what was happening with the Giants and discovered that well…umm…uh….nothing is going on. Is Sabes on vacation?

-We started watching "Friday Night Lights" over the weekend and we have to say it's a great show. However, the show touches on one of our huge sports movie/tv show pet peeves in that every game features an unbelievable rally consisting of completely unbelievable plays. We hate when that happens and it’s particularly jarring on "FNL" because the show is so realistic in almost every aspect. It's like watching "the Wire" (and yes, we're obsessed about it lately) and having every scene involving the Major Crime Units going after Marlo or Stringer Bell feature a car chase and gun shoot out through downtown Baltimore.

Warriors 130 Spurs 121- In a game so big the Warriors brought out their old school jerseys and "PTI's" Michael Wilbon (call us, Mike-- first rounds on us!) and Jessica Alba checked out, the Warriors met up against one of the Big Boys of the NBA and, well, won in a good ole fashioned barn-burner. The Dubs were ahead, led by Baron Davis-- he of the twelve points in the fourth quarter-- only to have the Spurs rally for six points in the final 47 seconds to tie the game. In OT, Stephen Jackson, natch, scored twelve points to lead the way. This ends the Warriors two game losing streak and was their 20th victory of the season.

-Despite previous reports, the Niners did indeed interview Mad Mike Martz. We cannot emphasize how much of a dumbass idea this is. It totally reeks of desperation, just a horrible, horrible fit. In the first place, Martz is pass happy and Nolan has shown every intention of being a grind-it-out on the ground kinda coach. Then there's the fact there's no hint whatsoever that anyone on the Niners offense would work with Martz's offense, and yes, his offense kinda sorta worked with the Lions, but the Lions actually have more offensive talent than do the Niners. And even if the current players can adjust to it, it'll take a year or two before they get the hang of it. That'll be at least one more season of disheartening play. Plus there's the fact he's a bit of an arrogant asshole on a team already led by a bit of an arrogant asshole and it’ll be just one massive ego fight. On KNBR, Ray Ratto was saying how Nolan is kind of manic-depressive--ultra-conservative during parts of the game and then mad crazy gutsy later on, usually at the wrong moment. This would qualify as a completely manic move-- doing something completely out of the realm of smart just because it’s the opposite of what was done before.

Blazers 105 Warriors 95- See what happens when everyone gets all giddy after beating the Spurs? They lose to the Trail Blazers. If you want to feel better, for those of you who haven't read this yet, check out J.A. Adande's story on the Warriors on ESPN.com. Money quote:

Think about what life would be like if the world operated under the same principles as the Golden State Warriors. Hot fudge sundaes would be nutritious and help you lose weight. Whale-sized sport-utility vehicles would get 50 miles per gallon. "I Love New York" would be up for an Emmy... The thing about the Warriors is they make no sense

-Hey, the Giants signed somebody, Aaron Rowand, who was signed for five years and $60 million bucks. This after being named as possible suitors of every possible free agent and signing absolutely none of them. Rowand's not bad-- he's a pretty decent hitter-- but is known mainly for running into a fence and breaking his nose trying to catch a ball. We're guessing Sabes is thinking the old axiom that you need strong defense up the middle and Rowand is some strong defense up the middle. He is also known as "Gamer," for what’s that worth. The good thing is that with six outfielders on the roster already, they have another one. Who doesn't like an an entire team of outfielders? Still, we're holding our fire on this signing as we don't think it's the only move they'll make, just the first in a long series of moves to make the team halfway decent. They will make those moves, right? Right?

Anyways, if you want to read to really good articles about the mess the Giants have made for themselves, check out Ann Killion and Tim Kawakami's articles in the Merc.

What a stinking dog of a putrid rotting corpse of a disgusting disgrace of an abomination of a disgrace of a debacle of a sham of a fraud of a spectacle of a sham of an embarrassment. Or something like that. How else to describe the Warriors recent sleepwalk through Texas.

On Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs spanked the tribe like a teenager's monkey, 129-89; just 24 hours later, the Houston Rockets piled on and beat the living tar out of them, 118-90 -- neither game was as close as the scores would indicate.

Remember all the way back to the first week of the season? The Warriors waltzed in to Dallas full of swagger and energy and broke the Mavericks down like they was a cardboard box on recycling day. Barely cracked a sweat. In the next couple of weeks they went on to topple the Pistons, Jazz, and Spurs (all at home) to push their record to a surging 9-5.

That was then.

We think it was either Santayana or Benoit Benjamin who first impaled themselves upon the jagged, intellectual teeth of this timeless hardwood saw: Is it better for a team to pull off spectacular upsets of the highest NBA magnitude or to take care of business at home and against lesser teams that they should beat and thereby gain solid footing toward a playoff position?

It's now a full week into December and the Warriors are still sitting on nine wins. Well, they would be sitting on nine wins if their collective ass wasn't hurting so bad from the Texas-sized whuppins they just received from the Spurs and Rockets.

The National Football League's Week Nine of the 2006 regular season is upon us here in the Bay Area, as well as the first tinge of wet weather. Curl up on the couch with a mug o' soup and a blanket: it's time for American football.

* Minnesota vs. San Francisco
Sunday, November 5, 2006. 1:00 PM, PST.
Week 09
The Battle Of The Exposed

Despite that, these Vikes are so far the turnaround story of this NFL season, with hard-nosed football and good execution. Boring, competent and grim-visaged, like The Spurs' Tim Duncan. No one will want to play them in the last month of this NFL season.

Which brings us to this week here in SF. Our Niners had Chicago run 'em over last week. Now, against a team with middling talent, plenty of personnel holes, and a focus on fundamentals, how will the 49ers fare?

The War-bloons have basically been treading water for the last couple of months, and like a small-time sucker playing conservative bets at the $5 blackjack tables in Reno, the house odds are starting to take their toll. Yet as their won-loss record sinks further into the red and the playoff dream shrivels up like Adonal Foyle's points per game average, Head Veep Chris Mullett can only watch as opportunities like the NBA trading deadline slip past like Brad Miller blowing by Troy Murphy unabated to the hoop.

All season, Mullethead has been unwilling or unable to make a deal to improve this team. When he did dip his toe into the trade waters, it was only to bumble around the fringes of the Ron Artest trade like George Bush trying to find his way out of a Chinese paper bag, coming away with nothing except increased team disharmony.

On Thursday the trading deadline passed without the team making any move to get better. Tuesday's debacle at the hands of the Sacramento Queens put the War-droops back in familiar territory in the Pacific Division.The number eight playoff position is three and one-half games off and pulling away. After Saturday's loss to the Spurs, they find themselves seven games under .500.

We may have started a mild regional anxiety attack last week when we scooped the talking heads by speculating that Phil Jackson and the Lakers were secretly in the running for Ron Artest

Or maybe it's the mild downturn the War-wilts are wallowing through right now.

Whatever the reason, it seems that the information superhighway is alive with chatter about how and why the War-tongs should work a deal to bring Artest to Oakland. (Also here,
here, here, here, and most worrisomely, here.) One online opinion poll found that 91 percent of respondents think the team should acquire Artest.

Everybody needs to just take a time out, unclench a bit, breathe, and slow things down. Yes, the War-riors have lost five of their last seven, including last night's frustrating loss to the Celtics, but this is no reason to panic.

Hey, you know, mama said there'd be stretches like this. It happens to every team. A couple of tough drops to top-shelf teams, a long road trip, a back-to-back, consecutive losses. Next thing you know, you're staring down the barrel of a bonafide slump.

The key is to stop the run, not stoke the fires of apprehension by bandying about the name of the league's current most notorious player.

Have we forgotten the lessons of Chris Webber and Latrell Sprewell? The Detroit Pistons (contemporary, not vintage) and the San Antonio Spurs have proven that good guys can finish first. This team doesn't need Artest's edginess to gain a competitive advantage. What it needs is power in the low post.

Here are five reasons why Artest is not right for this team.

The Truthmaker Contributing

For the Warriors, the future is a Rubik's Cube.

The War-winks have done the first part. They've got talent and chemistry, but not in enough quantities to get past the first round of the playoffs. This was clearly evident last week when the War-wizhows lost to division leaders the Suns and the Pistons. True, the games were very close and very exciting, but as with all the War-womps' games with division leaders this year (vs Suns, vs Clips, vs Spurs), they lost.

The Truthmaker Contributing

We all acknowledge that as the Warriors feel their way toward the playoffs this year, there will be some stumbles. Well, there are stumbles and then there are the kind of STUMBLES that make you realize this may have been the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

Last Wednesday against the defending NBA champeen San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors were stripped buck naked and exposed as pretenders. The Spurs absolutely had their way with the shell-shocked tribe. Can you say "low bridge"? It's pronounced Spurs 113 Warriors 89.

This was the War-wearies first truly vicious beatdown of the season thus far, and it was the kind of drubbing that can rattle a team just starting to believe. Like the Clippers game last week, this game was supposed to be a benchmark against which the War-heads could mark their progress toward competitive respectability. Nobody really expected them to win the game, but it would have been nice if they hadn't played that way.

It was like watching a lowlight reel of the last five years of Warriors basketball. Matador D, feeble rebounding (Spurs 52, Warriors 27), total lack of frontcourt presence (Spurs 60 points in the paint, Warriors 36), barely a nod to any kind of set offense, poor shot selection, and even poorer shooting (54.9 percent for the Spurs, 37.7 percent for the Warriors). The Warriors have committed themselves to living by the Baron and dying by the Baron this year, and against the Spurs, the Baron was awful (3-12 from the field and a technical foul) and the War-jacks done died. The entire team was impatient, unspirited, and completely overwhelmed. It was a startling flashback to reality.

SFist Chris "The Truthmaker" Contributing

Image from Street Art Gallery