A new girl at the San Francisco Zoo made her debut today: Martha, an 11-year-old Siberian Tiger, has joined the lineup of big cats out on Sloat Blvd. Like so many fierce women in San Francisco, Martha is not from here - she was born in captivity at the Indianapolis Zoo in 2000 and spent some time lounging around the enclosures of Omaha, Nebraska's Henry Doorly Zoo before finally finding her way to the Zoo by the ocean in the city by the bay. more ›

In a jarring move sure to send local drag queens running for the glass pipe, the San Francisco Zoo plans to rename a new Siberian tiger "Martha." Which wouldn't be so criminal if its given name, "Shasta," weren't so rad. SF Appeal reports: "The 10-year-old, 295 lb white Siberian tiger, currently named 'Shasta,' has been renamed Martha, after SFZS Board member Barnaby Conrad III successfully bid $20K to name her in honor of his wife, Martha Sutherland." more ›

Courtesy of Big Cat Rescue comes this adorable holiday video featuring tigers, lions, and a baby leopard chewing open some Xmas gifts! Let's just try to enjoy these lovely animals and put that ugly incident of two Xmases ago behind us, shall we? more ›

Cute, yes? The San Francisco Zoo just released images of the newborn Sumatran tiger cub triplets born this past week to Leanne and George. Here are a few shots of the new kittens waiting for their first health exam. more ›

We were walking down Fillmore Street near the SFist Staff Writer Dickensian Workhouse just now, and in the time it took us to go from Page Street to Fillmore Street, we were passed by no fewer than five 22-Fillmore busses. The first was packed the gills, the last was predictably empty. more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

Dodgers 6 Giants 4- Before we begin the fun, we'd like to draw your attention to a pretty interesting article by the LA Times' Bill Plaschke who writes how that two game series in '97, the Brian Johnson series, completely ruined the Dodgers for ten years. Long story short, the series devastated the team that season and knocked them out of the playoffs, making it easier for Fox to buy the Dodgers and promptly trash the franchise. Good stuff. Anyhoo, the Enchanter got Cained (our new verb for when a pitcher pitches a good game only to lose due to the Giants ineptitude) as the bullpen gave up four runs in the eighth to lose the game. The damage was done by Messer’s Kline and Messenger and is it us or does Randy Messenger look like a taller, skinner Turtle from "Entourage." As for Bonds, he did nothing of much importance but we couldn’t help but notice that when he hit what looked like a decent shot at hitting the homer, the fans stood up in excitement only to see it turn into just another fly out. When he was taken out, a huge portion of fans left the stadium and yes, it is fairly typical of Dodgers fans, but it was still a 3-2 game at the time. more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

So with baseball starting up this week, we thought we'd turn over the previews to our favorite revolutionary, Leon Trotsky. Coming up, quotes that he thinks sum up the season and Leon's predictions. more ›

Ahem...... Perhaps you would like a preview of the upcoming season from a totally official source? Well, you’re obviously not going to get that from us, but we are pleased to bring you the very first installment of A’s Anatomy; where the green and gold will be dissected all season, and no one will be spared, even if you’re Billy Beane and his BFF. (Just kidding, Bob Geren; welcome aboard!) more ›

We can't say this was one of the worst years in Bay Area sports but it has to be up there. One only has to look at the early part of this decade to see how far we've fallen. The A's and Giants were both perennial contenders and the Raiders were playoff bound. Only the 49ers and Warriors were woeful but well, beggars can't be choosers. We did get one Super Bowl appearance and one World Series out of our teams. more ›

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Hey, the EBX is starting a blog -- we hear those are very trendy. But they've got us listed as a link, right below the Culture Blog, so it's all okay! Bottom Feeder mocks the errors made by the Bay Guardian in its East Bay endorsements. Would you buy expensive organic meals prepared by these folks? Confrontational atheists meeting near Walnut Creek. Cover article: the woes of air traffic controllers in Oakland. Brazilian food in Richmond. Cheap wines for everyone! The Pacific Mozart Ensemble sings in Berkeley with Sufjan Stevens, who alienates the crowd briefly by cheering for the Tigers. And Lyrics Born is playing this weekend! more ›

After the A's lost Game 2, a friend of ours was bemoaning the quick demise of the Green & Gold. They had had a great season, they had finally made it past the first round of the playoffs, why couldn't they just quit right there? It would have been the perfect cap of the season, all happiness and joy instead of disappointment and despair. You know, end it all at the perfect moment and with people wanting more, not less. more ›

-On a cold, wintery afternoon that probably matched how A's fans are feeling right now, the A's went down to the Tigers 3-0 to now be down in the series 3-0. It happens every year in baseball come playoff time-- one team gets in explicably hot and can do no wrong (the '02 Angels, the '03 Marlins, the '04 and '05 Sox) and that this year is the Tigers. The A's, meanwhile, appear to be in that vicious playoff cycle in which hitting becomes almost impossible so the team presses and makes hitting even that much more impossible. Yeah, it's not over til it's over and the '04 Red Sox famously came from behind by an 0-3 margin, but.... more ›

Quick note on todays ALCS game-- the game is scheduled to start around 1:30 PST. The reason MLB is giving is because it's supposed to, yes, snow late Friday night and they'd like to get the game in before winter hits. The not quite said reason is because the Mets/Cardinals have to make up their rained out Game 1 and Fox would rather show the Mets/Cardinals game in prime time than the A's/Tigers game. more ›

The Detroit Tigers look like a team of destiny. It's usually a bad sign for any opponent when a team finds several ways to beat you. Instead of completely shutting the A's down like they did Tuesday evening, the Tigers matched each A's offensive threat with a flurry of runs of their own without a blink or stammer. And they showed us all why they, indeed, have the best bullpen in the Major Leagues. They slowed the A's momentum down just enough to deliver a decisive knockout blow in the eighth and ninth innings, a tribute to their indomitable will and Fernando Rodney's 96 mph fastballs and Todd Jones' craftiness. They are clearly this year’s Chicago White Sox, able to find the slimmest cracks and crannies in a team’s defenses and exploiting the hell out of them. more ›

-Another Caltrain fatality, yesterday around 6. It's the thirteenth this year. -McAfee is your latest hi-tech company to have a CEO go down due to stock shenanigans. more ›

The Detroit Tigers didn't have to do much to defeat the Oakland Athletics last night 5-1. The A’s decided to take the evening off on one of the biggest nights the club has experienced since the "steroid years" of the late 1980's, early 1990's. With delirious fans draped in every facet of Kelly green and gold paraphernalia, the A's promptly went out and laid a massive egg in front of a national audience. Besides the obvious embarrassment, the team played with the smarts of a Class A instructional league team. They made Detroit's Nate Robertson—an adequate arm at best—look like a wizened Sandy Koufax. They also hit into four double plays, stranded multiple men on base and made enough mental blunders to allow the Tigers to capitalize. Barry Zito, the surprise conqueror of Johan Santana in the ALDS against the Twins, appeared to have forgotten why he was there. Playoffs? Yes, Zeets. It's the first game of the ALCS remember? Gotta pitch with some guts and guile, buddy! more ›

The A's might have wrapped up their playoff spot days ago, but the big question of who they would play was still up in the air. Finally, this afternoon, the A's got their opponent, the Minnesota Twins. more ›

Oakland finally snapped out of it and beat the Mariners 12-3 just as word filtered down the Angels lost 5-2. Your Magic Number? 0. As in "clinched." As in "playoffs!" more ›

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. more ›

The NCAA men's basketball tournament resumes tonight with third-round (also known as the Sweet 16) action in both the Atlanta and Oakland regionals. Action in the Washington D.C. and Minneapolis regionals continue tomorrow and Saturday. more ›

Our concert picks for the week of 7/21-7/27. more ›

Music-loving good samaritans, this is your lucky week. If you like to enjoy a little partying and live performance in exchange for your charitable contributions, you have no less than six different tsunami relief benefits to choose from. On Friday, The Independent is having their second benefit, featuring members of New Monsoon, ALO, Samantha and the Ritual for a donation of $10-50. Great American's benefit that night with indie kings Gibbard, Kozelek, Richman and Bachman is sold out, but buying a ticket from a scalper would be even more wrong than usual. Bottom of the Hill's "Wave of Relief" benefit is on Sunday, with Blind Justice, The MoFonics, OM&M, et al. Monday night Erase Errata, Murder Murder, Curse of the Birthmark and So So Many White White Tigers rock the Elbo Room. Wednesday night brings another benefit at Bottom of the Hill, with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Jason Quever from the Papercuts and several others, for $7 and up. Also that night is a benefit presented by A Show of Hands at Rickshaw Stop with comedy, film, dance, theatre and music from the likes of Hard Nox and Killing My Lobster, for a donation of $5-20. Look at you, San Francisco, doin' so good! For those about to rock for a good cause, we salute you. more ›

Sure, there are new releases this week by Britney, Eminem and Shania, but what love have they ever shown to San Francisco? more ›