Thursday, November 14, 2002

Go Dawgs! Trying to save a mediocre season, while trying to make their arch rivals season more miserable, Washington & Oregon face-off this weekend in Eugene or is it Corvallis ... anywhere, somewhere in Oregon that's not Portland. Great take from the Seattle beat writer (who happens to be a big Cougars' fan, go figure): http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/pac10/mw/1113/1460306.html The guy who runs the cafe around the corner from me is a BIG Ducks' fan and is going to the game; for that and SO many reasons, I hope that the Dawgs can pound on Belotti's crew in their dive (aka Autzen Stadium).     7:28:58 PM    comment []

Champions League Stage One is Done: Newcastle became the last team to qualify for round 2 and did so in historic fashion after dropping its first 3 games in phase 1: http://www.soccernet.com/championsleague/2002/20021113/reports/64313_full.html Meanwhile, some time from Switzerland, Basle, broke Liverpool's heart in Group B: http://www.soccernet.com/championsleague/2002/20020925/reports/63755_full.html, as a result, Arsenal, Man Unt and the Magpies will carry the EPL's torch on to Phase 2 along w/ 4 Spainards and 4 Italians (often maligned in Champions' League play over the past several years). The draw will be set tonight/ this morning (in GMT): http://www.soccernet.com/championsleague/news/2002/1115/20021115champsdraw.html  Here's some background on how the draw is formed: http://www.soccernet.com/championsleague/news/2002/1114/20021114champsdrawpre.html  The big net-net, is that Man U and Deportivo will revive their "relationship;" they played 4x in last year's competition with Sir Alex's boys dumping the Spainards in the Quarters, but not enough a bit of nastiness on Becks' http://www.soccernet.com/championsleague/2001/20020402/reports/46178_full.html that ultimately had England fans wondering if he would participate in Korea / Japan 2002. 7:25:46 PM    comment []

Dusty Who? Okay, just kidding. The Giants have hired Alou as Dusty's replacement (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1113/1460334.html) Dusty will go down in Giants' history as one of their best, if not, the best manager in at least SF Giants' history. However, Felipe Alou seems to be universally acknowledged as a great hire and one of the best managers in the game -- though he's yet to take a team to the WS -- blame 1994 strike on that fact. Rob Neyer's side column may be the only negative comments I've seen. I respect Neyer's opinion, but his chief arguments are that he's old and that rarely do 70-yr olds make good managers and that he hasn't won since 1996 -- point #2 is irrelevant, since Alou managed the Expos -- c'mon Rob? In terms of point #1, it's legitimate. However, Alou was a bench coach for the Tigers this past year, so it's not like he's been out of the game and wants a run at glory again. I think it's probably the best hire that Pete MaGo, woops, Brian Sabean could have made. It's a shame the way the Dusty story ended, but hopefully Felipe can open a clean slate. Other thoughts: Jayon Stark (ESPN) http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stark_jayson/1460496.html Gwen Knapp (SF Chron): http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/14/SP231588.DTL Scott Ostler http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/14/SP156773.DTL     7:19:25 PM    comment []

Perhaps the sky isn't falling? The Street got some good economic data today in the form of retail sales for October, as well as the Labor Dept.'s report that jobless claims dropped for the second week in a row. Reatil sales, excluding autos, were up 0.7%, far ahead of what economists anticipated.    The reaction?  The October retail-sales data dispel 'the 'economy is collapsing' notion", said Ethan Harris, a co-chief economist at Lehman Brothers in New York. ..... Want more? "the Christmas season could be better than we had thought," said Sherry Cooper, a global economic strategist at BMO Financial Group in Toronto.  All sorts of economic data beyond retail, as well ... So the total picture looks like this: * retail sales flat, but better than expected / unemployment claims down / inflation is steady / home prices continue to increase, but at a slower pace Auto sales fell 1.9% after a 5% decline in September. Including autos, retail sales were flat in October, after a 1.3% drop in September. Inflation is steady to flat -- "Overall import prices rose 0.1% in October, down from a 0.7% gain in September, the Labor Department said." National Association of Realtors said home prices continued to increase at a strong pace in the third quarter, though the rate of appreciation is cooling. The national median home price rose 7.2% compared with a year earlier, to $161,800. Home prices rose 7.5% in Q2 and 8.1% in Q1. NAR forecasting home-price growth of 6.6% in Q4. The bottom-line? Detroit looks like they maxed out whatever demand existed in the market and now they'll have to deal with some reduced sales for the time-being. Home buying continues to be the engine that is driving the economy / keeping consumers feeling reasonably confident, but we're not out of the "double-dip woods" entirely ...  The Lehman economist, Harris, concluded, "The economy is still feeble right now."   7:07:51 PM    comment []