Lew Wolff cancels press confab
By Matt Artz
Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 12:32 pm in Uncategorized.
The A’s co-owner had invited me and several other Bay Area reporters to breakfast in San Jose Tuesday offer his thoughts on the A’s, soccer, the economy, etc.
I’m always happy to drive 90 minutes in rush hour traffic for free food, but, alas, Wolff’s spokeswoman today said that he is postponing the gathering.
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February 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Matt, sorry you missed out on the free food (Lew can certainly afford it), but at least it saved you the drive. Is Lew into soccer too? Forgive me, I’m not a sports person.
Sorry for the latest posts about the Argus; it can’t be an easy place to work, particularly under the current economic circumstances. We do appreciate what you do; I guess we just want to see more of it.
I hope you will let us know when Lew sets up another meet-and-greet. I can’t help but notice that he wasn’t even planning on patronizing a Fremont restaurant for his little soiree. Surely he could have found a pro-stadium eatery here, or an anti-stadium place that really, really needed the business.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Wolff also own the San Jose Earthquakes and, in addition to the A’s, has been talking with San Jose about building a stadium for the Earthquakes.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Well, isn’t he just a busy little bee? Thanks for the info.
This may be a dumb non-sport person’s question, but why can’t he build one stadium and play baseball and soccer all in the same place?
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
[why can’t he build one stadium and play baseball and soccer all in the same place?]
Because the fields are different shapes. And the seasons overlap.
Even our own Central Park has separate baseball and soccer fields.
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Ah, I see. You’ve eddicated me. Thanks, Mike!
But don’t they play baseball and football in the same stadiums? I’m not trying to be intentionally obtuse here; I really am curious. Is that because the seasons don’t overlap, or overlap less?
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Neither the fields nor the views from the seats are optimized for either sport. The dirt baseball diamond is generally hated by soccer and football fans alike, it’s worse for soccer since it affects how the ball travels.
The Oakland Coliseum gets used for large soccer crowds 3-5 times during the A’s season. Huge numbers of seats can’t properly see the field because of where they’re situated in relation to the soccer field.
It’s a situation that will do in a pinch, but not on a permanent basis.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
OK, thanks ML
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:19 pm
The copy desk, which is in Walnut Creek, added the box that gave information for the Pro A’s rally. My editor and I talked about it, and decided to leave it out. We can’t control what the copy desk 30 miles away does after we’ve gone home for the night, and neither can Lew Wolff, Bob Wasserman or Nina Moore. No conspiracy. It’s not like the Argus hasn’t covered the last two rallies.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Matt, I’m curious. This seems to be a very active site. Do you know how many registered commenters there are? I realize that some of them may have registered a while back and not be posting anymore, but I was just wondering.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
#8 – After years of dealing with the local reporters and them explaining to me why the headline didn’t relate to the story with the excuse “It happens in the back shop. We have no control of the headline,” I have joked that some day, I would meet someone at a party and they would tell me they worked in a newspaper back shop and I would punch them.
In fact, a copy editor in a remote facility ought to still have some feel for the community and ought to at least pay some attention to the local reporters and editors.
If you add the populations of the three cities down here, it comes to 330,000. We would be the 57th largest city in the country, just behind Cincinnati and bigger than Pittsburgh or Buffalo. Does anyone ever think that newspapers serving those cities are staffed with three reporters?
There are no winners in a race to the bottom.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Matt, the Argus covered the last two anti-stadium protests after the fact. The pro-stadium “rally” was covered in advance, thereby allowing more people to be aware of it and attend.
Don’t be confused, I’m not saying this is your fault; it’s the Argus’ fault, or the fault of Bay Area News Group, which is kind of a distinction without a difference.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Perry Masonary; Good Point!
Matt, one would think that a pending event like tonight’s Fremont Council meeting would merit more advanced coverage? You in fact (if I remember correctly, or somebody on this blog) suggested a larger meeting place.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:54 am
KTVU morning news mentioned tonight’s planned anti-stadium protest at Fremont’s city hall.