Before We Turn Toward Other Bay Area, Let’s Look at This One

After all these years, we finally have a Bay Bridge showdown.

Allegiances are sure to be torn, what with the populace divided between San Diego and Coronado.

No? Not that Bay Bridge?

That being the case, I suppose I can devote a few moments to addressing some nagging questions here in America’s Finest Bay Area.

What if San Diego throws an America’s Cup regatta and no one comes?

It could happen.

A good chunk of the rest of the world has apparently come to the conclusion that the vase itself is not as important as the magnitude of the event.

Quite true.

Consequently, those on the outside looking in, meaning all but San Diego and New Zealand, are contemplating a different trophy . . . say the World’s Cup.

Talking to the Washington Post, sailor/sportscaster Gary Jobson said: “I have maybe 20 proposals that have come to me since the court cases started. These are viable entities, wanting to do something different.”

The Post’s report, filed as a preview to this week’s Cadillac Columbus Cup on Chesapeake Bay, suggested rather strongly that the rest of the world would sail for some cup in 1992. And that cup henceforth would be the cup of consequence.

Thus, should the dispute between San Diego and New Zealand not be settled in time for such a regatta in 1992, an America’s Cup regatta in 1993 just might be something we’ve seen before . . . a match race.

Is that a carrot dangling over the Sports Arena?

Sure is.

The promoters would like you to buy the notion that a big crowd for tonight’s exhibition game between the Bekins Clippers and Seattle SuperSonics will send a message to the National Basketball Assn. that San Diego wants a franchise.

If you want to spend your bucks, do it because you want to see exhibition basketball . . . or maybe “featured halftime performer Mat Plendl . . . and his remarkable hula hoop stunts.” The quoted material is from a San Diego NBA Inc. news release, which also heralds an appearance by some chicken who left San Diego about the same time the Clippers did.

But don’t spend your bucks thinking you are sending a message. Spend 15 on a post card to NBA Commissioner David Stern, and you will have the same impact.

Once again, the NBA has said there are absolutely no plans for expansion in the foreseeable future. Once again, the National Hockey League will be here first.

Why is the media depriving San Diego’s youngsters of heroes?

In truth, I did not realize that the dastardly media hereabouts were guilty of such a dampening of the youthful experience. I learned this a couple of weeks ago while listening to an interview with Steve Ortmayer on the Chargers’ pre-game show.

This was an enlightening experience, because the Chargers’ director of football operations managed to divert a question on his organization’s problems with the media into a dissertation on the impact of the media on San Diego’s youths.

Come again?

Appropriately, what he was dispensing was Pablum.

I was struck by the irony of a Charger executive accusing the media of depriving kids of their heroes when the Chargers themselves have not been able to come to terms with running back Gary Anderson, thereby depriving San Diego’s kids of a hero.

Is it true that the Padres have hired an attorney to assist with the Mark Davis negotiations?

It is . . . and it scares me.

These could be simple negotiations, signed and sealed before Davis even gets to the point of filing for free agency. The Padres have a feeling of appreciation and loyalty for Davis, and it seems to be mutual.

So what’s an attorney doing in this picture? Give 10 minutes to an attorney, and he will reduce proceedings to the coldest and most impersonal levels.

Why didn’t the Padre hierarchy put together a package both generous and fair and have the club president personally present it? Why complicate it with third parties?

In a situation calling for a Valentine, I fear that the Padres are sending a letter bomb.

What is the best way to build a high school football power?

Apparently, the same way you build a political constituency. You warp boundaries.

At least that’s the impression I got from reading a statement Vista High School Coach Dick Haines wrote to the media after a 34-14 loss to neighboring but apparently unneighborly Rancho Buena Vista High School.

“The Rancho Buena Vista coaches did a great job utilizing the talent . . . gathered through gerrymandering the district boundaries,” Haines wrote. “Our board sat silently . . . “

You know how these neighborhood rivalries can get folks worked up.

Just ask them in the other Bay Area.