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WEEKEND Sports stars slam San Francisco over crime, homelessness – Washington Examiner

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WEEKEND Sports stars slam San Francisco over crime, homelessness – Washington Examiner


SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco‘s bad rap as a city overrun with criminals, addicts, and the homeless has led to big business, residents, and tourists looking for the exit ramp.

Now, its lengthy list of problems is being blamed for driving away professional athletes considering signing with the city’s professional sports teams.  

The Northern California hub has been getting hammered by former NBA star-turned-sportscaster Charles Barkley who has been asked to rein in his smack talk but has refused to pull punches about the conditions. Barkley, never one to be shy about his opinion, recently went on an anti-San Francisco rant after it was announced the city would host the NBA All-Star Game in 2025.

FILE – In this June 24, 2019, file photo, Charles Barkley arrives at the NBA Awards (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

“Hey Reggie, if you had a chance to be in the cold [in Indianapolis] or be around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco, which would you take?” Barkley asked Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller, who was announcing the game with him on TNT. 

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When commentator Taylor Rooks said off-camera, “We love San Francisco,” Barkley shot back, “No, we don’t,” prompting a back-and-forth with Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green about safety in the city. When Green said anyone could walk around unharmed on the city streets, Barkley sarcastically agreed, saying the statement was true as long as the person was wearing “a bulletproof vest.” 

It wasn’t the first time Barkley has gone after San Francisco.

When Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks was delayed in 2022 due to a leak from the roof of the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Barkley claimed, “You know the bad thing about all this rain? It’s not raining in San Francisco to clean up all those dirty-ass streets they got there … all that dirtiness and homelessness, y’all, man, y’all gotta clean that off the streets.” 

But it’s not just Barkley who has a problem with San Francisco. 

Former San Francisco Giants star catcher Buster Posey, who is now a member of the Giant’s ownership group, raised eyebrows when he claimed baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani might have chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Giants because of the city’s drug and crime problem. He claimed in an interview with The Athletic that safety is among the top concerns free agents consider before signing. 

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San Francisco Giants' Buster Posey, right, slides to score in front of Washington Nationals catcher Jesus Flores in the eighth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012, in San Francisco. Posey scored on a single by Giants' Brandon Belt. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey, right, slides to score in front of Washington Nationals catcher Jesus Flores in the eighth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) | Ben Margot

“Something I think is noteworthy, something that unfortunately keeps popping up from players and even the players’ wives, is there’s a bit of an uneasiness with the city itself, as far as the state of the city, with crime, with drugs,” Posey said. “Whether that’s all completely fair or not, perception is reality. It’s a frustrating cycle, I think, and not just with baseball. Baseball is secondary to life and the important things in life. But as far as a free-agent pursuit goes, I have seen that it does affect things.”

While there are some notorious parts of San Francisco like the Tenderloin district, the area around Oracle Park, where the Giants play, is among the safest in the city. It’s within walking distance of luxury 5-star hotels, boutiques, and upscale restaurants and breweries. There is also plenty of public transportation and for the most part is well lit. 

WEEKEND Sports stars slam San Francisco over crime, homelessness – Washington Examiner
Players line up on the field before a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Miami Marlins in San Francisco, Friday, April 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Despite the high-profile criticism, more and more people are coming to the city’s defense. 

Infielder Matt Chapman signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Giants this month and said he purposely “chose to come [to San Francisco.]”

“I think everybody’s different, everybody has different things that matter to them, but I’m from California,” he said. “I played in the Bay Area. I’m comfortable here. And people say what they say, but I think at the end of the day when you look at the franchise, they want to win.”

Chapman added that he doesn’t “see why people wouldn’t want to come here” and that  “a lot of people have reached out and said they want to come play here and told me that.”

In December, the Giants signed South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee. His agent, Scott Boras, also pushed back on claims that athletes were keeping away from San Francisco.

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“There are issues including homelessness near the ballpark in San Diego, in downtown L.A,” Boras told NBC Sports. “To identify that only with San Francisco is really unfair. In any of the major cities, we’ve got issues. Chicago, New York, whatever. The players’ major focus is the structure of the organization and winning and competing. The biggest issue the Giants have is the fact that the Dodgers are getting better. Players want to know if they come here, will they be able to compete with the Dodgers? And now Arizona. That’s the real major question that San Francisco has to answer.”

City leaders have also come to San Francisco’s defense.

Democratic mayoral candidate Ahsha Safai told SFGATE that while the city was solid, it still has room to improve, like the three teams Barkley played for during his 16 years in the NBA. 

“We have the talent, we have the desire — we just need a new head coach to lead our city!” Safai said. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

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Kyle Smeallie, chief of staff to District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, offered up what he thought set Barkley off about San Francisco in the first place.

“Our city rules — big baby Barkley is just mad he never got a ring,” Smeallie said, adding that the Warriors have seven NBA championships under their belt.



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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Giants Reportedly Discussing Shipping Star Outfielder to Mets

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San Francisco Giants Reportedly Discussing Shipping Star Outfielder to Mets


Right now, it’s a mystery regarding what the San Francisco Giants are going to do ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.

Whatever direction they take is going to impact this franchise moving forward.

This is a market favoring the selling teams with so many contenders searching for additions who can help them get into the playoffs and potentially make a championship run. While the Giants don’t have a ton of attractive pieces, anything they sell will likely get them an inflated package in return.

Blake Snell is the one name who multiple teams around the league would love to get their hands on since he’s started looking like the elite pitcher he’s been throughout his career.

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However, it seems like if San Francisco is going to sell, they are already having conversations regarding one particular player.

According to Mike Puma of The New York Post, they have discussed a trade that would send their star outfielder Michael Conforto back to the New York Mets.

This is a prime example of the Wild Card race being so tight that multiple teams are looking to add players. The Mets entered this season with the plan of trying to contend in the present, but also looking ahead to the future.

When they got off to a horrendous start, it seemed like they would pull the plug on their year.

Instead, they have fought their way back and hold the top Wild Card spot in the National League. Now, they reportedly are looking to add someone like Conforto who can help them get into the postseason.

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For the Giants, the veteran outfielder has been seen as a player who could be on the move. He’s in the final year of his $36 million deal he signed heading into 2023, so if they don’t move him right now, they would lose him for nothing.

The emergence of Heliot Ramos in the outfield and Tyler Fitzgerald as a utilityman might make this decision much easier. San Francisco could sell off some of their fringe pieces like Conforto while still keeping this roster in tact for a late playoff push.

New York would only be getting Conforto as a rental, but the fact he spent seven seasons with them at the Major League level and slashed .255/.356/.468 during his tenure, should give them confidence he can come in and provide solid at-bats.

The Giants likely wouldn’t get a whole lot back in return, but something is better than nothing.





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San Francisco Giants Rotation Faces Key Decision This Weekend

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San Francisco Giants Rotation Faces Key Decision This Weekend


The San Francisco Giants will cram four games into three days at home against the Colorado Rockies, thanks to a doubleheader on Saturday.

With that, the Giants face a decision at the back end of that four-game series, according to reporting from NBC Sports Bay Area.

The first three starters are set, but Sunday’s game will likely be “Jordan Hicks’ last start or Alex Cobb’s first,” per the outlet.

Cobb is nearly ready to return from his injury rehab and after a strong start to the season while Hicks has trailed off in terms of performance, putting manager Bob Melvin in a bit of a spot.

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Hicks has been a reliever most of his Major League career, but when the Giants signed him in the offseason they said they would convert him into a starter, something he wanted.

The early returns were promising.

He went 2-0 in his first six starts and kept his ERA under 2.00. Cobb and Robbie Ray started the season on the injured list. Blake Snell hit the IL after the season’s first three weeks. So Hicks’ performance was a great lift.

But the quality of those starts has gradually dropped. He went 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in May, followed by an 0-2 June in which he had an ERA of 5.24. His three starts in July have been terrible — an 0-3 record and a 8.31 ERA.

NBC Sports Bay Area reported that the Giants would give Hicks one more start before a discussion about his role. But his last start on Tuesday — in which he gave up four earned runs and was unable to get out of the fourth inning — may have given them cause to reconsider.

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Whether Hicks starts on Sunday may depend entirely upon Cobb’s readiness.

San Francisco had hoped Cobb would return earlier than this. He had offseason hip surgery and was expected to miss a portion of the regular season. But while doing rehab work for the hip he felt mild shoulder irritation before throwing a bullpen session on April 16. That landed him on the 60-day injured list four days later and took him out of the mix until at least late May.

He wasn’t ready to make a rehab start until June 30.

In his last rehab start this past weekend he was sharp, tossing five innings and not allowing a run. More importantly, he threw 60 pitches.

A return to the rotation would give the Giants another veteran arm as they try to stay in the playoff race and allow them to move Hicks to the bullpen.

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As for the rest of the series, the Giants will start Kyle Harrison on Friday, followed by Blake Snell in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader and rookie Hayden Birdsong in Game 2.  



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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco slashes homeless outreach team budget

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San Francisco slashes homeless outreach team budget


In March, the most recent month of immediately available data, HEART responded to 1,303 incidents, or 98% of calls the team received. But of those incidents, 700 were considered settled because the person was “gone on arrival,” and 125 were referred to the police, the Department of Public Works, the Emergency Medical Services Agency or another street team run by the city.

According to the March data, HEART placed one person in a shelter, referred four to an emergency shelter and placed two in a triage center. The team also resolved 210 American Disability Act violations, meaning encampments were moved to make space for pedestrians.

In a statement, the Department of Emergency Management and Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing said HEART completed more than 1,000 needs assessments and connected over 700 people to “benefits including shelter” with a team of 24 people.



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