The Warriors are Committed to Moving Back to the West Side of the Bay

The current logo of the Golden State Warriors

The final logo of the San Francisco Warriors

It is expected that later this week, the Golden State Warriors will announce that after 40 years of being located in Oakland, California, they will be returning to San Francisco in a new arena that will be built alongside Piers 30-32 in the Embarcadero area, in a move scheduled for the 2017-18 season, per reports made by Fox Sports and CSN Bay Area. This move comes as no surprise, considering the recent move to acknowledge the team's history as the 2nd West Coast NBA team and brief history in San Francisco with their new logo, a return to the logo of the San Francisco Warriors. The main difference in the logos is that the color scheme is reversed, but the other big difference is the new logo has the Bay Bridge rather than the Golden Gate Bridge, possibly a reference to the team's future return to the West Bay.


There were previous rumors that the Warriors were going to move to a new arena next door to AT&T Park where the San Francisco Giants play in the South Bay, but that was rejected due to a ridiculous increase in traffic, causing no shortage of traffic in the months with no baseball season and an increase in traffic during the late fall and early spring. I love the move. The Warriors haven't been relevant since Chris Mullin was on the team, although they did have a brief bit of notoriety when they knocked off the #1 seed Dallas Mavericks as the #8 seed a few years ago.


Update: The mayor of Oakland has sent a letter to the owners of the Warriors pleading them to stay, but the Warriors say nothing will change their minds about the move. Additionally, the new arena is located 16 miles away from Oracle Arena, which should create very little additional driving time for fans in the East Bay, and shorter travel for fans in the South Bay. For reference, the distance between The Forum and Staples Center is 10 miles.

Do I Really Have to Post a Review of The Avengers?

I don't need to explain at all why you need to see The Avengers. It's fucking amazing, every character is portrayed excellently, and director Joss Whedon has already explained any plot details purposely left unanswered just because he's an awesome guy. In addition to that, there's about a half hour of deleted scenes just waiting to be seen for the home video release, including further character development and fan service.


The Avengers has been an overwhelmingly success, which led Disney to greenlight a sequel after the opening weekend. This means we will have many more Marvel superhero movies to come, including The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and The Avengers 2. Stan Lee also would like to see a big-screen Ant-Man adaptation, but the character has never been popular, even in the comics community.


Final Score: 5 Cosmic Cubes out of 5

Batman Isn't Gay, But...

In this month's Playboy, DC Comics writer Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Batman, Final Crisis, Batman and Robin, Batman, Inc., Action Comics) made the following statement, which is making a lot of buzz in the comics industry as well as partially in the mainstream media because it comes from a long-time writer of Batman. Keep in mind that Morrison is Scottish:

“I got interested in the class element of Batman: He’s a rich man who beats up poor people. It’s quite a bizarre mission to go out at night dressed as a bat and punch the hell out of junkies. And then he goes home and lives in this mansion. There’s an aspirational quality to him—he’s an outlaw and he can buy anything. He has a new Batmobile every movie. He’s very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant. Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay. I think that’s why people like it. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn’t care—he’s more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid.”

The sentence that has gotten a lot of attention is that Morrison calls Batman a gay concept even though he is intended to be a heterosexual character. Although Morrison is partially correct in calling Batman a gay concept, it would be more accurate to say that Batman is a pedophile and/or suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome. More of my personal analysis after the break.

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer #3

Along with The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers had the latest trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man attached as well. The theater I saw the movie in did not play the trailer, although I assume it did play during 3D showings, being that ASM was filmed in 3D and is the first superhero movie to be filmed entirely in 3D (Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers were all converted to 3D in post-production). The facts already known about this movie (besides casting), compared to the Sam Raimi trilogy:

• Peter Parker's love interest will be Gwen Stacy. Mary Jane Watson will not make an appearance.
• The backstory of Parker's parents will finally be revealed to the movie-going audience.
• Parker has been described as a social outcast, rather than as a nerd.
• Spider-Man's humor is described as being akin to internet trolling, taking advantage of the fact he is an anonymous person.
• Spider-Man will use mechanical web-shooters and will no longer have organic webbing.
• J. Jonah Jameson will not make an appearance.

My observations about the trailer, which reveals the most information about the movie thus far: after the break.

• The Oscorp building makes an appearance, hinting that Norman and Harry Osborn will make appearances or will be hinted at. In the Raimi movies, Harry was a high school friend of Peter. In the comics, Peter and Harry met in college.
• Gwen Stacy knows that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one in the same, clearly before the climax.
• Parker apparently skateboards? It certainly fits the movie stereotype that people who skateboard are not mainstream.
• It's being heavily implied that the spider that bites Peter does not give him superpowers, but rather activates latent abilities in him. Could Peter be a genetic experiment?
• The Lizard is wearing the shredded white lab coat!
• Spidey appears to be facing the police every bit as much as the Lizard.

The Amazing Spider-Man sees worldwide release July 3, just 2 1/2 weeks before The Dark Knight Rises. If Spidey does not make the bulk of its profit within those 2 1/2 weeks, it will be trounced at the box office by Batman.

Time for Me to Eat Crow!

My blog has been around for quite some time now. And now it's time for me to finally admit to being wrong about things here and there.... Here's the full list of things I was WRONG about.

• I claimed the Lakers were the team to beat going into the 2010-11 NBA season.
• Michael Douglas was not given a sympathy Oscar nomination for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
• I regretfully predicted the Giants would not reach the 2010 World Series.
• I arrogantly predicted the Lakers would make their 4th straight NBA FInals.
• I continued to predict the Lakers would three-peat.
• I called the Houston Rockets serious contenders.
• I called the Dallas Mavericks over-hyped. They won the 2011 NBA Championship.
• Ha ha, I was so wrong about the "epic battle" of Thor versus Green Lantern. GL was a colossal failure.
• Tomb Raider coming out in November 2011? Try Q4 2012.
• The 49ers fixed their quarterback problem by hiring Jim Harbaugh and they did not replace Alex Smith.
• Nate Davis was released by the 49ers and currently plays in the Arena Football League, without ever being given a chance to take the starting QB job.
• Troy Smith was not re-signed by the 49ers and was signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers in January 2012.
• I incorrectly predicted the Celtics or Magic would defeat the Heat in the playoffs.
• I claimed the Mavericks could not defeat the Spurs in the playoffs. The Spurs were trounced by the #8 seed Memphis Grizzlies.
• I claimed Kemba Walker would be the #1 overall draft pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
• lol, I called Caius Ballad a woman. I should have known Square would design an extremely feminine looking man.
• lol, I called Immortals a tv show, rather than a movie.
• I wrongly predicted the Giants could contend for a 2nd consecutive World Series. They didn't even make the playoffs.
• I wrongly predicted the winners of Best Director and Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards, the only awards of the Big Six I got wrong.
• I predicted the Heat to be a 1st round exit team. Boy, was I wrong.
• I had too much faith in Pat Riley to fire Erik Spoelstra, although I did accurately predict he would clean house and get rid of all non-contributors from the bench.
• I again predicted the Mavericks would choke in the playoffs as they always do (which they are currently doing).
• Arrogantly said no team could beat the Lakers in a 7 game series.... They were swept by the Mavericks.
• The Celtics haven't fired Danny Ainge yet! I really can't explain this one, but most analysts are on my side and think Ainge is an overrated GM.
• I was dead wrong about the Dodgers not being able to undergo a miraculous turnaround just by being sold to a new owner. Matt Kemp is the early favorite for NL MVP right now.
• I wrongly predicted Tim Duncan would retire.
• I wrongly predicted a Grizzlies vs Lakers Western Conference Finals and predicted the Celtics would defeat the Heat.
• I claimed the Bulls would go to the Finals.
• I was wrong about Mike Brown's tenure as the new coach of the Lakers. He's actually done a pretty good job.
• In a move that nobody predicted, Dwight Howard signed an extension with the Magic through 2013.
• I was backwards in my analysis of free agents Nene and Tyson Chandler. I claimed Chandler would remain a Maverick and Nene would be gone. The reverse eneded up being true, although the Nuggets eventually traded away Nene.
• I really want David Stern fired as NBA commissioner. Unfortunately, just wishing it to happen doesn't cause it to happen.
• I said the Giants would annihilate the Marlins this season. The Giants just got done losing close contests to the Marlins, who are not having a great start to their season.

I would like to comment that I accurately predicted the 49ers would finish with a 14-2 record last season, back when they were 4-1 and hadn't defeated the Detroit Lions yet.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Attached to The Avengers Released

The 3rd trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has arrived! It will be attached to The Avengers, a giant reminder by Christopher Nolan and WB that The Avengers is NOT the movie event of the year. Here's what I noticed in the trailer, in order:

• The 8-year time skip is noticeable right away in Bruce Wayne. He has graying temples, noticeable wrinkles, and has let his beard grown out.
• With the beard, has Wayne retired from being Batman?
• At the party scene, Wayne has shaved his beard, implying there will be a case of important haircut.
• Bane's men are going to hijack a plane while rappelling from another plane. That makes 2 movies in a row, someone gets into a plane without the plane landing.
• I didn't previously complain about Bane's voice, but it does sound much clearer now. I could have lived with or without the change.
• This will be the final time we ever witness Hines Ward play football. Ward retired after being released by the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of last season.
• Another plot involving the bridges, similar to the Joker's plan in the last movie to force the people of Gotham to evacuate via boat, except this time Bane is more proactive.
• Did "they" kill who? Trailers always lie, so John Blake and Selina Kyle may not be speaking to each other.
• How is Bane torturing Wayne?
• The child talking to Blake speaks as if Batman has retired...
• How did Catwoman get the Batpod anyway?
• The Mystery Man from the 1st trailer can be seen again briefly, but now it is clear they are holding a gun and there is a 2nd person next to him. Could these actually be Bane's henchman and not, as rumored, Ra's al Ghul come back from the dead?
• Bruce Wayne's love interest will apparently be Miranda Tate, not Selina Kyle.
• I have a terrible feeling that Catwoman's dialogue with Batman is going to be a little hammy.
• Does the Batmobile transform into the Bat? Catwoman seems to believe at first that it is a car...
• The movie's outdoor scenes have a serious gray-scale look. The first movie was mostly filtered reddish-brown, the 2nd was mostly filtered blue.
• Batman Begins had red-brown as a primary color because of the recurring theme of fire (Ra's al Ghul's and Bruce Wayne's houses burned down, Batman set on fire by the Scarecrow, Scarecrow's horse "breathing" fire)
• The Dark Knight used a blue filter throughout because blue is generally identified as a "night" color. Harvey Dent's scenes never use the blue filter.
• The gray-scale may imply neutrality, either by Catwoman, or by Gotham City itself. The child talking to Blake even draws the Batman logo with white chalk.

The Dark Knight Rises sees worldwide release on July 20.

NFL Draft Craziness, NBA Playoffs Begin, NHL Playoffs 2nd Round Begin

NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell (L) with #1 Overall Pick, Andrew Luck (R)

The 2012 NFL Draft has come and gone, bringing along a whole slew of rookies to the NFL. Because of the new CBA, rookies will be paid less than ever before, a condition successfully argued in what many called the "Jamarcus Russell Clause." Although it is rare for a 1st round draft pick to be a total bust, it does happen enough where teams can be lost on hundreds of millions of dollars simply for being a bad team and drafting a bust. Busts can take a long time to truly evaluate, because it can take years for some players to truly come out of their shell, as well as having just the right conditions. John Elway is still considered the most sure-thing draft pick ever, but he didn't win his 2 Super Bowls until he was almost 40. Will Andrew Luck win a Super Bowl within 5 years? Or will it be 15 years? Only time will tell.


The entire list of 1st round draft picks after the break, along with coverage of the first games of the NBA Playoffs, and evaluation of the 1st round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.