SF is not my kind of town

Now San Jose is boring on purpose; its hokey milquetoast persona was perfected by not believing in anything except the dollar. Things that make a city an urban center; culture, recognition of history—having a core belief in something—was purposely shunned in San Jose. San Jose has been an embarrassment since they shut down the track and field department at SJ State, after Tommie Smith and John Carlos showed black power salutes in the 1968 Olympics. You’d never guess that a place that is one year younger than the signing of the Declaration of Independence wouldn’t have a soul….I digress, we’ll get to it another day.
Sure, Phoenix is the largest racially hostile city in the country, Houston is the ugliest big city in the country, and Dallas is the biggest hot mess…but SF is worse than all combined. Why? Because we don’t expect anything from Dallas except a good steak. In LA we expect a traffic jam. SF is supposed to be all things cutting edge. Instead, it is a haven for Midwestern 20-somethings to come to California and pretend like they invented wine.
But SF doesn’t offer the Bay anything special anymore. If it wasn’t for the Giants, there would be no reason to go to SF. We don’t need their weather, we don’t need their nightlife, we don’t need the aggravation of the uber elite. We don’t need the airport delays, the bad traffic, the anti-blackness you see at south-of-Market, the Haight, and the Avenues.
SF is recognized as a liberal city—in fact, the liberal city of America.
Liberals consider themselves progressive, and progressive means to move forward. Instead of moving forward, SF is moving backward by the most critical barometers of community building.
Diversity of people
Diversity of Incomes
Leadership
• SF has fewer kids that pets.
• SF is the least affordable city in the country, outpacing the next city by almost $50k. In other words, you would need an extra $50k in San Diego (which is about $100k already) in income to be able to buy.
• SF has fewer blacks as a population percentage than any of the top 15 largest cities…except San Jose.
• SF is silent in the narrative among most progressive issues—environment, education, public safety, economic inequality.
But how liberal can you be when you expunge your city of all things progressive?
It’s pretty, I’ll give SF that. No, it’s beautiful. But now it looks like a pretty person with not much of a personality. Hard to say that when it is invested with so much technology and financial think power, yet SF has no personality anymore. SF is a Khardashian, and even the Khardashian’s are coming to Oakland this month.
First she changes her hair color. She works out and chastises everyone else for eating meat. Then she gets surgery. She gets surgery again….and again. SF is the potato chip eater/serial tattoo getter of cities. Its addictiveness is its vanity, and instead of creating leaders and beauty from within, it is a poacher.
Now they want the Warriors.
The NBA is built on two marketing principles: go to small cities and urban people. For decades, the NBA was strategically building its brand in Portland, Indianapolis, and Salt Lake City. Even if they get the Warriors, it won’t work. Why? Because a town full of young self absorbed transient techies is a bad gamble. I think there is a real chance the corporatists can lose this battle; it is not in the best interest of the NBA to be there.
SF is not a basketball town, and has almost zero modern basketball roots. Of the 30 NBA coaches last year, two were from Oakland. You cannot name an era in basketball since the 60’s that didn’t have an Oakland star; and you cannot name a period since then with a SF one. Even LeBron James was coached in Oakland…
SF simply isn’t cool enough to command the ticket prices needed to sustain a billion dollar stadium. It is an impossible argument to ask a fan to pay double the current prices, add an extra hour commute to the stadium, and not be guaranteed parking. With 80% of the players being black, there is a cultural divide that is unavoidable; this isn’t your SF Giants.
As we celebrate the Warriors, let’s make sure we don’t lose sight of the fans that supported them for the last 40 years when they have been among the worst teams in the league…
Now let’s do it this 2nd half Oakland Warriors!