Crunch Time Roundup

More "My Niche Sports" News
Nothing serious really...just a little Sports Talk. After a Travel Day, the San Francisco Giants hosted Game 3 of the National League Championship Series Tuesday at their Bayside Stadium, AT&T Park.

I was a little worried when I saw the fog and haze hanging over the Bay Tuesday morning when I drove into Downtown Oakland to find an office at Broadway and 20th. It was 11:20AM and the sun was shining in Oakland, but you couldn't see the Bay, the Bridges, or the Coast Range. The fog and haze were hanging in when I headed back through the Caldecott Tunnel on my way home at 12:30.

By the time the first pitch was thrown, 1:20PM, the fog had burned off at the Park, and a beautiful almost windless afternoon ensued. With no wind, AT&T Park plays even bigger than usual. It's a Pitcher's Ballpark, harder than most to hit homeruns from.

Brilliant pitching by Giants' starter Matt Cain, and some more MVP-Worthy batting from Cody Ross powered the Giants to a 3-0 victory, their second shut-out game in this Post Season.

A huge flotilla of watercraft from 2-man rafts, kayaks, up to yachts, Fire Boats and Ferry Boats covered McCovey Cove giving the game it's "Only in San Francisco" stamp...no splash hits though...it was after all a Pitching Duel!

Le Tour de France News
The Tour Organizers announced the Route for the 2011 Tour de France. It should be another Titanic Tour...this time there's six Mountaintop Finishes...three each in the Alps and Pyrénées!

The storied mountaintop finish atop L’Alpe d’Huez returns next year. Always stunning in scenery, the crowd scene, and drama...more than one Tour has been won on it's switchbacks. As always, I expect nothing less in 2011. VeloNews has a good overview by cycling scribe, John Wilcockson.

Cycling news whet  my whistle for AMGEN Tour of California news, but there's still no new details on the 2011 Stages...The first two stages are within earshot of the DaveCave, so I'm stoked for any news on the stage's street level route!

Formula One visits a brand new track in South Korea this weekend. There were fears the track would not be ready in time, but the Korean promoters have it together...on the track anyway...Hotels and nearby amenities are on schedule for next year, so thing will be tres spartan bt F1 standards.

No 34th America's Cup News broke yet this week...should be something soon...

Weather: Changes Ahead?
There's a little something causing weathergeeks to stir a little this week. After the Giants' game Tuesday, the KTVU2 News teased a slight chance of rain for the weekend.

The KTVU2 WeatherGuy's Facebook Page allowed that it's the GFS Model promising the chance of precip Sunday Afternoon. Five days out is an eternity in a La Niña year, but I looked at Reno's AFD anyway...They're saying snow levels will drop to 6000ft after the front passes...but:

SNOW LEVELS WILL REMAIN VERY HIGH AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...WITH
MOST OF THE LEVELS BETWEEN 9000-11000 FEET. AS THE FRONT PASSES
THROUGH LEVELS WILL DROP TO AROUND 6000 FEET...BUT THE MAJORITY OF
THE MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONT WILL HAVE PASSED BY THIS TIME
SO SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE NOT EXPECTED

Darn the luck! Before the Sun set, I peeked at Boreal's webcam...still not much to see...the grass is turning brown...there's 12 days 'till Halloween...I dunno...

I'm sure Boreal's snowmakers, groomers and park builders are choreographing their Snowmaking Dance as we speak!