Paul Hirsch

The Anatomy of (Another) Disappointment

July 10, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Since 2004 the Sharks have entered the playoffs as one of the top five teams in the NHL. Every spring fans’ hopes are raised as they dream that the Sharks captain du jour (Patrick Marleau? Rob Blake? Joe Thornton?) will hoist the Stanley Cup for the traditional lap around the ice come mid June.

And in every year since 2004 Sharks fans have been forced to deal with crushing disappointment. From hot opposing goaltenders to jarring last second goals to poor defense to questionable leadership to just plain bad luck, the Sharks have won more playoff games since 2004 than any team other than the Detroit Red Wings yet have naked ring fingers on their own hands and broken hearts in the chests of their devoted fans.

The team has dismissed anyone who didn’t seem fully committed to winning the big prize. During the 2008 playoffs, for example, then-Head Coach Ron Wilson said the most important thing in his life was seeing the smile on his granddaughter’s face, and that her birth earlier that season helped put hockey in perspective. He was fired almost immediately after the Sharks were eliminated.

Some fans have blogged that this year was the biggest disappointment yet. They hypothesized that after years of near misses that everything was lined up for the Sharks to win. The team was terrific during the last three months of the regular season. San Jose had a good first round draw against the Los Angeles Kings and dispatched them in six games. In the second round they won the first three games against the arch nemesis Detroit Red Wings, and that is when many experts and fans say the wheels came off the track.

Predictably, the Sharks lost game four in Detroit. One might slay a giant, but rarely will he be embarrassed by getting swept with game four at home. Game five at HP Pavilion is the one a lot of the Sharks and their fans would like to have back. San Jose thoroughly outplayed Detroit for the first two periods, and Joe Pavelski’s goal early in the third period gave the Sharks a 3-1 lead. In the NHL, teams convert third period leads into wins about 90 per cent of the time, and good teams with two goal leads at home are more successful than that.

Not this time. The Sharks coughed up three goals in less than ten minutes and lost game five. They had a third period lead in game six and lost that one in Detroit before finally hanging on to eliminate the Red Wings in game seven at San Jose.

For those not keeping track, that blown lead in game five meant six extra periods of hockey at its most taxing, plus two more cross country trips between San Jose and Detroit. It also meant that the Sharks had just two days to rest and prepare before opening the conference finals in Vancouver against the team with the league’s best regular season record.

In game one against the Canucks, San Jose again had the lead in the third period before surrendering two late goals. Head Coach Todd McLellan blamed that loss on fatigue. In game two, a 7-3 loss, McLellan said the team lost its poise, which is unforgivable at this level when the stakes are so high. After winning game three, the normally potent Sharks did not take advantage of five power play opportunities in the first 23 minutes of game four before committing a rash of penalties of their own that led to three Vancouver power play goals in about three minutes and lost 4-2 despite outshooting the Canucks 35-13.

Now down 3-1 in games, the Sharks faced an uphill climb that only about one of every twelve teams can successfully navigate. They played hard and well in game five, outshooting Vancouver 56-34 before a bad call and a bad bounce cost them two goals and a 3-2 defeat in double overtime. That’s hockey, but San Jose’s earlier transgressions had removed their margin for error, so once again they were on the sidelines when the Stanley Cup Finals were played last month.

Now what? The core of the team is aging but not old, and is under contract for three more seasons. The head coach is young and bright and is universally considered an asset. Head of hockey operations Doug Wilson, the man who puts the pieces together, recently received a contract extension. The sum of all that means that nothing important is likely to change soon.

It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different result. So are the Sharks and their fans crazy to think that this current group might eventually bring the Stanley Cup to Northern California?

A Giants World Series Ring for Fans? Yes, If You Have an Extra $4,000 Handy!

June 7, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

In yet another element of their seemingly-endless World Series championship victory lap, the Giants are offering fans their very own World Series rings. Yes, any fan can have a version of the bauble that players strive for all their lives and that represents the greatest team achievement possible in baseball if they have the scratch and they don’t mind that it looks a lot different than the rings given to Giants players and staff members in April.

Balfour, the company that makes high school class rings and has also made championship rings for franchises like the New York Yankees and Boston Celtics, is manufacturing the rings for sale through the Giants website and Giants Dugout Stores. The 14-karat gold version with diamonds retails for $3,570 on the high end, the sterling silver version with cubic zirconium can be had for a mere $429. Both the Giants and Balfour say that sales forecasts and sales performance to date are proprietary.

The player rings were manufactured by Tiffany, and while their exact value is also a closely held secret, Tiffany is giving the person who wins the raffle for a player ring $5,000 to meet his or her tax obligations, which suggests that ring might be worth about $20,000.

According to Giants Retail Marketing Manager Megan Cooperson, the Giants’ program is the most extensive fan jewelry offering made in the wake of a team’s championship and was the result of the unbridled joy Giants fans displayed as the team won its first World Series since coming to San Francisco in 1958. “We definitely noticed fan reaction during the post season, and this offering is driven by that fan enthusiasm,” she said. Cooperson shared that at least one of the 10 karat gold rings with diamonds has been sold at the retail price of $2,370.

As for the difference between the player rings and the fan rings, Cooperson said, “The organization wanted the player ring to stand out as its own entity, but the fan ring to have its own personality.” Top Giants executives received official Tiffany rings, while lower level employees will have an opportunity to purchase a replica version of the Tiffany ring. Cooperson said the details of that program are not yet available.

Lacy Laborde, Balfour Director of Communications, said that the fan rings are becoming a growing business for her company. “We had a fan line for the Celtics when they won in 2008, but the Giants have done more with this than other teams.” Indeed, Jostens put out a fan version of the Boston Red Sox 2007 championship ring that did not have diamonds, along with a plain band that Off the Bench supposes symbolizes that a true fan is married to his or her team’s success.

“The Giants told us that they wanted to honor their fans. Giants fans are a big part of the franchise, and they wanted to do something special for the fans who mean so much to them,” said Laborde.

According to Laborde, the Giants played the main role in deciding what the fan rings would look like. They were interested in showing off the logo, the ballpark, McCovey Cove, and the championship trophy. Each fan ring is personalized with the owner’s name.

The fan rings, along with a jewelry line that includes cuff links, pendants and ear rings, will be available until Dec. 31. To view the line you can visit www.balfoursports.com/sfgiants or go to one of the Giants Dugout Stores, including the outlet at AT&T Park.

Baseball Research Convention Comes to California This Summer

May 8, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

The last six months have been nirvana for Bay Area baseball fans. The Giants won the World Series, the championship trophy toured the region to give fans an up close look, spring training was a six week party, the World Championship banner is hanging from the flag pole, and the players received their diamond encrusted rings to the cheers of adoring multitudes.

Super-serious fans can put one more event on their calendar. The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is having its annual convention in California for the first time since 1998 from July 6-10. A short trip from the Bay Area to Long Beach will put attendees into an alternate universe where eating, sleeping, drinking, and thinking about baseball is all there is.

Your correspondent has been to ten of these events. They generally feature four dozen presentations of member research, panels of former players and other official personnel; small group meetings of people with specialized interest in the esoterica of ballparks, umpires, 19th century baseball, the Negro Leagues, trading cards and more; a banquet with a notable baseball figure delivering a keynote address (this year super-agent Scott Boras is the featured speaker); a trivia contest with spectacular knowledge on display; and a major league and minor league game or two.

Research presentations can range from a history of baseball-related Peanuts comic strips, to an analysis of the affects on the 1962 National League expansion draft on league balance in subsequent years, to how to precisely measure fielding skill among big league infielders. In small group meetings members share research techniques and discoveries, and when you go to a game with this group far more people keep a scorecard than do not. As you might imagine, these people boo the wave.

Convention registrants range in age from about 12-90. Perhaps 20 per cent of registrants are women, and many attendees bring the family and take time out to see the local sights. When my wife went with me to the 2009 Washington D.C. convention she took advantage of her first trip to our nation’s capitol and visited the national monuments and took a first hand look at how the Federal Government operates, while I was involved in more important matters with my SABR brethren back at the hotel.

Many veteran convention goers say the best moments take place at the hotel bar. There you will find tables full of people trying to remember who replaced Babe Ruth in the Yankee outfield in 1935 (George “Twinkletoes” Selkirk), figuring out new ways to more accurately evaluate player performance, or debating how well Satchel Paige would have done if he were allowed to play in the pre-Jackie Robinson all-white major leagues.

So how does one take advantage of this opportunity to enter baseball heaven? Visit www.sabr.org and click on the SABR Convention 41 icon. Once you explore the schedule you can register for the convention at the online SABR store. The Long Beach Hilton is the official hotel, and there is a convention rate of $119 per night. Those in Alive East Bay country can either book a Jet Blue flight directly from Oakland to Long Beach and land 15 minutes from the hotel, or make that five-hour drive down I-5.

However you get there, be prepared for total immersion in our National Pastime.

Will this be the Year the Sharks Raise the Cup?

April 12, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

For the Sharks and their fans, the last five seasons have been the ultimate in sports frustration. They have been at or near the top of the NHL since 2003, had the best record in the league going into the 2009 playoffs, and have come up short every year.

The Giants may have coined the word “torture” to describe what they put their fans through during a season of close games and improbably comebacks, but Giants fans’ angst can’t compare to the torture of a team that annually seems to be among the elite in its league only to ultimately lose, often in embarrassing fashion.

They were swept out of the playoffs in the first round the year they had the league’s best record. Last year when they finally beat the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs, thought by many to be the NHL’s gold standard, they were swept by Chicago one step short of the Stanley Cup Finals. Another year they won the first two games against Edmonton and then lost the next four. Three years ago they were eliminated in a four-overtime game (that’s seven periods of hockey) against Dallas. Since Barry Bonds left, Giants fans have either been completely out of the running or World Champions. Which fan base has suffered more?

So will this be the year for the Sharks? Will they team with the Giants to bring the Bay Area consecutive championships in different sports since the 49ers and A’s accomplished the feat in the late 1980s? Some signs indicate that it might be their turn.

Peaking at the Right Time: As this is written the Sharks are coming off a tremendous month of February. The team won 11 of 13 games despite only having three of those games at home. In previous years the Sharks would build insurmountable early season leads and coast into the playoffs, seemingly having trouble flipping the switch back on when the games counted most.

Better Balance: Since Joe Thornton arrived six seasons ago the Sharks have tended towards top-heavy scoring. Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo and Dany Heatley would provide the vast majority of goals, leading opponents to key on them at playoff time. Usually, the Sharks’ other lines couldn’t sufficiently pick up the slack. This year coach Todd McLellan has placed his stars on separate lines, which after a period of adjustment has served to spread out the scoring to more different players, particularly Logan Couture and Ryan Clowe, and make it more difficult for opponents to have their best defenders on the ice against the Sharks’ most likely scorers.

Playoff Tested Goaltending: For eight years the Sharks had Evgeni Nabokov in the nets. An all star, a rookie of the year winner, and a runner up for the league’s best goalie trophy in 2009, Nabokov would stand on his head in the regular season and fall on his face come playoff time, often giving up the inexplicable soft goal at the worst possible moment. When Nabokov’s contract expired at the end of last season the Sharks opted not to re-sign him. In his place they acquired Anti Niemi, the goaltender who helped Chicago win the Stanley Cup last season. He was available because the Black Hawks had salary cap problems. Niemi has been behind the Sharks’ late season surge and has had recent success in the playoffs.

As you follow the Sharks during the NHL playoffs keep in mind that their fans know the real torture of near misses, and only a Stanley Cup parade will bring them peace.

Winter Moves Aid A’s Relevance

March 15, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Since October, baseball in the Bay Area has been spelled G-I-A-N-T-S. It’s understandable. The Giants won the World Series and most of the players with whom the Bay Area fell in love are returning.

While the Giants have been taking multiple victory laps and repeatedly hoisting their championship trophy, the A’s have completed a series of moves that should make them serious contenders in the American League West.

Though rebuffed in their attempt to land slugging third baseman Adrian Beltre, the A’s did add Designated Hitter Hideki Matsui, outfielders David DeJesus and Josh Willingham along with pitchers Rich Harden, Brian Fuentes, Grant Balfour and Joey Devine.

Matsui was MVP of the 2009 World Series with the Yankees, DeJesus and Willingham upgrade the corner outfield spots, and the new pitchers will give Oakland one of the strongest bullpens in the majors. Fuentes is a former All Star closer with Colorado and the Angels while Balfour was on Tampa Bay teams that won the A.L. East two of the last three seasons. Balfour’s ERA last year was 2.28 in 57 games. In 2008 he was even better with a 1.54 ERA in 51 games. Devine has been a solid reliever in Atlanta.

The most intriguing addition might be Harden. A former Athletic, Harden often hits 100 on the radar gun, yet health has been an issue. He appeared in just 46 games over the past two seasons and missed the playoffs with Texas last year because he was not recovered from his latest arm problems.

For his career, Harden has averaged more than nine strikeouts per game and has surrendered only 694 hits in 845 innings. If he somehow can stay healthy, the A’s may have acquired a veteran ace at a bargain price.

If the A’s got intrigue with Harden, they acquired one of the most famous players in the world in Matsui. The team’s new designated hitter earned the nickname Godzilla during his eight year career in Japan for his power and speed. He then signed a $73 million seven year contract with the Yankees that culminated in the 2009 World Championship. Last year, he had a solid campaign as the Angels DH with 21 homers, a .274 batting average, and on base and slugging percentages well above the league average.

Matsui is followed daily by dozens of Japanese reporters, which should help raise Oakland’s profile. And while the A’s say they acquired him for his on-field attributes, the possibility of selling tickets in the Asian community is certainly a positive factor for a team that last year generated only about half the attendance the Giants did.

The A’s also benefit from playing in the smallest division in the majors. The Mariners, Angels, and Rangers have two World Series appearances and one championship in their combined histories, and each has lost key players going into this season. And while Texas and Los Angeles figure to be competitive, neither is so strong that the A’s cannot harbor realistic hopes of taking the division title.

For ALIVE East Bay baseball fans, the A’s represent a tremendous bargain. They should be a good team in a winnable division with good seats at the Coliseum often available right up to game time. Many of those seats can be had at promotional discounts at various times, particularly midweek night games. An A’s game might be a welcome alternative to fighting the San Francisco crowds anxious to see the World Champs defend their title.

New Film Documents Minor League Grind Behind Major League Glamour

February 13, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

When ALIVE East Bay readers think about professional baseball it is likely those thoughts drift to the Giants and A’s and the big-money, glamorous world of the major leagues. Beneath that glamour is a multi-layered labyrinth called Minor League Baseball that is filled with small-money players harboring million dollar dreams.

The daily battle of the minor league experience is vividly captured in the film Time in the Minors, which follows two players over several seasons as they fight their way up the ladder hoping to make an appearance in The Show.

The players are Stanford grad Tony Schrager, the sixth round pick of the Chicago Cubs in 1998, and high school star John Drennan, the first round pick of the Cleveland Indians in 2005. Schrager received a bonus of $87,500, plus $20,000 to finish school after his baseball career. Drennan received a $1 million bonus from the Indians. The level of investment was one factor in how each player was evaluated, promoted and moved during their careers.

The underlying theme of the film is that the minors are a grind. Only 10 per cent of the 1,500 players drafted every year eventually play a day in the major leagues. The winnowing is as much about attrition as talent. The adjustment from playing two or three games a week in school to six or seven games a week in the minors is emphasized, as is the intense offseason and off-hours conditioning that is mandatory for survival.

The film does a great job capturing the almost desperate striving of the players and makes it clear that opportunity and good fortune are at least as important as ability. It also captures the angst of both players’ parents and Schrager’s wife through the ups and downs of life in the minors. The comments of a sports psychologist are particularly poignant as he emphasizes the impossibility of every day being a good day when competing in professional baseball. Most pro ballplayers were big stars in school, and this new reality is a big part of the adjustment to pro ball.

Off the Bench watched the film with Monte Vista High School baseball players Brett Binning and Mark Hirsch and Brett’s father Tim. Both young players commented that pro baseball was a much more cold and difficult business than they realized; and Hirsch expressed surprise that only one out of every ten players selected in the draft makes it to the majors.

For Tim Binning, the key learning was how small the window of opportunity is for the players, and how a bad few weeks at the wrong time could keep a young man from achieving his lifetime dream.

“The film showed how important it is to go to college, not just for the academics but to have the maturity to handle the ups and downs,” Tim Binning added. “At the higher levels the skill sets are extremely similar and the importance of the mental side hit home for me.”

Brett Binning also commented that baseball helped Schrager get into good colleges (he was at Yale before Stanford) and believed the challenges Schrager faced in baseball would help him succeed in his life after the game.

Time in the Minors will help viewers appreciate how difficult it is to make the major leagues. The film creates sympathetic portraits of its subjects and reminds the fan and non-fan alike of the power of a dream and the value of the sacrifice necessary to achieve that dream or be able to live with falling short. Those interested in purchasing this worthwhile film (about $20) can visit www.landmarkmedia.com or call 1-800-342-4336.

New Coach a Smart Choice for Golden State Warriors

January 11, 2011 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Golden State Warriors head coach Keith Smart is still probably best known for the shot that won the 1987 NCAA basketball championship for Indiana. Now, though, he is rapidly making a name for himself by leading our local NBA franchise to respectability and perhaps even a Western Conference playoff berth this season.

The Warriors stayed near .500 and trailed only the Los Angeles Lakers in the Pacific Decision for the first month of the season. The team is on track for its first playoff berth since 2007, and the head coaching change from Don Nelson, 70, to Keith Smart, 46, is the primary difference.

Nelson seemed to hang around last year just to set the NBA record for career wins as a head coach. He left the defensive coaching responsibilities to Smart and often seemed disengaged during timeouts and post-game media conferences. Before this season began the Warriors paid off the last year of his contract for $6.5 million and sent him off to his hammock on Maui. Nelson’s last three NBA stops (the Knicks, Dallas, and Golden State) all ended poorly. It is doubtful that he will coach again in the NBA.

Smart, on the other hand, has brought tremendous energy to the Warriors. “Before the season began I approached each player and offered my hand,” he said. “I asked each one if they would let me coach them this season to make them better. I told them it might get rough at times, but I emphasized that it wasn’t personal, it was all basketball. If they didn’t agree, we would have to find another place for them to play. They all agreed in the presence of their peers and so far everyone has lived up to his end of the bargain.”

Smart also seems to realize the importance of treating players like individuals. “Each day before I meet with the team I’ve already gone over the previous night. I’ve already asked myself ‘Who do I have to talk to?’ And I do it,” he told the Mercury News. “I could put it on an assistant, but that’s like telling my wife to tell my 14-year-old son exactly what it is that I want to say.”

Smart, who joined the Warriors prior to the 2003-04 season, has spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach with the club. Overall, the Baton Rouge, LA, native has served a total of 11 seasons as an NBA assistant coach and has amassed 21 years of experience in professional basketball as either a player or coach. Prior to joining the Warriors Smart spent three seasons as an assistant in Cleveland, where he concluded his stint as the club’s interim head coach over the final 40 games of the 2002-03 campaign, going 9-31.

The Warriors have a solid lineup featuring guards Monte Ellis and Stephen Curry, power forward David Lee, and center Andris Biedrins. The question for the NBA’s Bay Area entry this season will be depth and how well equipped Keith Smart is to guide a team of professionals through the 82 game grind. An elbow injury to Lee led to a 1-7 stretch in November, and Curry’s sprained ankle preceded a blowout loss to the Lakers. A look at the early returns when everyone is healthy, though, indicates that springtime playoff basketball is a distinct possibility for East Bay pro basketball fans.

Giving the Gift of Giants to Keep that Championship Glow

December 7, 2010 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

World Series Championships are rare. Naturally, the big fan on your holiday gift list will want to keep that glow of this season’s accomplishment burning until pitchers and catcher report for the 2011 season in February.

The easy solution is to purchase one of the quickly produced publications that recount the team’s miraculous run to the Western Division title from seven games back in August, and through the playoffs and World Series against teams most experts considered superior. Another more thoughtful approach would be to purchase one of three books selected by Off the Bench that capture the heritage behind Orange Fridays, The Freak and Aubrey Huff’s thong. These books give readers an understanding of how the Giants franchise came to be what it is today and made the Bay Area proud this fall.

Giants Past & Present by Dan Fost: Loaded with illustrations, most in full color, dating back to the team’s days in New York, Giants Past & Present is a lively primer on the history of the team that has won more major league games than any other. The Giants also have had more players enshrined as Hall of Famers than any other franchise, even the Yankees. In less than 150 pages, Fost covers the best players and teams in Giants history; some of the heartbreak; the best and worst trades; the ballparks the team has called home; and event features a chapter on its fans.

The real fun is the pictures. Readers can see all the Giants heroes from Hall of Fame manager John McGraw to Willie Mays to Will Clark to Barry Bonds to Tim Lincecum. Did you know that the team colors have not always been orange and black? In the early 20th Century the Giants wore purple, and in the 1940s the team wore red, white and blue as a salute to the war effort. Today’s uniform design is very similar to the style sported in 1958, the first season in San Francisco, but during the last 52 years it went through four overhauls. All are captured by Fost. Giants Past & Present is perfect for the fan on your list that is curious about how the Giants came to be what they are today, and wants to learn through historic photos and a simple, direct writing style. Fost’s book retails for $25 and is available on amazon.com and through MVP Books of Minneapolis. It is part of a series that captures most big league franchises.

The Giants of the Polo Grounds by Noel Hynd: This tome is for the serious baseball historian who is interested in exploring the team’s roots in New York up through the move to San Francisco. The 382 page paperback edition has just a few pictures and the text can be dense. It is also an exhaustive history of the franchise during its days playing in the most unique ballpark in the majors during what many consider to be baseball’s golden age. If the baseball fan in your house wants to learn more about Christy Mathewson and the 1908 pennant race, the dropped fly ball by Fred Snodgrass that cost the Giants the 1911 World Series, the feud between McGraw and Babe Ruth, the Giants role in the cancellation of the 1904 World Series, all the machinations behind Bobby Thomson’s pennant winning homer in 1951, and the glory of the 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933 and 1954 World Championship teams, then you can pick up this book new or used on amazon.com.

The Giants and the Dodgers by Andrew Goldblatt: Every good story needs a villain, and the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers play that role for the Giants and their fans. Goldblatt lives in Berkeley and describes himself as a Giants fan. He even expressed some sorrow during a presentation attended by this reviewer at the cooperation provided him by the Dodgers as he researched his lively and informative book. The Giants and the Dodgers is meticulously researched yet maintains its sense of fun. Readers will understand how the rivalry grew and festered in New York and was purposefully maintained by ownership of both clubs when the teams moved west. Giant fans will enjoy reliving how the orange and black broke Dodger hearts in 1951, 1962, 1971, 1982 and 1997. The playoff wins in 1951 and 1962 featuring improbable ninth inning rallies in the deciding games are given special attention. The book is loaded with colorful personalities and gives detailed coverage to the very real dislike players on both teams felt for each other throughout the history of the rivalry. And while Goldblatt hints that that enmity has cooled somewhat in recent years, it still runs high amongst Bay Area fans, and those on your list who revel in hating the Dodgers while loving the Giants will enjoy this book. You can find The Giants and the Dodgers on amazon.com and through McFarland & Co. publishers at prices up to $29.95.

As you read this there are about 100 days until the 2011 Giants season opens April 1 at Dodger Stadium. By giving the fan on your list all three books this holiday season, you may even keep him or her occupied until that first pitch is thrown.

The New Patrick David’s Restaurant & Catering

November 7, 2010 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Fine dining is a multi-sensory experience. New Patrick David’s Restaurant and Catering owners Al Sisto, Gary Mingle and Dana Dornsife understand that and have taken several steps to revitalize the restaurant and make it a choice destination for regulars and first-time visitors.

Sisto, Mingle and Dornsife have invested in restaurants in the past, and they understood what Patrick David’s was and what it could be when they took over operation of the restaurant and catering business on April first of this year. “First and foremost, we have retained Patrick David himself, one of the preeminent chefs in all of California, and someone’s whose vision and creativity in the kitchen are all but unmatched in the region as our Executive Chef,” Sisto said. “We also worked to retain the excellent staff at the restaurant and catering business, moving most of the employees to fulltime status and improving their benefit package.

Sisto, Mingle and Dornsife immediately capitalized on their assets by updated the physical plant and modernizing the kitchen. The result is an inviting dining room and bar served by employees with regular schedules upon whom visitors can count on seeing whenever they return. “One of our goals is to turn Patrick David’s into the Cheers of Danville,” Sisto said. “Guests like it when they come on their regular day and see the same server and the same bar staff. It’s also a great way for us to come to know and understand what the guest likes and have it ready for them when we know they plan to visit.” A special events calendar is part of the lure, including live music on Fridays, Sunday Brunch, and expert-led Tuesday wine tastings.

Sisto says the results have been gratifying. “Our wine business, for example, is up about 70 per cent, in large part because our servers are trained to help guests pair the wines to maximize the enjoyment of their meal. We use only the freshest ingredients in our food, which helps the wine accent the flavors as both the chef and the sommelier intend. That combination creates a more memorable experience and makes it more likely that guests become regulars.”

Along with the restaurant, the partnership also acquired Patrick David’s catering business. “One of the first things we did was to eliminate the old event center,” Mingle said. “That gives us more freedom to work with venue coordinators and other event planners to help achieve their vision at their location.

“Now, there are no limits to what we can do. Patrick’s creativity transfers seamlessly to the catering business and we’ve found that we can prepare and serve any food in any setting and make the timing work perfectly.”

Those interested in visiting the new restaurant at 416 Sycamore Valley Rd next to Coldstone Ice Cream in the Danville Livery can call 925-838-7611. Potential catering clients and event planners can get started by calling 925-855-4688. More information is also available at www.patrickdavids.com.

Local Swim Club Develops Champions

November 7, 2010 by Paul Hirsch Leave a Comment

Dan Cottam, 33, grew up in the East Bay, mostly in a swimming pool. As a member of the Concord Terrapins starting in elementary school he developed his skills to the point of earning a swim scholarship to UC Santa Barbara, specializing in long distance freestyle events.

In 2006, with his college career over, he started the Danville Sharks competitive swim club with boyhood friend Ethan Hall. They began with just eight swimmers, but the success they enjoyed created positive word of mouth in the Danville area to the point that today they have 60 swimmers on the squad.

“Year-round swimming is not for the faint of heart,” Cottam said. He described a routine involving reporting to the pool before dawn, swimming in the cold and the rain, going to school, and them swimming more in the afternoon.

Working with such dedicated athletes can have its rewards. This summer the Sharks won the Western Long Course Championship for the first time, ironically at the pool in Concord that Cottam and Hall called home as boys.

“It was especially meaningful winning back where we grew up,” Cottam said.

Cottam says that the Sharks try and provide the team’s swimmers (who range in age from 9-18) with a comfortable environment where they can strive to reach their goals. For one swimmer, 16-year-old Madison White, that included making the 2010-2011 U.S. National Team.
“Madison will be going to Dubai in December to compete in the 100 and 200 backstroke,” Cottam said. “We are very proud of her.”

The Sharks are achieving all this despite a handicap with their facilities at the Crow Canyon Country Club, where Cottam serves as Aquatics Director. “We compete at a yard pool, most top programs compete in a meter pool,” Cottam explained. “We would also love to have two more lanes.” In the summer, Cottam continued, the Sharks have to work around free swims and other events because they are using a country club pool. “Don’t get me wrong, the country club has been wonderful to us, it is more that we could use additional community support. We have reached out to Monte Vista and to San Ramon Valley High Schools, figuring that they might want to help Danville’s only year-round competitive swim club.” So far, Cottam said, that outreach has been fruitless.

What is new with the Sharks is that Cottam has a new coaching partner. Josh Scott replaced Hall on September 27. “Ethan and I are still best friends. He just decided he wanted a break. I’m sure if I needed anything or the Sharks needed anything he would help out. He is just no longer an active coach.” Hall is married to Olympic Champion Natalie Coughlin who occasionally helps Sharks swimmers with stroke techniques.

Cottam would like to see the Sharks grow from 60 swimmers to 100. Both boys and girls are welcome. Those interested can contact Cottam at
cottamdan@yahoo.com.