Pics, video, and articles of the SF Giants plane/banner

UPDATED: INCLUDING ARTICLES

The outcome of the game was lackluster, but Giants fans in attendance probably enjoyed the banner from @hankola before the game. In case you missed it, here are some photos and a video of the banner:

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

Courtesy of CSN Bay Area

Video of the banner from CSN Bay Area

KNBC News Report

San Jose Mercury News

Los Angeles Times

Yahoo! Sports

Huffington Post

Off the Bench - NBC Sports

EXCLUSIVE: @Hankola's Opening Day plane/banner message

The Sons of Johnnie LeMaster is pleased to have the exclusive right to announce @hankola's plane/banner message that will be flying around Dodger Stadium today starting at 3 p.m., and concluding at 4 p.m.

The goal of the message as stated by @hankola was two-fold. "First, I wanted to stick it to the Dodgers, so merely just saying World Champs and/or Beat LA didn't see enough. Second, I wanted them (Dodger fans) to know the message was coming from the San Francisco Giants fan base. (Regarding the message) It was tough to do when you're limited to 40 characters (including spaces)."

So, without further ado here's the message that will be on the banner ...

"DODGERS STILL SUCK~FROM SF CHAMPS FANS"

So, if you're at the ballpark today, take pictures and submit them to us and we'll post them.

Opening Day in LA

The beginning is near! Yes, Opening Day 2011 is less than two days away. For those of you making the trip down to LA ... here are some tips.

• Get there early, traffic and entrance to the parking lot are a major pain.
• Parking gates will open at 1 p.m. on Thursday, typically they open two hours before first pitch.
• Take a close look at your tickets, you have to enter at designated entrances.
• If you're in the Pavilion section, you're stuck there all day. Folks in the Pavilion do not have access to the rest of the park.
• Do not, do not eat a Dodger Dog, it's one of the worst things ever made!
• Tailgating is not allowed in the Dodgers parking lot, another reason why they suck. Boo to them!
• Stop by Philipe's for their world famous French Dip sandwiches. It's within driving distance of the ballpark and the food is excellent and much cheaper than the ballpark stuff.
• Once the ballgame is over hangout at the park for awhile, the traffic leaving the parking lots is insane.
• The team buses are just outside of centerfield, and Giants often sign autographs before boarding the buses. In addition, a lot of guys will get rides from friends so you can meet them when they walk out. So bring a pen and ball!
• Most importantly, look up to the skies at 3 p.m. @Hankola's plane/banner will be flying around the ballpark for an hour on Opening Day!

Seagulls at AT&T Park, an ongoing problem.

You've probably seen it first hand, if not, then you have certainly seen it on a televised Giants game - the invasion of seagulls. We're going on our eighth year of being a season ticket holders, and the problem has existed since day one. At around the 7th inning, you can see a few of the "scouts" hovering by the scoreboard and left field foul pole. Soon thereafter the rest of the flock soon arrives and flies around the ballpark waiting for the game to end to feast on leftover garlic fries, burgers, hot dogs, cha-cha bowls, et al.

While it may look cute to see some of the seagulls flying around, it has become a huge distraction and safety issue for fans paying good money to enjoy a game. The problem has not been addressed with the Giants, and for whatever reason they have continued on ignoring the issue.

Now, if we had our druthers, we would invite every card member of the NRA to come to the yard and take out those seagulls. But this is San Francisco, so we're sure a "Save the Seagulls" group exists and would have a tizzy-fit if such an extreme plan was put into place. So how do we solve the problem in a safe and humane way? Easy ... implement the sport of Kings into the equation - falconry. Falconry is a medieval sport where predators - usually Peregrine falcons or other raptors - are trained to go after live game, or in this case other birds. In the modern version of falconry, raptors don't kill other birds, but merely chases them away. Think of them as a bouncer of nightclub or bar - they dictate crowd control. The reason this works is because trained raptors is one of the most feared predators in the avian world. They are effective against all bird species except other raptors and turkey vultures.

Today, falconry is commonly used at a number of airports and military bases around the world to chase off birds from colliding with airplanes during takeoff and landings. Why can't the Giants hire a falconer to chase off the seagulls from AT&T Park? They could simply hire a falconer and have him and his raptor hangout outside of the ballpark and chase the seagulls away without anyone in the park seeing it.

This is probably the simplest and easiest solution to this problem ... do you think the Giants are listening? Probably not, but if they wanted to address the problem, we have the answer for them.

Seagull scouting the bleachers for some grub

All you can eat at AT&T Park - for the seagulls

Falconry at Toronto Airport

Falconry at JFK

Are you worthy?

The official Sons of Johnnie LeMaster tees have been ordered. Shirts are not for sale, but will be given to true die-hard Giants fans. Will you get one, are you worthy?

Lincecum and Posey rank among the Top 20

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard that Major League Baseball released figures on the most popular player jerseys sold. On the list, our very own Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey ranked #10 and #19 respectively. Check out the full listed noted below ...  does any name surprise you?

MLB Most Popular Jerseys

Based on Majestic 2010 sales figures

1. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

2. Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

3. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

4. Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies

5. *Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies

6. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

7. Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers

8. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox

9. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

10. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

11. Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees

12. Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves

13. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals

14. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

15. Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins

16. Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox

17. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers

18. Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies

19. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants

20. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

Breaking News: Exclusive

The Sons of Johnnie LeMaster is proud to announce that we have joined forces with @hankola to support his effort for hiring a plane/banner with a custom SF Giants message to fly over Dodger Stadium on March 31. The plane is scheduled to fly from 3-4 p.m. and will soar above the skies of Dodger Stadium.

As part of our arrangement, we also have the exclusive rights to announce the banner message on March 31. Stay tuned!

Special Opening Day caps to be worn

Apparently the Giants will be wearing a special Opening Day cap for the home opener on April 8. The plan is for the Giants to wear a black New Era fitted with a gold "SF" on their opening day to commemorate their 2010 World Championship. I was able to get a press photo of the cap (see below), and from what I understand the cap will only be worn that one time, then the club will go back to wearing the caps with the orange "SF".

The Worst Sports Fans in America

In the April issue of GQ magazine, they list the Top 15 worst fans in the States. So without further ado, here we go ...


15. Los Angeles Lakers (insufferable arrogance, bandwagoning) "Starfuckers"
14. University of Oregon Basketball (projectile launching, vicious taunting) "Hecklers from Hell"
13. University of Wisconsin Football (projectile launching, rampant drunkenness, vicious taunting) "Boozehounds"
12. Dallas Cowboys (insufferable arrogance and bandwagoning) "Deluded Trash-Talkers"
11. Montreal Canadians (vicious taunting, rioting) "Frostbitten Hooligans"
10. LSU Football (projectile launching, rampant drunkenness, vicious taunting) "Deep-Fried Lunatics"
9. New York Yankees (insufferable arrogance and bandwagoning) "Satan's Chosen Team"
8. Duke University Basketball (insufferable arrogance, vicious taunting) *NCAA Arrogance Champions, "Silver-Spoon Bullies"
7. Penn State Football (projectile launching, vicious taunting, physical assaults, rioting) "Urine Tossers"
6. Boston Red Sox (insufferable arrogance and bandwagoning) "Insufferable Hypocrites"
5. University of Maryland Basketball (rioting) "Night Terrors"
4. Oakland Raiders (physical assaults, rioting) "Criminals"
3. West Virginia University (projectile launching, vicious taunting, rampant drunkenness, rioting) "Mad Arsonists"
2. & 1. Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia Phillies (projectile launching, vicious taunting, rampant drunkenness, physical assaults) "The Meanest Fans in America"

Kinda surprised that the Dodgers weren't on this list.

Baseball is a business, just ask Tim Lincecum

Not breaking news, but if you've watched Tim Lincecum this spring, you've probably noticed a slight difference. And no, it's not the increasing use of his slider. As Mars Blackmon would say, "it's gotta be the shoes!"

Yup, looks like Timmy has changed his footwear supplier. For years, Timmy wore Reebok cleats and you might have noticed in years past that he would cut out the logo of his Giants undershirt because it had the Nike Swoosh logo. Well, it's look like Timmy and Reebok have parted ways because he's wearing Nike cleats this season. I first noticed this on the first televised spring training game, and saw that Timmy didn't cut out the Nike Swoosh logo from the collar of his undershirt.

It wouldn't surprise me at all, if Nike has some promo events lined up with Timmy at their Nike store near Union Square later this year.

Timmy sportin' the Reebok cleats during the World Series

Timmy rockin' the Nike cleats during spring training