-With tonight's 108-82 win against the running joke that is the New York Knicks (seriously, what does it take to get fired in that organization?), the Warriors have now won three in a row and are one game from totaling the amount of wins our local football teams have. The Beard led the way with 31 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Stephen Jackson got 23 points. For the Knicks, Starbury played his first game of the season showing that blackmail does work ...

Here's todays sports news...

The Niners' attempt to build themselves some spiffy new digs took quite a twist recently as the plans were temporarily kiboshed when the neighbors of the purposed new stadium, the Great America theme park, said they weren't quite cool with the idea of a football stadium being next door. Too many loud parties on Sunday and all the guests tend to be loud, drunk and wear dorky jerseys. So rumors started up that the owners of Great America, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. of Sandusky, Ohio, might be down for the stadium if and only if the Niners buy the amusement park. Well, it turns out that it's true-- Cedar Fair is willing to sell the park to the Yorks. ...

Here's todays sports news...

here's todays sports news...

So what happened over the weekend in sports? The Raiders looked impressive, the 49ers not so much. In baseball, the Giants played some of their best baseball of the season while the A's played some of their worst. We, however, missed it all as we got suckered into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on TNT and spent most of the weekend online debating the question of who would win a fight between Dumbledore and Gandalf. For the record, Gandalf totally would--Dumbledore just helped defeat some wizard who looked like a snake. Gandalf helped defeat a giant, flaming eyeball. Now onto the sports ...

--They tore down that house everyone's laughing about. --The Niners got San Francisco to cough up money originally intended for parks to go to fixing up Monster Park instead. They're just going to move to Santa Clara anyways, guys! --Mission Bay bores Chron architecture critic John King. --Fiona Ma sponsors legislation to make it easier for, say, Gavin Newsom to change his name to Gavin Newsom-Siebel. --Aaaaaaa-choo! --The SF Sentinel's photo tips. Also, they......

On Tuesday, the 49ers unveiled their shiny new plan for a stadium in Santa Clara. The whole thing will cost about $854 million with Santa Clara pitching in what is said to be $160 million, although Santa Clara still might have to throw down for another $20 million to move the substation that's on the grounds of the proposed stadium. The rest of the money, $694 million, will come partially from the Niners ($363.3 million) and partially through the usual assortment of things, mainly naming rights and fan gouging. ...

San Francisco unveiled some shiny new plan to win back the affections of the Niners yesterday. The plan includes a redevelopment of Candlestick Point and Hunters Point and features a new stadium for the Niners, lots of parks, lots of housing, office space and a new arena. Best part? Supposedly the plan means no money down for the city. So far, there is no truth to the rumors that the plan also includes lots of shiny, pretty ponies for everybody to have. ...

The NFL's 2007 Free Agency period is on! The Niners went on a wild buying spree. What've the Raiders got in their cart? Let's see......

-San Jose gets back to where it all belongs with a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild. The Sharks appear to be playing up and down lately-- a win here followed by a loss there-- and this is definitely one of the up games. ...

While most of us were either not working or goofing off at work last week, Gavin stepped up and sent the 49ers yet another proposal to keep the team from moving. This proposal? How's about building a new stadium at the Hunters Point Naval Yard. The Niners were nonplussed....

49ers 26 Broncos 23: We dislike Mike Shanahan in the same way we dislike Tony LaRussa: two guys who've read one too many press clippings about their supposed genius and let it go to their heads. Shanahan totally over thought this season (starting Cutler) and over thought yesterday's game and as a result, the Broncos aren't in the playoffs. We watched just enough of yesterday's game to hear the announcers say over and over again how the Broncos need to run more and how woozy Cutler looked yet Shanahan still kept him out there throwing. The Niners should have been knocked out of the game early, yet proved they were just feisty enough to beat them. ...

-The Niners beat the Seahawks in what has to be a bit of a shocker, 24-14. We'll have more on this later. -In a game KNBR called the "signature victory" for the Warriors, Baron Davis hits a three with 1.2 seconds left to beat the Rockets. -Sharks have their three game winning streak snapped in a 4-2 loss to the LA Kings. -Now a cyclist is caught up in the BALCO mess. -Peter Magowan wonders......

This Week 15 sends the 49ers up to Seattle mid-week to grapple desperately in hopes of keeping their mathematically-possible playoff hopes alive....

Bonds signing, Day 2... While the players are psyched and according to the Chron, Giant's fans are too, Bruce Jenkins is not. He, in fact, drops in to rip the deal, calling the front office "gutless," says the season is already over, wishes the team were more like the Dodgers, and thinks the Giants are basically nothing but a freak show right now. Jenkins must have powered the energy haterade as he cranks out two columns and makes Eve's day by posting on the blog too. The Betting Fool, however, gets all misty when comparing Bonds to the late Jose Uribe and let's his readers rip the deal. Meanwhile, Tim Liotta of the Ex sees gray people. ...

-Shootout on 880 leads to one death, one injured and major traffic. -The search for the lost family continues on...

Week Twelve of the National Football Season's regular season is here, post-Thanksgiving. Grab some leftovers and plunk down on the couch, here comes this weekend's set of Bay Area American football entertainment....

--The Niners were thinking about including a House of Blues in their stadium proposal to Santa Clara. --Jake McGoldrick wants to make FastPasses cheaper for SF residents between the ages of 18 and 24. --Chronicle readers are coming out in favor of keeping the carpet on BART because tile floors will make the BART too loud. We must admit that this is an angle on the BART carpet issue that we've never before considered.......

49ers 20 Seahawks 14-- Clang, clang, clang goes the 49ers bandwagon as this is the biggest win in franchise history in God who knows how long. Probably back when Mariucci was the coach and the playoffs were a semi-regular thing. They beat, we mean beat, not only the top team in the division but also last year's Superbowl losers. The Niners raced to a twenty point lead in the first half then basically held onto......

Raiders 20, Steelers 13- Okay, we're going to say this and we know we're being your typical wishy washy sports reporter, but we think the Raiders a better team than the 49ers. Not just because they beat the Superbowl Champs (it's the in-thing to do these days) but because even when they do lose, they don't get blown out like a certain team across the Bay. We think too that it's mainly because the Raiders can play some D while the 49ers can't. Case in point, the particular game in question in which the D scored two TDs on interception returns and sacked Big Ben five times. That's positively Bear-like and it's even more impressive when you consider the offense still stinks like day old socks. ...

We're starting to see a pattern emerge with both teams. The Raiders start well but can't finish and the Niners start slowly but finish strong. Which is what happened yesterday as the Raiders were actually up 13-7 at halftime, only to give up 27 straight points to their Bay Area counterparts. The key was a Niners D that grabbed four interceptions and returned a fumble for a TD. They did such a good job that Raiders QB Andrew Walter was replaced by Marques Tuiasosopo in the fourth quarter. The other hero for the Niners day was Frank Gore who rushed for 134 yards and Marvelous Norv Turner who was given the game ball for beating up on his old team. ...

Somewhere, a lot of really good, exciting football games were on TV. Just not here. Chiefs 41, 49ers 0: Worst. Loss. Ever. No, seriously, it was the worst shutout loss in 49ers history. It doesn't get better once you look at the stats either. The Niners total offense racked up less than 200 yards, Smith got sacked five times, they committed five turnovers, and the Niners couldn't touch backup QB Damon Huard once. Something to definitely to worry about too is that the Niners have fallen behind early in three of their games, to the tune of being outscored 82-20 in the first half over the season. In the first two, they rallied somewhat. This week, nothing. And there D has now given up 79 points in two games. Say goodnight to all those excited Niners fans. ...

So, along comes Week Two of the 2006 NFL Regular Season for our Bay Area teams. Here's what to look for, and when. ...

Sometimes a loss can be a victory and this is one of those losses that looks like a victory. Except in the win column where it really counts. The Niners came out right from the start loaded for bear and scored a TD with Alex Smith hooking up with Vernon Davis on their very first drive. The Cards then went on to take a 21-7 lead but the Niners kept coming and coming and coming, only to finally go down in defeat when Smith's Hail Mary pass fell incomplete. In fact, the Niners could claim they won all the big things but lost due to the small things, like penalties and missed passes and one missed field goal. Which sounds pretty bad if you're a contending team but really good if you're pretty much not. Oh, and Frank Gore is the man. His two-yard TD run where he basically just pushed himself into the end zone was the kind of football that would have made Vince Lombardi smile. ...

Madden's in the Hall Of Fame. The Raiders have committed their first false start penalties. The NFL's 2006 Preseason is underway. Let's move with all due speed to present the members of your San Francisco 49ers' 2006 Draft class....

Tomorrow, teams in the NFL have to announce whom they're keeping and whom they're releasing. After that happens, it’s free agent signing time. So Tomorrow is the start of football's Hot Stove Heater, or whatever it is they call it in the NFL. Yep, it's the time of year where one can sit around and dream up any ole thing (Daunte AND T.O. to the Rai-duhs!) even though it'll never happen and only makes people extremely disappointed when it doesn't happen. See Giants fans still better that the Giants never signed Vlad. As much as we love all this, we much prefer baseball's free agent dreaming as the salary cap weighs way too much in all of this and let's just say SFist barely made it through Physics for Poets. This year we find the Bay Area teams at opposite sides of the salary cap spectrum. The Niners got rid of some deadweight (like Ahmed Plummer) and are rolling in dough. That sounds great except the Niners front office still appears to be Dysfunction Junction and unable to agree on much of anything. Good luck with that, Niners fans. ...

here are few sensations worse than the feeling that you've been used. It is a oily, ugly emotion that sits butter-thick at the back of one's mouth. It can change the very air in a room. No good can come of this, yet lessons may be learned. Wariness for the future. Having felt that you've been used can set a mark on your psyche. Our two Bay Area teams both got used this wknd...

So yes, both the Niners and the Rai-duhs lost yesterday in typically awful fashion. But we don't think this is such a bad thing. Not a bad thing in all. In fact, we think it's a good thing: it’s just a matter of how you look at it. Take the Niners for instance; they’re now 2-10 and owner of the second worst record in the NFL. On the other hand, they're still a game......

Pain. Both of our Bay Area NFL teams fell last Sunday, beneath the weight of a precious few key plays falling to the opposing teams' favor. For our San Francisco 49ers, the game against the New York (American football) Giants was reasonably within reach, but for a few big plays. Had these panned out differently, things might have been closer: The Lloyd catch (covered below); the Shockey 4th down "forget - it - I'm......