Sports
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning a dedicated group of Temescal Aquatic Masters swimmers gather before the sun rises to participate in an organized swim work out that begins at 5:30 a.m. in the six-lane heated outdoor pool. The swimmers meet year round, rain or shine.
On an otherwise uneventful commute across the bay, passengers riding BART from Rockridge to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon were faced with an unusual sight: two pro basketball stars handing out free passes for the train.
Last Sunday afternoon, Ed Rivera passed along MacArthur Boulevard in his Sunday best, from his shiny black top hat all the way to his dangling coattails. But don’t let his dapper apparel fool you: he wasn’t headed to church or a wedding, but to Mosswood Park, where he would serve as umpire for a baseball game.
The Oakland Athletics finished up their opening weekend series against the Seattle Mariners with a 7-1 victory on Sunday while celebrating Japanese Heritage Day.
Taiko drumming, a staple in Japanese classical and contemporary performance, is not the typical opening act for an American baseball game. But on Sunday, the Oakland Coliseum extended a welcome to the Japanese community at home and abroad with a disaster relief fundraiser that was also a celebration of culture.
AXIS Dance Company’s dancers are exceptional in more ways than most performers. Four of the company’s seven members, including artistic director Judith Smith, have physical disabilities and dance in wheelchairs. Since AXIS’s founding in 1987, its dancers have been exploding conventional notions of contemporary dance.
The Oakland Athletics will open their 2011 season Friday at the Coliseum with a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners. Despite an offseason loss Tuesday, many predict 2011 could be the team’s best season yet. But Oakland fans are still anxious that they may lose the A’s to San Jose, where owner Lew Wolff continues to try to move the team.
Behind a small grey non-descript house near San Pablo Avenue and 60th Street in the Golden Gate neighborhood is a different kind of bicycle shop. As you walk down a path alongside the house, you pass chicken coops, Birds of Paradise and a vegetable garden full of beets, bok choy and broccoli. Past the garden, a door leads to a clean little studio full of tools and bikes. This is where Dan Woloz just opened a service-oriented bike shop called Bike Man Dan.
The Oakland Running Festival is in its second year, and 7,284 runners representing 35 states and six countries registered for one of the weekend’s five races – the marathon, half-marathon, 4-person team relay, 5K, and kids’ fun run – up about 20 percent from last year.