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The San Francisco Giants clearly need some offensive help from the free-agent market but re-thinking the way they evaluate their own home-grown talent would help boost their offense from within. For instance, while the Giants have a plethora of inconsistent young talent including players who may or may not develop into everyday starters, Nate Schierholtz doesn't belong amongst that group. Throughout the past couple years Giants fans have grouped together such players ...

Top 10 Individual Goals of the Decade (San Jose Sharks-Style)

Posted: 23rd December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NHL
While the San Jose Sharks have yet to achieve the ever elusive Stanley Cup, they have had their fare share of individual play-makers. Including the 1999-00 playoffs, the Sharks have reached the post-season in eight of the nine playoffs since the Y2K drama back in the day. Now in order for the Sharks to have sustained that quality play over the decade, it is an absolute given that team teal ...

Why the San Jose Sharks Need an Improved Jason Demers

Posted: 21st December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NHL
The 2009-10 San Jose Sharks undoubtedly have more fire-power at the forward position than they had last year, but the offense from the defense that head coach Todd McLellan preaches to his club has been on a major decline. While San Jose's offensive stalwart on the blue-line, Dan Boyle, is on pace for a better season than a year ago, the rest of the defensemen who the Sharks rely upon for ...

San Francisco Giants: All I Want for Christmas Is Some Pop!

Posted: 20th December 2009 by Andy Bensch in MLB
This just in, San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean is gun-shy. Over a year ago, the Giants GM signed shortstop Edgar Renteria to a two-year 18 million dollar deal before the free-agent market fully developed. Numerous other quality free-agents were left unsigned deep into January and even February. Players like Bobby Abreu and Orlando Hudson had excellent seasons despite signing after the new year. Unfortunately for Sabean and the Giants, Renteria ...

San Jose Sharks Get Back To Basics, Snap Five-Game Skid

Posted: 18th December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NHL
From youth hockey to the NHL, when a team is struggling, almost every hockey coach will stress the three basics to winning hockey. Move your feet, shoot the puck and drive the net. Sometimes, it's almost as simple as that. The San Jose Sharks were riding a 0-2-3 win-less streak heading into Thursday's contest against the Ducks but four days off prior to the game might have been just what ...

What If Darryl Sutter Coached This Year’s San Jose Sharks?

Posted: 16th December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NHL
Whether it is the easygoing culture brought over from Boston by Joe Thornton, or the lack of urgency from Patrick Marleau in the playoffs, the San Jose Sharks always seem to get complacent. No matter if it was Ron Wilson behind the bench or Todd McLellan, the Sharks have demonstrated time and time again to be a team that folds under pressure and fails to elevate its game when it matters ...

What If Darryl Sutter Coached This Year’s San Jose Sharks?

Posted: 16th December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NHL
Whether it is the easygoing culture brought over from Boston by Joe Thornton, or the lack of urgency from Patrick Marleau in the playoffs, the San Jose Sharks always seem to get complacent. No matter if it was Ron Wilson behind the bench or Todd McLellan, the Sharks have demonstrated time and time again to be a team that folds under pressure and fails to elevate its game when it matters ...

San Francisco 49ers: Wild Card Still a Major Possibility

Posted: 15th December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NFL
While the San Francisco 49ers still need a lot of matchups to go their way if they want to make the playoffs, the remaining schedules of competing wild-card teams are much tougher than that of the division-leading Cardinals. Before delving into playoff scenarios, lets get one thing straight: The 49ers need to win out. If they only manage to post an 8-8 record, their chances decrease immensely. But there is a scenario where ...
The San Francisco Giants were one of the big surprises that nobody talked about last season. After finishing the 2008 season with an abysmal 72-90 record, the Giants bounced back with a 16 game turn around and just missed out on the post-season finishing 88-74. An insane first full season from Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval, another Cy Young winning campaign from Tim Lincecum and the best reliever in baseball ...

Can a Three Finned Attack Get the San Jose Sharks Out of Their Slump?

Posted: 12th December 2009 by Andy Bensch in NHL
When the San Jose Sharks traded for Dany Heatley this offseason, the feeling around the Bay Area was that while paired up with Joe Thornton, the two superstars would be impossible to defend. However, the overloaded top-line of Marleau-Thornton-Heatley hasn't produced much winning as of late. The Sharks just completed a 1-1-3 home-stand and scored just nine goals in their last four games. Over the span of the past four games ...