Hero's Welcome

Thirty-five years ago seems like another dimension—certainly a lifetime or two in the rear-view mirror—yet Gary Singh's wonderfully written article on the San Jose Earthquakes' 35-Year reunion ("Goal Oriented," Cover Story, July 29) brings those days back in focus as if they were yesterday.

The Earthquakes were the foundation of San Jose's identity as a major city. The team brought national attention to a city that, up to then, was primarily known as the poor step-child of Tony Bennett's metro to the north and the punch line for Dianne Warwick's vocal of a Burt Bacharach song lyric. The truth was most people didn't "know the way to San Jose," and the Earthquakes blazed a path that others would follow.

In addition to my stadium announcer years and several game broadcast appearances with the team, I was a DJ on local rock & roll radio station KLIV, where we also fought for a identity among competing signals from the north.

The electricity, the visceral excitement and pride reverberating throughout San Jose—Spartan Stadium consistently sold-out with 20,000 rabid soccer fans! Those were magic years; a picture masterfully painted by Gary's article. This reunion is a special weekend for everyone associated with the Earthquakes—not only the players but front-office staff from GM's to receptionists, interns and runners (two of whom are the organizers of this event).

They deserve a hero's welcome, and I am proud to be among the throng there to cheer them home.

Bob Ray

Saratoga

Tearing Up

Gary Singh did an amazing job of capturing the essence of the Earthquakes' history in this article. Kudos also to the Metro for giving him the space to do the job right. As a fan of the Earthquakes from their inception, his article brought tears to my eyes as so many memories were described.

Al Stitt

Manteca

Passing the Ax

If even half of this is true, it's despicable and perhaps even illegal ("Team Chavez, Revealed," The Fly, July 29). San Jose politics has always been clean and polite. That changed about a decade ago with Amy Dean taking over local labor. She handed the baton (ax?) to Phaedra [Ellis-Lamkins] and Cindy [Chavez], who play politics differently. San Jose Revealed was a perfect reflection of their win-at-all-costs mentality. They were willing to put people and families in harm's way because of personal vendettas.

Could someone tell Cindy the 2006 campaign is over? And could someone tell labor that dirty underhanded politics is not the San Jose way? And could someone tell me if this is worth a Grand Jury investigation?

Question Man

San Jose

So What?

Who cares who Revealed is? Competing blogs are important so we can get both sides and differing viewpoints on a certain topic.

Christian

San Jose

Stepping on Toes

Where's Dolores Carr in all this? Why didn't she subpoena the server records to see who was working with Eric Hernandez? And how can she let Revealed get away with publishing a map to the home of one of her prosecutors?

Is she getting too close to South Bay Labor Council and Coyote money to want to step on their toes?

Susan Singer

From SanJoseInside.com