San Jose’s 9th Man Blog

As some of you may already know, I have begun the voting process of this year’s 9th Man Kitten of the Year.  Now remember that this is an award to be presented to your favorite member of the SaberKittens, as they have been nominated.  The 9th Man Player of the Year voting will begin next week.

This year I decided to spice things up a little.  We are not going to display the final results on the web site until after the winner has been announced at this year’s first 9th Man Award Ceremony.

This special event will be held at the last regular season viewing party on Saturday, May 31st while the SaberCats take on the SoCal rivals, Los Angeles Avengers at 7:30PM.  So come in force to the Britannia Arms - Almaden to not only cheer on your defending ArenaBowl Champion San Jose SaberCats, but also to see who wins at the First Annual 9th Man Awards.  The final announcement about the categories will be announced shortly.

GO SABERCATS!

The well known branding of Fox Sports Net here in the Bay Area is making a change.  On Monday, March 31, FSN Bay Area is changing to CSN Bay Area.  CSN Bay Area is also known as Comcast Sports Net Bay Area.  Only real change will be of programming, imaging and the new red, white & blue logo.

Comcast SportsNet, the home for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, Golden State Warriors, San Jose Sharks, San Jose SaberCats, and San Jose Earthquakes, will feature a bold new look matched by a new dedication to give Bay Area fans the most entertaining and comprehensive local sports coverage.

 ”Authentic Bay Area Sports” is now on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area.

I just received word that this Saturday night the Sabercats will be holding a meet-n-greet with General Manager/Head Coach Darren Arbet.  The venue to host this meet-n-greet will be Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria in Downtown San Jose.  It will begin roughly 30-45 minutes after the conclusion of the game between the SaberCats and Desperados at the Cats Lair.

Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria is located: (on W. Santa Clara St. @ Almaden Ave.)
225 W. Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA 95113
408.289.9000

For more information on Amici’s visit: http://www.amicis.com/location_dtsanjose.htm

I want to thank for all the 9th Man members who came out to last night’s kick off viewing party.  Now unfortunately we couldn’t celbrate it with a victory over Chicago, but I think it was a successful start to the viewing parties for the 2008 season.  I would like to also thank the members of the SaberKittens for coming down and joining in on the festivities.

Up next, Monday, March 10, 2008 @ 4PM.  I know that this is a early game start for us here in San Jose, but if you can make it over to the Brit on Almaden Expwy it would be greatly appreciative.  Otherwise save those vocal cords for the 2008 home opener against our arch rivals, Arizona Rattlers adn get ready to MAKE SOME NOISE!!

Next 9th Man Viewing Party:
Monday, March 10, 2008 @ 3:30PM
Venue is Britannia Arms - Almaden
Game Broadcasted on FSN Bay Area HD

Earlier today, I have confirmed that Britannia Arms in the Almaden District will host this year’s 9th Man Viewing Parties.  As voted by you, Britannia Arms in the  Almaden District was chosen as the spot to host the viewing parties.  I made confirmation with them earlier today and they are more than welcoming in having the return of San Jose’s 9th Man for an entire season this year.

Here is the information you need on how to get to the Britannia Arms - Almaden.
Britannia Arms
5027 Almaden Expressway
San Jose, CA
Between Branham Lane and CA-85 at Cherry Avenue.

If you would like to take public transportation, click on the “Visiting Fans” link and use our 9th Man Trip Planner.  Just reference the street address and city above as your destination and the date and time for that particular event.

The first viewing party is scheduled for Monday, March 3, 2008 at 5:30PM.  Be advise that all viewing parties are now posted on the schedule portion of the web site and is downloadable via Adobe Reader 8.1.  Also that all viewing parties will begin approximately one half hour prior to the scheduled kick off time of the games.

I have just added a new feature to the web site.  It is a trip planner and it’s located under the “Visiting Fans” section of the web site.  The purpose of the San Jose’s 9th Man Trip Planner is to make the travel accommodations easier for any visitng fans.  Oh yeah, fans who also reside here in the Bay Area can also use it for their day-to-day traveling.  The trip planner is powered by Google Transit and gives you a schedule, route map, approximate trave time, and cost comparison to taking your own vehicle courtesy of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.  Take the trip planner for a spin today and see how traveling throughout the Santa Clara Valley can be a lot easier.

I have closed the first two surveys for 2008.  Let me tell you it was a close race throughout the entire time.  The final results for the 9th Man Viewing Party host will be posted once I have confirmed with the venue.

For the 9th Man Road Trip, the winning city that gets to see a sea of SaberCat fans arrive is Phoenix.  That’s right the 9th Man has spoken in a very close race that the 9th Man Raod Trip for 2008 will be to the Arizona Rattlers game in Phoenix on Friday, May 9th.  Information on the travel arrangements will be made and posted up here on the 9th Man web site as well as e-mailed through the 9th Man E-News.  So if you haven’t subscribed to the 9th Man E-News, click the above link “Join the 9th Man” and submit your information.

Now if you have plans on going down to L.A. for that game, we encoourage you to represent in class and show So-Cal how a champion represents their team.  For the trip to Arizona, you can also make your own arrangements if you would prefer.  I am going to work with the Rattlers organization on getting group rates and seats.

Thanks for everyone who voted.  Final results for the 9th Man Road Trip were tallied as:

Arizona Rattlers - Phoenix, AZ - U.S. Airways Center  =  49.2%
Los Angeles Avengers - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center  =  45.8%
Utah Blaze - Salt Lake City, UT - Energy Solutions Arena  =  5.1%

Cruise on over to the 9th Man Store to get all the latest 9th Man Gear plus warm hoodies and sweatshirts to help keep you warm.  After all the winter season has finally rolled in with a thunder this week, and there sure will be more storms to handle.  So click the “Shop Online” link above and get your 9th Man Gear on.

Here on the official web site, sanjoses9thman.net, people have been voting for where they would like to have this upcoming season’s 9th Man Viewing Parties. A 9th Man Viewing Party is where the fans of the defending ArenaBowl XXI Champion San Jose SaberCats come together to watch their team play while they’re on the road. Last season, Vito’s Cafe in San Jose hosted the viewing parties during the regular season and Britannia Arms in the Almaden District of San Jose hosted the ArenaBowl Viewing Party.For this season, I have left the choice up to you the fans and members of the 9th Man. Visit sanjoses9thman.net and click on the special Fan Zone image to go to the 2008 Survey. Here you can vote for two current surveys; 1) Where to have this season’s 9th Man Viewing Parties, and 2) Where to have this season’s 9th Man Road Game Trip.There are only two weeks left for voting, so go over and vote for your choice. You can vote once per every 24 hours.