By Alex Trickett
BBC Sport Online
The teams:
Baseball: Giants, Oakland A’s
American Football: 49ers, Oakland Raiders
Basketball: Golden State Warriors
Ice Hockey: San Jose Sharks
New Yorkers will never forgive San Francisco for stealing their Giants, as baseball began its westward expansion in the late 1950s.
Mays: A Giant of baseball
The franchise have enjoyed a sprinkling of success since, playing proud host to legend Willie Mays and winning the 1962 and 1989 World Series.
Now they have Barry Bonds and a National League title to brag about.
The Oakland A’s and the Golden State Warriors both descend from Philadelphia stock and have treated their sports to sporadically exciting teams.
American football’s 49ers have been consistent contenders since the 1980s and were rejoined in the ‘Bay Area’ by the Oakland Raiders in 1995.
The venue:
Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, Pacific Bell Park replaced Candlestick Park in 2000 and hosted the World Series in 2002.
Record breaker: Barry Bonds
A retro-style ballpark, incorporating McCovey Cove along its right-field boundary, Pac Bell surrenders several well-struck baseballs to this water hazard in any given month.
Fittingly, Barry Bonds fed the first ball to the fishes on 1 May, 2000.
And the power-hitting legend went on to beat Mark McGwire’s single-season home run record the following year.
The last of his 73 homers that year sparked heated debate between two fans scrambling to catch a souvenir that may be worth more than US$1m.
The legend:
Nicknamed “Joe Cool”, Joe Montana was unflappable in a sporting crisis.
When all around him were losing their heads, this long-time 49ers quarterback could be relied on to maintain his steely focus and pick the right play.
Ice man: Montana was a winner
More often than not his target was Jerry Rice, the NFL’s all-time leading touchdown scorer.
The pair won three Superbowls together – in 1985, 1989 and 1990 – and formed a fearsome double-act that was the envy of every city in the country.
But Montana was the undisputed leader.
It was he who won three Superbowl MVP awards, and it is he who is often cited among the best players to ever grace the game.
“When Joe was in sync, he had an intuitive, instinctive nature rarely equalled by any athlete in any sport,” said Bill Walsh, his San Francisco coach.
Man about town:
Bonds will continue to take national plaudits as he marches up the all-time home run list, but quarterback Rich Gannon is starting to win many friends in the local press.
Rich Gannon has turned the Raiders around
A surprising star of 2001, Gannon has led the division-topping Oakland Raiders to a much-improved record and made clutch plays against top teams that even Montana would have been proud of.
The Raiders still have much to prove, but the signs are good and much will continue to depend on this gutsy performer and on his favourite big-play receiver, the timeless Jerry Rice.
Having crossed town from the 49ers, Rice has maintained his lofty standards and now leads many all-time NFL lists by a large margin.
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