In New Jersey, Andy Vasquez notes throughout the past decade, the Nets have "never been able to shake the perception that they are a mess." But the team "made smart, sensible hires, for the right reasons" in adding Sean Marks as GM and Kenny Atkinson as coach, even though that "doesn't guarantee success." The Nets "have not been their typical selves" over the last few months, and "there's nothing bad about that" (Bergen RECORD, 4/21).
EMERGENCY CARE: In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes judging from the "words, pose and overall mood" of 49ers GM Trent Baalke's pre-draft press conference yesterday, one "would've thought the 49ers were a powerful, perennial playoff team." But the 49ers are in a "slippery era" under CEO Jed York and Baalke and "just aren't equipped to deal with emergencies." They are "awful at figuring out how to extricate themselves or acknowledge that these crises are occurring at all." By "refusing to acknowledge that they're in deep trouble, the 49ers are only making things worse" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 4/21).
STAYING NIMBLE: In San Diego, Jeff Sanders notes the Padres have "added yet another ticket option to what seems to be an ever-expanding buffet of choices." The Padres Flex Pass now "allows fans to buy groups of eight tickets ($200), 16 tickets ($360) and 24 tickets ($480) to be used any way you like at Petco Park." The buyer "chooses the matchup, and the number of tickets on a given day." The package will be managed through the MLB.com Ballpark app and "will be delivered digitally with barcodes and seat locations two hours before the game begins." The program's flexibility "will allow the buyer to make changes to selections up until delivery" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/21).
HIP HOP HOORAY: SB NATION's Eric Quintana noted hip hop culture is "so noticeably absent from MLS and soccer culture, it gives Atlanta United a unique opportunity to present it to the US soccer fanbase" and "introduce a different flavor to MLS." Atlanta United FC President Darren Eales said, "Anything like ‘identity’ we are going to take our lead from the fans. We did well with our hype videos with hip-hop behind it and it got a really good number of views, a really good response rate. Clearly that’s something that some of our fans, they really identify with that" (SBNATION.com, 4/20).
