Bay Area

With the possible exception of Paris Hilton, no one did less and made more headlines than Barry Bonds in 2005. Then again, Paris Hilton doesn't have 708 home runs.

Once again, the Bay Area sports scene was dominated by Bonds, although knee surgeries left him out of the Giants' lineup until Sept. 12. Even at that, he hit five homers in only 42 at-bats in his pursuit of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and the ultimate destination - baseball immortality.

Nonetheless, he was so newsworthy that ESPN assigned a reporter to cover his every move - on the field, in the trainers' room, sitting in the dugout - or non-move; and every time "the BALCO case" was mentioned, so was Bonds' name.

Speaking of BALCO, it apparently ran its course in '05 when Victor Conte, the founder of the Burlingame lab, received a rather light sentence, including four months in a federal prison, for his part in a conspiracy to distribute undetectable steroids.

Greg Anderson, Bonds' (see, there's that name again) former trainer, was also sentenced, to three months in prison and three months of home confinement for conspiring to distribute steroids to pro baseball players.

But there was life beyond BALCO and Barry in '05. Not much in the way of championships in the Bay Area (Cal men's rugby, Stanford women's tennis and cross-country won national titles), but there were some interesting developments:

On Sept.17 at The Farm, UC Davis pulled off arguably one of the top five upsets in the history of college football when the Aggies beat Stanford, 20-17. And that came after trailing, 17-0. But to the Cardinal's credit, they rebounded and finished a couple of plays from upsetting Notre Dame, a win that would have gained them a bowl berth.

On Oct.29, the Breeders Cup races were contested at Belmont Park in New York. In the Sprint event, Bay Area horse Lost in the Fog was the odds-on favorite, undefeated and presumably there just for the coronation. Didn't happen. Lost in the Fog finished seventh.

But for every Lost in the Fog washout there was a wave of excitement. Baron Davis donned a Warriors' uniform and overnight the NBA stopped laughing at Golden State. Without him, the Warriors were 16-38; with him, they finished the season 18-10 and are now a game over .500 after a third of the 2005-06 season.

Sadly, the sports year will also be remembered for the passing of Bay Area broadcast legend Bill King and 49ers guard Thomas Herrion. King, who called Raiders games for 27 years, the Warriors for 21 years and the A's for 25, died of a pulmonary embolism after complications from hip surgery. He was 78. Herrion, 23, died of heart disease after collapsing following an Aug. 20 exhibition game at Denver.

Not to be outdone in the publicity department, the Raiders went out and signed Randy Moss. But Moss was hampered all season by injuries and the Raiders still haven't figured out how to get him the ball. Entering Saturday's season finale, Moss has 53 catches. That's 27th among AFC receivers and one behind Houston's Jabar Gaffney (who is he?). Even Picasso had trouble creating a masterpiece without enough paint.

Of course, there were also those "other" stories in the Bay Area. In June the 49ers' public-relations department created an instructional video meant to show players how to deal with the media. But the video, filled with sexist and racist jokes, led to the firing of the team's PR chief, Kirk Reynolds.

In the summer, radio station KNBR felt the heat. Sports talk show host Larry Krueger, program director Bob Agnew and producer Tony Rhein were fired after Krueger talked about the Giants' "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly."

Finally, there was the "Big Miss." John Daly missed a three-foot putt, giving Tiger Woods the victory at the American Express Championship at San Francisco's Harding Park, the first PGA Tour event held there since 1969.