Sacramento River Cats abruptly end ‘Gold Diggers' campaign: ‘Our approach was wrong'
After releasing a video Thursday promoting the 'Gold Diggers' as the team's alternate identity, the Sacramento River Cats canceled the campaign Friday.
'Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark,' said the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A team in an email to SFGate. 'Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity.'
Advertisement
The team deleted the video, which featured two women in Sacramento with dollar signs flashing in their eyes upon seeing a player, from its social media accounts after facing backlash for '1950s-era tropes about women only seeing dollar signs when sizing up men,' according to Sacramento Bee opinion writer Robin Epley, who reviewed the now-deleted video. The team also removed a page about the 'Gold Diggers' campaign from its website.
The original plan was for the team — which currently shares its home, Sutter Health Park, with the Athletics — to wear the black-and-gold pinstriped Gold Diggers uniforms five times this season, starting with a game on April 19 against the Salt Lake Bees.
'Inspired by the regional history of the California Gold Rush, this new identity offers a connection to the significant impact of this era when Sacramento grew as the closest major city to the gold fields,' the River Cats said in a news release sent to the Sacramento Bee.
The team faced criticism when it leaned into what it called 'playful and cheeky elements' of its short-lived alternate identity, which caused the River Cats to strike a nerve instead of gold.
(Photo of Sutter Health Park on March 23 during an exhibition game between the Sacramento River Cats and San Francisco Giants: Scott Marshall / Getty Images)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
This rare, modern Sacramento home has Folsom Lake as its backyard. Take a look
Inside Look is a Sacramento Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories. One of Bruce and Lisa Bodlak's favorite features of their lakefront home in El Dorado Hills has been watching their kids grow up freely exploring nature. After all, Folsom Lake and its trails are part of their backyard, so the children were inclined to spend more time outdoors than in front of screens. The couple's rare, 5,000-square-foot, single-story modern home, 30 miles east of Sacramento, is for sale for $3.4 million. 'I loved waking up knowing that my kids couldn't wait to go outside and go exploring,' Lisa said. 'They'd take the ATV, pile all their friends in it, go drive around ... My daughter raised 50 chickens. My kids got to have that kind of experience.' Hiking along scenic trails and fishing, swimming and kayaking in the lake are all part of the experience of living on rural Fredlena Lane in El Dorado Hills, the couple said. 'We went from always looking out the front door ... to (here) where they can explore freely,' Bruce said. The secluded property unfolds across three, mostly flat acres and hooks up with trails that lead down to the lake, a two-minute walk. Because it backs onto protected state land and is flanked by sprawling neighboring properties, the residence feels even more cocooned in privacy. The lot sits back on New York Creek Cove, a popular spot for boating and fishing on the south fork of Folsom Lake. In front of the house, a gated courtyard welcomes visitors with a modern streamlined water feature and 'low-maintenance' koi pond, according to Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, the brokerage holding the listing. The upscale interior design of the house is just as impressive as the outdoor space. The Bodlaks purchased the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house in 2014 for about $1 million, according to public property records, and renovated the home to the tune of another million. The open-concept floor plan is augmented by high ceilings, high-end finishes and custom woodwork throughout. The interior is spotlighted by expansive windows, exquisite crown molding, Restoration Hardware lighting, custom furniture-grade cabinetry, designer tile treatments and wood-grain tile flooring. Among other highlights: ▪ An oversized office with access to a covered patio and an attached library with built-in bookcases. ▪ Luxurious primary suite offering outdoor access and a spa-like bathroom with a Hydro Massage tub featuring oxygen and light therapy, large walk-in shower with multiple shower heads and a walk-in closet with floor-to-ceiling built-ins and shoe walls. ▪ Gourmet kitchen appointed with Thermador professional-grade appliances, eight-foot, double-door wine refrigerator, 12-foot Carrara marble slab waterfall island, breakfast nook, informal dining area under a vibrant Restoration Hardware chandelier, two walk-in pantries and expansive windows for lake views. ▪ A great room with a dramatic stone fireplace and access to an outdoor covered patio with lake views. ▪ Formal dining room, big enough to accommodate a 12-foot table, with recessed lighting and views of the front courtyard. ▪ 1,000-square-foot theater and billiards room with platform bar seating and built-ins. Bruce Bodlak's vision for their home always allowed for future versatility. The turnkey home offers buyers the options of enjoying its luxury amenities now or jumping into any number of possible upgrades, such as building a guest house on the upper property, adding a bedroom, dropping in a swimming pool or converting some of the 9,000 square feet of lawn into a vineyard or tennis court. As it lies now, the grassy area is ideal for lawn games, outdoor weddings and large parties. Bruce installed a $75,000 agriculture sprinkler and drip system to pave the way for putting in a wine vineyard or adding more fruit trees. There are four mature citrus trees on the property already. The expansion possibilities attract an even larger pool of potential buyers, according to listing agent Angela Dameri of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. 'This could be a couple with no kids, who just wants to be kind of off-grid and just have a nice view, or it could be somebody (who) wants to expand and turn into multi-family,' she said. 'Somebody who buys this (might be) living in a subdivision when they want to get into some open spaces.' The grounds are punctuated by a quaint and picturesque historic water tower from the days when a farmer owned the land in the 1940s, Bruce said. The structure can still be used to collect water, according to Dameri. Bruce meticulously built the 3,000 square foot garage with a 13-foot ceiling to match the contemporary architecture of the rest of the house. The spacious garage offers a showcase or a work space for car collectors. It's wired for electric vehicle charging. There also enough space to convert a section of the garage into a game room or in-law suite. The sellers are prominent figures in the media buying and advertising industry. Bruce and Lisa Bodlak founded Express Media, having started the company in 1999 and working out of their previous home's garage before growing the firm into a $40 million business based on annual billing. The couple decided to move to be closer to their adult children in Tennessee. 'They had a very good vision... and they imagined this being a legacy home for them,' Dameri said. This luxury Folsom Lake home breaks sales record as one of priciest in Sacramento region
USA Today
15-05-2025
- USA Today
Sober since his mom's birthday in 2013, club pro Tom Johnson is having a blast in first PGA
Sober since his mom's birthday in 2013, club pro Tom Johnson is having a blast in first PGA CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tom Johnson met Rory McIlroy on the putting green and Scottie Scheffler on the range on Wednesday. He had lunch with Justin Rose and then his old college teammate, Luke Donald, joined them. Johnson smiled the smile of a man who is living his best life this week at the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Johnson, 43, is competing in his first PGA Championship, one of the 20 club pros to qualify after finishing T-9 in the 2025 PGA Professional Championship last month. 'This is the ultimate, this was the goal and it's a dream come true,' he said on Wednesday at the practice putting green at Quail Hollow Club. 'I've had so many unbelievable experiences this week that it could end now and it would be awesome and I haven't even hit a shot yet. It's only going to get better.' Johnson has been teaching the game since 2016, currently as the director of instruction at Meadow Club in Fairfax, California, but lived the life of a Tour pro for several years, including in 2007 when he had full status. 'It was what I dreamt of doing but when I got out here I didn't feel like it was a dream.' Johnson suffered from performance anxiety, recording just one top-25 finish ($56,667 represents his largest check for finishing 18th in the 2007 Bob Hope Desert Classic) and finishing 196th on the money list. 'Just imagine the worst kind of butterflies to the point where you think you are going to throw up,' he said. 'I know I'm not alone. I've read how Bobby Jones lost lots of weight when he played.' Dealing with performance anxiety using alchohol, drugs Johnson learned to calm his nerves in unusual fashion. Experiencing yips so severe at the Northeast Amateur when he was 18 that he putted one-handed, he took a shot of whiskey during a rain delay 'that made me feel warm and at ease,' he told the Sacramento Bee in 2015. When he qualified for the PGA Tour at the six-round pressure-cooker known as PGA Tour Q-School, he smoked marijuana before every round and finished in eighth place. He's not the only golfer to ever smoke pot, but he may be the only pro to use it to enhance his performance. 'I thought that worked, I'll do it again,' said Johnson, who has admitted to smoking marijuana before all 70+ rounds he played during the 2007 season. 'It got to be where I was abusing it ever closer and closer to my tee times and I can think of a time I even did it during play, which I'm not proud of, but at that time I really needed something.' Tom Johnson has been sober nearly 12 years Johnson hit rock bottom when he was arrested for driving under the influence in 2013. For her birthday present that year, on July 4th, his mother asked him to get sober. Johnson knew it was time to seek help. He has been drug- and alcohol-free since July 5, 2013. 'That was a major turning point in my life. I went to meetings every day for three years because I knew I couldn't keep sober on my own. That's where I learned the 12 steps and the tools to deal with it. I needed a new operating system. With the help of a lot of people on that same path of sobriety, I no longer feel that way. My life is good.' The other turning point was meeting his now-wife Caitlin in 2016. At the time, he was still competing on the Asian Tour, but he knew he had reached a fork in the road and decided to commit to her and start a family. For a time, he covered sports for the Trinity Journal, the region's weekly newspaper, and was a substitute teacher. Before long, he began teaching golf at Golden Gate Park Golf Course, a par-3 course with a driving range, consisting of hitting into a net 25 yards away. The Olympic Club hired him and he learned under the director of instruction Richard Sheridan. "It's so gratifying to teach, and to give back, and to basically share the gift of golf," he told NCGA Golf Magazine in 2021. Johnson played college golf at Northwestern alongside European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and grew up playing against the likes of James Hahn, Nick Watney and Ricky Barnes, who are still toiling on the pro circuit. When Donald was asked to name his favorite story involving Johnson from his college days, he replied, 'I'm not sure they're appropriate for this audience. We had some fun in college, though, for four years. That's for sure.' Since his touring days, Johnson has been named the Northern California PGA Player of the Year for three straight years running and made the cut in back-to-back years at the Tour's annual stop in Napa. Asked how he deals with his performance anxiety these days, he said, 'I use prayer, meditation and have a better perspective. It's been a spiritual journey.' 'I like the life I'm living right now,' he said. 'I like being home and being a presence in my son's life. I'm grateful that I'm not on Tour, honestly. I'm not trying to rekindle my career out here. I like my life.' But how Johnson has remained competitive with two children under age 3 and a busy schedule as a teaching professional is a story in its own self. 'For starters, I believe that fitness is as important as swing mechanics. If you feel strong, you'll play strong. I get up at 4:45 a.m. three times a week and work out with a neighbor, who happens to be a Titleist Performance Institute Level 3 Certified Trainer and sports chiropractor,' he explained. 'My practice comes during my lunch break, and it typically involves games. I like my practice to be purposeful, competitive and quantifiable, and it can't take longer than 30 minutes. I'm competing against myself, and I keep records of each day's results to quantify my progress.' During his college days at Northwestern, a trainer told him that athletes are motivated to work out by the desire to improve performance, but that goal is fleeting. It eventually will change to managing pain. 'I couldn't relate then, but alas, here I am,' he said. These days, some form of daily workout is a necessity, especially if I expect to play decent golf. I cannot overstate how helpful it is to engage with a fitness professional – even if means a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call!' Another key for Johnson's game holding up after age 40 is the speed training work he has done ever since seeing Matt Fitzpatrick win the 2022 U.S. Open. In a post-round interview, the 5-foot-10, 155-pound Englishman attributed his newly gained distance to the Stack System. 'I find that swinging a heavy club is great for building speed through strength, whereas the benefit of swinging a light club is giving my body permission to rotate as fast as possible,' he said. 'A realistic expectation from speed training would be a 3-5 mph gain of swing speed, or 10-20 yards of distance.' All the hard work has paid off for Johnson, who is finally living a dream that had been deferred.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
Wilson comes up clutch again as Athletics edge Mariners 7-6 in 11 innings
Seattle Mariners pitcher Carlos Vargas follows through after delivering a pitch to an Athletics batter during the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' celebrate their walk off victory against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson gets dunked as after the team's walk-off win against the Seattle Mariners after the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson reacts after hitting a walk off single against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson hits a walk off single against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson hits a walk off single against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Seattle Mariners pitcher Carlos Vargas follows through after delivering a pitch to an Athletics batter during the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' celebrate their walk off victory against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson gets dunked as after the team's walk-off win against the Seattle Mariners after the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson reacts after hitting a walk off single against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) Athletics' Jacob Wilson hits a walk off single against the Seattle Mariners during the 11th inning of a baseball game Monday, May 5, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall) WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jacob Wilson singled home the winning run in the 11th inning to give the Athletics a 7-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series between the top two teams in the AL West. Wilson finished with three hits and three RBIs, including a tying single against Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz leading off the 10th that scored automatic runner JJ Bleday. The Athletics then loaded the bases with nobody out, but Muñoz struck out the next three batters and still has not allowed an earned run this season. Advertisement One inning later, a sacrifice bunt by Gio Urshela and two intentional walks loaded the bases for Wilson. He smacked a one-out single off Casey Legumina (2-1) through the middle of a drawn-in infield as the Athletics pulled within a game of the first-place Mariners. It was Wilson's third walk-off hit in 62 major league games and second this season. Hogan Harris (1-0) got the win with a scoreless 11th. Miguel Andujar's sacrifice fly in the first and Wilson's RBI single in the second staked the Athletics to a 2-0 lead. Jorge Polanco, Rowdy Tellez, Miles Mastrobuoni and Ben Williamson each drove in a run in the third off Athletics starter Luis Severino to put Seattle ahead 4-2. Advertisement Shea Langeliers led off the fourth with his eighth homer and Lawrence Butler tied it with a two-out RBI single. Langeliers' sacrifice fly off Collin Snider in the seventh gave the Athletics a 5-4 advantage. Cal Raleigh drew a walk from Grant Holman in the eighth and scored on a two-out single by Williamson to tie it. Seattle starter Bryce Miller allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings. Severino permitted four runs on five hits and four walks in six innings. Key moment Athletics closer Mason Miller walked two in the ninth before coming back to strike out Raleigh for the third out. Key stat Advertisement The Mariners are looking to win nine consecutive series for the first time since taking a franchise-record 15 straight in 2001. Up next Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (1-1, 6.62 ERA) starts the middle game of the series Tuesday night against LHP Jeffrey Springs (4-3, 4.98). ___ AP MLB:
