Empty Seats Turn Up to See Redwoods Win Home Opener

If the Trees win their home opener but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

The answer is yes, but not much. The UFL's California Redwoods won their inaugural home opener over the New York Sentinels 24-7 Saturday night at AT&T Park. But this UFL team is still nowhere near as popular an attraction as the actual California redwoods.

The announced crowd of 6,341 was the smallest crowd ever for any professional or collegiate sporting event in the history of AT&T Park, the San Jose Mercury News reports. But some skeptics are calling shenanigans on even that tiny total.

The SF Weekly's Joe Eskenazi has a few photos of Saturday's sparse AT&T Park crowd, and reports, "An alarming proportion of the fans I chatted with before, during, and after the game were there to root on their brothers, cousins, friends, and roommates' friends on the field of play."

 "An utterly adorable little girl held aloft a sign reading 'Go Daddy No. 86'," Eskenazi writes.

Fans took the Redwoods' NorCal colors and imagery to heart. "When whole swaths of the stands are empty, there's no one to stop you from smoking reefer," Eskenazi observed firsthand.

The Redwoods are coached by Denny Green, of "If you wanna crown 'em, then crown their a**!" fame, and feature ex-Raider defensive lineman Chris Cooper and former Baltimore Ravens return star B.J. Sams. Plus, San Francisco Examiner photographer reports along with his slideshow of game pictures that Redwoods running back John David Washington is the son of actor Denzel Washington. Who knew?

The Redwoods are now 1-1 on the season, and face the Florida Tuskers Thursday at 4 p.m. PDT. The game will be broadcast live via streaming video at UFL-Football.com

Joe Kukura is a freelance writer whose first question for California Redwoods coach Denny Green will be, ""Who the hell takes the third game of the preseason like it's bull***t? BULL***t?!?!"

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