The America's Cup Finale

Half of San Francisco's Financial District played hooky from work Wednesday afternoon and walked to the northern waterfront to watch the final race of the months-long America's Cup saga.



In an improbable, and downright suspicious, turn of events, the Oracle USA team crawled back from an 8-1 deficit over the last week and won the series 9-8 yesterday. As Cedric Westphal put it, where do you think Larry Ellison hid the extra weights on the boat this time around?



Still, the event was fun, and now we will see who's going to pick up the tab for all the bills. The races were grotesquely oversold by local politicians as a combination of the Olympics, Super Bowl and World Series, which was ridiculous on the face of it. For a smart, absorbing recap of the last three years of political and financial shenanigans surrounding the event, click here for a cover story by Joe Eskenazi at the SF Weekly called Sea Monsters. And for a very amusing poem recounting the entire saga, click here for 40 Going on 28's Chanson de Larry's Boat Thing.