AS OF THIS week, the San Jose Earthquakes have moved their offices to a space within spitting distance of Buck Shaw Stadium at Santa Clara University, immediately adding fuel to the speculation that said locale is where the team will play most of its home games while it waits for new stadium negotiations to bear fruit. This could make sense, as both Buck Shaw and the new offices are pretty much directly across the railroad tracks from the FMC property that the Quakes are hoping to acquire for a brand-new ultramodern facility to serve as the soccer headquarters of Northern California. The Santa Clara Caltrain Station sits right smack in the middle of it all, so transportation to Buck Shaw will pose no problem, if that place does indeed become the temporary home pitch. Quite a few questions still remain to be answered, though. For example, why did San Jose State, the oldest public institution of higher learning in California currently celebrating its 150th anniversary, want absolutely nothing to do with the Earthquakes anymore? Did Spartan football fans feel that threatened by having to share a brand-new facility with somebody else? In any event, the Quakes unveiled their 2008 kit a few weeks ago and appear to be headed full force into a new era.

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