Tim Kawakami is a longtime columnist at the Mercury News in San Jose, where part of his duties involve reporting on the 49ers. In 2011 he half-jokingly tweeted about buying 49ers owner Jed York lunch if the team's new stadium was completed before 2014.
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I stand by my offer: If 49ers build a Santa Clara stadium by Sept. 2014, I'll buy @mattbarrows & @jedyork lunch in Napa (& I might have to)
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) December 14, 2011
He lost the bet, and was willing to pay up, but didn't expect to pay up quite as much as he did. A few weeks ago on his podcast, Kawakami told the story (for the first time) about what ended up happening with the bet. Kawakami, a few reporters, York and York's wife were all going to meet up for the meal. The initial tweet was to eat lunch at a local restaurant, but York changed it into dinner at French Laundry, which is a very (very) fancy restaurant.
York said he would pay for his wife's meal, but when the bill came "he doesn't move, he doesn't budge." The reporters paid for their parts of the bill, but Kawakami got stuck with three-fifths of the bill, which ended up being $2,100. He also tried to get York, a billionaire owner, to pitch in a little on the tip, but to no avail.
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"If I thought Jed was sticking it to me, I’d almost be OK with it," he said. "I don’t even think he knew. I don’t think he knew what $2,100 means to a sportswriter who didn’t inherit a billion-dollar team."
Kawakami said he was "stunned" by the fact York stuck him with the bill and that this story is a perfect explainer into the owner's mind.
ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio reached out to York, who didn't deny the details of the story. Instead, he hoped to move the conversation to a private setting rather than through the media.
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“The bet took place two years ago, and Tim has never shared his concerns about the dinner with me,” York told PFT. “I am happy to speak with Tim one-on-one so we can all move forward.”
Kawakami responded to the reaction to the story on Twitter later in the day. He quote-tweeted ProFootballTalk's story by replying, "Good Lord."
Jed York is free to say whatever he wishes. And I guess we know that Jed talks to @ProFootballTalk! (That was never in doubt, actually.)
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) May 18, 2016
Basically, Kawakami is upset about how he was portrayed in this. He didn't just tell this story to tell it. He invited the Warriors' Harrison Barnes on the podcast, who asked him about the story. Barnes wanted the story, so Kawakami told it to him. It wasn't so much to illustrate that night in particular, but rather reveal the mindset of York in a setting that not everyone can see.
It is interesting to see this story--told very specifically by me--get different interpretations by differing points of views. So it goes.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) May 18, 2016
I purposely waited 2 years to tell the story publicly because I wanted to separate it from anything that was happening at the time.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) May 18, 2016
Then I only was going to tell it if the right situation came up--not for a column or a blog-item. Barnes wanted a story. Situation came up.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) May 18, 2016
One thing seems clear through all of this — Kawakami won't be making any more bets with team owners.
