In a bit of very bad news, Darius Fleming, the 5th round LB from Notre Dame tore his ACL in his first pro minicamp last Friday. This wasn’t the nutcracker, or even a hitting drill, but a non-contact drill in which he came down awkwardly on it. He tried to keep going, but it was obvious there was a problem. It is just the ACL, and nothing else that was damaged, so that’s a little bit of good news. However, he’s pretty much gone for the year. He had signed a 4 year deal worth $2.3 million the day before. Fleming was likely going to be a special teamer and back up, but this is a set-back in his development. Hopefully this is a blip in the future of his career.
In other news, Alex Smith’s mechanics are being given a thorough workover, and supposedly he is looking to stop sailing shit high and to the right. Smith had a great year last year, but there were times he was a little off on some throws. He has been working with Tom House, renowned pitcher and pitching guru for the Atlanta Braves, among others (Nolan Ryan ring a bell?). He has a doctorate degree in sports psychology, and had been working with QBs for the past 10 years. Apparently he found a problem with Smith’s delivery where he was compensating for losing a little shoulder strength (due to the surgeries) by moving his head to the left. He rebuilt Smith’s delivery to get a better release point, saying Smith had a perfect delivery before the injuries, so it’s a matter of getting back to that point. He also developed an excersize plan to rebuild strength in that surgically repaired shoulder.
What does it mean? Well diddly-squat. Or it means a break out year. We’ll see when we get there, but with a vastly improved WR corps, and a motivated Crabtree, we should see a better passing game this year. The RG spot remains a concern for me since they are likely to be throwing more, so protection to allow these deep patterns to develop is key. They seem to be fine though with the undersized guys they have in Kilgore Trout, David ‘missing’ Person, and erstwhile backup Alex Boone.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
WTF? WordPress is out to get me.
Having some technical difficulties here.
Not sure why comments are closed. My settings are fine.
Good to go now . . .
Don’t all storm the gates at once now . . .
Anyone know when the next OTAs are going to be held?
Ask and you shall receive…They will conduct OTAs May 22 to 24, May 29 to 31 and June 4 to June 7. They will wrap things up with a mandatory minicamp June 12 to 14.
Anything else? How to split the atom? How to commit the perfect crime? The meaning of life? I got all the fucking answers.
How about a drink?
Nip you know we always Say Hey!
Del Mar I can count on; thanks for the info Sir. Yeah Chuck had this laid out on the sidebar over there but it disappeared when Spitwad launched his latest attack on the site (I jest). It really IS so quiet over here that I do kinda look forward to the latest NFL stuff on the sked. Thanks.
My only other question is- What can you tell me about herding cats?? This is a skill position right? Could Alex do it with an improved throwing motion? Dunno…
(Chuck will curse the day he got this thing rolling again and the three stooges show up right away….poor Chuck)
BLEEP!
You got it, Phil . . .
hey
Say Hey!
hey it fuckin worked ! wow !
not feelin the avatar tho … where the fuck did that come from
lol
Rob, your avatar looks like SpongeBob eating a purple jellyfish. I think that happens on every episode right after Patrick breaks Squidward’s clarinet and then downs another Krabby Patty.
Saw this on Rob’s FB Wall:
Dominique Abell just answered a question about Rob!
Do you think that Rob is lazy?
I dunno. The picture there looked like a guy powering da beers and nachos. How lazy can that be??
How’s the weather?
I had a near death experience yesterday that has changed me forever. I went horseback riding. Everything was going fine until the horse started bouncing out of control. I tried with all my might to hang on, but was thrown off. Just when things could not possibly get worse, my foot gets caught in the stirrup. When this happened, I fell head first to the ground. My head continued to bounce harder as the horse did not stop or even slow down. Just as I was giving up hope and losing consciousness, the Walmart manager came and unplugged it. Thank Christ for heroes!
You’re a brave man, Dennis.
How about a drink!
Shit you had me there for a minute Denny. Good one.
Hey did ya see some horse (“I’ll have Anther”?) won the Preakness. I’m sure you did- do you think he can last in the Belmont??
NO!
It’s the first time Nipper has ever said ‘No’ to “I’ll have Another”.
I think this horse wins the Triple Crown, serious
Man who fathered 30 kids says he needs a break—on child support
Oh I thought this was a TO article. Never mind
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/man-fathered-30-kids-needs-break-child-support-140439765.html
Chuck was on the BEAT! He’s pissed off! What else is new?
The Chron still has an A’s blog?
What a waste of internet space.
You’re missing the wisdom of Mossback, troll extraordinaire!
Nip, you piqued my interest. So much so that I even left my first comment in many a moon. I feel like such a low-life for having visited the Beat — even more than usual.
What’s next the gutter?
That would be moving UP.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4600866/the_jeffersons_theme_song/
Dennis up from the sewers looking for action!
New post . . .