The quest for 6 starts today in the final opening day at the venerable crumbledone, AKA Candlestick Park. Funny, I remember the opening season at the Stick back in 1971. It was an astroturf monstrosity back then, which was akin to playing on the concrete in the parking lot. Players routinely broke legs and separated shoulders on that field, and I seem to remember Jim Lash shattering both his elbows in his short and ill-fated time with the 49ers. The Joe Thomas legacy, shitty as it is can only praised for putting the natural grass back into the Stick. To supposedly ease the stress on a fading OJ Simpsons knees. Simpson did little as a Niner, but at least he got the carpet out . . .

Anyhow, will the 2013 season be the lucky one for these Niners? Lots of people think so, but the word out of Vegas is that the Broncos are the odds-on favorites to win it all. At least that’s what the numbers were a couple days ago. Crazy. I think if the Niners had faced Denver last year instead of Balt it wouldn’t have been close. Sour grapes? Maybe, but the future is now. The Niners play 4 playoff teams in their first 5 games, and the 5th team is one they couldn’t quite figure out in the Rams. The early sledding is rough, and game one is against a team that was embarrassed badly by the Niners in the playoffs. The Packers. I hate to be overconfident, but I think we should win this one fairly handily. The Pack has geeked and overgeeked themselves silly for months over the read-option. Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy sent his entire staff to visit with Kevin Sumlin’s staff at Texas A&M to learn the read-option. I think we may use it, but not much at all. I think Roman and Harbaugh expect the Packers to overreact to the read-option, and will shadow Kappy. Either with an LB or a safety. Maybe they’ll even switch them up. The Niners can exploit this throwing behind the linebackers and getting behind the shadow over the middle. A good spot for VD and VM.