In a crazy bit of timing, the San Francisco Giants, winners of their divisional series last night, will be travelling to St. Louis today. If they planned it any better, they could share their plane with the 49ers, who are travelling to St. Louis for a Monday night matchup with the Rams. They could also possibly rub shoulders with them to get a sense of how a real team is supposed to act. All baseball season, all you heard about was the Dodgers and their ace pitchers, their ginormous payroll, and their Cuban psycho player Yasiuel Puig. Or the Nationals and their superstar players, pitcher Ryan Strassburg and major-league douche-bag Bryce Harper. Or the A’s and their scrappy play, or the Angels and their enormous payroll, Yankees, Red Sox, blah blah blah.
The Giants? No one had them on the map. Even after their hot start. They didn’t complain about their myriad injuries that threatened to derail their season, their anemic (for months) hitting, and their lot in life as they went from 21 games over .500 and a 10 game lead in early June to 5 games over .500 and 6.5 games back in late August. They just kept battling as new pieces were picked up from the scrap heap, and untested rookies stepped up and contributed huge. No one getting arrested, no fights, no front office turmoil (self-generated or otherwise) no crazy distracting antics, and no headline-grabbing bullshit. Just playing the next game on the schedule.
The Giants mantra was, just get in. Play October baseball. Reach the playoffs and everyone has a 0-0 record. A new season. A new beginning. In one short week they have knocked off the favored wild card Pittsburgh Pirates, and the best team in the National League Washington Nationals. The Giants did it through strong pitching, solid defense, and a bullpen tough as nails. They may not reach the promised land and win it all, but a lot of people are going broke betting against these guys.
Jed York, Trent Baalke, and Jim Harbaugh can learn a lot from this Giants team. They need to stick to the business at hand and neither create, nor flame, any distractions that could derail what they are trying to accomplish. Ignore the tornado of bullshit flying around the HQ and just play football.
Truth is, the 49ers ARE on a bit of a roll. Much like the Giants, they struggle mightily to score, but play solid defense, and are slowly minimizing the God-awful penalties that plagued them the first couple games. If this team eventually figures out that what works between the 20s can work in the red zone, they just might be on to something. PLEASE ditch the trick plays and just play sound football.
Forty Niners Forever 
For those of you who don’t know, Lou Dog of course was the pet Dalmatian of one Bradley Nowell. Lead singer, guitarist, and founder of Sublime, a funk-ska thrash punk band from Long Beach. Unfortunately, Lou Dog outlived Bradley, but Lou Dog is memorialized in a bunch of Sublime songs.
One more . . .
I don’t have anything to say about baseball, but trick plays like a fake punt is what won the KC game. With a little help from KC’s 12 men penalty and Reid putting the game in the hands of the coach killer.
I agree. The trick plays are crucial and won the game for us. If Chuck had his head any further up his ass this blog would be entertaining.
I guess you dig stupidly close games that could be won by a lot more points.
Silly me. Oh yeah, It’s Baalke’s fault.
Terent Baalke: The 2nd best GM in Niner history!
Chuck – Do agree this organization will plummet after Harbaugh leaves?
A fake punt doesn’t stop the flow of the offense. I’m referring to the shit we used to do when Alex was QB, and we’d bring in Kappy for a play or two. Most often all that did, like the Boldin throw, was stall out drives.
I don’t mind a gadget play here or there, but the point is, we seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot whenever we try them. The fake punt being a glaring exception.
Well, that’s true enough. When they don’t work trick plays always look pretty stupid. But they can stop a slide and change momentum when they do.
So glad you’re here. Spitty. Have they thrown you off every other blog in existence?
Not all of them… just the Chron and Press Democrat. You can only tell Grant Cohn he’s a motherless son of a bastard father so often.
Nice post, chuck. Not just the Giants part. I lived down the street from those Sublime cats in the LBC. Great parties.
No shit. That’s pretty cool. So you saw ’em play? Never managed to get to t show. Crazy times . . .
Yeah, saw them quite a few times. They opened for another buddy of mine on a tour of CA. Caught one of their last shows in Santa Cruz right before Bradley passed. Weird thing was that SCPD had flyers all over downtown and the flats a day or two after saying there was a bad batch out there and you could drop it at the station no questions asked. Related? I don’t know but still…
Those guys rocked man.
No wonder Chuck is one crazy dude.
Shit. Yeah, A musician friend of mine had a big party at the Phoenix Hotel in the Tenderloin. That of course lives in infamy as the place where Bradley died. It’s a favorite of musicians as it is in the middle of a lot of drugs.
BLEEP the red zone offense! Beat the Lambs!
Spitty, it depends on who they get to replace Harbaugh. I don’t think they’ll shit-can him if he wins the Super Bowl, but I think he’ll be on real shakey ground if he doesn’t.
This isn’t a Super Bowl caliber team. But your first sentence is the most important one….. “…depends on who they get to replace Harbaugh.” It’s an interesting question. Jed York needs to see that if he dumps Harbaugh, or lets him get away that he’ll need a great name to squash post-Harbaugh unrest. Jim Tomsula would see the fan base escalate from pitch forks to bazookas overnight. But really, who’s out there? Mike Holmgren? John Gruden? Bill Cower? This 49er team could entice a name like that to come out of retirement. I think Holmgren would do it for cheap – a return to SF. But I also think Holmgren would suck – like he did in Cleveland. Cower might come out of retirement for this team. He chimed in on the Harbaugh controversy. He might be paying close attention for personal reasons. He would be the best retread, but my gut tells me Cower’s retired for good.
But those are retreads, and as well all know, retreads don’t usually work. Even the great Parcels didn’t make much post-Giants post season noise. A retread would keep the 49er fan base from arming themselves with bazookas, but a retread wouldn’t make this team a serious Super Bowl contender every year. Then when the retread’s gone, the team’s in slow decline. But a retread’s the safest way to go.
York’s biggest gamble is to go with a young unknown – a dude with creativity and energy. A coach who’s a leader of men who’s also passionate and real with his players. But if York goes that route, the organization better produce and produce fast because a few loses early and the entire thing that Jim Harbaugh has built up will come unraveled fast. So York’s faced with a decision – go with a retread and watch the entire organization slowly come unraveled, or take a serious gamble and go with an unknown and hope like hell he wins right off and doesn’t lose the players and the fans.
There’s always a chance Jed York finds unknown gold, but I don’t see it. I honestly think Bill Cower would be the best option for this football team, but that’s provided Bill Cower can find himself a great offensive coordinator. But by then, Spitblood will no longer be a 49er fan. Even if they get Cower.
What Jed York should be doing is preparing to give Harbaugh whatever Harbaugh feels he needs to succeed.
There’s always Dennis Allen. Getting fired by the Raiders he should come cheap.
Giants and Niners winning, does it get any better than this?? ha ha NO. Hopefully they watched the films of the last game and use Boldin across the middle more. That play was working!! Once the Niners figure out how to score TD and not just FG they will be a great all around team. FG’s are nice if you are in the lead or it is a close game. FG’s don’t do shit for you when you are down by 14. The pass protection was much better in the last game. If that continues and Kaep has more time to read the field they should be able to score.
Yeah. I point to the (NY) Giants as a team that struggled early and found their groove pretty quickly. Kappy isn’t near as experienced as Eli, but he’s coming along, and making his reads. He had the brain fart on the hot read slant again, but that’s fixable.
He hit guys on his 2nd and 3rd reads a few times. Sure, he missed a couple, but al in all a good effort. The pass pro was much better despite the 2 sacks in a row to kill a drive.
Spitty, ‘Super Bowl caliber’ is in the eye of the beholder. The goddamn Ravens weren’t super bowl caliber. This team has the potential to be MUCH BETTER defensively with just Aldon Smith coming back. If Bowman and Dorsey come back at full strength, we’ll be sitting pretty. Healthy and deep.
I’m hoping these guys can figure out the last problem, and that’s the red zone offense. Get that rolling, and I think we are better than Seattle. Shit, the Redskins nearly beat them. San Diego? Please. They are good. But not all that good. With this defense, we shouldn’t lose more than 2 more games down the stretch.
Seattle is a different animal entirely at home, and we’re a game behind them in the standings. That’s why the loss to the Bears was so disheartening. All that said, we go into Seattle in the playoffs and anything’s possible, provided the refs don’t have an anti-Harbaugh agenda like they did last year.
You worry too much. So does Chuck. All that rock music really has had effect.
Uh oh. AP smoked pot. He’s officially effed.
Everyone has smoked pot including everyone’s grandma. Light up baby!
He’s out on bail and the DA is asking to revoke it because of failed test and AP’s statement.
Niners are absolutely a SB caliber team. The stretch run see’s two of the leagues very best players returning to action and Lattimore is available to return to practice next week for depth.
Kap and the O in general are having teething problems both with the scheme and the new personnel as well as the O line still not back to full strength. Once the get enough time together the O is fully capable of blow outs.
Don’t know how Nostradamus himself can say the Niners are not a SB team after 5 games with amix n match O line, injured starters such as VD and new skill players at WR.
Give it a freaking minute would ya.
Yeah!
The 49ers might not even make the playoffs. Right now, they’re the 3rd best team in their division, and playing like it. We’d all agree the 49ers will get better over the course of year, no doubt about it. That’s not the question. The question is will they make it into the playoffs at all.
And then, if they get there, I have serious doubts about their passing attack and their secondary. The might be able to clean up their offensive passing attack, but their secondary will be suspect through the playoffs.
Squawks might not make the playoffs. It’s way too early to rule in or rule out either team. Year after year hot teams collapse and crappy teams get hot. Try not to piss in your own cheerios skippy.
Yeah, you’re probably right. A team that’s 3-1, with the biggest home field advantage in the NFL (a team that’s lost only once to Arizona at home in the last two years) a team that will definitely be favored to win all of its future games this year, probably won’t make the playoffs. Two words for you: Wanna bet?
I’ll bet you a $100 the Seahawks make the playoffs, and I’ll bet you another $100 the 49ers don’t. The first thing you’ll try to do to weasel your way out of this is discredit me, but my credit’s good here. I pay my bets if I lose. What do you say, 12th?
Oh make it a grand.
Makes me wonder why they bother to play the games Spitty. The teams should just pay closer attention to your every word.
How old are you? Maybe we should just get out our dicks and see who’s is biggest although I figure you would win since it goes from your feet to the top of your head.
What a joke you are turning into.
Ah yes, the true litmus test – the bet. When you don’t want to bet, you know you’re wrong, stretching the truth or just plain spinning bullshit. All 12th has is insults. Figures.
Ahh yes, the wreak of faux smug superiority. The idea that betting somehow strengthens or weakens someones opinions fits you like a glove, childish.
There have been times in the past when you have been funny, now you are the joke. And speaking of which, what happens when spitblood takes Viagra? He gets taller…
I stand corrected, you crying about being insulted if funny as shit.
Why don’t you go busy yourself making the Jim Harbaugh fan club. I’m sure it would be as wildly popular as your last blogging venture you being the interesting and well respected driver of current opinion.
Spitty meet mirror, you are a sad pathetic excuse for a person. You jump on nice guys like NJ and insult the guy every chance you get to show your blogging prowess which much like your life is a figment of your own imagination. Your contrived and imaginary arguments are boring as fuck.
Go fish.
Put your money where your mouth is … or you’re just full of hot air.
Lol, did you puff your chest up when typing that?
Time to grow up baby boy, have an adult conversation some time or piss off and let the adults talk.
Apparently 12th man doesn’t understand the saying “Put up or shut up.”
You know I think I did hear of that one time, in college or maybe high school.
It’s no surprise you need to resort to infantile shit like “wanna bet” to try to strengthen your weak ass boring as all hell arguments, no substance so try bravado huh.
The day I let an intellectual pygmy geneous like you dictate the terms of a debate will be my last on earth.
Go play in the kiddie pool where you belong.
As far as penalties go, did you watch the Monday Night game? Seattle got dinged for everything. Seattle is the most penalized team in the league. The refs were doing all they could to give Washington the victory. Much like the Bear game for the Niners. Shit even the Niners didn’t lose 3 TDs on bullshit penalties. Carroll started looking like Harbaugh out there.
Lots of rumors about moving 2 teams to LA. Raiduhs lease is up at end of this season. Rams could go, or Chargers. Raiduhs to LA and Harbs their new coach? What a story it would be…
I think it will be the Raiders too. What I would really like to see is some restructuring with the nfc and the afc. I am a traditionalist but having the Rams in our division isn’t what it used to be. I would be willing to trade leagues if we could get Seattlle, Oakland, and San Diego as a division. The travel time would be wonderful for all the teams and we could play the Raiders twice a year.
Lol- if we put all the west coast teams in the same division I wonder how the other division would look like. It could work if LA does get two teams.
Hey, it wasn’t that long ago that Atlanta and New Orleans were in the NFC West.
Shit, the Rams could come back.
Lambs
BAAAH!
“A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep.”
You know what’s funny? I think Nipper’s on to sumthin’. The word Dalmatian derives from the Illyrian word “delme” which means sheep. So what do we have here? We’ve got a sheep. And we have a dog with black spots.
Sheep Black
Baa Black
Baa Baa Black
Baa Baa Black Sheep!
I’m the King of Bullshit Comedy! I dare ya to knock my crown off. I dare ya.
Tough hombre
Sure he’s tough. For a guy who’s 5’5″.
Going to the Niners/Skins game Nov 23, anyone else, other than baby deer skin Spitblood going?
Oops, I forgot, he ain’t going to games cause he ain’t no Niner fan, just a lame troll who got lucky in life that blogging was invented so even a simpleton like him can have a forum for his mindless rants. Another Legend in his own lunchtime wannabe.
How’s the Jim Harbaugh fanclub coming along Spitty? Too bad he coaches the Niners, quite the conflict for you huh?