Just when it was safe to have an inkling of hope for the 49ers, Aldon smith decides to go an a little rampage and get into a fight with someone over a parking spot. After ramming the offending parker, Smith apparently left the scene and decided to get his drink on. Smart guy that he is, he goes back to the scene of the dust-up and is promptly arrested. Of Course Aldon denies being drunk when he hit the guy. He decided to get drunk after the fact.
Whatever. Until he realizes that he’s his won worst enemy, he won’t get any help. Thing is though, a talent like that won’t be on the sidelines forever. Pacman, and a few others, have made the trip from iron bars to the gridiron.
Anyhow, Tomsula apparently insisted on handling this alone, much like Harbaugh did the first time around. The only difference being Jimbo felt no problem with letting Aldon play hours after being let out of jail. Or letting RayMac play despite 2 run-ins with the police regarding domestic violence charges. Because, you know, winning matters more than character. say what you will about Tomsula, but he handled this situation very well.
Other than that, Frank Gifford passed away over the weekend. He was a little before my time, and Christ, I’d think death would be a happy escape from Kathy Lee, but for all intents and purposes, he was a great football player. I never liked him though. And I don’t know why. Too goodie goodie I guess?
Guys of that era went through a lot more punishment, as penalties were pretty much not called on anything that didn’t constitute attempted murder. The guy was MVP one year, and led the Giants to a championship in the 50s. He played running back, a little QB, defensive back, and became a WR after famously getting knocked unconscious by Chuck Bednarik of the Eagles and retiring for a season. No penalty of course. The picture of Bednarik exulting over his unconscious body is an enduring legacy of football in the golden age.
Beyond that, he was a very good, if bland, announcer for The NFL Today on CBS, and more famously as the foil for Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meredith on Monday Night Football for nearly 30 years. Though he was a highly respected football player, he didn’t reach the HOF until 27 years after his retirement. Hmmm. I don’t dislike him so much anymore.
RIP Frank.
Forty Niners Forever 
And yes, Harbs sucking the life out of the building with his massive ego had something to do with the players checking out . . .
That’s how you get 20 players on IR. They were going through the motions and checking out.
Here is a list ofm the top remaining free agents. Name,pos, age, note:
1. Aldon Smith OLB 27 SF Off-the-field issues
2. Evan Mathis G 34 PHI
3. Jake Long OT 30 STL ACL surgery
4. Red Bryant DE 31 JAX
5. Pierre Thomas RB 30 NO
6. Brandon Spikes ILB 28 BUF Legal issues
7. Lance Briggs OLB 34 CHI
8. Chris Myers C 33 HOU
9. Zach Miller TE 29 SEA
10. Anthony Collins OT 29 TB
11. Chris Cook CB 28 SF
12. Ahmad Bradshaw RB 29 IND Broken leg
13. Geno Hayes OLB 28 JAX
14. Jacquian Williams OLB 27 NYG
15. Brian De La Puente C 30 CHI
16. Bernard Pollard S 31 TEN
17. Gosder Cherilus OT 31 IND
18. Sam Baker OT 30 ATL Possibly Retiring
19. Dawan Landry S 33 NYJ
20. Barry Cofield DT 31 WAS Offseason surgery
21. Chris Johnson RB 30 NYJ
22. Dwight Freeney OLB 35 SD
23. Reggie Wayne WR 37 IND
24. Steven Jackson RB 32 ATL
25. Rob Sims G 32 DET
Lots of big names, looking like a changing of the guard.
Sims is likely cheap. He was coming off knee surgery, and had a down year, but a one-year shot is worth a try. He was good for a lot of years.
Get on it Baalke.
The interesting name on there for me is Brian DeLaPuente. He played at a high level at C and OG for a few years. He was originally a 49er.
I remember him, I think he was grabbed off
the PS
Yeah, he’s from Cal iirc.
Meanwhile on the “other” blog they’re predicting between 2 and 6 wins for our Niners. Sir Spit doesn’t see how the Niners can beat anyone. The white flag of defeat is flying high over Geneoushire! Skeebers is ready to abandon his foxhole and retreat into the hills.
Is that the same Spitty who is no longer a fan of the Niners as of the leaving of Jim Harbaugh? Go Wolverines!
What a lame hypocrite. Not that he ever had any but cred is way gone loser.
I still like Evan Mathis
Also lance Briggs
Last I heard Kilgore’s prognosis is looking better and better.
He needs to get off the pup list before end of preseason. Then get in game shape.
This line is going to be a big deal. They need to get ready.
Oh Buwwitt. Chuckles this, chuckles that. Unrequited love is a bitch. Sorry pal. You guys have been saying for months that the clubhouse wasn’t divided. What Jones said is a direct contradiction to that.
Players checked out. They weren’t in it to win it. Going through the motions, indeed.
Ah yes, the famous Chuck Bednarik hit. Knocked Gifford out cold. Bednarik was known for his vicious clothesline hits, as Gifford can attest to (could attest to?!) Gifford was before my time as well, but I used to be a real nut for NFL as well as MLB history, so I read a lot about guys of that era, looked at a lot of those great old photographs. No pansy rules in those days, it was kill or be killed and I say that more in literal terms than figurative ones. To quote the great Jack Lambert, “There ain’t no cowards out here.”
I believe that game was at the old Yankee Stadium. You think Levi’s has bad turf? Cop a gander at the sod in the picture. You didn’t hear a lot of bitching about things like the grass then.
You can read some of Chuck Bednarik’s quotes here:
http://www.sportsfeelgoodstories.com/best-football-quotes/
A bygone era indeed.
The Niners are not alone in this recent history of thugish behavior, not by a long shot, but they keep this bullshit up and they be recruiting from Pop Warner teams.
All this shit was going on back in the day. From domestic abuse to drinking and driving to fucking around and all the other shit. It was either not discovered, swept under the carpet, or ignored.
Agreeing with Jones isn’t the point, Buwwitt. You stupid fucking toad. All I heard for months was how Jones had the pulse of the team blah blah blah he knows everything about the players
You are the one spinning what he said, dumb-fuck. He said the players checked out. He could see it on the field. That isn’t a few players, nimrod. (but but but….!)
Sorry, I apologize to all the other nimrods out there who might take offense to me calling Buwwlitt a dumb-fuck. After all, his bother’s friend’s mom’s uncle is a nimrod.
Bubble boy indeed. More like Glue head.
Brent Jones clearly said that the 49ers were just going through the motions last year. The North Korean does not want to hear that. He is dismissing and diminishing what Jones said. His narrative is his own. Typical. In North Korea one must believe what they tell you to believe, not what is true. He is proselytizing his false perceptions and idolizations about last year and Jim Harbaugh. “Sometimes a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”
It looks like Tomsula is not placing a lot of emphasis on winning pre-season games. He has stated he is not playing some veterans because he knows what they have. He wants to see some younger guys and what they bring.
That is exactly what he’s supposed to do. We do need do find a couple of gems in our rookies. We got pretty slammed this off-season. Get a few good rooks and we can take a lickin and keep on tickin.
Timex anyone?
Good. Perfect approach to preseason. Just one more sign that tomsula is on the right track
Meanwhile on the “other” blog ……..Chuck and Berger are getting roasted alive by Bullit. Man does the guy have issues! Perhaps they have a “shrink” on the other blog and will help him out.
The Pack on O looked very impressive behind Rodgers tonight, both in the air and on the ground. They weren’t able to punch it in, but there’s some Game 1 sloppiness both from the Pats and them.
The only reason The Pack won’t put up 50 against our new defense is that they’re methodical rather than big strike. 38-17 Oct. 4
The Jets and the Redskins are pathetic, and Johnny Eightball actually looked like an NFL QB, though the Redskins will do that to a lot of people. Too bad the NFL won’t let me watch the late games.
Justin.tv has gone out of business after years of semi-enormous satisfaction (I sure learned about anti-malware software, that’s for sure). Anybody know where to find a good site to watch these games?
I hope Carrier grabs the #2 spot behind Davis, he has the best hands of the TE group.
Yup. Carrier looks like a keeper to me too
He’s got to stay healthy first.
Not sure RTF. I’ll ask around.
Thanks Chuck. The streams from Justin.tv and its derivatives were hit and miss, and some malware was harder to stop and more dangerous than others, but I sure watched a lot of games that way. Believe it or not, The Department of Homeland Security started to crack down on it a few years ago. Terrorists using the malware in the football streams, or the NFL using its enormous monopolistic non-profit clout in Washbag D.C.?
Direct TV. It uses satellite and you can take the dish to a new address. They have every NFL game.
Thanks Reno and Chuck. I found what I was looking for: ifirstrowus. eu (no space before “eu”. This was the sort of site that justin linked to.
HINT: IF A LINK STATES “TO RUN THIS YOU MUST FIRST DOWNLOAD THIS…”
DON’T
I’m watching Bills @ Carolina right now online to test it out.
Car @ Buf (Buf’s home)
Figures. Company came over during the first quarter and I mostly missed what I wanted to see. I really did want to see Buffalo, and get a hint of whether Roman can turn chicken shit into chicken soup. But I got a rare hassle free, near perfect link (very small screen the only problem). It must be preseason. I’ll try again next game.
There is only one thing that I care about for the 1st pre-season game. The snap. I’m so tired of the Singletary/Harbaugh system of sending in plays and running the clock down to one that I had to have Harbaugh fired if it didn’t change. If Tomsula does the same thing I just give up. I’ll immediately call form his head too. Blaming a QB for a bonehead coach is just as tiresome. This is the most important thing I want to see.
If the snap count and tempo is good I’ll look for some other things. First things first.
berger- to be honest i’m not gonna look for anything until the 3rd game. If by then we don’t have a little continuity with the offense I will start to wonder. We just have to many new faces to take much seriously at this time. It sure would be nice to see the ball put in play with some time left on the clock, that’s something that hasn’t been seem for years now. With the new OL I imagine we will not be in tuned with everything just yet.
Winder- Getting the ball snapped in a timely fashion is a coaching thing. It doesn’t take until game 3. We will see it immediately or we will not see it. I can understand some issues with personnel making for some delay of game penalties in the first couple of pre-season games but I don’t want to see a play calling system that takes over 10 seconds to snap the ball once we get set in the formation. Call one play in the huddle, line up and either call an audible or snap the ball. There will probably be zero audibles in the first game.
Hopefully we won’t see the confusion that was prevalent last season. I agree it’s something that the coaches have to fix.