Forty Niners Forever

Fairly busy offseason for the NFL. Unfortunately for Goodie Goodell, it involves murder, assault, and the entire Denver Bronco coaching staff going out on a bender and getting caught driving while blind. New England Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard was arrested for DUI, Raiders linebacker Kaluka Maiava was charged with assault for an incident in Hawaii.  This brings the total arrests for NFL personnel since the Super Bowl to an even 30. And the hat gets all the talk. We have pot arrests, assault, breaking and entering, street racing, public drunkenness, illegal weapons possession, failure to appear, criminal mischief, even casino fraud.

You’d think Goodell would come down hard on this behavior, and you’d think the fans would want to hold these guys accountable, but  no one really cares. It’s like the steroid issue in baseball. Bug Selig plays the ‘look how good we’re doing’ card while another bogus lab gets busted with a list of a ton on players who are juicing. The fans? Ho hum. They don’t give a shit. Ahmad Brooks busts up a teammate with a beer bottle, and it’s zzzzzzzz. Colin Kaepernick puts on a hat, and the fan base comes unglued. Like all the good things he has done in his short career has been undone by his choice of chapeau.

It makes me wonder what y’all think about this. Goodell talks a good game, and has levied some serious suspensions on some players for some serious things, but the Denver coaches likely won’t face repercussions. Guys are getting busted at an alarming rate, and the NFL offices can’t keep up. The NFL steroid testing is fairly murky and unknown to me, so I don’t know if it’s wink wink, we’re clean, or it actually has some deterrence factor to it. For as rampant I’d think it is, you rarely hear about PED suspensions. All this other shit though? Crazy. At least no animals were harmed recently.

Granted, these guys fall prey to the same things us regular folks do, but the DUI thing has to be a bit stupid as hell. You go clubbing, hire a damned driver. Assault and murder? Hey, some things you have to take care of yourself. The point being, these guys should be able to at least stay of of jail for DUIs. Weapons and shit are also stupid in the extreme. If you are hanging in places where you need a gun, you may want to rethink what you are doing. The rest? Criminy, who knows?

The blog world is all atwitter regarding our ascendant quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and his gall for wearing a Miami Dolphins hat in public last week. After feeling the slings and arrows from Niner fans on twitter (I guess) and of course, the media frenzy on a slow news day, he replied with this:

“This the hat y’all mad at? I’m goin wear what I want regardless of what you think, all you need to worry about is the fact that I grind for my teammates and the 49ers! I plan on doin this until they won’t let me in the building!”

Excuse me if I don’t feel the need to throw him under the bus quite yet. Some folks question his commitment to the team (really?), some think he’s a thug and a punk (whatever. Old ground), some think he’s simply immature (possible). My take? Get a grip. It’s a hat, for God’s sake. Is it juvenile wear another football team’s hat? Sure. Is it wrong  to call out the media for dogging his attire? No. last time I checked, people are free to wear what they choose. Is it misguided to wear another team’s colors? Well, yeah. I suppose, but you see players wear other team’s hats all the time. However, it mostly is guys wearing hats from a different sport. As in Alan Iverson wearing a Boston Red Sox hat, or Bron Bron wearing a Yankee hat. Kappy himself last year was sporting a Milwaukee Brewers hat for some interviews.  It makes sense as he was born in Wisconsin, and a baseball cap doesn’t conflict with football. If he was wearing a Packers hat, I could imagine the hooraw around something like that. Bitter rivals and all.

The Dolphins? Ehhh. Is it bad form? Sure. Does it bother me? Not in the least. Kappy has shown himself to be a true professional who works as hard as anyone else in the game, and is constantly pushing himself to be a better player. Plus, it’s the offseason. If this was 3 days before a Miami game, I’d be questioning his sanity, let alone his allegiance, but in July? Who cares? Will this be an issue in 3 months? No.

Just think, 237 years ago, we declared our freedom from the tyranny of a distant and uncaring government. Nowadays, we are run by even more distant and uncaring corporations. Jon-a-than! Jon-a-than! Jon-a-than!

In football news, one of the 49ers had to jump into the let’s-do-something-stupid-and-headline-grabbing sweepstakes with Ahmad Brooks going all fight-club on one of his teammates. Brooks was apparently pissed off that NT Lamar Divens pretended to throw his keys into the bushes. Brooks was apparently too drunk to drive at 2:30 am, so Ahmad should be thanking Lamar Divens for trying to keep him out of jail instead of busting him in the head 3 times with a beer bottle. Divens got a couple stitches for his efforts, and nothng else happened, except for the fact that Divens went to the cops.

Now of course Divens is thinking, hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t press charges. This could bite me in the ass, let alone my teammate. Problem is, the DA has the case now and can press charges without the cooperation of the victim, although this is usually only done in more heinous crimes. Your murders, your kidnappings, your rapes, and such. So, unless the DA has a real bug up his (or her) ass regarding Brooks, this’ll likely get swept under the rug and called a non-issue. Brooks, who isn’t a stranger to scrapes with the law, should take this to heed and thank his friends for trying to keep him out of trouble instead of kicking their asses. If you can’t handle the booze, stop drinking. Next time your friends are gonna let you go, and what then? Pull a Leonard Little? Josh Brent? A James Dean?

I’m out til Sunday to Tahoe to escape the heat. May or may not check in. Play nice. Be safe. If your friends think you are too drunk to drive, chances are, they are right.

The 2013 football season may be a couple months off, but the internet trash-talking season is in fine form. In the recent past, Jim Harbaugh called the ‘Hawks cheaters by saying, about the recent rash of ‘Hawk PED suspensions, “If you cheat to win, you’ve already lost.” This was followed by Seahawk CB Brandon Browner, he of a 4-game suspension for PED use last year, replying with “He’s never gonna be out there lined up against me. I wish he would. I’d put my hands around his neck.” Short and sweet. You have to wonder at some point during a game if a Seahawk spies Harbaugh on the sidelines, if he’ll take a cheap shot on the hyper one. Interesting to say the least. Kinda like Woody Hayes in reverse.

Golden Tate, ‘Hawk WR, also jumped into the mix with his comment that “I would try and give him the Sean Lee treatment.” To see what that is, click the following link http://thebiglead.fantasysportsven.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/golden-delivered-9-16-12.gif. Dude throws a blind-side block on a guy, and he deserves to weigh in, I suppose.

Someone had to be the voice of something other than stupidity, so that fell to Vernon Davis. He took the Bill Walsh route, and effusively praised the Seahawks, saying “They’re building a dynasty over there. They’ve got some good players over there. I mean, these guys are starving. So we have to really keep that in mind because these guys are coming to take us out. I respect them, just like I respect my team, but we want to win, too. We’re in it to win it. So we have to really make it upon our responsibility and put it all out there and play each game like it’s our last game.”

Sure, he’s a little over the top in his praise. The Niners have won the West the last 2 years, and while Seattle is improving greatly in a short amount of time, the word Dynasty is usually reserved for Super Bowl champions, not up-and-comers, no matter how good they look. Recent history would say the Niners are closer to dynasty status, but that matters not as well. Still, it’s better to try and calm the rhetoric down rather than stoke the flames. The good news is, these guys won’t have to wait long once the season starts. They face off in game 2 of the 2013 season. Unfortunately, it’s in Seattle. A tough place to play, regardless of the word-games these guys are playing.

The thing is, Harbaugh has put the team in an uncomfortable position with his choice of words. No one on the Niners better get caught using PEDs, or the shit-storm of hypocrisy cries will be never-ending. Surely Harbaugh can’t think that his team is clean, but the can of worms is open, and they are itching to slither out. I’d prefer Harbaugh just keep his mouth shut, but that isn’t his nature I suppose. Walsh’s way was to let his opponents choke on their words, and kick their ass on the field. The Walsh/Ditka feud springs to mind. Mike Ditka crowed on and on about how the Bears would ‘Chicago’ the warm-weather west-coast finesse team pussies that the Niners were back in 1988. Walsh said, yeah, it’ll be tough to win on the road in that weather. Tough for Chicago to score, anyway, as they Niners beat them 28-3 on their way to their Super Bowl XXIII victory.

The point being, talk is cheap. Stupid talk is even cheaper. Let the Seahawks prattle on about revenge, disrespect, and all that. Go kick their ass on their turf and be done with it. The Niners should be fired up to beat on them after the ungodly shellacking they laid on us last year.

Crazy doings by Aaron Hernandez, the former $41 million dollar tight end of the New England Patriots.  He and Gronk were supposed to be the twin TE terrors in the AFC this year, but Gronk is still nursing his broken and infected arm, and, well, Hernandez is looking down the barrel of a murder charge. The evidence is apparently overwhelming, and the lastest I’ve heard comes from (!) Rotowire:

Ex-Patriot Aaron Hernandez has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Odin Lloyd, and is facing five additional gun charges. Hernandez has pled not guilty, but is being held without bail. We are not legal scholars — it’s surreal for a fantasy football site to have to cover such a senseless and macabre event — but the evidence the Attleboro District Court has collected against Hernandez over the past week appears damning bordering on overwhelming. Hernandez is alleged to have erased 6-8 hours of video footage from his home-security system, and was reportedly caught on tape saying “you can’t trust anyone anymore” before picking Lloyd up on the night of the murder. He was also caught on film walking through his home with a gun after the murder is alleged to have taken place, and reportedly left behind a shell-casing in a rental car. The prosecution believes Hernandez “orchestrated” the “execution.” This is just the first day of what is going to be a long and drawn out legal process, but the odds are remarkably high that Hernandez has played his last down of NFL football.

Here’s the contract he signed last year:

Sven-years $41.115 million. $16.4 million guaranteed, including a $12.5 million signing bonus. An annual  $500,000 roster bonus is due in years four through seven. An annual $500,000  workout bonus is available in years three through seven.
2013: $1.323 million,
2014: $1.2 million,
2015: $2.3 million,
2016: $5 million,
2017: $6 million,
2018: $6 million,
2019: Free Agent

Yikes. can’t say what drove him to murder, but yowza, he’s lost it all . . .

Which is good news I guess. No WRs were hurt in the last week, but then again nothing was going on. I suppose we should be happy that AJ Jenkins didn’t hurt humself taking a shower (he was wide open), Kyle Williams didn’t tear up his ankle walking his dog, or General Patton didn’t bog down in Bastogne.

Other than that, there’s little to do but watch and wait. 29 days (something like that) until camp opens, 43 days until preseason starts, and 74 days til opening kickoff . . .

In lieu of anything going on, the 49ers inked Brandon Carswell, he of his great fame at Milpitass HS, to a 2-year deal, and then moments later tore his ACL in a non-contact drill. This was a few days ago, but what the hell? Nothing is going on in football in general, or in Ninerland specifically. Vance McDonald, erstwhile 2nd round TE pick, supposedly had a great minicamp, and has been seen running impeccable seam routes. Huzzah. Let’s hope he doesn’t get hurt.

As it stands, only 36 days til the open of training camp, and it can’t come soon enough. On with the movie reviews . . .

To all you fathers out there, have a nice relaxing day. It helps to have really good kids. New day, fresh start and all that.

Color me curious, but what’s the deal with Tim Tebow signing with the Pats?  I know he’d grasp at any rope in the ocean, but what’s the point? He’s pretty much guaranteed himself no playing time at the QB position, seeing as he’s behind Tom Terrific and 2011 3rd round pick Ryan Mallett. He’d be behind any viable body at TE, H back, or any other position on the field not having anything to do with special teams. His contract is miniscule, with 0 guaranteed dollars, and bonuses based on playing time. In other words, he’s playing for free.

Yes, he gets to sit behind one of the best QBs of this or any other generation, and work with a QB-friendly system, but I still don’t get it. It’s not like NE is going to go full-press on developing Tebow. He’s the 3rd string guy. He’d be lucky to run the scout team. Someone who was in a similar situation as Tebow was Kurt Warner. Warner was undrafted, given a tryout with the Packers, and was cut before the preseason despite Steve Mariucci saying he had potential, but wasn’t ready. It was then he started bagging groceries at the Hy-Vee market in Cedar Falls Iowa. Warner then went the Arena football route and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. I don’t even know if he was ready tor the CFL, but he made the decision to  play in the AFL. In other words, he decided to work on his game in a lower league. He toiled in relative obscurity for 3 years, leading the Barnstormers to a couple Arena Bowl finals.

In 1997, Warner signed with the Rams, and the rest is history. The point being, Warner worked on his game and developed it to the point that he was able to stick with a pro club. Tebow’s approach, signing with a team that has 2 guys ahead of him, and little possibility of starting, smacks of him taking the easy way out to stick with an NFL team rather than hone his game and try a bona fide comeback. I’m not sure how he can advance his QB skills by being buried on NEs depth chart. It reminds me of the Nate Davis situation with the Niners a few years ago. Here was a guy with no real shot to make the team, other than the dearth of QBs in the stable, so he backs it up by not staying in shape and not bothering to read the playbook. A guy just happy to be drafted, and not really trying. Where is he now? The San Antonio Talons of the Arena Football League.

The NFL community lost one of its brightest stars as Deacon (David) Jones passed away yesterday at the age of 74. He revolutionized the defensive end position in the NFL by bringing blazing speed (and the head-slap) to the position, and wreaked havoc on quarterbacks throughout his time in the NFL. He of course coined the term ‘sack’ and turned it into the measure of a great pass rusher. He, by all accounts, retired as the sack leader in the NFL with a total of 194½ sacks (Pro Football Weekly). Since passed by Bruce Smith and Reggie White.

I did see him and the Fearsome Foursome play back in the day, and the guy was relentless. Defensive players at the time weren’t nearly as fast as Deacon, and no one covered the field from sideline to sideline like he did. The Niners were dogmeat in the 60s during most of Deacon’s tenure in LA, and even when the Niners made their playoff push from 69-71, they still had trouble with the Rams and their defense. I hated Roman Gabriel and the Rams with a passion, but you couldn’t help but admire the intense ferocity and determination Deacon Jones brought to the NFL every game and every play. R.I.P. Deacon Jones.

Deacon about to put a head slap on Bob St. Clair