Forty Niners Forever

OK, every story is officially past the stage of beaten to death. Deer antlers? Gay tight ends (is that an oxymoron?)? Kaepernicking? Rany Moss – Greatest WR or asshole? Does God have a vested interest in the outcome of this Super Bowl? The Ravens switched practice fields? Unheard of! The turf is too hard! Or is it? Is there subterfuge afoot? Gawd, it’s enough to make me sick. At least the Tim Brown/Jerry Rice consipriacy theory went away without too much blowback. I figured Jerry might catch some shit for jumping on that crazy train, but nope.

Problem is, I’m running out of work, and I have too much time on my hands. Plus this is MY team in the Super Bowl this time around. It has been a while, so I guess I haven’t really been aware of the media crush that this is. I mean, I’m aware of it, but just not the extent that it has become. Which is a nauseating rotation of the same stories regurgitated by different people at different times.

At least we are at 3 days and change. Close, but not quite there yet. I’ve heard ’em all say how wonderful Kaepernick is. How unstoppable Kaepernick is. How Balt will take away how wonderful Kaepernick is. How Flacco is on a roll. How the Niners will stop the roll. How the Balt defense is immovable and inpenetrable. And how Balt’s defense is simple to dissect. Like Chicago’s. In other words everybody’s saying everything about every aspect. And it’s all bullshit. Some will be right. Some will be wrong. Huzzah.

Thanks for the pic, Kevin. I love it.

Are we tired of Ray Lewis yet? How about the fact it is Lewis’ last game (really?)? How about the comparisons of Ray Lewis to Patrick Willis? The Har-blather? Kaepernicking? Deer antler spray? Alex Smith and his fate? His loss of job? Bah.

At least the players seem to be having fun with it. Joe Staley put on a tattoo sleeve and Kaepernicked for the media. Kaepernick was talked into Kaepernicking for the assembled media. A reporter asked Flacco how he felt about his own father calling him dull. Flacco responded by saying I think he meant that as a compliment, and Flacco pretty much said yeah, I am dull. It means I’m not a distraction. Riveting stuff. Randy Moss decided to declare himself the best WR to ever play the game, saying it isn’t all numbers, but really, they do come in to play. Moss took a few seasons off in his head, so he’s a little off, but his rambling answers were fun. It appeared the reporters were trying to get the old Randy to emerge. The volatile Randy who would go off into crazyland. I like Rice’s response (which isn’t really correct) but he said it’s all about this as he pointed to one of his Super Bowl rings. Plenty of great players didn’t get the shot at a Super Bowl, but whatever Rice is was and probably always will be the #1 WR ever. Rice was fairly cool about it, saying he’d let the fans decide it, but it sure was better than listening to Ray Lewis talk during the media breakfast about the secret society that football is, and how dare that SWATS guy try to penetrate that shroud of secrecy. That’s part of the PROBLEM, Ray Ray. You guys doing your secret shit in the locker room and castigating anyone that dare question what you are doing.

Anyhow, we’re getting closer to the real thing, and I can’t wait.

According to a Sports Illustrated article hitting the shelves as we speak, Ray Lewis bought and used a banned substance, IGF-1 (found in deer antler velvet), to facilitate his recovery from his torn triceps muscle. He ordered it from a company called SWATS (Sports With Alternatives to Steroids). Here’s the recorded convo :

“Spray on my elbow every two hours?” Lewis asked.

“No, under your tongue” says the SWATS guy.

“OK, just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week” Lewis says.

Timing is everything I suppose. This story broke minutes before media day for the Ravens, and is made media day a whole lot more interesting. When asked about the deer antler spray, Lewis left with a “next question.” John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome were asked about this as well, and their answer was basically Lewis hasn’t been caught, so he isn’t using any banned substances.

Wouldn’t it be poetic justice if Ray Lewis was suspended from his last game? The fricking Super Bowl? I’m sure somone in the media throng brings up 13 years ago. He’s apparently not talking about that either. I don’t think Goodell has the stones to suspend him, however.

6 days and counting before the Super Bowl. What a long crazy season it has been. From the finally broken W-W-L consistently inconsistent play of the team to the emergence of Colin Kaepernick as the weapon of choice for the 2nd half of the season, the team has gelled at the right time. The playoff games showed Baltimore that the Niners can run the read option with Kaepernick or with Gore. The playoff games showed the Niners can overcome adversity with the early pick 6 in the Green Bay game, and the 17 point deficit in the Atlanta game.

My hope for this game, however, is a faster start by the defense. Both playoff games the defense was on their heels early, and they gave up points. 14 in the GB game, and 24 in the Atl game. They settled down, created some turnovers, and shut down both teams to the tune of 3 point by GB (with a late garbage-time TD), and 0 points to Atl. I love the adjustments, although last week, I don’t thinkthey changed much, they just started playing better and wore down Atl’s line and got more pressure on Natty Ice.

Thanks to Kevin for the pic above. I’d love to figure out how to contact those soldiers and let them know we are behind them all the way.

I for one wouldn’t. The game last year was icing on the cake. Never have I seen so many missed tackles and half-assed effort since the last Raider game. I kid, but really. Much like baseball, once upon a time, the players used to care about the outcome. Baseball’s All Star game became a joke when the game got roided up and they turned it into a 3 day event. The newcomers game? Ehhh. The home run contest? Horse shit. I wonder how many players ruined their swings during that forced competition.

Anyhow, once upon a time you had guys like Mark Gastineau, yeah, a hot-dog supreme, but he nearly killled Joe Montana in a pro bowl years ago. The one I went to in 1998, Kevin Gogan and Derrick Thomas were ejected for fighting. The games were at least nominally played the right way. Last year’s was atrocious. I went to a hockey all star game in 2000, and it was the same thing. No one wanted to hit anyone, and it was mainly target practice for the scorers. The game ended up something like 11-8. Booooring. NBA? same deal. Defense isn’t considered part of the game. Baseball’s all star game is still the best of a sorry lot, even if they have to inject meaning into it by giving home field to the team that wins. The NFL can’t fall victim to perpetuating this sham of a game.

So, what they should do is still have the voting, still have the trip to Hawaii, but turn it into a celebrity golf tournament. Have some kind of fan interaction. Say, a lottery to go and golf with the players, have the players hang out somewhere so the fans can meet them and chat them up, anything but the sham the game is now.

Maybe I’ve got the scarlet-red-colored sunglasses on, but I think the Niners will win this going away. Much like the GB game, I think the Niners impose their will on Baltimore. Yes, they are tough, but I think our team speed will wear down Batimore in the end, and the Niners coast to a victory.  Baltimore is getting long in the tooth and I think we will run them ragged.

I’m going with 31-20. I think our offense can run on Baltimore, and if so, then the passing game opens wide. I also think our D line will eventually get to Flacco and he’ll make a critical mistake. Contain Rice, and I think we can slow their passing game to the point of frustration. Baltimore has also been burned by big returns on both kickoffs and punts, so I think the Niners have an advantage on special teams as well. That is, if it doesn’t come down to a FG. The David Akers saga is one I care not to think about too much, but at least Akers is perfect on extra points. I guess the hope is if he lines up for a FG, the Niners are dead center on the field. He seems to do fine from there.

Hey hey, my my. Sage words from Neil Young. All this recent talk of Bill Walsh and his trials and tribulations in his position of being a head coach leads me to wonder about Jim Harbaugh. Walsh, as noted in some recent articles (thanks, Chico), was demonized by the intricacies of preparing for game day. His greatness was overshadowed by his all-encompassing need to be the best, the most prepared, and the most dominant coach of his day. He was fueled by Paul Brown’s rejection of him as his heir apparent, and the thought that Brown sabotaged Walsh’s name to other NFL execs. Even with the Super Bowl wins there was always room for improvement. To the detriment of his team, his family, and his health. Walsh always seemed unflappable, stoic, and above the usual rigamarole of guys like John Madden or Dick Vermeil. Guys who burned real bright and burned out quickly.

Enter Jim Harbaugh. He of course was the fair-to-middling quarterback for a bunch of teams who played with a burning desire not seen in too many players. He won through strength of will, hard work, and determination. His coaching style seems to be molded in the same vein. He took a moribund 4-7 USD program and turned them around in 3 years to win the Pioneer League and go 11-1. He took a lousy 4-8 Stanford football team and spun them into an NCAA powerhouse in 4 years, winning 2 bowl games, going 12-1 in 2010, and earning them a #4 ranking.

Is Harbaugh on a fast track to burnout? If anything, he’s even more spread out than most other coaches. He has 6 kids (3 grown), including a one-year old son. He does loads of charity work for his Harbaugh Hill foundation, the Jim Harbaugh foundation, he anuually takes a couple weeks off to travel to Peru to build houses in remote jungles, and is co-owner of an Indy-car racing team, among the day-to-day deal of raising a family. He’s not quite 50, but criminy, he’s either one of the best in the world at time management or he’s awake 22 hours a day. His coaching style resembles a volcano poised on the edge of erpution. His explosion over the red-flagged pass last weekend was pretty epic. He jumped, slammed the turf with both hands, and his headphones exploded in fear as they flew off his head. This has been repeated in one way or another about 40 times this season. He’s already been treated for an irregular heartbeat (and missed like 3 hours of coaching time) and his stress levels during game day is likely off the charts. His description of game day is like a 3 hour root canal with no anesthesia.

Can he keep this up? Harbaugh looks like he’s in good shape and takes care of himself, but with the heart problems already known about, and the fact that he’s as intense as any 12 people, you have to wonder how long he can keep this up. One thing is, he appears to be able to turn the coaching guy off and focus on other aspects of his life.

Here we are in the down week of the Super Bowl festivities. The 49ers have apparently installed their defense and offense and are ready to go. They arrive in NewOrleans on Sunday Jan 27th. Then, the onslaught begins. Mandatory meetings, the digging through everyone’s past, and the kind of monumental distractions that have derailed more than a few players, notably Barrett Robbins and Bart Starr award winner Eugene Robinson.

The thing that could get messy is the whole deal around Colin Kaepernick’s birth mom, Heidi Russo. She has been hinting around that she wants to meet her son that she gave up for adoption when he was six weeks old. She has also been in and out of the news most of the season since Kaepernick got the starting job in week 10. Since the media is as subtle as a bull in a china shop, I’m sure there is going to be a lot of talk around this, and some sort of staged event, God forbid. Russo has said repeatedly that she leaves the decision up to her son, but that hasn’t stopped her from doing interviews with anyone or keeping her face in the public eye. Her timing sucks, and I’m sure this is being somewhat driven BY the media, but tis kind of shit hopefully won;t become all-consuming to all concerned.

There were a lot of quarterbacks taken in these last two drafts. A lot of quarterback who were supposed to save, or at least straighten out, a lot of franchises. In 2011 you had:

1. Carolina Panthers – Round 1 (1) – Cam Newton, Auburn
2. Tennessee Titans – Round 1 (8) – Jake Locker, Washington
3. Jacksonville Jaguars – Round 1 (10) – Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
4. Minnesota Vikings – Round 1 (12) – Christian Ponder, Florida State
5. Cincinnati Bengals – Round 2 (35) – Andy Dalton, TCU
6. San Francisco 49ers – Round 2 (36) – Colin Kaepernick, Nevada
7. New England Patriots – Round 3 (74) – Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
8. Kansas City Chiefs – Round 5 (135) – Ricky Stanzi, Iowa
9. Houston Texans – Round 5 (152) – Taylor Yates, North Carolina
10. Chicago Bears – Round 5 (160) – Nathan Enderle, Idaho
11. Baltimore Ravens – Round 6 (180) – Tyrod Taylor, Virginia Tech
12. New York Jets – Round 7 (208) – Greg McElroy, Alabama

In 2012 you had:

1. Andrew Luck Stanford 1 (1) Indianapolis
2. Robert Griffin III Baylor 1  (2) Washington
3. Ryan Tannehill Texas A&M 1  (8) Miami
4. Brandon Weeden Oklahoma State 1 (22) Cleveland
5. Brock Osweiler Arizona State 2 (57) Denver
6. Russell Wilson Wisconsin 3 (75) Seattle
7. Nick Foles Arizona 3 (88) Philadelphia
8. Kirk Cousins Michigan State 4  (102) Washington
9. Ryan Lindley San Diego State 6  (185) Arizona
10. B.J. Coleman Chattanooga 7  (243) Green Bay
11. Chandler Harnish Northern Illinois 7 (253) Indianapolis

That being said, the Niners draft of Colin Kaepernick, a guy Baalke traded up 9 spots for, was seen as a project. A guy who would hold the clipboard for a couple years, and maybe get his shot in 2013, or maybe not til 2014. Cam Newton took the NFL by storm and put up monster numbers while watching his defense give up tons of points themselves, and then crashed back to earth as Carolina kept losing. Locker sat behind Hasselbeck for 2011, and had a pretty crappy injury plagued 2012. Christian Ponder started hot for Minn, but slowly faded, and got hurt down the stretch his rookie year, but followed that up with a 2012 season that saw him lead Minnesota to the playoffs, only to miss the game with a tricep injury. Ginger Dalton led the improbable Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs in 2011 only to crash and burn in the playoffs with 3 turnovers. In 2012, Dalton again led Cincy to the playoffs, only to crater as Dalton missed wide open guys deep, and couldn’t generate any offense for the Bengals. Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin the 3 were supposed to come in and show their mettle, and both came through in spades as both led their teams to playoff berths. The surprise of the 2012 draft was Russell Wilson, the Seattle phenom who stole the spotlight from just about everyone else in the NFL.

The rest? Not named Colin Kaepernick? Well, McElroy for ther Jets got a start over Timmy Tebow, and bit it. No one else did anything of note. Which brings us to Colin Kaepernick. He has maintained since draft day that he thought he should have gone higher. That he was a 1st rounder. There were insiders who said he was one of the top 3 QBs of the draft back then. Of course they are saying that NOW as he leads the 49ers into the Super Bowl.

Now? All that is ancient history. The NFL is abuzz over Colin Kaepernick. The crazy thing about all this is that Harbaugh even made the move. Yeah, Alex Smith got hurt, but the usual protocol of course says the starter gets his job back when the starter gets well. As we all know this didn’t happen. But you still have to wonder if Harbaugh would have pulled the trigger for some other reason had Smith not gotten hurt. You can go nutty with the ‘what-if’ game, but really, if Smith doesn’t get hurt, are we here in the Super Bowl? Would Smith have lost a few games and been benched for Kappy anyway? Would Smith have led us to the Super Bowl? Was this the only path? These are all valid questions, but the fact remains, Colin Kaepernick, in his 10th start as a professional football player for the San francisco 49ers, is leading his team into Super Bowl 47. Unfrickingbelievable. To say his future looks bright is the understatement of the year.

Sure, there have been guys who have faded after a hot start, Cam Newton is a recent example, but he really didn’t do worse than his opening year. His team ‘improved’ one game, but they are still not very good. Kaepernick on the other hand appears to have the football world at his feet. Should he win this next game, he’ll be the new face of the current crop NFL quarterbacks. Young, brash, inked-up, and ready to mow you down running, or killing you with laser dart passes. Yeah, Seattle and Washington have their versions of the run and gun QB in Griffin and Wilson. But, as Kappy has shown, he’s bigger and faster than both, and is already looking out for his own self-preservation. Throw in old-school passer Luck (who is fairly nimble in a sneaky-fast way), and the future of the quarterback position in the NFL looks pretty damn exciting lo these next 10-15 years.

Kappy gets one in 10 days, and he’s got a head start on the rest of these guys.

Crazy crazy game yesterday. No reason to go into the details, we all saw the excitement, the drama, and the coming out of Colin Kaepernick. That being said, the Niners are facing a team that looks somewhat like the Falcons (pocket passer, pounder of a RB, and a dominant WR in Antuan Bouldin), but also like the Niners themselves. Big and strong on both lines, they try and impose their will on every opponent they face.

Flacco reminds me of Matty Ryan, in that I didn’t see him much, but he’s put up solid numbers his whole career. Ray Rice is a force to be reckoned with, and their defense is as fundamentally sound as ours is. Beyond the brother angle, this game is a very good matchup. Old school hard nosed football. Power running with some dramatic flair thrown in by the emergence of Colin Kaepernick and his running ability. Deep shots on both sides. All in all, a pretty good deal.

We’ve got forever before gametime but the wait starts now.