49ers Blogging
One thing about the 49ers newfound respectability: there are no moral victories anymore. Even though you'd have been laughed out of the room last month by suggesting the Niners ought to beat the Rams in St. Louis, today's 20-17 loss still stings. A few notes:
- I didn't care for some of Mike Nolan's decisions. Like one might say of a politician, he's too conservative. Why can't the 49ers go for it on 4th and inches, ever? Especially when your running game is averaging better than five yards a carry? Electing to kick the field goal deep into the fourth quarter and a one point lead indicated a complete lack of confidence in the offense. It reminds a certain fan of Elvis Grbac's fist-pumping charade in a Monday Night game against Green Bay more than a decade ago, when Da Mayor called him a "disgrace to humankind".
- The prevent defense during the Rams game-winning drive was not suitable to the game situation. The Rams had too much time to nickle-and-dime the Niners to death, resulting in an eminently predictable touchdown with barely half a minute left on the clock. Had Nolan instituted an aggressive defensive front, he would have had a better shot at containing the Rams' short passing game. A big touchdown play would have given the Rams a three point lead but with enough time left for the Niners to at least mount a successful field goal drive to send the game into overtime.
- Great week for Antonio Bryant. Belligerent DUI boy was flagged for two critical holding penalties, one of which erased a sizeable Frank Gore gain. At least we can say he isn't like Randy Moss, who has openly quit for the Raiders (hey Randy, would it kill you to complete your routes?)
- Oh and speaking of the Raiders, they were the victims of perhaps the worst call I've ever seen in an NFL game. On a 4th and 2, Philip Rivers of the Chargers completed a pass to a wide receiver for a gain of about eight yards. The receiver stood up- without having ever been touched- and intentionally flipped the ball out of his hand. Players on both teams realized it was a fumble, and a Raider recovered. The referee first ruled first down for the Raiders, but then inexplicably reversed course. Instead, he flagged the Charger for an "illegal forward pass" and gave him a five-yard penalty. The receiver, of course, had no intention whatsoever of passing the ball. Yet that was the call, and not only did the Chargers keep the ball, they had first down. Ridiculous.
The Chargers probably would have won anyway, but on a day that the Raiders defense did a great job containing the Rivers/LT attack, it would have been nice for the refs to stay out of the way.
49ers Are Good Again! (Well, Sorta)
The 49ers, miraculously, are 5-5. I imagine the Seattle locker-room scene is rather unpleasant right now, judging by Mike Holmgren's series of red-faced tirades during the game.
The last two minutes were wild: The Niners recover possession on downs with just under two minutes to play. On first down, Frank Gore fumbles the ball away. Then, Seneca Wallace throws a dreadful pass that Walt Harris intercepts. Then came a series of short 49er gains each followed by Seahawk time-outs. Then came Joe Nedney, who inexplicably shanked the short field goal attempt that would have put the game out of reach. Finally, the Niners win. Good grief!
Niners Win!
OK, I understand that Any Given Sunday blah blah blah, but there's one person who won't be sleeping well tonight: the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings. How the hell does your offense fail to score even one touchdown against the 49ers? A team destined to give up more points than any other team in NFL history?
In any event, the Niners earn their third win of the season in most-improbable fashion. The defense looked solid I suppose, but the offense was absolutely putrid. Memo to Alex Smith: when there are three men covering your intended target, throw the ball to someone else.
Hey! On pace for six wins!
Football Game
Today I'm off with "The Old Man" to the Cal/UCLA battle at Berkeley's Memorial Stadium. Go Bears!
Sports News & Notes
- I enjoyed watching the so-called "Toilet Bowl" between the 49ers and the Raiders, perhaps the two worst teams in the NFL (though the Houston Texans might dispute that). The Niners are bad but at least have some promise, whereas the Raiders just look.....awful. The fumble on the backward pass was particularly embarrassing.
- Does anyone else find the incessant use of the word "football" during football telecasts to be annoying? Here's an example: "You can't win the football game unless you hold onto the football". Hey guys- we know it's football. Do these guys think there are fans out there who say, "Oh, I'm glad he said football because otherwise I'd think he was talking about basketball!"
- I love baseball, but man that Cardinals/Padres series was boring. I was rooting for San Diego but by the end of the series I was just hoping it would end soon.
- Dodgers postseason record since 1988? 1-12. Ouch.
- How many games will the Raiders and Stanford combine to win this year? I'm going to say three- and even that might be too high an estimate.
Niners
Also watched nearly the whole Niners game yesterday......and they've still got a long ways to go. Their offense is much improved, especially their second-year quarterback Alex Smith who may turn out to be OK after all. I like Frank Gore's hard running style but he has to learn how to hold onto the football. The fumble at the 2 yard line was an absolute killer. The defense still doesn't put enough pass rush on the quarterback, and they're too susceptible to big plays, such as the flea flicker that the Eagles utilized on the first play from scrimmage that netted them 50 yards.
But they're playing harder, they're scoring some points, and they're a lot more fun to watch than last season's club.
Nellie!
Consider me stunned to read that Don Nelson has been named the new head coach of the Warriors. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. After all, Nelson was in place when the Warriors were last a winning team, back when I was 13 years old. Some of the ESPN guys are bullish about the Warriors prospects under Nellie, but they remain pretty much the same team as the one who lost 48 games for Mike Montgomery last year.
I remember that after Nellie was fired from the Knicks the Chronicle ran a story about how he and his wife were living in a Hawaii paradise and that he was playing golf all day and didn't want to return to coaching. About a half-year later, he was back running the Mavs. Some guys just can't stop.
As for Monty? I'd say he'll be back coaching Division I somewhere, and before long nobody will remember that he coached the Warriors at all. Quick trivia question: who are the eight men who coached the Warriors after Nellie left?
Italia!
This comes waaaay too late, but as long as I have this primo internet connection I might as well mention it here. Congratulations to Italy, the home country of my paternal ancestors, for capturing its fourth World Cup against France last Sunday.
I stayed up very late (until 5) to watch the match in a bar in Dali with a bunch of other fans rooting hard for France. I dozed off and missed the infamous Zinadine Zidane head-butt, but didn't find it all that objectionable. Of course, it was a stupid move for Zisou because it took him out of the penalty kick situation and left his team a man down with ten minutes to play. But christ- talk about a swift and exacting manuever!
I must confess that I didn't really like the Azzurri club. They epitomize the prima-donnaish aspect of soccer that I find lame even if it is part of the game. Of course, I was going hard for them because:
1. I'm half Italian
2. Italian is my second language
3. I lived there for a year and still have quite a few friends who were ecstatic to see their home nation win
4. My parents were there at the time and I wanted them to have the experience of being in a World Cup winning country
5. I have no particular reason to root for the French, even though I like ZZ and Henry and Ribery more than anyone else on the Italian team with the exception of the amazing Gigi Buffon.
Good stuff. Also, given the lackluster US performance, it's clear that the top forty or fifty American players should certainly be playing in Europe and not in the MLS. Turn our domestic league into a sort of Triple-A league and don't worry about building it up. I'd rather see the US advance to the semis or finals of the World Cup than to see the MLS thrive, and that can only happen if our players play against the toughest competition in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, or England.
World Cup!
The World Cup is back! The world's greatest sporting event bar none, even the Summer Olympics. Here in China, there isn't much World Cup fever as the national squad failed to qualify this time. Some Chinese did however find solace in Japan's drubbing at the hands of the Australians, 3 to 1.
As for the US, well, it's safe to say that the honeymoon is over.
Some World Cup stuff for you to read at Slate: Dave Eggers (of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius fame) writes why soccer has never caught on in the Unites States. His reason? Americans don't like faking injuries. Meanwhile, here's a piece on why soccer has become the favorite sport of the American intelligentsia, ironic considering its status as a working class game in most countries around the world. Finally, Slate explains why those Brazilian players only use one name.
On Records
What are the most hallowed records in sports? Matthew Yglesias and several commentators mull this question over at his personal site.
I suppose it depends largely on how we define "hallowed". In Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak is "hallowed" but it isn't the most statistically impressive. In fact, as Steve Sailer (in comments) points out, it is actually quite overrated. DiMaggio batted .408 during the streak- an excellent average, no doubt- but Ted Williams hit .406 for the entire 1941 season. Much more impressive, methinks. That said, Steve rightfully says DiMaggio was a fantastic player if a bit unlucky for having his career shortened by both war duty and injury.
Likewise, Greg Maddux (on his way to the Hall of Fame) set a record for most consecutive seasons with 15 or more wins, with 17. Definitely a consistently good pitcher, Maddux was. Then again, I think it was Rob Neyer of ESPN who pointed out that had Maddux earned 14, rather than 15, wins in one of those seasons the actual impact of his pitching would have been insignificantly different. So, we have to be careful not to attribute too much meaning to numbers which are nifty but not exactly indicative of tremendous achievement.
So, what are the most impressive records in sports, then, independent of the "hallowed" factor? In baseball, you'd also have to ignore results from eras in which the game was played in a very different manner. For instance, no modern pitcher will match Cy Young's total for complete games, since Young pitched in a time before relief pitchers were widely used. So, here are my nominations (off the top of my head):
Baseball: Rickey Henderson's career stolen bases. Barry Bonds' single-season intentional walks. Nolan Ryan's career strikeouts. Nap Lajoie's .426 batting average in 1901. Grover Alexander's 16 complete game shutouts in 1916. Note- I intentionally left out Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak for the same reason I left out DiMaggio's hitting streak. While Ripken was a great player and his durability was remarkable, there's a strong case to be made that the Orioles might have been more successful had Ripken been given a bit more rest during his career.
Football: virtually all of Jerry Rice's records: catches, yards, touchdowns, receiving touchdowns. He's off the charts (and a nice guy too, if you ask my mom).
Basketball: Wilt Chamberlain's 1961-62 season, in which he averaged over 50 points and 25 rebounds per game, and played in all but eight minutes of the Warriors' games that season. Oh, and there's also his 100 point game.
I'm sure there are more, and there are lots of other sports I could talk about but can't be bothered yet. Perhaps some of youse in the peanut gallery can pipe up with some other record goodies.