Smart decisions are often easy

In April of 1993 the greatest quarterback in the history of professional football was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. For Niner fans, it was a day of mourning. The story behind that trade goes something like this. 49er brass preferred to trade their greatest asset a year before he couldn't play anymore as opposed to hanging on to him for another year, knowing he was on the downside of his career. Oh yeah, they also had a future hall of famer gripping a clipboard with both hands and ready to kick some ass!!!

On February 27, 2013, another 49er quarterback was traded to Kansas City. Alex Smith is far from Joe Montana and the comparison between the two players stops at the fact that they were traded to the same team. Fans of this franchise have been split most of the season with a good chunk of the fan base saying that Alex deserved to start after his injury and the other half bidding him a good riddance. The 49ers did the right thing today and despite the fact that we don't know exactly what they will receive in the trade (it's said to be the first pick of the 2nd round and possibly another; the deal won't be official until March 12, 2013) we do know this much. Alex Smith was due $8 million and the team would be stupid to keep him, pay him that much cash to be the backup, knowing they have starters on this roster who deserve the cash instead.

The media loves this stuff. They are already labeling this as a fresh start for Alex with a new coaching staff in Kansas City. A fresh start is something a high school bully gets when he changes high schools. A fresh start is something the prom queen gets when the high school jock ditches her. Alex Smith is n't getting a fresh start; Kansas City is getting a tired, soft and ineffective player who is not good enough to be The guy. When Jim Harbaugh looked to Kaepernick instead of Smith, knowing this team needed to get to the Superbowl no matter what, it told us all we need to know. Alex is a stand up guy, he's respectful, a good clubhouse guy, and a great teammate, but to quote my all time favorite guy, Charles Barkley, "he just not very good."

Spring Training Already Started?

Yeah, like almost two weeks ago. Weird. Why aren't we talking about it? There are two reasons for this:

1. Usually*, the offseason is longer. You may remember that the Giants played relatively deep into last season's playoff tournament. So in terms of "days since the last Giants game", it still feels like it should be the offseason. Also, our friends, the 49ers, did us a solid and played pretty deep into their own postseason tournament. That provided healthy distraction over the cold winter.

2. The offseason and the beginning of Spring Training has been incredibly boring for The Giants.

I expanded on #1 here, and here. And half of #2 here. That doesn't leave a whole lot to write about, but I'll summarize what's the haps because I ought to.

In short, the Giants' Opening Day roster will not be very different from the one that won the World Series. In fact, all signs indicate that 21 of those 25 players will be returning. The pitching staff remains almost identical. Assuming George Kontos reprises his role as underrated righty, the only spot to be filled is the one left by Guillermo Mota.

Forgive me for not being over-enthused about speculating which name will fill the final bullpen spot, but I'm going to link you over to McCovey Chronicles, where Grant is providing gangbusters coverage on what looks to be a nail-biter. I will summarize with some names in the running: Chad Gaudin, Scott Proctor, Sandy Rosario. Also old friend and World Series Champion, Ramon Ramirez. The longshot chances provide a little more excitement: semi-hot prospect Heath Hembree (I'm sure we'll see him at some point this year), and Brett Bochy (Son of Bruce, thrower of baseballs). And then I suppose the door isn't completely shut on Brian Wilson. Everything I read suggests a deal is unlikely, though.

On the offensive side, the open spots come in the voids left by Xavier Nady, Aubrey Huff, and Ryan Theriot. Filling in for the former:

Hey! A feel-good story: Our old friend and World Series Champion, Andres Torres is back. The idea is to have him platoon with Gregor Blanco in left field. While they won't strike fear into opposing teams, if you combine their career splits (Blanco vs righties and Torres vs lefties), Gregres Torco becomes a decent player (107 OPS+). Plus Torres can pinch run, provide clubhouse pixie dust, and maybe be a late-game defensive replacement for Pence.

Brett Pill probably has the best shot at grabbing the Huff spot, which I like because it puts him exactly where he should be: in the Majors but glued to the bench. Although if the Giants feel they need more speed, Francisco Peguero could get a shot. The Theriot role provides competition between Connor Gillaspie (perennial Giants minor-leaguer), Tony Abreu (a classic player-to-be-named later, claimed off waivers), and Kensuke Tanaka (Japanese import). Once again, riveting stuff.

So there you have it. No starting roles are up for grabs, as Bochy has finally appeased the Beltophiles. The rotation is set and solid. A list of nobodies will compete for the final few roster spots, and the rest of the battles will be between the Giants and their health, which is never a guaranteed victory.

So what do we do? I'll tell you what we do. We follow and root for Brock Bond. He's toiled around the Giants' Minor League teams for 5 years, and he had a solid AAA campaign last year. He's got nothing more than an outsider's puncher's longshot chance of making the squad, but look at that name. Brock Bond. If he doesn't succeed it will be the worst case of an athlete underperforming his name since Colt McCoy. Go out and wow us, Brock Bond.


*But not in recent years. Boom!

Second Guessing Greatness

The San Francisco 49ers accomplished what was said to be extremely difficult. Prior to the 2012 NFL season, many experts and talking heads were convinced that the 49ers would stumble and couldn't possibly repeat the performance from the year before. Those experts cited a much more difficult schedule, the team being the hunted rather than the hunter and of course, they claimed that San Francisco was somewhat lucky and that luck wouldn't strike this franchise twice. In the off season the GM addressed positional holes that were problematic in 2011. They brought in Randy Moss, signed Mario Manningham, drafted LaMichael James and A.J. Jenkins among other moves. With the exception of Jenkins, the players listed above contributed to the success in 2012 and improved the team as a whole. Randy Moss may not be the greatest of all time, as he claimed to be, but what he did was provide leadership for the younger guys in that locker room.

There is absolutely no way around the fact that 2012 was an up and down rocky road for this franchise. They didn't play well every time they took the field, they lost games they should have won and also won games they were tagged to lose. Jim Harbaugh made a very difficult decision during the season when he benched a healthy Alex Smith in favor of a young, unproven kid in Collin Kaepernick, which proved to be a decision that led this team to New Orleans. From the perspective of the media, this team was really good but laced with flaws. From the perspective of fans who followed this team daily,we saw how hard this team worked to accomplish their goals, to avenge the loss to New York in the NFC Championship game. We bought what Jim Harbaugh was selling and we bought it in bulk. He's our guy and for the most part, we saw him as the man we were looking for all the years that we suffered through countless 10 loss seasons.

Entering the home playoff game vs. Green Bay many fans were skeptical and many others were convinced that the team would lose that game. Could Collin do enough to beat Aaron Rogers and the vaunted Green Bay Packers? Could the team win a shootout against a hefty opponent? They did more than win, they dominated the football game in all three phases by doing what this team does best. They played a very physical game and forced the opponent to be uncomfortable. Heading to Atlanta, similar questions were raised and the Niners beat up on the NFC's #1, in their house, on their way to Superbowl XLVII. It wasn't pretty at times, it definitely wasn't easy. They overcame adversity once again by playing their brand of football. Physical on both sides of the ball, smash mouth running game and an excellent performance by a young and exciting Kaepernick.

The two weeks leading up to the Superbowl media types across the land were guzzling the Harbaugh kool aid. San Francisco was now the favorite to win the Superbowl and just about every person asked about the match-up favored San Francisco. They were younger, more talented, more physical and the overall theme was that San Francisco was much better than Baltimore. I heard former head coach Brian Billick on 95.7 The Game prior to the Superbowl and he claimed that San Francisco was head and shoulders better than Baltimore and the Niners would likely win going away. The team and the fan base were riding high, feeling good about themselves and it brought a lot of us back to the glory days. The days when San Francisco was the most successful and hated franchise in the NFL. We were right back to the good ole days of Superbowl or bust and back then, the idea of bust didn't even cross our hemisphere because the team was so damn good. We were peppered with stories of Jim Harbaugh's greatness and what I took from the many stories I read and heard was that San Francisco has taken on the identity of their head coach. A tough minded, physical football team with a competitive edge and a team that worked harder than many others in the game.

Monday morning after the Superbowl loss to Baltimore was a very tough day for fans of the San Francisco 49ers. A lot of us wanted to second guess the offensive play calling, the coaching, the way the players performed or didn't perform. It was almost too easy for us to head back down the path we walked when Mike Nolan, Dennis Erickson and Mike Singletary were in charge of our football team. So many of us were riding Jim Harbaugh's coat tails all the way from a lockout shortened off season to the Superbowl in the Big Easy and we couldn't see what was right in front of our faces. After a very difficult loss we were ready to jump ship and tag him as a failure. Some of the fans were posting "Faithful for Life" pictures to Facebook but for every one of those there were ten people questioning the game plan, the play calling, the coaching, the preparation and the worst thing, we were bitching and crying that the refs did a job on us. Take a moment to reflect on where we were before Jim Harbaugh signed a 5 year deal to coach this football team. We were a fan base that went from expecting to win a Superbowl every season to a fan base focused on the NFL draft when the weather changed in the month of December. It's very difficult to accept that we lost and as much as we want to finger point and place blame, the fact remains that this football team had an amazing season. The core of this group will return in 2013 with similar aspirations and goals. Superbowl or bust is once again the expectation of the great fans in The Bay Area and rightfully so. However, I would like to focus some energy on what we did accomplish this season, rather than what we didn't.

When the final seconds ticked off the clock and the confetti rained down on the Mercedes Superdome, I was stunned. I wanted the result to be different and of course, I wanted to call in sick today, Tuesday February 05, 2013 to attend the biggest party in the country. The San Francisco 49ers Superbowl parade. But here I sit, at work and listening to Jim Rome talk about Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens Superbowl parade. It's a tough pill to swallow and the pain in my gut will be there for a very long time. On the flip side, the fans know who their quarterback will be going into next season and we won't be forced to spend $8 million on Alex Smith because we don't know what Kaepernick can do. Jim Harbaugh, the quarterback guru, will have an entire off season to work with Kaep and to improve upon what we already know to be a highly talented and valuable asset. The 49ers are one of the youngest teams in football right now and the core of this team is under contract for the next few seasons. The team is poised to take the next step forward and will have 14, yes 14 draft picks to work with. We made it to the top of the mountain and when we got there, another guy was already planting his flag. I'm OK with that and a step further, I am proud of the accomplishments in 2012 and not looking to place blame. I'm looking at this glass knowing it's half full and as high as my expectations are for the 2013 season, my praise for the 2012 season is just as high.

Super Bowl Debrief

That would have been so sweet.

It really seems like San Francisco should be glowing like a woman nearing her third trimester right now. Had the 49ers pulled out a win yesterday, that would have gone down as one of the most famous Super Bowls of all time. Not only would it have been (by far) the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, but the 3rd quarter blackout gave the game a built-in iconic identity. With the '9ers beginning their comeback right after that, it was almost perfectly scripted. There would have been tons of wonderful jokes and slogans about "flipping the switch". The final drive would've gotten its own name, and Kaepernick would have be a 49er legend, no matter what happens from here. And this would have come just 3 months after a Giants World Series win. It just would have been perfect.

So the pain is more like an absence of pleasure. But when you start thinking about the game as a whole, the absence of pleasure begins to turn back into pain. Because the '9ers did not play their best game yesterday. They were sloppy at times, especially in the first half. Didn't see that coming, considering Jim Harbaugh is perhaps the best coach in the NFL, and he had two weeks to prepare. There were costly penalties. There were missed tackles in the backfield that could have changed drives and momentum (how many times did the Ravens turn broken plays into 3rd down conversions?). There was a lost fumble, and that interception Kaepernick threw was awful. There were timeouts used that would have been, oh, slightly useful at the very end of the contest. Flacco and his receivers were awesome, but I think if the 49ers and Ravens were to play 10 times, the '9ers win six or seven of those. It hurts knowing the best version of your team would have won that game.

It also hurts knowing that we'll have to endure this continued media-gasm over Ray Lewis, now that he has ended his career with a goal-line stand to win the Lombardi Trophy.

But in the end, the hole the 49ers dug themselves was just a little too deep. Except not really, because it really did seem like they were going to pull it out once they had 1st-and-goal with roughly two minutes to play. And in fact, the 49er's win probability did creep over 50%. So yeah, I guess they blew it. I thought the officiating was pretty poor, and that the 49ers took the worst of it, but it was bad both ways. Try not to use that as an excuse. What's more important is that for whatever reason, the great protection Kaepernick got for most of the game seemed to vanish in the red zone. Or maybe Kaepernick failed to recognize the blitz. We'll always think of that final series, but they would not have had to go for it on 4th down had they converted that 2-point chance after their previous touchdown. Don't overlook that similar-looking play as a game-changer.

Here's the positive news: Kaepernick is good. He wasn't at his very best yesterday, but he has shown he can be the quarterback for a Super Bowl team. Overall he played well enough to win. Those passes he throws for 15-30 yards are perfect (again, perfect) more often than not. He's so fun to watch. The 49ers will likely be the favorites to represent the NFC again next year. So it's not like the proverbial window has slammed shut. But that doesn't mean it'll happen. These opportunities don't come around that often. And from now it will be championship-or-bust, so they've got some weight on their shoulders to carry around. I do worry that the defense has not been the same since Justin Smith's injury, and he'll be one year older next year. I've been waiting for Frank Gore to break down for years now. But I really wouldn't be surprised if Kaepernick lit the league on fire next year. I'm looking forward to it.

Still, I'm in pain today, and it's not the type of pain you want to be feeling after a Super Bowl: hungover and with a sore hand from high-fiving hundreds of strangers. That would have been sweet.