12-10-2012, 09:46 AM
I am really devoted to the 49ers, probably not to the same level the Queen is devoted to the Bears, but they are my team. My devotion started in college watching them win the Super Bowl for the first time with Joe Montana. Up to that time I didn't care at all about any sports unless I was participating in them. That all changed in 1981.
It is easy to love a team that is the dominant team in football for two decades. I continued to watch through the Nineties and the Oughts although they were mediocre at best. We went through gads of coach and personnel in the hopes that this combination was the one that is going to turn it around. Last year, the team, with a new coach, Jim Harbaugh of Stanford, and newly confident quarterback, Alex Smith, lost in the last few moments of the conference championship game. It was a heart-breaker but it was the closest we had been to a Superbowl since the Nineties. Coming so close meant that with hard work and a few good breaks, the team would be back in the Superbowl this year.
The year started off great. The 49ers crushed their biggest rival Green Bay, another team poised for a Superbowl run. They won some big games. Lost one to the team the Giants who beat them in last years Conference Championship. I still had hope because we were winning a lot of games behind Alex Smith.
Now, Alex Smith came out of college highly ranked seven years ago. He was a first round draft pick that was going to save the franchise. He was drafted ahead of Aaron Rodgers who was the Superbowl MVP two years ago. Things did not go smoothly his first couple of years. He had to work with a different offensive coordinator and learn new schemes every single year for five years. Subsequently, he looked terrible. The team sputtered and never lived up to it's potential. Smith got hurt. He lost his starting job several times. He kept working and got his job back.
When Jim Harbaugh came in, he said Smith was going to be his quarterback. Despite the fact there was a lockout last year and their was no contact between players and coaches, resulting in no bonding during training camp and pre-season, they had a great year. Against the favorite New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Playoffs, Smith had the best game of his life, engineering a late game comeback.
Three weeks ago, Smith went out half way through the game with a concussion. His back-up Colin Kaepernick, a second year man out of Nevada and rallied the team to a win. Smith wasn't cleared to play due to the concussion symptoms. Kaepernick started and had the game of his life, just crushing the 49ers opponents with his scrambling ability and deep passes.
At the press conference, the Quarterback controversy started. Who do you start? Smith or Kaepernick? The guy who'd been busting his ass for seven years for the team against mountains of adversity or the second year man? Harbaugh went with Kaepernick. His reasoning was he was going to go with the hot hand. This is the point were my ardor for the team started to fade.
Isn't that the adage in America that if you work hard you will be rewarded? Well, Smith has worked hard. He's been twisted around by the team for years, but always came to play. He could have left for free agency when his contract expired two years ago. He stayed with the team because he wanted to finish what he started.
Now, that is the kind of guy I want leading my team, someone with a bit of character. I don't want to be rooting for a team that has bad guys on it. I would have to move if I was in Detroit and had to watch Ndamekung Suh stomp on opponents junk or drive Quarterbacks into the turf ending their careers. The 49ers are supposed to be the good guys.
Yet, Alex Smith continues to ride the pine. After Kaepernicks one game, he's been a good quarterback but nothing that would warrant keeping Smith on the bench. A win is a win, right? Whether you win by one point or fifty points.
As kids, we were all taught that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. Well, this whole situation throws that right out the window. It is all about winning, loyalty be dammed. Maybe it just reflects the status of society, where corporations rule the roost and the people who help make those companies great are left without pensions and healthcare because it gets in the way of corporations winning.
I know. Don't be twelve. Grow up.
It is easy to love a team that is the dominant team in football for two decades. I continued to watch through the Nineties and the Oughts although they were mediocre at best. We went through gads of coach and personnel in the hopes that this combination was the one that is going to turn it around. Last year, the team, with a new coach, Jim Harbaugh of Stanford, and newly confident quarterback, Alex Smith, lost in the last few moments of the conference championship game. It was a heart-breaker but it was the closest we had been to a Superbowl since the Nineties. Coming so close meant that with hard work and a few good breaks, the team would be back in the Superbowl this year.
The year started off great. The 49ers crushed their biggest rival Green Bay, another team poised for a Superbowl run. They won some big games. Lost one to the team the Giants who beat them in last years Conference Championship. I still had hope because we were winning a lot of games behind Alex Smith.
Now, Alex Smith came out of college highly ranked seven years ago. He was a first round draft pick that was going to save the franchise. He was drafted ahead of Aaron Rodgers who was the Superbowl MVP two years ago. Things did not go smoothly his first couple of years. He had to work with a different offensive coordinator and learn new schemes every single year for five years. Subsequently, he looked terrible. The team sputtered and never lived up to it's potential. Smith got hurt. He lost his starting job several times. He kept working and got his job back.
When Jim Harbaugh came in, he said Smith was going to be his quarterback. Despite the fact there was a lockout last year and their was no contact between players and coaches, resulting in no bonding during training camp and pre-season, they had a great year. Against the favorite New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Playoffs, Smith had the best game of his life, engineering a late game comeback.
Three weeks ago, Smith went out half way through the game with a concussion. His back-up Colin Kaepernick, a second year man out of Nevada and rallied the team to a win. Smith wasn't cleared to play due to the concussion symptoms. Kaepernick started and had the game of his life, just crushing the 49ers opponents with his scrambling ability and deep passes.
At the press conference, the Quarterback controversy started. Who do you start? Smith or Kaepernick? The guy who'd been busting his ass for seven years for the team against mountains of adversity or the second year man? Harbaugh went with Kaepernick. His reasoning was he was going to go with the hot hand. This is the point were my ardor for the team started to fade.
Isn't that the adage in America that if you work hard you will be rewarded? Well, Smith has worked hard. He's been twisted around by the team for years, but always came to play. He could have left for free agency when his contract expired two years ago. He stayed with the team because he wanted to finish what he started.
Now, that is the kind of guy I want leading my team, someone with a bit of character. I don't want to be rooting for a team that has bad guys on it. I would have to move if I was in Detroit and had to watch Ndamekung Suh stomp on opponents junk or drive Quarterbacks into the turf ending their careers. The 49ers are supposed to be the good guys.
Yet, Alex Smith continues to ride the pine. After Kaepernicks one game, he's been a good quarterback but nothing that would warrant keeping Smith on the bench. A win is a win, right? Whether you win by one point or fifty points.
As kids, we were all taught that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. Well, this whole situation throws that right out the window. It is all about winning, loyalty be dammed. Maybe it just reflects the status of society, where corporations rule the roost and the people who help make those companies great are left without pensions and healthcare because it gets in the way of corporations winning.
I know. Don't be twelve. Grow up.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
