Wednesday, February 27, 2013

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."


Monday, February 25, 2013

A-Rousey Suspicion

 The UFC made history on Saturday night at UFC 157. Dana White, just a few years back, clearly stated that women would "never" fight in the UFC. I would imagine based on the buzz, the turn out at Honda Center in LA and more importantly, based on the fight itself, he is glad he changed his tune. In the weeks leading up to this historic fight, I thought it would be foolish to spend $54.99 to watch a couple of women I knew nothing about. Luckily I decided to pay closer attention to the story behind the fight and HBO Real Sports aired an in depth look at the life of Ronda Rousey the week leading up to the fight. I've heard her on Jim Rome a few times and she is a very entertaining listen. She's a really cool cat that's easy to like and her story, from the moment she was born up to the moment she stepped into the octagon for the first time, was about as amazing as anything I've ever heard. I am confident that if you really care, you will do some research to find out what I am referring to. She worked very hard to get to this place and the opportunity she received was earned, not given to her.


I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I don't think it takes a genius to say the majority of fight fans are men. A step further, a great number of those men would be classified as male chauvinists. It's a very sticky topic that a lot of us would refuse to address, but I strongly believe that's just how it is. That makes it extremely difficult to take women seriously when it comes to fighting in the octagon. Most guys can get down with them swimming in the Olympics or playing soccer, but MMA is an entirely different beast. One of the mediums I use to judge popularity is social media and based on the posts to Facebook shortly after this fight went down, a lot of guys have changed their tune. Yes, a good number of those posts were simply "damn, Ronda Rousey is hot" but a lot of them were centered around her ability, not just her beauty. In the same breathe, I would imagine that a lot of male fight fans feel strongly that this was nothing more than a circus act and not worth the time or effort it takes to give women credit where credit is due.
A few thoughts on the fight. Ronda Rousey was wearing a serious mean mug on her way into the cage. Her eyes were burning a giant hole into the heart of Liz Carmouche and clearly both women were all business. Ronda sped her ass down the aisle, hopped in the cage without cracking as much as a smirk or smile and was ready to get this fight under way. She was in trouble early on and it should be mentioned that he opponent, former U.S. Marine Liz Carmouche, was a tougher match up than Vegas gave her credit for. Carmouche was on Rousey's back, cranking her face and attempting to sink a rear naked choke. She nearly had it locked in and for about 90 seconds, Rousey was in serious trouble. The fight seemed to be over and I was curious to see how much pain Rousey could endure, and then she shed Carmouche from her back, got on top and for the reminder of the fight was trying very hard to lock in her signature arm bar. The fight ended with about 19 seconds left in round number 1, Carmouche submitted by Rousey with that arm bar locked in really tight. It was easily the fight of the night, (fight of the night and $50,000 bonus was given to Dennis Bermudez v. Matt Grice) laced with excitement, energy and most importantly, these women showed off their skills. Both of them competed at a very high level from the moment the fight began to the moment Carmouche tapped out. It was an electric event that I thoroughly enjoyed.


When the fight ended the raw emotion we saw from both of these women was truly incredible. Rousey was nearly brought to tears and Carmouche was not far behind. Rousey broke out that signature smile that we've seen plastered across the internet and made some funny comments to Joe Rogan in the post fight interview. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Rousey's phone will be ringing off the hook in the weeks and months that follow with countless endorsement opportunities. There is also no doubt in my mind that she belongs in the UFC because of her ability to fight, her dedication to her craft and most importantly, her desire to be, not the best female, but the best fighter in the history of the sport. I'm hopeful that if you watched this fight it changed your opinion about women in the UFC, but I definitely understand if it didn't. The UFC made history, the media attention was reportedly stronger than ever before and the next question to ask is simple. What's next for the women of UFC and will fight fans watch if Rousey isn't the headliner?

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

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 tot he goold 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.