ESPN comments kinder to Niners than the game

What you heard Tuesday wasn’t quite bad as what you saw Monday. If you are a 49ers fan.

Yes, the result stayed the same, the Baltimore Ravens with a 33-19 victory that was as resounding as perhaps it may have been surprising.

But the comments the morning after on ESPN, especially from retired long-time NFL players-turned-commentators Shannon Sharpe and Jeff Saturday, offered a bit of perspective.  

If no particular advice on how to slow down the hype and excitement, nor stop Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson, who despite Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey, may be chosen the NFL Most Valuable Player. As he was in 2019.

That video in the Ravens post-game locker room at Levi’s Stadium Christmas night, of Harbaugh calling out his athletes one by one and then, when Jackson was presented everyone chanting, “MVP, MVP, MVP,” was tough to accept for the Faithful. 

But accept it they must.

Amazing isn’t it how one game turns everything upside down and inside out? Purdy throws four interceptions. The Niners do little on offense and not much on defense.   

They led 5-3 in the first quarter—or was it the first inning?—against the Baltimore Orioles?

The ESPN guys wondered why the Niners kept throwing instead of going to the run with McCaffrey. Or how Purdy, who is in his second pro season, would respond to the worst game of his brief but until now golden career.

The 49ers are 11-4, the best in the NFC, and if they recover after this jolt and in order beat the very, very beatable Washington Commanders and then the improving LA Rams, the Niners will have home field throughout the playoffs and a first-round bye.

“We’re going to find out a lot about Brock Purdy,” said Sharp. “He’ll be helped by (Kyle) Shannahan and (coach) Brian Griese.”

Shanahan, of course, is San Francisco’s head coach, and he’s known as an offensive genius. But this time the offense was ineffective against the Ravens, who with tactics devised by defensive coordinator Mike McDonald were able to stymie every Niners drive—until Purdy was picked off.  

“The first one was his fault,” Shanahan said of Purdy’s interceptions. “The others were tipped balls.”

Purdy incurred a left-shoulder stinger in the fourth quarter, and with the Niners far behind was replaced by Darnold—who also had a pass picked off, five interceptions total for San Francisco.

Nine days ago, when the pre-game odds were favoring the Niners, Jackson, the Baltimore quarterback, whined that his team was being disrespected.

To steal a line from Edgar Allan Poe, whose 19th Century poem is responsible for the team’s name, Ravens, “Nevermore.”

McCaffrey, Purdy and the need for healthy D-linemen

The question was whether having two legitimate MVP candidates on the same team, the San Francisco 49ers in this instance, would prove to be a negative. Not in games, but in voting for the award.

Whether the ballots for Brock Purdy would cancel those for Christian McCaffrey or vice versa. That was last week.

Now there’s a larger question. Can the 49ers slow the Baltimore running attack when the teams meet Sunday night in what could be labeled a holiday gift from the schedule makers.

Or after a look at the standings, maybe called a Super Bowl preview.

The Niners, with their 45-29 victory over the sad sack Arizona Cardinals,  have the best record in the NFC, 11-3. And the Ravens, 23-7 winners over the Jacksonville Jaguars, also are at 11-3, best in the AFC. 

So, yes those would seem to be the favorites for Super Bowl LVIII (58 for us uncivilized folk west of the Roman Empire), that game is on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.

But not so fast. There are several weeks to go in the regular season when noting what’s been happening too often, injuries might occur, and then playoffs. So nothing is certain.

Other than what transpired, the Niners, although winning, were unable to halt Arizona’s ground game as the Cardinals rushed for 234 yards — marking the most against SF this season.

The Niners were missing starting defensive tackles, Arik Armstead (foot, knee) and Javon Hargrave (hamstring).

And whether they’ll be back against Baltimore, which rushed for 251 yards against Jacksonville, becomes a large issue.

Shanahan on Monday was asked about the possibility of signing a quick fill-in, someone like Ndamukong Suh.

"Not yet," Shanahan said. "I mean, I'm not ruling out anything. We have guys on our practice squad, as you guys see, that we used last week. But that stuff, we also aren't exactly sure when Hargrave and Armstead are coming back. We do know they have chances this week, so there's a lot of variables that are playing together that we'll be discussing here the rest of the day, and tomorrow. And even if we don't make a move in any area, that'll probably be continuing throughout the year."

If the defense is troubling, the offense is reaffirming. The MVP mentions had their usual spectacular games, despite taking hits that forced them to be examined by medical staff or trainers. McCaffrey was out for four plays. Then Purdy, the quarterback phenom, missed two plays.

Some gasp from Niners personnel but that was about all. McCaffrey, who was diagnosed with a stinger in his leg, rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Purdy, returning to the suburbs of Phoenix where he went to high school, completed 16 of 25 for 242 yards and four touchdowns. 

Magnanimously he also tossed in the thought of McCaffrey as the MVP.

Because of those two, other Niners on offense tend not to be appreciated. One, of course, would be Deebo Samuel who had four receptions for 48 yards, and 2 TDs.

McCaffrey became only the fourth player in NFL history with at least four seasons of 1,000 yards rushing, and 500 yards receiving. His NFL high of  20 touchdowns moved a bit closer to the franchise season record of 23 that was set in 1987 by, who else — Jerry Rice, now occasionally doing TV commercials for a South Bay insurance firm.

First he grabbed footballs. Now he tries to grab clients.

For Draymond, indefinitely is a long time

Indefinitely? That’s a long time. Maybe not as long as forever — which is a notch or two down the list — but long enough. Especially when your team seems very much to be running out of time.

The NBA responded to Draymond Greens’ punch — or episode if you like dancing around the issue — with a punch of its own.

A haymaker as they used to say on the Friday Night Fights, a knockout punch that knocked Green out of the opportunity to play basketball for well,  indefinitely.

And probably knocked his team, the now-bewitched Golden State Warriors, out of a chance to ever again win a championship.

The violation, a term that perhaps sounds more palatable than a blow to the face, came Tuesday night in yet another Warriors loss to the Phoenix Suns, this one 119-116.  

Green’s physical play is what helped make him an All-Star. And a pariah. Tuesday he went hard after the ball, smacked the Suns’ Jusuf Nurkic in the face, was called for a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.

Green has been there before, too many times including earlier this season when he was suspended five games for choking Rudy Gobert of the Timberwolves.

And running out of patience, NBA officials are intent on preventing Draymond — suspended four times in the last nine months, six times overall — from going there again.

In its news release Wednesday, the NBA alluded to Green’s “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.

Before he’s in a Warriors uniform again, Green must meet certain criteria specified by the NBA.  According to The Athletic, he will undergo counseling — remember the film, “Anger Management”? — that will include Green’s agent and representatives from the NBA and Warriors front office.

It has been the intensity and unhinged volatility that helped propel Green, now 33, to a $100 million contract while in the process of propelling the Warriors to four titles. But because he’s possibly lost a step while losing none of his determination, Draymond is more aggressive than allowed within the rules. He’s now compensating for what skill or speed has been lost by a recklessness that now has him on edge and off the court.

Draymond apologized for the way he pummeled Nurkic, who later was understandably irritated by Green’s battering ram maneuver, but Green didn’t complain. He knew well he had been illegally rough. Now, until pardoned by the league, whenever that comes, Draymond may be gone for a week or two.

Green has been more than a star defender and rebounder, through the years an emotional leader, ready to kick bottoms and kick the team into high gear.

His roles as defender and rebounder, and no less importantly willing accomplice to Steph Curry getting balls into the basket, are to be filled by youngsters Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Immediately after the game, which left them with a 10-13 record, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, “We need Draymond. He knows that.”

We all do, but it’s indefinite when they’ll have him again.

49ers, a new red (jersied) machine

The label was used originally back in the 1970s for the baseball team from Cincinnati. So pardon a bit of plagiarism for choosing to call the 49ers, in their home uniforms, the Big Red Jersied Machine.

We’re talking pro football. We’re talking big gains (the first play of the game was Christian McCaffrey sprinting 72 yards). We’re talking timely defense. We’re talking another five-game win streak. 

We’re talking a 28-16 victory over the Seattle Seahawks Sunday that elevated the Niners into a tie for the best record in the NFL. We’re talking about a coach, Kyle Shanahan, who was pleased but as every coach until the season ends, seeking improvement.

We’re talking a next game against the Arizona Cardinals, who at 3-10, are as bad as the 10-3 Niners are good. We’re talking a roster of  players who on offense remind us of the 1980s, the Montana, Craig, Rice, Clark, Young group about which John Madden in his role as TV an analyst would say again and again, “too many weapons.”

On this 2023 Niners team the offensive weapons include the almost-impossible-to-bring-down Deebo Samuel (two TDs Sunday), McCaffrey (145 yards rushing and one TD), and George Kittle (one TD).

And, oh yeah, we’re talking about the biggest surprise maybe ever, that quarterback guy Brock Purdy, who Sunday completed 19 passes in 27 attempts for 368 yards and two TDs.

The Purdy legend has been told many times but not enough for the 49ers Faithful, the last player picked in the draft — what were those scouts and assistant coaches looking for anyway? — who may be heading from the infamous Mr. Irrelevant to a more classy title, Most Valuable Player.

Another individual of value is Shanahan, whose decisions on personnel and game plans have been virtually unpredictable and eminently successful.

No, not every move works, but he has shown to be adaptable.

If something doesn’t work, then he’s very willing to try something else, although it’s hard to believe he would be willing to try a different quarterback.

“So many guys made big plays out of little plays,” a perfect summation of the reason the Niners kept getting into the end zone and when for a few moments they fell behind early in the second quarter, getting in front once more.

Shanahan’s specialty is offense — like the days of Bill Walsh. You almost can see the wheels turning in his brain, coming up with plays — but he well understands defense triumphs.  

Once more there will be a reference to the late John McKay, who went from a national championship at USC to become the first coach of the expansion Tampa Bay Bucs.  

“You win on defense,” said McKay. “If the other team doesn’t score you’ll never get worse than a 0-0 tie.”

The other team in this case, the Seahawks, did score against the Niners, but just enough to make the game interesting. Seattle had just 324 yards in offense, compared to 527.

And the linebacker Fred Warner had an interception, his fourth of his career, equaling the team record held by Keena Turner.

Big red machine, indeed.

Did Giants really have any chance for Ohtani?

San Francisco Giants fans have to look at it this way: In 10 years Shohei Ohtani again will be a free agent, and the team can make another worthless attempt to sign him.

Deep down where your frosty memories of a night game at Candlestick Park are hidden, you probably never really thought the Giants would get Ohtani.

That this whole come-on was a creation of some imaginative screenwriter.

The best attraction in baseball leaving southern California, with all those movie stars, sushi restaurants and LeBron James? No way.

This was just another case of the Dodgers finishing ahead of the Giants, which except for that rare year, 2007, has been a constant. And a pain.

The Dodgers didn’t need Ohtani, and the woebegone Giants did. As if in the game of baseball or the game of life, need is taken into consideration.

The L.A. media already are lording it over the unfortunate Bay Area, which in a matter of weeks has lost both a baseball team, the bewitched Oakland Athletics, and now any chance hopes for a man who pounds balls into the seats when he’s not pounding fastballs past confused batters.

“Can you believe it?” was the headline on the L.A.Times internet page minutes after the signing. “Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s new Babe Ruth is a Dodger.”

What we can believe is the Giants are headed for a season, when they’re doomed to be crushed by the Dodgers and stuck without any attraction.

When supposedly the Giants were a legitimate candidate in the Ohtani sweepstakes if ranking behind the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Cubs, new San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said the team needs star power.

But who do they acquire, and how do they acquire him? They made failed attempts to sign, in chronological order, Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge and now another, Ohtani. It’s like the boy who cried wolf (Ruth?) colloquially, ain’t nobody there.

Giants president Farhan Zaidi is well versed in analytics, but the people in stands — or the ones you’re attempting to get into the stands — are more interested in personalities, ball players with a tang, you might say,

That’s what made Ohtani so valuable. Not only could he perform, but he was fascinating, having come from a foreign land to dominate America’s pastime.

When Tiger Woods was a regular on the golf tour you needed to be in front of the TV screen any time he came to the tee. Same thing now with Ohtani, who can hit a home run with any swing.

Shohei is the showman, the guy every ball club wishes it had on the roster and now the Dodgers do

Tough luck to every other team in the National League, especially the Giants.

Who will be the new face of the Giants?

Fce of the franchise. The label is so brief. And so significant.

The franchise might be a team, such as the Warriors, where Steph Curry has earned the position Or a sport, golf, and even though his playing is limited, it’s still Tiger Woods.

It can be a him, as LeBron James. Or a her, as Naomi Osaka. Either way, it’s the person who makes a difference. On the court or ice or field or floor. At the gate. More than infrequently that person is one and the same. 

Bob Melvin, for two months now manager of the — you wouldn’t be far off using the term woebegone — San Francisco Giants, understands perfectly. He said San Francisco is a star-powered town. Ergo, the Giants need some stars.

True, easier said than done, and the competition to sign or acquire the biggest names, starting with the player everyone wants and some — including the Giants — can afford, Shohei Ohtani.   

The Los Angeles Dodgers, the “Beat L.A.” Dodgers, who a few days ago implied, if not stating directly, they wouldn’t be in a bidding war for Ohtani, aha, admit they will bid for Ohtani.

Of course, from a biased NorCal view the hugely loaded, obscenely successful Dodgers (until it comes to the World Series) are less in need than the Giants.  

So too chasing Ohtani are the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs, teams as well as the dreaded Dodgers, and the Giants which apparently have any chance of signing Ohtani.

Melvin, Giants president Farhan Zaidi and virtually every other executive from the major leagues—as well as agents, media people and various rumors — showed up to the baseball winter meetings in Nashville that ended Thursday. 

There was a considerable amount of conversation but little action. At least action involving the Giants. Those involved kept saying once Ohtani makes his decision, the figurative floodgates would open. Transactions would, like that, take place one after another. Maybe.

The Giants, who Wednesday conveniently announced tickets for the 2024 season were on sale, were presumably hoping they would have a new player or two.

If not Ohtani, then young pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell or center fielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger. He once was with the Dodgers.

After the decline, following the 2021 season, when they won a team-record 107 games, the Giants have searched for power hitters and starting pitchers. And victories. Attendance shriveled and finally in the final days of the 2023 season, manager Gabe Kapler was fired. 

The front office knew it was time to get players who could get wins and attention. It had failed previously trying to sign top-notch free agents who might win games and capture fans, Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa.

Now they are trying again for a player who could be the new face for a team desperately seeking one.

Niners play the game we had waited for

Those were the San Francisco 49ers we expected, loaded with talent and intent, taking up the challenge and taking down the franchise with the best record.

The Philadelphia Eagles came in 10-1. They were playing at home in damp weather. And the 49ers crushed them, dominating on defense, and overwhelming on offense.

San Francisco won 42-19, the Niners’ highest point total of the season. This was a game that had Niners players talking with more than a bit of confidence — as opposed to the pre-game trash talk from running back/receiver Deebo Samuel.

The post-season still is more than a month away, and teams such as the dreaded Dallas Cowboys and Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are not to be ignored.

Yet this game, if nothing else, restored the belief in the Niners, who lost three in a row at one disappointing stretch. They have regained their swagger and position at the top of pro football’s food chain.

They also can create a bit of strange confusion on the sideline, with their own defensive lineman, Dre Greenlaw getting ejected for a fight that also brought about the ejection of an official from Philly’s Lincoln Field.

What he was doing among the athletes is a question still to be answered.

The Niners in their performance answered any question about their quality. True, they went the first down and with only a few yards, but that defense was spectacular, and San Francisco only fell behind 6-0. After that, it was Niners, Niners, Niners, Samuel running, Christian McCaffrey running and catching, and the pass rush squeezing Philly Jalen (until it) Hurts.  

“Our play spoke louder than words," said Niners star linebacker Fred Warner. “We knew coming in what we had to do.”

They had to defeat the team that knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs, 31-7, last year in the NFC championship game after quarterback Brock Purdy left with an elbow injury that would take months to heal.  

“I wasn’t looking for revenge,” Purdy said after completing 19 of 27 passes for 314 yards and four touchdowns. “I just wanted to win.”

He and the Niners (9-3) did because of the beautiful merging of offense and defense — or should we say defense and offense, the Eagles held to 333 net yards as compared to 456 for San Francisco.

We’re told repeatedly the only statistic that counts is the final score, but the lopsided differences in the other numbers are more than an indication of the differential in that score.  

The strength of any football (or basketball or baseball) team is constructed on defense, keeping the opposition from scoring, a reason the Niners are paying edge rusher Nick Bosa $34 million a year. Sunday, the rest of the defensive line paid off in dividends.

“It’s not making sacks, this isn’t an individual thing. We work as a team,” said Bosa. “We try to keep the pressure on. Even if you don’t get there, they have to block you for a long time and it wears them out. I think the job we did was awesome.”

Hard to argue after smashing a team that had lost only once.

NFL, NBA — and the return of Tiger Woods

This is what Tiger Woods means to golf: ESPN on Thursday afternoon felt compelled to interrupt its incessant reporting of the Dallas Cowboys to give us news of the Hero World Challenge.

It’s an unofficial PGA Tour tournament. It’s also where Woods is playing competitively for the first time since April. In the opening round he didn’t play particularly well, shooting a three-over-par 75 at the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas, which was 18th in an elite field of 20.   

Yet what counted were not the strokes but the fact he was making them.  And making the sporting world aware. 

It’s late autumn. The NFL is in full stride. The NBA is holding some marketing device called the In-season tournament. Alabama is about to play Georgia. And golf was getting attention simply because of the one man involved once more.

Individual sports always needed individual stars. There are no home teams. But there are great players who become the lifeblood, overcoming national to get noticed, players such as Jack Nicklaus and Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods.  

It may not be correct to say Tiger is bigger than the game, but he’s invaluable. One minute we’re getting analysis of the Cowboys-Seahawks game, a minute later we’re hearing Tiger analyze his own game. 

It was not a satisfying overview, Woods told us how much he missed the sport. Not only connecting with a ball but also connecting with his contemporaries, sharing wisecracks and laughter, being “out there,” as golfers say.

Finally, Thursday, for the first time since he withdrew from the Masters with that aching foot, there he was if struggling. 

No pro golfer ever could be pleased with a double bogey and two bogeys on 15, 16 and 17, a finish that turned an acceptable round into a lousy one. However, Woods conceded he is not in shape. He played a lot of golf back home in Florida, but it’s hardly the same as golf on the Tour.

He said once more he was rusty.  How long does it take for a golfer his age, who has overcome numerous physical problems, for rust to be scraped and polished away?

“I would be thinking,” he said. “Should I do this or not? By then I’m pulling the trigger. I shouldn’t really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and again. It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I’ve got to do a better job.”

Tiger’s back; he missed golf, golf missed Tiger

For a great athlete, a sport is more than catching footballs or hitting baseballs. It’s a way of life, one from which he or she is embraced and has no wish to escape.

Tiger Woods reminded us when he spoke Tuesday about returning to golf after weeks away because of surgery on the right ankle that was damaged in that 2022 auto accident.

“I love competing,” said Woods. “I love playing, I miss being out here with the guys. I miss the camaraderie and the fraternity-like atmosphere out here and the overall banter.”

The fun at the office, as it were, the chance to talk and laugh, and no less, as anyone in virtually any line of work, to achieve a sense of self-satisfaction.

“But what drives me,” Woods emphasized,” is that I love to compete. There will come a point in time — I haven’t come around to it fully yet that I won’t be able to win again. When that day comes I’ll walk away.”

Right now he’s walking towards something, perhaps a renaissance. At the least towards the first tee.  

Woods, whose last previous competition was in April when he was forced to withdraw from the Masters because of the ankle, is playing in the fall event he’s long been involved with, now named the Hero World Challenge.

It’s an unofficial tournament, previously played at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks outside Los Angeles, but now is held in the Bahamas. 

Hero, in this case, refers not to Tiger, but to the sponsor of a motorcycle company in India.

If Woods understandably missed golf, then golf, understandably, missed Woods. There have been other fine players since Tiger burst onto the PGA Tour in 1996, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Rory McElroy, and lately Jon Rahm, but none had the magic combined with the game.   

Tiger brought in a new audience and filled grandstands and TV screens. People who didn’t know a divot from a dandelion knew Tiger.

In an earlier time, when baseball dominated our sports scene, Babe Ruth was America’s unique attraction, identifiable by just a first name. If Tiger isn’t another Babe, he is damn close.  

But Woods will be 48 in December, and even with his success, the 15 majors, the 82 total Tour wins, he knows the future can never match the past. The idea now is to be in the hunt and then with a key putt or two again be in the winner’s circle. 

“I’ve been playing a lot,” he said of his practice rounds, “but not with a scorecard and a pencil. My game feels rusty.”

As it should be. You’ve heard this before, but there’s a difference between going out on the course with your pals at the club in Florida and true competition.

“I’m excited to compete and play,” said Tiger. “I’m as curious as all of you are to see what happens. Because I haven’t done this for a while.”

Whatever happens is less important than it happens at all. Welcome back, Mr. Woods.

What’s to become of aging Warriors?

This is the way it works in sports. A team starts to win, and fans, the ones with perhaps less experience, believe that’s the way it always will be. They get spoiled. They get obnoxious even.  They get deceived.

But history is hovering. Nothing lasts forever, especially success.

Not very long ago the New England Patriots seemed unbeatable. Tom Brady was fantastic. Bill Belichick was a genius. 

And now? The Pats are awful. Critics are asking whether Belichick should be fired.

What some others are asking is what’s to become of the Golden State Warriors? Do they hang in for another season, shake off the inevitable scourge of time? Or do they decline almost before our very eyes — Draymond Green or no Draymond Green? 

Yes, Draymond soon is to be allowed back among the shooting and fouling of an NBA game. And presumably, the Warriors will never again be burdened by a dreaded six-game losing streak.

Still, this is the season of 2023-24, and the once-young guys who won four  NBA titles are older. You can’t go home again, and even going home appeared to be of little advantage during the recent stretch.

Pro sports in North America are designed to change the balance. Through the draft, the lesser teams are with wise choices and good fortune able to build themselves into better teams.

Which certainly is what the Warriors did, and oh yeah bringing in a free agent named Kevin Durant proved advantageous.

Who would have imagined Steph Curry would be the best long-range shooter in our lifetime? Or that Klay Thompson would pair up with Steph as one of the Splash Brothers? Or that Draymond, for all his faults, would be the guy who helped the pieces fit and no less played powerful defense?

Steve Kerr, the Warriors coach during their dominant years, was a player—and a fine one — on those Michael Jordan championship squads in the 1990s. Been there, and done that, so he understands the process and limitations.

Was it a year ago Kerr warned Warriors fans, that the team’s window to win was about to close? Last season the Dubs didn’t even get to the conference championship round.

The thinking — hoping? — of those in charge of the Warriors is that Chris Paul, 38, will be a more-than-capable addition to Curry, 35, Thompson, 33 and Green, 33. It’s possible if not probable.   

It’s all relative, certainly. Take it from someone (blush) who covered the Warriors in the ‘70s when they won 17 games and 22 games. The bad old days.

Those are gone forever. The issue, clouded a bit because of Draymond Green’s volatility and Klay Thomson’s shooting struggles, is whether the chance to win one last championship still remains.

Purdy perfect — like Joe and Steve

He had thrown his first interception. Worse, the 49ers lost.  And lost again. Then lost again.  The skeptics couldn’t be silenced. Maybe, they told us this was the real Brock Purdy, not the kid who unexpectedly captured games and media attention.

Whatever, the Brock Purdy who showed up Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, was as real, effective and efficient a quarterback as anyone ever.  

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him perfect because that’s what his rating was — perfect, 158.3 out of a possible 158.3. The last time that was accomplished by someone wearing a 49ers uniform —actually, somebodies—was in 1989, and the somebodies were named Joe Montana and Steve Young.

Who would both be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Not bad company.

Of the 25 passes Purdy unleashed only four were not caught. The figures included  333 yards and three touchdowns.

We know football is very much a team sport and that an NFL squad has more than 50 athletes. Yet, isn’t it amazing how the best teams have the best quarterbacks?

Asked about Purdy’s play against the Bucks as San Francisco improved to a 7-3 record, the best in the NFC West, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said merely, “He had a hell of a game.

Halfback Christian McCaffrey was no less enthusiastic. “Brock has been great every game,” said McCaffrey.  

Not quite, but if a player feels compelled to offer a teammate high praise, that’s quite understandable. And acceptable.

“He’s got to be in the MVP conversation with those numbers,” Niners star linebacker Fred Warner said after checking out Purdy’s stats following Sunday’s victory, which left the 49ers (7-3) a game ahead of the Seahawks — their opponent Thursday night in Seattle — in the NFC West. “It’s unbelievable the way he’s playing. He’s having an All-Pro, Pro Bowl-type of year.”

And at the end, of all the numbers on the screen, the only ones that count are those of the final score. Yes, the Niners won Sunday, defeating the semi-good Tampa Bay  27-14.  

On the other side, both symbolically and literally, is the man who played competently at quarterback for the Buccaneers, Baker Mayfield. Mayfield was first pick overall in the 2018 draft, by Cleveland, and now is with his fourth team. Purdy, as we are too well aware, was the last pick in the 2022 draft.

The Niners play at Seattle on Thanksgiving and then play the Philadelphia Eagles, arguably the best team in the NFC. Purdy’s doubters are poised. No less important is the defense for the opening days of the season, the area that was the strength of the team.   

Then, with Purdy, McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle, the 49ers went from a team that stopped others to one that others couldn’t itself be stopped.

Other than three weeks.

Bad day in Oakland; traffic stays, A’s don’t

This was Oakland on Thursday. Some jerks shut down the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge, keeping many of us from going to work or leaving town.

Some others—dare we also call them jerks?—were in the process of making sure the Athletics baseball team would not be staying in town.  

True, those who Wednesday tossed their car keys into San Francisco Bay (anybody got a fit for a Rolls Royce?) and caused chaos had little to do with the A’s receiving permission to flee to Las Vegas.  

Other than a massive degree of inconvenience.

Life is timing, we’re told, and although we had been advised (warned? threatened?) that the departure of the Athletics was inevitable, who could imagine approval would come on the very morning of the massive protest on the span?

You want a ticket to Gaza or Opening Day?

Now we’ll have a landmark, of sorts, to remind us about the uncaring lords of baseball (sorry; they do care about dollars.)  

How often have we heard from the hypocritical owners who so often tell us they are merely caretakers and that the game belongs to the guys (and ladies) who cheer the teams?  

In the East Bay, the fans and the team were kicked around and forced to take refuge in a stadium designed for football, and forced to play where the dugout was full of furry little animals and the stands were empty of humans.

It reached a point with the A’s where the roster was comprised of ball players who were either barely out of the minors or still belonged in. Sure they lost more than 100 games in the seasons of 2022 and 2023. It was as if the majors were intent on having the A’s move. The NBA calls it tanking.

The A’s were kicked around and mismanaged after years of winning championships. We are told the game supposedly belongs to the fans. Well, check out the words that merge with the actions of the man who is the prime owner of the A’s, John Fisher. 

After the baseball meeting down in Texas, said without a dissenting vote, Fisher had the A’s office in Oakland issue a letter of apology. For what? Leaving a city that used to break records (three consecutive World Series triumphs)  sobbing with a broken heart.

Indeed the A’s may not have a legitimate ballpark in which to play in Las Vegas until 2028, but Fisher doesn’t care. He’s worth more than a billion, and that’s not in poker chips.  

They used to say sport is the opera of the poor, since those without wealth couldn’t afford to go to The Met. These days you’ve got to have a bankroll to attend almost any event.

A’s fans spent many dollars and all of their hopes on the team which let them down and soon headed to a new locale.  

So sad. So lousy.

Niners end the nonsense

The 49ers certainly put an end to that nonsense. And to their three-game losing streak. They played like the old days. A month ago.

Whatever was wrong with San Francisco’s entry in the NFL has been fixed. At least for one game. And maybe considering the talent and the expectations, perhaps for many games.

Every pro team has difficult periods, Daryl Johnson, the one-time star fullback and current-time game analyst for Fox TV, told us that the most difficult stretch of this particular Niner season was in the process of coming to an end, ironically against a team going through a wonderful period.

The Jacksonville Jaguars never may be ranked with the Baltimore Ravens or the hated Dallas Cowboys, but they were playing at home and had won five straight, as contrasted to the Niners losing three straight. Now both those streaks have been broken. 

The 49ers took control so quickly and so demonstratively in their 34-3 victory, head coach Kyle Shanahan chose early in the fourth quarter to change quarterbacks. In a twist, Sam Darnold, a first-round pick, replaced Brock Purdy, who as the sporting world knows, was the last pick in the 2022 draft.

But as we also know, first or last, what matters is how you play. And after three performances that might be called spotty, a word which similarly can be applied to the once reliable defense, Purdy on Sunday was virtually without flaws — no turnovers (those, five of them, were contributed by the Jaguars). If not silencing the doubters, he was poised and near perfection.  He completed 19 passes in 26 attempts for 296 yards, three touchdowns, and a rating of 148.9. (Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence, No. 1 draftee overall in 2021, had a rating of 56.2).

Those numbers can be interpreted any way one wants, of course, but when a team is functioning properly, the offense working well with the defense, football is a joy.

Nick Bosa and new addition Chase Young made the defensive line what it was supposed to be and more. The return of injured Deebo Samuel gave a boost to the rushing and receiving. And whether the shift of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks from press box to sideline means that much is debatable, but you can be sure he’s not going back.

Football is a game of response. Was the moving of the defensive backs to locations outside the linebackers the reason the Niners were so effective?

Whatever, Bosa has no questions. Now. He had a few when the defeats climbed. As, for one — “I’ll take it. It was a really good team win,” Bosa said “Just complementary ball.  A good reset for us to keep going.”

It’s easy to say that during the bye week when the Niners were forced to endure the criticism of the media and fans while unable to do much except on a practice field. Then after the break, came the success, and a degree of satisfaction.

Can the Giants get Ohtani?

It’s not an issue of money. At least that’s the word from the San Francisco Giants. They have plenty. What they lack is a team that makes the postseason and draws national attention.

Unlike the Los Angeles Dodgers, who as the Giants (and so many other teams), are actively pursuing the most attractive of free agents, Shohei Ohtani.

The major league general managers convened a few days ago in Scottsdale, Arizona, which happens to be where the Giants home for spring training. And, what else, they were pestered about the big guy who hits home runs and throws fastballs (or did until elbow surgery).

 So this was headlined in the Los Angeles Times: “The Dodgers want Shohei Ohtani. But how far will they go in a potential bidding war?”

And this was the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Giants preparing for full-court press on free-agent superstar Shohei Ohtani.”

You would guess (and hope if you’re one of the frustrated souls who does little but chant, “Beat L.A.”) that in this competition the Giants have the edge. But the history of free agency has not been favorable for the Giants, or has everyone forgotten the recent saga of Aaron Judge?

A Northern Californian, Judge stopped by for a moment or two and then (sigh) re-signed with his former team, the New York Yankees.

Ohtani, now 29, is not a one-man team. But he was close, a unanimous American League MVP in 2021, and a pitcher who could (should?) have been a Cy Young Award winner.

Maybe more than the statistics he produces as a two-way sensation for the Los Angeles Angels is the excitement—and fans—he has brought to the American sport since arriving from Japan in 2017.  

He has helped make what was known as “America’s Pastime,” into an international attraction. In Japan he’s God. In the U.S. he’s a hero, arguably the best two-way player since Babe Ruth, who you may not remember began as a pitcher and then became “The Sultan of Swat.”

Ruth, as the story goes, was asked in the early 1920s, if he deserved to be earning more money than President Herbert Hoover and answered, “Why not? I had a better year.” 

In a matter of days, Shohei Otani, about to be offered a contract that may be as huge as $400 million a season, will be earning more than anyone in the history of baseball.

After several seasons with the Angels, Ohtani may prefer to remain in southern California, meaning going to the Dodgers. Or maybe he can be persuaded to head north to the Giants.

Ohtani in 2023 batted .304 and led the American League with 44 home runs. His pitching ended with the injury. His appeal, however, is unending.

That all goes into the thinking of the Giants and the Dodgers.

“We’ve got a good amount of payroll flexibility,” said Giants’ president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. “So anybody we think can be an impact player, even on a long-term deal, we’re going to be looking at.”

In free agency looking is fine. Signing is essential.

Sharks season even worse than the A’s

The San Jose Sharks, a hockey team, reportedly, are doing what seemed impossible — having a worse season than the Oakland Athletics, a baseball team, reportedly.

Different sports, but similar ineptitude. Must be something in the Bay Area water. Or considering the number of vineyards, the wine.

The A’s had the worst record in the game in 2023. The Sharks very well may end up with the worst record in NHL history. There still is a question because the hockey season still has weeks and weeks to go.

Unfortunately, perhaps.

As of November 7, Tuesday, the Sharks had played 11 games and haven only won a single one. They also have a tie. As if that matters. 

The only thing that does matter is getting more goals (or runs) than the opponent. So far that’s been a hopeless task for the Sharks, as most of the  spring and summer it was for the A’s

Twice the Sharks have given up 10 goals in a game. Yikes.   

The two franchises ended up in similarly dire straits for the most obvious of reasons, a notable lack of playing talent, their rosters depleted and their fans deprived  

The Sharks found it necessary to rebuild, trading among others Eri  Karlsson (Norris Trophy winner as the league’s best defenseman) for younger players.   

The A’s trick was to go after cheaper players, telling us they couldn’t compete financially—and then (snigger, snigger) announcing they were going to shift the team to Las Vegas. 

The Sharks aren’t going anywhere, literally as well as figuratively. They’ll be a San Jose for a long while, whether their once-loyal fans will be is the issue.

In the last few years, attendance at SAP Center has declined.  

The Sharks were wildly popular, as San Jose’s own, they were the local product of a city seeking its own sporting identity. However, they were often put in the shade by the burg up the coast at 49ers games in neighboring Santa Clara TV shows and views of the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco.  

San Jose is hockey territory and yet at the same time, it isn’t hockey territory like Toronto or Boston. Does a revised roster fill up the seats again?  

The A’s actually had a winning record one day into the season, but from 1-0, reality took over. A ball club peopled with prospects and suspects is doomed to tumble. 

Maybe the best part of the A’s season was the reverse boycotts staged by fans trying to persuade owner John Fisher to sell the team. Stubbornly he wouldn’t, and so he’s prepared to move.

For the Sharks and the A’s, it’s been the worst of times.

What's happened to the Raiders?

There are team owners in sports who know what they’re doing. The Golden State Warriors’ Joe Lacob is a perfect example. And then there are owners such as Mark Davis of the former Oakland Raiders.

As is evident from the way the Raiders play football. 

Mark’s late father, Al, built the team into a Super Bowl champion. But if a franchise is transferred to the next of kin because of the legal system, there’s no guarantee the qualities to make that franchise successful also will be.

Mark, who grew up in Piedmont, the tony suburb of Oakland, just surreptitiously fired another coach late Monday night, a few hours after the Raiders suffered a 26-14 defeat by the ascendant Detroit Lions.

The Raiders, explained Davis, “were heading in the wrong direction.” Which a good part of the group called Raider Nation, would point out the team began to do years ago. Literally. 

When like fugitives on the run they fled the Oakland Coliseum for, well, it’s hard to call the landscape around Las Vegas greener pastures. Only more financially beneficial ones. 

Meaning the 68-year-old Davis and his partners, who cashed in elegantly and wealthily, provided a new luxurious stadium and the upcoming Super Bowl, which, no surprise, will not include the Raiders.

Bill Walsh, the legendary 49ers coach, once told me a problem in the NFL when a team is struggling is the owners’ friends will sit near him during games and belittle the franchise. How embarrassing. 

That the Raiders’ woes with Football shown throughout the nation on ESPN’s Monday Night, was more embarrassing. What to do? What Davis did was fire head coach, Josh Mcdaniels.

And oh yeah, even though he’s still on the team, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, late of the 49ers, has been benched. When he wasn’t injured, he was throwing interceptions.  

In the publication “Pro Football Talk” Mike Florio, a longtime observer and NFL writer, asks a very pertinent question, to which: Who is advising Mark Davis?

“Whoever Davis is listening to,” wrote Florio, “presumably had influence over what he’s done and over what he’ll do next . . . Given his track record of hires since he inherited the team he hasn’t been getting good advice, or he’s ignoring any good advice he’s gotten.”  

The advice Raider fans from an earlier era could have given was to keep the team in Oakland, where it not only was a contender but a major part of the community.

Too late for that, certainly. The Raiders are long gone, leaving only memories and an owner who flew the coop and has been unable to build a winner.

Niners can’t stop anything, and that includes losing

They seem unable to stop anything—primarily their losing streak.

The defense that was the heart and soul of the San Francisco 49ers is now clueless and unable to tackle. The season that had people repeating the precious words, “Super Bowl,” suddenly has them mumbling to themselves with phrases that other adults shouldn’t hear. Much less children.

The worst thing for the Niners and their fans, the so-called “Faithful,” may not be the how many, three straight defeats, after the 31-17 debacle against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. But the how.

They were run over, run past and run through by a team that began the game last in the NFL in offense and third from last in rushing. The Bengals finished with 400 net yards, 134 on the ground. 

The comments from 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and his players were the typical ones you'd expect after a team that is supposed to win, according to the oddsmakers, fails to win: "We've got to play better."

Oh yes, you do. But how does that occur? Sure, some of the answers—or was it all of them?—contained the word “execution.”

That brings to mind the immortal quote from the late John McKay when he was coaching the expansion (and awful Tampa Bay Bucs). Asked after one game what he thought of their execution, McKay remarked, “I’m in favor of it.”

Nothing that severe (or comical) from the Niners postgame, but Shanahan and his crew would be in favor of stepping back to early October when they overwhelmed the Dallas Cowboys, who you may have noticed on Sunday routed the Los Angeles Rams (Lambs?) 43-20.

The NFL is full of surprises, indeed. The Broncos even defeated the Chiefs. But the issue is consistency, to play well—at least to your strength—as often as possible, to be feared by the opponent.  

Nobody fears the 49ers anymore, except maybe the men in charge of the franchise.  

There was so much worry about Brock Purdy coming out of concussion protocol and getting onto the field and into the huddle. He made it. He threw a couple of interceptions and lost a fumble, three turnovers in all.

Far from the magic he appeared to possess for the opening games, yet not being able to get yards wasn’t what doomed the 49ers. It was their inability to keep Cincinnati from getting theirs. 

So much has been written or spoken of Purdy being the last man picked in the draft of 2022. The first man picked in the 2020 draft was Joe Burrow, the Bengals quarterback, and he completed 18 straight passes at one stretch on Sunday.

How much was attributable to Burrow and how much to the 49ers’ ineffective pass defense is a matter to be contemplated. What had to sting was the Fox TV announcer borrowing the line about Joe Montana and calling Burrow “Joe Cool” especially because Montana was in attendance. 

Oh yeah, Christian McCaffrey tied the NFL record by scoring a touchdown (actually two touchdowns) in 17 consecutive games. That pleased Shanahan.

Very little else did.

“We missed a lot of tackles in the first half. “ the coach said. “The bottom line is we have to get better in every aspect.

In other words, they have to execute.

Unexpected: Melvin new Giants manager

The Warriors lost their first game, which was unexpected. The 49ers lost their last game, which was unexpected. And, oh yeah somewhere among Steph Curry and Brock Purdy, the Giants named Bob Melvin their manager. 

Which was unexpected until a few days ago when it was disclosed that Melvin was unhappy in his role as manager of the San Diego Padres.

Then things became what they are in baseball, an activity that one of its practitioners, the late, great Yogi Berra, once told us “You don’t know nothing.” Melvin was expected to be available, if not necessarily in that order.

A manager can’t get hits or throw shutouts, but he can be a hit, and that’s what the Giants, searching for their place in the Bay Area’s crowded sporting landscape, very much need.

If not as much as a home run hitter.

Bo Mel, as he’s called, knows the territory, and growing up on the Peninsula while also playing ball at Cal and no less managing Oakland Athletics to the playoffs (if never the World Series), we know him.

What we don’t know is what sort of roster he’ll have. But you presume he wouldn’t have taken the job, even for a former colleague of Giants president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi, with whom Mevin worked at the A’s unless changes would occur.

The Giants’ wish to sign Aaron Judge (yet another Northern Californian)  disappeared last spring, but there are other sluggers around, several on the Padres.

Maybe Melvin could help pry loose one of those high-priced players from the Padres, not that the Giants should expect help from the team that Melvin just extricated himself after a rumored strained relationship with A.J. Preller, head of baseball operations in San Diego.

Still, as everyone knows—and was verified in the two league championships that elevated the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks to the World Series—pitching wins.

The Giants have some pitching. They just need more.  

Apropos of nothing, but perhaps pertinent to everything, is the man who preceded Melvin as Padres manager in Bruce Bochy, who moved on to win three World Series for the Giants and now is in another with Texas.

San Francisco, the season of 2023 was rolling along until it mattered in September, then it tumbled from leading the wild card race to nowhere. How much that had to do with their very disciplined and analytics-based manager, Gabe Kapler being fired, is debatable.

Unless you’re Zaidi, who if only to prove he and the organization were intent on both keeping the Giants competitive and in a tough market, relevant.

Bob Melvin seems to be both the fortunate choice and the perfect one. No question he will get attention. Will he be able to get wins?

What happened to the 49ers’ defense?

There wasn’t any doubt in this one. Oh, the final score was close, but in truth, the game wasn’t. 

That 49ers team, which only two weekends ago crushed the Dallas Cowboys and had the Faithful talking Super Bowl, has gone missing.

And worse, has gone losing in two consecutive games.

It was the very mediocre Minnesota Vikings that beat San Francisco, 22-17, Monday night at US Bank Stadium. It was a very unstoppable Vikings team that destroyed what we mistakenly believed was one of the best defenses in the NFL.

A Vikings team with apparently no running game.  A Vikings team that ran and passed the Niners to oblivion.  A Vikings team that came into the game with a 2-4 record and when it constructed a lead it surprised ESPN announcer Joe Buck to the point that he said in so many words, “What’s going on here?”  

A national audience, which had been following the Niners’ 5-0 start and reading about the magic of young quarterback Brock Purdy, $170 million pass rusher Nick Bosa and scoring machine Christian McCaffrey, surely wondered the same thing.

Or maybe wondered if all the praise and expectations that surrounded the Niners was just a lot of journalistic nonsense.  

Nobody expects the Niners to go unbeaten. This isn’t 1972, and now the schedule is 17 games and there’s too much talent on every franchise. So, getting beat by the Cleveland Browns, 19-17, eight days earlier was acceptable.

This one against the Vikings wasn’t if you’re thinking about the championship.

What Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan was thinking we never might know, but what he said was, “They had one turnover, we had three turnovers. It was a five-point game, so it's almost as simple as that."

A game decided perhaps by the Vikings constantly blitzing Purdy, whose passing was 21 of 30 for 272 yards. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked once. He was under pressure from the start.

The 49ers couldn’t match that pressure. They didn’t have a chance.

What the Niners did have at one point in the second half was their largest deficit of the season, 19-7. And what they never had for the first time in any game was a lead.  

The Vikings, with the often-maligned Kirk Cousins at quarterback, had a brilliant game on offense as well as defense. Minnesota gained 452 yards, San Francisco 325.

McCaffrey, who was questionable because of an oblique injury, played and got into the end zone twice, extending his team-record touchdown streak to 16 consecutive games. But he fumbled on an early drive, and perhaps that changed the momentum of the entire game. 

Purdy made some key completions as the Niners tried to catch up, but hounded he lofted a ball that was intercepted, ending any chance for a comeback. 

“It was a tough day,” said Purdy. “The Vikings played a very smart game, and we couldn’t quite do it.”

“We can’t sit here and worry about what happened,” said Shanahan. “We have got to find a way to beat the Bengals (the Niners’ next opponent). And then we go into our bye week. We’ve got to take this like men.”

What they took was a figurative punch in the gut. Now there are questions about Purdy, and even worse, questions about the supposedly impregnable San Francisco defense.

A few days ago Shanahan told the media, referring to the defeat in Cleveland, “We haven’t had that for a while. I forgot how it felt after a loss.”

There will be no forgetting now.

Steph Curry now linked with Charlie Sifford

The great Jim Murray wrote of the barrier-breaking Charlie Sifford. “He stands as a social pioneer not because he could play politics, but because he could play golf.”

Steph Curry, as we know, can play basketball. And golf. 

And with his contributions to society and politics, if only in the most positive of ways. That Curry was given the Charlie Sifford Award by Southern Company for “Advancing Diversity in Golf,” surely would have pleased Sifford as much as it delighted Curry.

Yes, Steph still is on court, when needed. He was needed in a preseason game at Chase Center Wednesday night, hitting the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to give the Warriors a 116-115 win over Sacramento.

The beauty of sport is that skill and talent—and hard work—transcend ethnic backgrounds. Or is supposed to. But it wasn’t that way in golf, historically a game as white as the dimpled balls placed on the tee.

Sifford grew up in a still segregated Charlotte, N.C., learning golf as a caddy. He had a short backswing but fortunately not a short fuse, patiently accepting the insults, death threats and sometimes the terrible materials hurled at him.

Sifford, who died at 92 in 2015, survived long enough to win two PGA Tour events and to be chosen for the World Golf Hall of Fame. As does Jackie Robinson, he has a place in the heart of every African American athlete. No Charlie Sifford, perhaps no Tiger Woods.

Curry, who like Sifford grew up in North Carolina, was particularly moved to be the Sifford Award winner, “to be recognized in this sport I am so passionate about.” 

His success in golf—he not only won this year’s American Century event at Lake Tahoe but also had a hole-in-one the previous round—is hardly a surprise.

Basketball players, along with hockey players, have the hand-eye coordination demanded. Michael Jordan was so good he tried to go on tour, although as he discovered there’s a gap between a low-handicap amateur and a pro.

Individuals who after a high profile celebrity event which might get them stories on the internet, usually along with advice to keep their day job. Curry certainly will, so that, although his day job is at night, in the company of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.

Off the course and the court, Curry launched Underrated Golf in 2021, a purpose-driven endeavor with the “overarching commitment to provide equity access and opportunity to student-athletes from every community.”

At 37, Curry, his golf mostly confined until early summer next year, is astonished by the opportunity of one more NBA championship, adding to the four he has won since the season of 2015.

Not that his finances can’t be put to use at the same time, Curry is going to join the ownership group of the San Francisco team of the TGL, the virtual golf league developed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy

Curry and Klay Thompson will join billionaire businessman Marc Lasry, a former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks as investors. There will be six teams that will hold a competition on a virtual course in a custom-built arena in Florida. The league describes itself as “fusing advanced tech and live action.”

Charlie Sifford never would have believed it.