Golden Nuggets: Not Sure About 49ers 'Attacking', But Satisfied Regardless

by James Brady on Sep 13, 2011 2:00 AM PDT in 49ers Links

My Monday Night Football experience was one of disappointment and even a fair bit of rage. Anger and rage. Raging anger, even. It was not entirely unlike fury, to be quite honest with you. Imagine my surprise when the ESPN crew is talking about Tom Brady's MNF yardage record ( or perhaps it was when talking about the 99-yard reception) and they mention a few of the other names ... selected totally at "random", they mention Brett Favre.

It was just a passing remark, but it really got on my nerves that they went with his name instead of one of the others on the list. I just can't seem to escape talk of Favre, no matter what happens. I'm going to re-instate the Favre drinking game and make it in play for the remainder of the time I ever watch a football game. So expect me to be really fitshaced on Sundays. Enjoy the linkage, children.

Jim Harbaugh sees 3rd down run calls as the 49ers "attacking to win". (Examiner.com)

Michael Crabtree is not a diva (PressDemocrat.com)

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh wants his team noticed (SFGate.com)

Ted Ginn's inconsistent role according to 49ers depth chart (Examiner.com)

Tukuafu retains humility, and the ball, after big moment (SFGate.com)

Harbaugh rips page from Walsh's 49ers handbook (CSNBayArea.com)

Will the 49ers open up the offense? Only Harbaugh knows-and only if he trusts Alex Smith (MercuryNews.com)

49ers rewind: Special teams start off special (Scout.com)

San Francisco 49ers' Ray McDonald has immediate impact in first start at left defensive end (MercuryNews.com)

49ers looking to build on season opener into next week (Examiner.com)

Harbaugh's first Monday presser (PressDemocrat.com)

Harbaugh is full of surprises (SFGate.com)

Harbaugh: Playing it safe? No, playing to win (CSNBayArea.com)

Tony Romo on the Niners (PressDemocrat.com)

49ers sign RB Ian Johnson (49ers.com)

Monday's Locker Room Talk: Sept. 12 (49ers.com)

Yesterday on Niners Nation

Golden Nuggets: Well That Was A Fun Game | Ninjames
Michael Crabtree Injury Update: Extremely Sore Foot Bothering 49ers Receiver | Fooch
49ers vs. Seahawks Day After Recap: Defense, Special Teams Rule The Day | Fooch
Alex Smith & Tony Romo: Long Lost Brothers? | Fooch
NFC West Week 1 Review: Going .500 Like A Boss | DerekRE_3
49ers-Seahawks: Jim Harbaugh Lunch Press Conference | Fooch
Jim Harbaugh: People Don't Respect You? Do Something About It | Fooch
49ers vs. Seahawks: Breakdown of the Front 7 | D.DeSimone
Monday Night Football Open Thread: Jim Harbaugh Press Conference Transcript | Fooch

Being a Sheep

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Why the site decorum was Omon cut?

Omon has showed some flashes of talent, more than the Boise State proposal guy has anyway.

To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.

by moto9er on Sep 13, 2011 4:35 AM PDT reply actions

practice squad running backs

Aren’t very valuable, and maybe switched out depending on who they’re playing the next week. Not sure if Ian better compares to Felix Jones or something..

It’s a non issue, it’s the PS.

by whistlingmountain on Sep 13, 2011 7:01 AM PDT up reply actions

Not exactly...

Where was Lagarett Blount found? Undrafted, then signed, then cut by Tennessee. If Gore goes down (God forbid) then where are we? And as his production inevitably falls we will need to find his replacement or replacements if it’s a RB by committee type deal. Omon was pretty good and had seemingly pretty high upside. The Boise State kid has already been around for quite a while now. I’m not pumped. Imagine if the 9ers had managed to sign Blount, they’d be a major force on the ground this year.

To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.

by moto9er on Sep 13, 2011 11:02 AM PDT up reply actions

Blount was never on a practice squad

If the 49ers had managed to sign Blount he would have left at the end of the year when he got 0 carries. He left the 49ers because they had running backs already.

The 49ers have no rights over practice squad players, Omon could sign elsewhere if he wanted. Blount was not on a PS however.

by whistlingmountain on Sep 13, 2011 11:21 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm aware.

My point is he was and undrafted RB. RBs at the end of the draft or even undrafted are often very useful. With the status of the 9er’s line, this team is gonna need RBs and QBs this season.

To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.

by moto9er on Sep 14, 2011 12:34 AM PDT up reply actions

I don't think you understand how the practice squad works

At any time, anyone on it can sign anywhere. You have no rights or control over them. They just get paid to help out in practice.

If they need Omon later in the season they can still bring him in… If that is what you’re worried about then you have no reason to worry.

by whistlingmountain on Sep 14, 2011 5:20 AM PDT up reply actions

Andy Lee should have got a game ball too ...!!

I'm your " Huckelberry "...it's just my game ...Jimmy Raye your no daisy ...!!

by Edggy on Sep 13, 2011 4:56 AM PDT reply actions

I really like the “Michael Crabtree is not a diva” article.
With all the criticism around him i think it’s good to read this.

-Lazy fool- ;)

by zemd on Sep 13, 2011 5:06 AM PDT reply actions

I thought that article was rubbish

I really did. It carries no weight to it – the writer presents as evidence for Crabtree not being a diva just one fact, which is that he spoke to him when he perhaps did not need to and was pleasant. Even the worst type of people are nice to folks occasionally – I’m not sure what it proves. The writer ends with a horrible phrased (“spazzed out”) which is pretty offensive to a lot of people, and you’re left with a sense that it’s a very lightweight article with a disagreeable, and deeply politically incorrect, summation. Way to go.

I’m not saying Crabtree is the worst type of person, by the way. I’m also not saying he’s a diva. I’d like him to play in a pre-season game maybe just once in his career, and I’d like him to perform a bit more like a first-round pick, but then the 49ers have loads of players that were first-round picks and don’t often play like first-round picks (Alex Smith, Anthony Davis, Chilo Rachal, previously David Carr, etc etc) and nobody calls them divas.

So my post here is not anti-Crabtree – just that that article was neither here nor there in proving anything about him one way or the other.

by LondonNiner on Sep 13, 2011 5:38 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Not offensive and simply offers insight.

Spazzed out is a slang term for spastic and It’s not offensive Stateside buddy. The article is meant to simply offer a different light into the character of Crabs who I would say has been mislabeled. So what if he’s a bit more of a loner/keep to himself kind of guy, doesn’t bother me if he’s trying his best which I have always heard. Typically the Bay Area media/fans have labeled Crabs as a diva, which is only deserving in regards to his stupid agent’s influence for Crabtree’s holdout. Since then he’s put in the work, just had some bad luck with injuries. The article doesn’t try to “prove” one way or the other, just adds some insight into his demeanor which most fans certainly don’t have the chance to find out firsthand. Overall I see it as a non-issue, not even a story really, just one writer trying to round out the overall picture with some anecdotal offerings.

To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.

by moto9er on Sep 13, 2011 6:37 AM PDT up reply actions

Like I said, I am not suggesting Crabtree is or isn’t a diva, and has or hasn’t “put in the work” or any other issue, or non-issue, surrounding the type of character he is.

I would slightly disagree with your suggestion that the writer is not trying to prove something. I think he is – he sets out very clearly that he does not think Crabtree is a diva and then seeks to explain why. If making a statement which you then seek to back-up isn’t an attempt to prove something, I don’t know what is! But we can agree to disagree on that front. As I made clear, my only point was that it was a particularly weak essay – I have no real opinion on whether or not Crabtree is a diva and indeed if I had one, I suspect it would be that he isn’t.

Oh, and I might also humbly point out that even having “a slang term for spastic” is pretty offensive wherever you are in the world. I don’t think America has a monopoly on the acceptability or otherwise of “slang terms” for degenerative illnesses, and would instead suggest that it’s not about “Stateside” or the UK or anywhere else in the world, and rather, it’s just an unfortunate phrase that a professional sportsperson shouldn’t use and a professional sports writer should know better than to repeat carelessly.

That’s all.

by LondonNiner on Sep 13, 2011 7:35 AM PDT up reply actions

I object

A professional sports writer in the UK should know better. In the US that term has zero negative connotation. But I agree with you that the article was pretty much crap.

by mr. instigator on Sep 13, 2011 9:13 AM PDT up reply actions

Words and their usage change over time...

…and their usage and understanding are very region specific. Here is the contemporary meaning:

spaz

noun
1.
an awkward, clumsy, or eccentric person.

verb (used without object) spazzed, spaz·zing.
2.
to move in an awkward or clumsy way (usually followed by out ): She spazzed out and we had broken glass all over the floor.
3.
to become more angry than a situation warrants (usually followed by out ): Mom spazzed out when she smelled cigarette smoke on my clothes.
4.
to twitch: He was spazzing and muttering to himself, like the old speed freak he is.

Considering Crabs was referring to himself it’s especially inoffensive. The word has changed over time, it’s no longer referring to a person with some sort of disorder, it’s referring to someone who acts erratically or in an eccentric fashion.

There is no reason a sports writer shouldn’t quote something as mundane as this other than it’s not interesting, IMHO that is simply being overly politically correct.

I know you are not criticizing Crabtree, just the writer’s use of this term. And I don’t think any region or country has a final say in whether something is offensive, just that regionally words can have more or less significance or weight in terms of being offensive. I am actually also currently living in Europe, Eastern Europe to be more precise.

To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.

by moto9er on Sep 13, 2011 10:35 AM PDT up reply actions

I take on board all your points. And I also remembered, after we had this conversation, that Tiger Woods got himself in a heap of bother when he used that word at The Open golf a few years ago. He was in an interview and he said that he had “played like a spaz” and it created a real storm – it’s a complete no-go here, considered highly offensive and, ironically given that you refer to its impact easing over time, I would say it’s thought to be a throwback to a more primitive era where insulting language was more commonplace.

I guess Woods was unprepared for that, and I should have remembered that it’s a trivial word in the States. I genuinely do still believe that it shouldn’t be a trivial word in the States, but in retrospect it was pompous of me to impose that belief on a whole nation (!) and to expect Crabtree and Cohn to behave according to the customs of a country they aren’t even expecting will read their content.

by LondonNiner on Sep 13, 2011 12:47 PM PDT up reply actions

Point well taken.

To be honest I’ve never even once heard that word and associated it with any kind of disability or ailment but after looking at the etymology of the actual word I see why it’s offensive when it is referencing dissabilities. It’s a stupid word really, I think I’m done with this thread now. Thanks for the good discussion.

To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.

by moto9er on Sep 14, 2011 12:39 AM PDT up reply actions

I think the article missed the point

I would love it if Crabtree was a diva. That would mean that he accomplished enough to demand and get special treatment. The article should have been titled “Michael Crabtree is not a productive WR”. Until he helps the 49ers win some games, the only thing I’ll remember him for is the longest rookie holdout in 49ers history. Regardless of how nice, shy, introverted, dedicated he may be, right know he is known for ‘not playing’ instead of for what he has done on the field. Hopefully that will change but I doubt that he will ever become more than a 3rd or 4th receiver with his injuries adding up.

by odiez42 on Sep 13, 2011 8:20 AM PDT up reply actions

I didn’t take what the article said as an evidence that Crabtree is a diva. Just that a lot bad things have been said about him. To have something nice written about him is a good change. It doesn’t prove that he isn’t a diva, but the other topics about him being one didn’t either.
Grant Cohn provides articles that are refreshing, with inside info about the locker room. (For example the chocolate bar and Dixon, i can’t find it) It’s not great journalism, but as i read nearly everyrhing i can find on those sites, it changes from the others articles repeating themselves. On the other had, when he writes about other subject he doesn’t go deeper than the surface (i don’t remember the proper word)

As the “spazzed out” i don’t understand it and i can’t find the translation. But he uses it as a quote from Crabtree.

-Lazy fool- ;)

by zemd on Sep 13, 2011 8:55 AM PDT up reply actions

I hope you understand what i mean.

-Lazy fool- ;)

by zemd on Sep 13, 2011 8:56 AM PDT up reply actions

I do. And as for the phrase, if it’s not offensive in America, then who am I to object. I still think it’s an abhorrent term, I really do, wherever you are. I can’t see how geography matters. But equally, I am very respectful of the fact that it was an American sportsman talking to an American journalist in an American newspaper, and the fact that I think the phrase is objectionable is neither here nor there.

So I plan now to shut up and never mention it again.

I prefer making jokes anyway :)

by LondonNiner on Sep 13, 2011 9:32 AM PDT up reply actions

And what does it mean? Now i’m really curious ;)

-Lazy fool- ;)

by zemd on Sep 13, 2011 11:05 AM PDT up reply actions

It’s short for spastic. In the UK, 20 or 30 years ago people would say that someone was a spaz as an insult, the suggestion being that they looked or behaved like a spastic, or someone with spasticity. Over time, it got so that people here were appalled at anyone using the word – it is clearly insulting to anyone with spasticity because it implies that anyone who is a little dorky has that condition, ergo, anyone who has the condition is dorky. Plus it inherently makes light of a serious medical condition.

In the States, for whatever reason, it carries none of those connotations. In my opinion, it should carry those same connotations because the origins of the word, and the nickname, are the same. But it doesn’t, and it was pompous of me to suggest it should. It’s just a word that flies off the page and hits you in the eye if you’re from the UK, so I jumped in and made the point more strongly than I ought to have done.

I guess for someone whose first language is French, zemd, it must be confusing that the same word can be received so differently in two English-speaking countries!

by LondonNiner on Sep 13, 2011 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions

It’s one of those words that a lot of people don’t realize how bad it is. Internet dictionaries don’t change that, they go with the flow and that’s that. I’m in agreement with you, LondonNinny.

And then God created Saturn ... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it. ... Always a ninja
SaberCats Examiner | SB Nation Bay Area | Niners Nation | Twitter

by James Brady on Sep 13, 2011 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks James. I don’t want to unnecessarily keep the conversation going (I think we’ve already talked this through more than we should have) but I did Google the Tiger Woods thing. I remembered it – but I was surprised it was as long ago as 2006. It led to an article here which some, who have discussed this issue today, may find interesting.

I shall say no more on the subject. I didn’t wake up today expecting to become a campaigner for the abolishment of the word spaz in America, and I now off to bed. Tomorrow, I plan to discuss only football!

by LondonNiner on Sep 13, 2011 3:15 PM PDT up reply actions

lol i had to google spastic because i had no idea what it meant either.

I found: "The current understanding of the word is well-illustrated by a BBC survey in 2003, which found that “spastic” was the second most offensive term in the UK relating to disability" on wikipedia

That was a learning Nuggets for me :)
And i completly understand that to different country with the same language have different meanings for the same word. Even inside France, we have some words that change depending on the town!

-Lazy fool- ;)

by zemd on Sep 14, 2011 12:56 AM PDT up reply actions

Justin Smith is going to go up against a 7th round rookie LG.

Sounds like a bad matchup.

"Hi my name is Cliff Harris and I am here to lock [site decorum] down" - Cliff Harris introduction at his Freshman Orientation
Reporter : "What do you remember about the BCS title game"
Cliff Harris: "That we lost"
"Stopping the run doesn't come because of scheme. It come because of want to." - Donte Whitner

by manraj7 on Sep 13, 2011 5:42 AM PDT via mobile reply actions

So my guess is that they will put the LT and LG on Justin Smith and the ROLB will have the TE on him.

by manraj7 on Sep 13, 2011 5:52 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

It's a start...

Fullback Moran Norris has accepted a $250,000 pay cut this season, according to ESPN. Norris will earn $1 million.

by mrg80 on Sep 13, 2011 5:59 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

What?

They PAY him? I was thinking he was just hanging around for the free gatorade.

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story." - Barney Stinson

by Haggardninja on Sep 13, 2011 7:45 AM PDT up reply actions

Whats up with the restructuring of guys contracts?

They just redid Ginns contract too. I dont get it

by dalien82 on Sep 13, 2011 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions

Brett Favre is going to be in the Hall of Fame

Brett Favre, future Hall of Fame quarterback, present occasional – recently past frequent topic of conversation, ex Packer, ex Viking, retired, overly exposed, Brett Favre.

Drink.

A pie can be divided into many pieces. For MOST people the goal is to get as many pieces of that pie as possible. It is my goal to eat the WHOLE pie.

by Fat Willie on Sep 13, 2011 7:35 AM PDT reply actions