There is nothing compelling about the NFL as I write this. Of course, I usually write stuff that really isn’t compelling on it’s own, but really, this is the time where we all as fans of our respective NFL teams are reaching and trying to grasp anything tangible that would still hold us together. Personally, I am amidst in the playoffs. Who says the NFL off-season for any sports fan worth his or hers salt is the be all and end all these next two weeks? The San Jose Sharks are down two games in the Conference Finals, and the Los Angeles Lakers are up two before going into Phoenix. The MLB really doesn’t matter at this point - at least to me right now - and Jerry Rice’s being disqualified for his Caddy using a Range Finder, while not only hosting a Nationwide Tour event, but also to play into the weekend ….
I’m really dealing with a lot of crap. Nothing is Black and White. Everything, including all of my sports teams future at this moment is really all speculative. Kenny "The Jet" Smith on TNT’s excellent NBA coverage may provide me a pragmatic point of view based on playoff teams that has Veteran experience, yet it really comes down those said teams gelling as one. Lebron is not a factor in the NBA playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks are on fire. Team identity in the playoffs, as the Boston Celtics will show, despite age, will ignite a bench player like Baby Davis to play better than if he would ever (and really would never) be a starter…
We, as fans, have nothing to do with the immediate future of who we cheer for. Professional Sports really is beyond our control. Could you imagine if you, as an individual had a semblance of an impact on the outcome of the sporting event? Even when, as fans, we have the clear advantage as a team, there are still referees involved. Rules become arbitrary. The idea of competition seems to be diminished.
After the jump, kick me in the ass. I don’t have a fat ass, so it should be easy.
The funny thing is, to most fans after a pretty mediocre season where their team failed to make the playoffs, they still think it comes to a few plays to get them there. Hey, listen to this reality: to be able to advance in the playoffs, if you get there, the plays that get you there come from the the players that have been there. So, which current 49er player ever competed at the playoff level? Well, we don’t know, since they haven’t been there yet. We all know they can compete in a crap NFCW Division. The San Francisco 49ers are not a deep team. They have key players that are coached well, but do well despite the coaching. The 49ers could be Jerry Sloan’s perfect NBA team: a defensive team with a true sound offensive strategy with it’s success based on it’s execution. The basics. Yet, there is no John Stockton of the 49er offense. There is no true Veteran leadership outside of Frank Gore there. Defensively, it’s still predicated on the scheme of the front seven. The reality is, the San Francisco 49ers should be successful due to everything else in the Division they play in is in just as much transition as they are. Is it San Francisco 49er football? Of course not. There is no such thing as San Francisco 49er football anymore people. Why? Because they haven’t been to the playoffs since the days of Mooch.
Blues. There is more color in blue. You won’t have Hues without Blues. As a fan two teams on a Finals run, it really comes down to how they execute on a whiteboard, drawn by seasoned artists who know what the color the scoring zone means. It’s really a small window of opportunity, and the success of teams that can score is not on the outside of the painted area. It’s in the inside. The 49ers, despite a lack of identity on offense, still has a decent percentage inside "the paint". Outside of playoff teams, they are probably one of the most successful teams in scoring position. Yet in the final translation of that particular data, it still remains unsuccessful. Why? Because despite the numbers, the final empirical data shows less success, much like how data in the NBA playoffs has a chart on Kobe Bryant’s shot selection. An NFL QB is ultimately as good as his completion percentage. That is the true measuring stick of a passing offense.
The bottom line is the San Francisco 49er offense will not have the endless colors of Monet, nor the the abstract Matisse. It’s about as meat and potatoes as apple pie. Alex Smith is still one of the more clumsy quarterbacks in the NFL. He still feels everything in black and white. Once he stops fearing that, then maybe…
We will stop quoting Urban Meyer.