Jack’s Blog

In what has to be classified as a huge understatement, 49ers CB Chris Culliver recently made some shocking anti-gay statements.  Here’s what he said: “I don’t do the gay guys, man.  I don’t do that.  Ain’t got no gay people on the team.  They gotta get up outta here if they do.  Can’t be with that sweet stuff.”  Surprising that in 2013 someone who is in the public eye as much as an NFL player is would actually say that to the media.  Especially when he’s a member of one of only two NFL teams left playing and every person with a live microphone is looking for something controversial.

Not so surprising was his apology the following day.  Here was that gem: “The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head but they are not how I feel.  It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly.  Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart.”  I guess that means his brain doesn’t work but his eyes do and the words weren’t in his heart even though they came out of his mouth.  It seems this guy only opens his mouth to change feet.

Every college with alums on either of the two Super Bowl teams are making sure prospective recruits know all about their guys who will be in uniform on Sunday.  It’s what coaches hope for - the last game of the year and all the in-depth, personal stories that go with it.  This year, however, it’s fairly certain South Carolina is laying low on Culliver having been a Gamecock.

As is the case with many young people who go into high profile jobs, they fail to understand the world doesn’t revolve around them; that they’re just a part of it.  Good advice for them or, for that matter, anyone else comes from the late Stanford professor John Gardner:

“Focus on being interested, rather than being interesting.”

What is amazing

If the first string middle linebacker (the all-important “Mike”) was being replaced due to injury or coach’s decision, it wouldn’t be knock-your-socks-off news (unless it happened in Baltimore, Chicago or a couple more cities).  But make a change at quarterback, you got national world-wide news.

Michael Vick gets a concussion and is replaced by Nick Foles.  Foles becomes the starting QB, with the news that Mike can’t pass the concussion test.  Finally, it looked like Vick was healthy but, no, he had trouble with the final stage (5) of the test (maybe the extra credit part).  In any case, head coach Andy Reid, a big supporter of Vick’s, announced Foles would be the Eagles’ QB for the remainder of the season.  The Eagles have had one of those years - referred to it that way because they don’t have that kind very often.  They are a dismal 3-9, having lost eight in a row.

Reid, who’s on the hot seat (probably because of the unwritten rule of “been there too long”), has made the statement that Foles will be the starter for the remainder of the season, essentially meaning Vick (and probably Reid) will no longer be with the Eagles next season.  Reid made the call either because he thinks this is what’s best for the future of the club or because he was directed to do so by the higher-ups.  Or maybe both.

In San Francisco they also had a quarterback concussion incident.  Prior to that hit, however, there was quite a story regarding their quarterbacking issue.  Alex Smith was drafted #1 overall which, to fans doesn’t mean an automatic Super Bowl victory.  But by the new QB’s second year, there had better be a banner hanging.

Smith has had about as many offensive coordinators as he has years with the Niners - with little success.  Jim Harbaugh came in and, bang!  Instant connection.  They didn’t make the Super Bowl but they came awful close.  This year started out great with Smith directing the offense but then he got hit, sustained a concussion and second year man, Colin Kaepernick, was forced into the picture.  When Smith left the game, he was 7-8 for 72 yards and a TD.  Kaepernick entered and the game ended in a tie.  He started the following game and the Niners won it by double digits, not hurting his chances for another start.

“I’m going to go with the hot hand,” said Harbaugh, when discussing the following week’s starter at QB, after hearing Smith had passed the concussion test and would be available.  In a bizarre statement, the coach exclaimed he was going with Kap - and Alex.  Observers felt he meant he was starting the youngster but wouldn’t hesitate to replace him with Smith if the situation dictated it. Another double-digit win for SF with Kap at the controls.

Fans of the Niners have disliked Smith from the time he was drafted until ( or, beyond) now.  Many say of his success that he’s only as good as Harbaugh has made him, that he’s still not good enough to win it all  All he really does (due to the 49ers’ powerful rushing game), they maintain, is manage the game.  The last time that fan cry was heard was in Baltimore, “All Trent Dilfer did was manage the game.”  He even managed the Super Bowl which is why he, and his Ravens teammates, have championship rings.

“It sucks,” was how Smith summed up losing his job after playing some of the best football he’d played since he donned a 49ers uni.  This past game, San Fran lost in OT, yet Harbaugh made the statement that Kap was going to be the team’s starter.  That must suck worse as far as Alex Smith is concerned.  He’ll have to wait to see where he’s headed next season (assuming nothing happens to Kaepernick).  As will Michael Vick.

As far as quarterbacks go:

“To much is given, much is expected.”  

Maybe too much.  Given and expected.

If you were trying to accomplish something you love, and had worked extremely hard, over a long period of time - and finally got it - imagine how thrilled you would be.  Then you got hurt and the person who wasn’t quite as good as you took over.  While you’re working to get back in tiptop shape, your “understudy” is performing really well.  So much so that your group wins.  Without you.  In the field in which you work, people outside of it have short memories.  They loved you when you were doing well but criticized you when you weren’t, especially when your company wasn’t winning.

Answer honestly, are you be hoping the “next guy in line” 1) does great, 2) does just well enough so that your team wins, 3) flops, but somehow your team wins or  4) does horribly, independent of whether the team wins or loses?  That is the test of every first teamer who lost his job because of injury.

It happened to the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Alex Smith.  Keep in mind that Smith was the overall #1 pick in the 2005 NFL draft.  You can’t get drafted any higher and the expectations mirror your selection, only more so.  Smith had to learn the offensive philosophy from the offensive coordinator because in the pros the head coach really coaches the coaches.  The assistant coaches coach their respective position players, with the coordinator in charge of the offense or defense.  If that sounds a little complicated, consider that Alex Smith had five different offensive coordinators in his first five years.

The NFL is the college game on steroids.  Everyone is bigger, stronger, faster.  The defensive coordinator is trying to make the game so difficult for the opposing QB - especially a young one - and the game has become so sophisticated that not only do teams change defenses, e.g. from a 3-4 to a 4-3, they change defensive looks within the same defense.  Worse yet, players have become so specialized that there are third down and long defensive linemen, nickel backs and guys who function so much better in one blitz package over another, their PT is limited to just such situations.  It’s nearly impossible for an inexperienced QB to succeed early in a career.  Ask Peyton Manning.

Alex Smith did not succeed.  Some fans didn’t think he was the guy to lead the 49ers back to championship contenders - and they were the ones who liked Smith.  The others ridiculed him - and the club - for wasting a #1 pick on someone so incompetent.  In walked Jim Harbaugh who, when asked what college QBs he’d like to get for his new team said he thought Alex Smith would be fine.  The fans thought he as kidding.  Maybe he was but it was the beginning of the Harbaugh-Smith-49er fans love affair.

Then Smith went down with a concussion.  It wasn’t diagnosed immediately.  When Smith was not cleared, Harbaugh had to go to the bench for a substitute.  He chose a second year QB, Colin Kaepernick.  Wouldn’t you know it?  Kaepernick led the Niners to victory.  After the win, Smith was asked about how he felt watching his backup play?

Remember the hypothetical question an four choices at the beginning of this blog?  Here was Alex Smith’s reply:  “If you can’t be happy for your teammate’s success you’re playing the wrong sport. Go play tennis or golf or something … That doesn’t belong in team sports. It’s the quarterback position. It gets a lot of attention. We’re going to get talked about.”

Would that have been how you felt?  The difference between players who are legitimately happy for the team, regardless if the teammate they’re competing with outplays them, as opposed to those who want the team to win - but only if they’re the major part of it - is probably going to determine whether or not your team will win or lose.

During my first year of coaching, in the early 1970s, we were losing and I had a kid who wanted to ask me a question.  After I said of course, he kind of stammered, but went on “Well, I want to know why I’m not playing more.  Mark is ahead of me and he can’t shoot, can’t pass, can’t dribble (”handle” hadn’t made it’s entrance into the hoops vocabulary yet) and can’t rebound.”

I looked at him and said, “I completely agree with you.  Mark isn’t a good shooter, passer, dribbler or rebounder.  But he does all of them better than you!”  This led to a mantra we would use throughout the rest of the season:

“Just because someone else is doing poorly doesn’t mean you’re doing well.”

P.S. Harbaugh named Kaepernick the starter for the Niners’ next game.  Will Smith continue taking the high road?  My money’s on him - after all he’s endured.

The hiring of Jim Harbaugh by the San Francisco 49ers is being hailed throughout the football world as a brilliant move - and that might very well prove to be the case.  Harbaugh’s overall head coaching record of 58-27 is sterling.  Consider, though, that his three years at the University of San Diego were a phenomenal 29-6.  Doing the math, this means his Stanford record was 29-21 and while he did take over an abysmal 1-11 team and improve in each of his four years on The Farm, the Cardinal’s only two winning seasons were with Andrew Luck at the controls.

This situation is not entirely unlike three basketball coaches who also experienced fantastic success albeit with a superstar.  Randy Ayers at Ohio State, Todd Bozeman at Cal and Jeff Capel at Oklahoma each earned some type of Coach-of-the-Year honors while posting eye-popping records.  Ayers had Jimmy Jackson, Bozeman leaned on Jason Kidd and Capel coached Blake Griffin.  When each player left, along with them went the gaudy records.  The first two wound up losing their jobs (although each has resurfaced in the coaching business, Ayers as an NBA assistant with New Orleans and Bozeman as the head coach at Morgan State where he’s enjoyed much success).  Capel is still at Oklahoma but has yet to come close to the winning ways he experienced when Griffin led the Sooners.

Mike Singletary was a veteran NFL player who was respected by everyone in football.  He didn’t get the job done according to the organization, the Niners’ fan base and Singletary himself.  Jim Harbaugh’s coaching style will never be confused with that of Mike Singletary.  Whether he will be the one who will return SF to their glory days remains unknown, just as whether Stanford’s success will continue with Harbaugh’s predecessor remains a mystery.  But if only one of the two have a greats season next year, bet on the Cardinal.  It always comes down to talent - and in this case, a great deal of Luck.

Lou Holtz has often said:

“You can’t win with bad players but you can lose with good ones.”

While Mike Tomlin and Jim Caldwell are doing some great things with the Steelers and Colts, respectively, each of these guys took over solid franchises that were on the uptick well before they took over.  In addition, each was promoted from within, so they not only needed to keep the franchise going in the same direction, but each was very familiar with how the team accomplished that direction.

The guy who is working wonders in the NFL, independent of winning or losing, but more in creating the right culture within an organization, is Mike Singletary.  In essence, he’s coaching the way he played.  In the Sept. 29. 2009 edition of (as readers will know by now, my favorite publication - other than what I’ve written) Sports Illustrated, there’s a portrait of the “new” 49ers head man. 

In it, he says, “Greatness is not about someone who has the ability to be great.”  He goes on to say that the attitude a player has to reach his maximum potential - through hard work, determination and persistence, is the key to a successful team - his kind of team.  No coach (who wants to keep the job very long) would downplay talent, and Singletary says as much.  He wants talented guys, but he wants the right kind of talented guy AND he wants - and needs - other guys.  Football has eleven on the field at all times - and the day of the two-way performer has gone the way of the dinosaur, meaning at least twenty-four (including punter and place kicker) plus backups, since so few seem to be able to go an entire game.  No coach will ever get that many talented players on a roster at once - and, truth be told, no coach, in his right mind, would ever want that many talented guys.  Not in this day of the individual first and inflated egos.  

Singletary believes in the Team being the supreme being, higher and mightier than any one player and has illustrated exactly that with his past behavior - and, undoubtedly, how he will coach in the future.  The franchise he took over has a storied past, a tradition envied by, if not every other NFL franchise, then by all but maybe two or three (ego is involved when it comes to organizations too).  Yet, the 49ers had fallen on hard times - and that’s as polite a description as could be given to the point they’d sunk.

Enter Singletary, who started off on an interim basis, but immediately put his stamp on the club.  In the article he referred to San Francisco not being a real target any more - at least not like the old days.  He simply said, “If they’re not taking us seriously, that’s OK, . . . we’re going to take ourselves seriously.”  Message: Earn respect and do it by getting better, even if the improvement is gradual.  Just make sure you’re headed in the right direction - and you’re doing it the right way.

One trait a leader needs in order to succeed, although there have been (a very few) coaches in the past who have won without it, is the trust of the players.  This is absolutely mandatory in the overwhelming majority of cases.  In order to gain such trust, the players need to see that you value them for more than just what they can contribute on the field.  One of Singeltary’s strengths is he preaches (to the players and through his actions) character and confines all judgment of them to what he personally sees, dismissing each player’s past.  That will gain trust more quickly as any great speeches will.  

In this day and age, it’s hard (for guys like me, anyway) not to root for the Mike Singletary types, independent of what team they coach.  Although there’s more to Singletary than the following Vince Lombardi quote, it just seemed fitting to end a blog about Mike Singletary with something said by the NFL coach who is, quite possibly, more admired than any other:

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of determination.”

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Without stereotyping anyone, Michael Crabtree was put on this earth to be a wide receiver in the game of football.  That’s not an insult, as in “That’s all he’s good for - or at” - it’s a compliment.  It’s saying that, of all the people in this world, there are only a handful in the class of Michael Crabtree when it comes to catching footballs.

In fact, that was the feeling of the experts - those in the NFL - who get to select players based on their ability.  Of the hundreds of players drafted in the past year’s NFL draft, Michael Crabtree was the tenth (10th) player chosen.  Yet, he’s not doing the job he is meant to do.

Why not?  Because he’s taking a stand, drawing a line in the sand, saying, that he’s not being offered what he thinks he’s worth (and how, exactly, would he know what that is, except for other people telling him)?  This is all because a guy named B.J. Raji, who happens to be a defensive tackle, was selected ninth (9th) and signed - and by all indications, was elated to do so - for five years and a total of $28.5 million, with $18M of that guaranteed.  Party time!

That’s not the feeling in the Crabtree camp.  Granted, going into the draft, Crabtree was projected to go higher, but the demand he’s making (actually, no player ever demands anything, it’s their agent or advisor or consigliore or take your pick of what you want to call the kid’s mouthpiece) is that he needs, deserves and will refuse to play unless he gets, more than Raji.  What, did they have a bet - and Crabtree’s a sore loser?  If he were drafted 9th and Raji 10th, do you think Raji would be holding out?  And if he did, do you think Crabtree would be behind him - or consider him a chump?

It was reported the San Francisco 49ers, the team who drafted the wideout (and by now, undoubtedly, is wondering how they missed this character flaw in the personal interview they had with the wideout) offered to pay him as much as one dollar less than the Packers were paying Raji.  And (someone other than) Crabtree turned them down!  I’m not sure what he’s paying agent Eugene Parker or “marketer” Mike Ornstein, but this is some really, really bad, expensive advice.  Each of those guys are representing other players.  Crabtree’s not only not getting paid, he’s not doing what he does best - and, worse yet, not doing what he loves to do!  This situation is sadder than sad.     

Mike Ornstein made the quote that Crabtree doesn’t really need to play this year because he (Ornstein) got him $750,000 in endorsements.  Wait, Crabtree is financially OK because he has 3/4 of a mil.  I’m sure Subway execs, one of his endorsements, are absolutely gloating about the coup they scored by signing a guy whose reputation is that of a selfish bastard who, in a time of 10%+ and rising national unemployment spurned an offer of upwards of $5+million per year!  Nothing like seeing a greedy SOB that makes you want to go out and buy a $5 footlong.

But, let’s also get something straight.  Ornstein says Crabtree is doing fine because $750,000 is plenty of money to live on, but $28 million isn’t enough?  My guess is Crabtree didn’t major in logic at Texas Tech - or finance - or common sense!  Ornstein also made the quote, “We are not able to do much marketing for him right now because he is not playing.”  Wow, that sage counsel is certainly worth whatever percent Crabtree is paying him.  It’s amazing that somebody who thinks like that is being paid at all - by a kid who, if he was like any other youngster in the country, grew up dreaming of making great, game winning catches playing on TV for a pro football franchise.  And now he is refusing to do it.

He has been fed the line he is being undervalued.  The guy who’s really being undervalued is the one who has a set of skills, albeit a different type, but isn’t being given the chance to display them because the economy is such that he just got laid off or, as the 21st century term that’s become so popular, downsized.

How about signing, playing, and then, proving how much you’re worth?  Take the mere pittance the Niners are offering and help them win some games!  It’s not like anybody expects you to become the greatest receiver in the team’s history.  Do that and there won’t be enough money to pay you.  As of now, all you’re doing is upsetting your coach, Mike Singletary - and, here’s some good, free and unsolicited advice.  That’s a bad idea. 

Michael Crabtree, you’re doing possible (probable) irreparable harm to your legacy (which, as of now, is non-existent).  I mean, what are you going to do - take a year off and do whatever it is you do next best to catching footballs?  Which is . . . ?

As Mark Twain once said:

“Good judgment comes from experience, which comes from, . . . bad judgment.”

After spending most of the day prepping my room for the first day of school (Monday), I went home, turned on the tube and guess what was showing for my viewing pleasure?  Nothing!  Both CNN and Fox News were about boring subjects (to me), race car driving was on ESPN (and since I barely can drive a stick, that was easily eliminated), the Little League World Series (a game in which they were about to invoke the mercy rule) was on ESPN 2  and, while there were reruns of a couple of good movies, Meet the Parents and The Fugitive, I wasn’t planning to spend that much time in front of the TV.

Then, the remote moved toward the network stations and, lo and behold, an NFL preseason game between the San Francisco 49ers and their crosstown rivals, the Oakland Raiders, was in progress, although it was already well into the second half.  However, it was a back-and-forth affair from there, with the Raiders going ahead, only to be caught and passed by the Niners.  With less than 4 minutes to go, down 7, the Raiders’ QB (someone near the bottom of the depth chart) scrambled and was shoved out of bounds, while he tried to stretch for the pylon.

The call on the field was no TD - 4th & goal at the one.  The Raiders’ new head coach (their zillionth in as many years), a big, rough-looking guy named Tom Cable (who, from recent reports, is quite the competitive sort), threw the challenge flag (I think the announcers said he broke it) and, sure enough, won the reversal, pulling the Silver & Black to within one.  Then, in a bold move (their mantra’s not “Just tie baby!”), Oakland went for two! 

The play, though, didn’t develop as well as the Raiders had hoped (in other words, it came off  exactly as Raider fans have seen again and again - in this century anyway), and the quarterback was immediately pressured, forcing him to chuck the ball up for grabs in the end zone, where the alert 49ers’ DBs made sure it wasn’t caught.

If this blog doesn’t exude the emotion that a long time rivalry ought to, it’s for the following reasons: 1) I’m originally from NJ and rooted for the New York (football) Giants, as we were forced to call them in order to distinguish them from the other team with the same name (yes, this makes me a year or two from being considered ancient), 2) after graduating from college, I worked many long days and much of what I had previously enjoyed had to be sacrificed in my attempt to climb the proverbial coaching ladder (which, by the way, I never did get to the top).  The NFL was one of these sacrifices. 

My disinterest in the NFL was briefly interrupted when I took a job (for what turned out to be only a one-year stay), at Robert Morris College for the 1976-77 school year.  RMC is located in Pittsburgh and, as any knowledgeable football fan will tell, that time was during the “Glory Years” of the Steelers.  It was impossible not to get caught up with Bradshaw, Swann, Harris, Ham, Lambert and the rest of Chuck Noll’s Super Bowl Champs.

The third reason the 49ers and Raiders never “hooked” me is when we moved to Fresno (from Southern California) in 1995, I looked at the stereotypical fan of each club.  The average 49er fan is a somewhat preppy, fraternity-type, while the normal (not sure that’s the right word) Raider fan is a rather vulgar, Neanderthal looking - and acting person (with the male Raider fans no better).  Neither one appealed to me.  Plus, I was making enough trips to the Bay Area, after I finally got referred to the Stanford Pain Clinic.  Nothing in their treatment mentioned a strong attachment to either team as a means for lessening the pain.

I recently saw a quote by Bertrand Russell which elicits the kind of emotion I experience when someone mentions the 49er-Raider rivalry:

“If two hitherto rival football teams, under the influence of brotherly love, decided to co-operate in placing the football first beyond one goal and then beyond the other, no one’s happiness would be increased.”

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