The most memorable thing about Marco Scutaro’s first game with the Giants on July 28 is the anxiety that filled AT&T Park.
The Los Angeles Dodgers blasted the Giants 10-0 that day to earn a tie for first place in the National League West.
The boys in blue had acquired Hanley Ramirez from the Miami Marlins earlier in the week, and he knocked in three runs after hitting a game-winning home run in extra innings the previous night.
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Even though they went 13-3 in the regular season last year and nearly beat the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game, the 49ers still don’t get the respect they deserve from the national media.
The whole offseason we saw stories that essentially said the 49ers’ previous season was a fluke, that they wouldn’t be able to go through a season with so few injuries, that they wouldn’t be able to sneak up on teams this season.
And, oh yes, that quarterback Alex Smith was only average, a mere “game manager.” USA Today had him as 17th among NFL quarterbacks.
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Coach Jim Harbaugh makes his living by delivering the unexpected.
In 2007, he took over a Stanford football program that was coming off of a 1-11 season and, in just three years, he turned the Cardinal into a national title contender.
The 49ers’ 13-3 record in his first NFL season last year speaks for itself.
But this year’s team is already considered a Super Bowl contender, so how could he possibly shatter expectations again?
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It may seem strange to say that a man who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs probably more than 300 pounds is bigger than life, but Don Nelson, who will be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame today, is exactly that.
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The summer and fall of 2002 produced one of those magical sports periods for professional sports teams in the Bay Area. The Giants, A’s, 49ers and Raiders all reached the postseason and had fans buzzing.
It was the year that spawned the movie “Moneyball” after the A’s incredible ride to the AL West title, which included a jaw-dropping 20-game winning streak. The Giants had the World Series in their grasp before a cruel series of events that October left San Francisco fans spewing Scott Spiezio’s name like it was a swear word.
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Would you bet against the hottest team in baseball down the stretch?
With 28 games left to play, the A’s are tied with the New York Yankees for the second-best record in the American League (76-58) despite an 8-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels at the Oakland Coliseum on Monday. They’ve won 15 of their past 18 games and hold onto one of the two wild-card spots, with Tampa Bay lurking close behind. But can this team of misfits and castoffs keep it rolling into October?
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Beating Nevada might seem a given for the Cal football team in its first game Saturday in its renovated stadium, but not for coach Jeff Tedford. “I remember what happened the last time we played,” Tedford said.
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Since the opening of the 2011 season, to say the Raiders’ organization has undergone a transformation of epic proportions could be viewed as an understatement.
Owner Al Davis died in October, Oakland traded for Carson Palmer later that month, Reggie McKenzie was hired as general manager in January, coach Hue Jackson was fired and coach Dennis Allen hired. Oh, and the club missed the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season in there too. Got all that?
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It’s hard to flip on the radio these days without hearing the Los Angeles Dodgers being called the “Yankees of the West.”
I get it. With new ownership, the Dodgers are spending like Michael Jackson in an antique shop. But why are we so quick to compare Magic Johnson’s new pet project to the most successful franchise in the history of American professional sports?
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At times, the NFL preseason should be called the overreaction season. The 49ers were down 17-0 in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos? Someone call Chicken Little because the sky must be falling.
Alex Smith fumbles a snap from under center that Denver recovers? See, Smith’s hands ARE too small after all.
Partly because of the NFL’s booming popularity, fans are craving football like a hot Thanksgiving meal, putting every snap under a microscope it doesn’t deserve to be under.
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