They didn’t have a prayer.
Or that’s what the “experts” opined.
“We all know [where] they thought we were going to finish last year,” Alex Smith said recently, “and how right they were about that.”
The “they” whom the 49ers quarterback — who will enter his eighth season with San Francisco — was referring to were the slew of media wise guys who predetermined that the 49ers’ 2011 season was one destined for mediocrity.
“They” were proven wrong.
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If you’ve listened, you’ve heard it.
“Get better.”
It’s the mantra that Raiders coach Dennis Allen has preached during minicamps and throughout the preseason, and one he hopes will be heeded once regular play starts.
“The biggest thing when you go to camp is, when you end camp, you want to be better than you were when you started camp,” Allen said. “And that’s the only reason why we do this is to get better. So I think we’ve done that.
We’re better than we were when we started camp. And we are going to continue to improve throughout the season.”
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After the sounding of tonight’s final preseason whistle in Seattle, a mere 11 days remain before the Raiders take the Monday night gridiron against the rival San Diego Chargers.
But before the regular season kicks off, there is still an exhibition game — albeit an important one — to play.
In their fourth and final preseason contest today, the Raiders face the Seattle Seahawks and their rookie starting quarterback, Russell Wilson. But the Raiders’ likewise rookie coach will be looking for more than his second August win.
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Four days removed from the Mile High torching they received via the throwing arm of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, the 49ers will face yet another elite QB of the AFC West.
Maybe.
Heading into their final exhibition contest before the start of the regular season in Green Bay, the 49ers will host the San Diego Chargers, and likely quarterback Philip Rivers, today at Candlestick Park.
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The 49ers may have pursued Peyton Manning in March, but today, it will be San Francisco’s defense attempting to bag the 11-time Pro Bowl quarterback.
“Playing against a team and a quarterback of his caliber ... you basically get to see where you stand at with him,” defensive tackle Ricky Jean François said of Manning.
But San Francisco’s Mile High matchup against the Denver Broncos will be more than a nationally televised preseason game against one of the finest passers to ever play the game.
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This weekend may mark the eighth consecutive year that the raceway in Sonoma hosts the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, but it will hardly be the same track of races past.
The 85-lap road-course race has undergone various modifications to turns 7, 9 and 11 to increase passing places for competing drivers.
And thus far, the drivers have approved.
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The Raiders — under the fresh tutelage of new coach Dennis Allen — failed to win their first preseason game last week, and their second one as well just days later.
But if there’s anything notably encouraging, it’s that Oakland fared better against the Arizona Cardinals than it did in its preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys. And with a week’s worth of preparation, Allen hopes Saturday’s outing against the Detroit Lions will result in his first win as coach.
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The sight of his father in a 1968 Camaro — that’s all it took.
“My dad had a vintage race car when I was kid,” J.R. Hildebrand said, recalling his father and the West Coast racing circuits he competed in. “That was just a hobby for him. We don’t come from a racing family, really.”
That distinction, however, has changed.
A competitor in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Hildebrand, 24, this weekend will get behind the wheel at the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, the birthplace of his racing career.
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"Maybe," is how he initially responded when asked if he would prepare more for this weekend’s preseason game as opposed to the two prior exhibition contests.
"Maybe a little more. Maybe exactly the same. Be pretty close to what we’ve done for the last two. That’s the actual answer," he continued, before rephrasing.
"Maybe just a little more, but maybe exactly the same as the first two," Harbaugh said, again, this time laughing. "I’m not trying to be funny, either."
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It was merely a 7-footer, but for a 4-year-old Terry Hutchinson, his small Dyer dinghy was more than large enough to launch his sailing career.
“It’s just one of those things I could never get enough of, and still can’t,” he said, remembering his vessel being tied to the back of his parents’ cruising boat. “A life long love affair with it.”
Hutchinson’s sailing career — and love affair — will continue this week as the skipper of Sweden’s Artemis Racing, which will be taking part in the America’s Cup World Series in San Francisco Bay.
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For 20 years, Josh Levin — a former golfer at St. Ignatius — held a certain distinction.
But that distinction — courtesy of a soon-to-be sophomore golfer at St. Ignatius — is no more. Justin Goh claimed the 84th annual San Francisco Junior Golf Championship on Thursday at Lincoln Park Golf Course, becoming the first San Franciscan since Levin to hoist the tournament’s coveted cup.
Goh defeated Sacramento’s John Burke 5 and 4 on the 14th hole, clinching the tournament title.
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Since his hiring, Raiders coach Dennis Allen has preached defense and discipline.
In Monday night’s preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys in Oakland, he at least got the former from his football team.
Allen’s defense held Dallas to a mere field goal, but failed to score in the 3-0 clumsy loss. But as the Raiders find themselves in action after a short week today against the Arizona Cardinals, Allen will be looking for something else.
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Despite the 49ers turning away the Minnesota Vikings on Friday and keeping the Vikes from invading the end zone, Vic Fangio was not pleased.
“We were not sharp at all,” said San Francisco’s defensive coordinator of his starting squad, which allowed two field goals along with a 52-yard pass and an offsides penalty on its opening two defensive drives. His players didn’t disagree.
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The Raiders didn’t have much to boast about last year.
The Silver and Black went winless in preseason, failed to make the playoffs for the ninth consecutive year, and became claimants to the record of the most penalized team within an NFL season.
Rookie coach Dennis Allen — the youngest head coach in the league — is fixated on changing that.
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It wasn’t pretty, but Greg Roman remembers what happened this time last year.Distinctly.
“I vividly remember walking out of the locker room talking to Joe [Staley, a 49ers offensive tackle],” the 49ers offensive coordinator said, recalling the 24-3 drumming his team received via the New Orleans Saints in last year’s preseason opener.
“I felt pretty good about how the guys handled the situation, didn’t see anybody panic ... so, felt good about that. But the execution was obviously not where we needed it.”
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