The first two practice games have been meaningless, but 49ers fans should get some idea of how fast players are assimilating Jim Harbaugh’s offense in Saturday night’s game against the Houston Texans. The problem with evaluating a team in the first two exhibitions — and the fourth one, when the starters hardly play — is that coaches are calling plays to see how they work in specific situations, not to win that specific game. Read More

Perhaps I’m reading too much into the displays of dumbness being exhibited on our streets and at our stadiums these days, but anarchy tends to breed overreaction. It would be easy to dismiss almost any skirmishes involving Oakland Raiders fans and BART protesters these days because we’ve come to expect some cave-dwelling behavior. Yet the real characteristic about the recent episodes of mob behavior in San Francisco is that it’s no longer an aberration. Read More

Bryan Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who suffered brain damage in a beating following a baseball game in Los Angeles in March, has taken "two steps back" over the weekend after taking "three steps forward" last week, according to a statement released by his family Monday.Last week, officials at San Francisco General Hospital said Stow was showing significant improvement after undergoing a third round of surgery on Aug. 10. Read More

So now what do we tell L.A.? That we have as many thugs at our sporting events as they do? That Candlestick Park is every bit as dangerous as Dodger Stadium? That the scofflaws and punks have imposed their will on society, just like in Southern California? Fans entering NFL games are patted down. As if it does any good. Fights — brawls, really — were prevalent in the stands in the second half of the Raiders-49ers game Saturday. There were shootings in the parking lot. Read More