Gotta admit.  Seattle's doing their best to cheer us up right now.  They lost AND these uniforms are pretty funny.

Who wants to bet they glow in the dark?

No wonder Jay Cutler and Chicago had a rough start to the game.  They couldn't actually see anything.  It took their eyes a full two quarters to adjust.

Wide receiver Earl Bennett #80 of the Chicago Bears rushes against Kelly Jennings #21 of the Seattle Seahawks on September 27, 2009 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington.  Of course Bennett can't see anything right now.  He's looking blindly straight ahead because a bright neon green flash is searing it's way through his skull.

Thankfully the radioactive uniforms started to slow the Seahawks as the game progressed.

... or is time actually coming to a complete and utter standstill now that the NFL season is so close?  I think it was just last weekend on Saturday, July 18th (about 53 years ago) when I looked at the preseason schedule and thought "Oh boy! The NFL preseason starts in the second week of August.  That's soon!  Thank God it's finally almost here!

 Boy was I wrong.

 It was not soon, and it feels like we've got a couple more centuries to go before we even get to watch the Niners play their first preseason game, let alone the actual real season.

Seriously, I've been watching the clock the whole time I've been typing this and that stupid second hand hasn't even moved.  Move!  Tick just one second gaddamnit.

Would old father time please get a (expletive-deleted) move on??!!

Where's that universal remote that works on time that Adam Sandler didn't want to use anymore?  I'll fastforward to the beginning of August gladly and the consequences be damned.

So now that the all-star ballots are out, I guess I haven't asked you guys how you usually vote.  Or if you even do, if you think it even matters, etc.  I'm not convinced that our votes really matter, but I still fill out like 5 ballots each year.

Some Giants fans that I know don't bother voting American League, and just vote Giants up and down the National League ticket every year.  (This is what I used to do myself - easy, no thought whatsoever involved).

But I eventually I stopped that.  Basically, as a San Francisco fan, I root for the National League to win.  The all-star game is one day, that I try and forget all my prejudices about other teams in the NL, and cheer them on (except hoping that each Dodger player tears his ACL or something at the end of the game).  I'm sick and tired of hearing how the American League is always better than us.  And I'm still pissed off at how we lost the last '08 all-star game (a bullshit call in a game where the bullshit commissioner wanted to end the game as early as possible - they were going to call him safe no matter what).

So my voting philosophy now is -  (a) I try and vote the NL players in who I think would most help the National League to win, AND (b) I vote for the suckiest possible American League players (who knows maybe just one of those guys will get in).  What do you think - is this too much thought put into something that doesn't matter?  I'm not convinced this would ever matter - but I do it anyway as a baseball fan.

A National League fan's voting guide -

1) vote for these AL guys

C - Jason Varitek BOS (batting .225 right now, shit, even Miguel Olivo is playing better than Varitek is right now - but I think I'm voting along with a lot of blindly prejudiced AL fans here)

1B - Mark Teixeira NYY (if you don't play fantasy baseball, you might not realize how badly Teixeira is sucking right now, and he's a Yankee, so your vote could help give him that little edge)

2B - Placido Polanco DET

3B - Eric Chavez OAK (A-Rod will get it, but I'm voting Chavez as a matter of principle)

SS - Mike Aviles KC

OF - Ken Griffey Jr. SEA

OF - David DeJesus KC

OF - J.D. Drew BOS

2) vote for these NL guys

C - Bengie Molina SF

1B - Albert Pujols STL (although Adrian Gonzalez is smashing homers out the wazoo right now, and the guy plays in Petco Park, so he'd be excellent too)

2B - Chase Utley PHI (yeah, you heard me, screw Orlando Hudson)

3B - David Wright NYM

SS - Hanley Ramirez FLA

OF - Carlos Beltran NYM

OF - Ryan J. Braun MIL

OF - Manny Ramirez LAD (under any other circumstances I'd vote for Alfonso Soriano or maybe even Raul Ibanez here because Manny's a Dodger, but I have to vote for Manny this year, because (1) there is a good chance fans really will vote him in as a F--K You to Selig, the MLB management, and their ridiculous banned substances list ... (2) besides, how many Boston players you think will be on the AL team? would it be great if Manny could tell them all to screw themselves by hitting a home run? ... and (3) how cool would it be if the only Dodger on the NL all-star team is their one player who is suspended right now?)

So there they are - my voting picks for the all-star game.  Thoughts?

So I was asked to move these to a separate thread away from the "Official Graphics Fanpost" - that's cool.  Although, I'd argue that using these images is perfectly appropriate during a Game Time thread, for oh say ... after a touchdown, rallying during a from behind up-the-field drive, etc.

Apparently Niners Nation does NOT have a Gold Rush thread yet - I guess that is pretty pathetic.  So here it finally is - add favorites to this whenever you happen to see them, there's no rush, I wouldn't be in a hurry to close the comments for this one.  And really, these seem to be much more rare than the billions of Tampa Bay, Washington, or Dallas cheerleader pics online.  Personally, I think the Gold Rush can outmatch Dallas cheerleaders any day.  So let's treasure what we have.

I actually think a good TV show is hard to find, and after seeing the finale of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, and jponry bringing up Pushing Daisies yesterday, I thought I'd try to resurrect homerdrew's old thread from last year.

(I also didn't realize they cancelled Pushing Daisies.  I'm sorry about that, jponry, it did look worth giving a try, in fact - one of the things that made the few episodes I saw good/weird is it was completely different from anything else I'd seen before.  They shouldn't have cancelled it.)  Also, I don't mean to offend anyone.  I admit it - I'm biased and prejudiced, and have a pretty stereotypical guy's viewpoint about practically everything.  Sometimes I have to remember that McCovey Chronicles isn't quite the same sports website as http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/ is (I pretty much spend all my sports reading online time there, here, at Niners Nation and Deadspin).  Anyway, here goes, add to the list if you know stuff I don't -

Potential New Shows That Should Actually Be Good -

Treme - HBO - (David Simon is making it, about the city of New Orleans?  Lester and Bunk from the Wire are in it, and I think Steve Zahn will be too)

Game of Thrones - HBO - (David Benioff, I haven't read the books, but I've heard they could make for an actually gritty as opposed to campy fantasy show - I personally hate the SciFi channel)

Boardwalk Empire - HBO - (Martin Scorsese directing, so far with Steve Buscemi & Kelly Macdonald)

The Pacific - HBO Miniseries - (a Band of Brothers version, except about the Pacific theater of World War II instead of in Europe)

Currently Running (or not cancelled yet) -

Dollhouse - Fox - (Joss Whedon's latest - ok, it started out slow, but then it really started to get pretty damn good, if Fox doesn't cancel it, I personally think it could become one of the most popular shows on television if they take it out of the Friday timeslot (always busy Friday, I'd just see it online later).  If you haven't seen it, the first season is available for now at Fox's website and on Hulu.  Alan Tudyk from Firefly eventually shows up and acts the shit out of his character - great stuff)

Lie to Me - Fox - (has potential, I'm a Tim Roth fan, so I've enjoyed it so far, could get better though, or could get worse)

True Blood - HBO - (damn, I really have to get HBO again, saw the first season though, and it was better than any other vampire shit recently - I'm talking to you, Twilight, which I haven't seen and never will)

24 - Fox - (what can I say, Jack Bauer made me a fan, might be predictable by now, but how could it not be, bascially Jack is just going to kick some terrorist ass at some point, with minor variations in the plot)

South Park and The Simpsons go without saying.  And sorry, but Heroes jumped the shark for me.

On (or soon to be) DVD -

Eastbound & Down - HBO Miniseries - (Danny McBride & Will Ferrell's comedy about baseball & steroids, I haven't seen this yet, but my friends have really lauded it with praise)

Generation Kill - HBO Miniseries - (I was in Iraq for a year, and this show gets pretty much everything right, it's almost too realistic, but I think that not only did it accurately portray how things work with the chain of command, etc., but I also agreed with some the morals to the story as well)

Life on Mars - ABC - (entertaining, but too entertaining for ABC to keep it running)

Pushing Daisies - ABC - (already gave my personal opinion earlier, I'll probably give the show a try, it's probably better than I thought it was because ABC cancelled it - just freakin' wierd though, think Dr. Seus, Tim Burton & Dick Tracy)

Already agreed upon kick-ass classics, pretty much generally accepted from the last TV Show thread, that you should buy and watch, no questions asked -

The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos, Rome, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Band of Brothers, and etc. to which I would personally add Carnivale, Freaks and Geeks, and Moonlighting from the 80s

anything else coming out that's supposed to be good?

a few months ago, jcb9 did a post on summer reading lists, and I was later wondering if we had a thread on books that are actually about the Giants, couldn't find one though

I figured it would be fun to do some boning up on the history of the SF ballclub, so I just got ahold of a copy of San Francisco Giants: Where Have You Gone? by Matt Johanson.  I'll use this thread to post quotes or comments from it as I'm reading it (I'm in the middle of Glenn Dickey's 49ers right now which I'll probably finish first).

I was wondering, has anyone read Johanson's book before?  If so, what did you think of it?

Does anyone have any top SF Giants history books that they'd recommend as the best that are out there?

I actually haven't seen too many, so if we could use this thread to compile of list of the books out there on the Giants, that would be cool too.

so I just happened across a copy of the book, Glenn Dickey's 49ers - The Rise, Fall, and ReBirth of the NFL's Greatest Dynasty published in 2000.

I've begun reading it and just wondered if anyone else here has read it before.  What did you think?  Also I'll use this thread to post occasional comments or particularly interesting quotes from the book as I go through it.  I've really enjoyed reading howtheyscored's Year-by-Year posts, so I figured I might as well work on boning up on as much Niner and NFL history knowledge as possible.  Can never seem to get tired of it.

So here's a few beginning quotes -

On General Manager Joe Thomas (who we can thank Al Davis for - he recommended him to then new owner Eddie DeBartolo) who led the 49ers to a 7-23 record from 77-79 -

"[Coach Monte] Clark remembered one telling incident about Thomas at Miami.  The coaches were discussing an upcoming draft and they thought they'd play a joke on Thomas, putting a totally bogus name up on the draft board.  When Thomas saw the name, instead of asking who the player was, he pretended to know, giving the fictional player different attributes ...

In San Francisco, he would hire only coaches who were subservient, and his owner was more than 2,000 miles away.  He had total control and, with that control, he turned a team that was on the verge of making the playoffs into one that was the worst in the league, no better than an expansion team.

His player judgment seemed to desert him.  He released Jim Plunkett, who had come to the 49ers in a costly trade worked out before Clark joined the team; the Raiders picked up Plunkett off the waiver wire, and he later led them to two Super Bowl triumphs.  Thomas gave up five draft picks over a three year period, including his No. 1 in 1979, for O.J. Simpson, whose knee injuries had robbed him of his great ability. ...

Because players knew Thomas had all the authority - he even dictated who should start from week to week - they had no respect for their coaches.  Thomas desperately made player changes, on the roster and in the starting lineup, but nothing worked.  The 49ers got worse and worse, falling from 8-6 in Clark's last year to 5-9 in Thomas's first season.  In 1978, the NFL season was expanded to 16 games, which gave the 49ers a chance to set a franchise record for most loses, with a 2-14 mark.  The frantic Thomas lectured players in the locker room after virtually every loss ...

[Thomas] changed all the locks and put up bars on the windows at 49ers headquarters, and he threw away pictures and souvenirs of anything that had existed before he came on the scene, including the '10-year club' plaque on the dressing room wall, with honoured players who had spent at least 10 years with the 49ers ...

Most fans weren't aware of everything Thomas was doing behind the scenes, but they certainly knew who was responsible for the team's decline.  At every home game, fans put up signs reading, 'Blame Joe Thomas' and 'Thomas Must Go.'  Thomas instructed stadium security men to destroy the signs ...

The barrage of criticism from media and fans along with the realization that the team was getting worse and worse, made Thomas paranoid.  When San Francisco mayor George Moscone was assassinated on November 27, 1978, Thomas became convinced that somebody would try to shoot him as well, at the game scheduled that night at Candlestick Park, and he wanted the game canceled.  The game was played and nobody shot at Thomas.  And, of course, the 49ers lost, 24-7 to the Pittsburgh Steelers ...

After a 49er loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, he charged into the dressing room and told players, 'If I'm going down the tubes, I'm going to take you with me.'

On the dawn of a new era -

Eddie fired Thomas ... As soon as Eddie fired Thomas, he called Walsh to set up a meeting ... Before [Carmen] Policy left Youngstown for the meeting, he had been called into the office of Ed DeBartolo, Sr. 'I want you to watch Eddie to make sure he doesn't offer this coach too much money,' the senior DeBartolo told Policy. 'Don't let him go over $120,000.'

But Eddie had made up his mind before the meeting was held.  After Walsh had talked with DeBartolo and Policy about his plans for the team, Eddie asked him how much salary he wanted.  Walsh said $160,000, more than triple his Stanford salary, never dreaming he'd get that much.  'You've got it,' said Eddie ...

ok, I've just moved back to California after living on the east coast for 8 years ...

My family has Dish Satellite, and I just paid the extra to get the multi-sports package so that we could get CSNBA and watch most of the Giants games.  So far during the preseason, all these games seem to be blacked out (we live in the central valley/Fresno area).

So, is this going to change with the start of the regular season?  Can you get any Giants games at all on CSNBA in the Central Valley?  I've tried googling Giants and "blackout rules" but haven't really been able to find anything - how do these blackout rules work exactly?

Basically, if I'm willing to pay for it - can I f-ing watch the Giants games on TV?  Or does the Fresno/Clovis/Visalia area only get the Dodgers and As?  Sorry if this has already been addressed, but I tried to search "McCovey Chronicles" for a blackout discussion and couldn't find one.

It's just fun seeing them back - cheers me up already.  It's finally begun.  The Unit's in uniform.  Cain's taking a nap.  Timmy trying to encourage Zito by holding his hand and walking him on the field.  Bochy's signing autographs??? Rowand is pissed that his Aston Martin didn't get him to the clubhouse first.  And is it just me, or do we have a younger manager on the phone?  If you find any cool spring training pictures (or take any in Arizona), try to post them here.

 
I put a link in the fanshots, but here's another link from rotowire too -

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NFL&id=2552&line=126084&spln=1

Damn - what would an Isaac Bruce/T.J. Houshmandzadeh combo do for J.T. O'Sullivan?  It sounds beautiful to me.  Besides, T.J. is just being wasted on the Bengals right now.

I guess the one question I'd be worried about is what we would have to give Cincinnatti in return?  How about an Alex Smith/Vernon Davis package?  This little news blurb leaves me with a hundred questions actually.  Sounds exciting.  Sounds too good to be true.  Sounds possible?

I don't know how many of you have read this, but just wanted to post it to make sure -

http://bengiemolina.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/07/looking_forward_to_the_second.html

Molina wrote an article about 4 days ago about his expectations for the Giants for the second half of the season.  Here are a couple blurbs from it -

On Zito - "I know some of you have lost confidence in Zito, but I have to tell you that what I've been seeing the last few weeks has been great. Don't look at the numbers. Just look at how he's pitching. He's been giving us a chance to win every time. He's a true professional and he's going to be fine."

On Their Development as a Team - "We have a lot of young players in the big leagues for the first time. They've gained a lot of experience these past few months and should have their feet wet now ... We are a tight team. We've developed trust in each other. That's how you become a team. You trust each other. If one guy is down, he taps the guy next to him to pick him up. Then it's OK, let's go. Not one guy has to be the hero. If one person tries to do it all himself, you're not going to win."

Check it out.  It's encouraging to hear his attitude about things, especially since he's the guy all our pitchers are relying on.

There's a pretty interesting article about Mike Nolan in the Mercury News today.  Basically, it's saying what we all know - something good needs to happen in 2008 or Nolan is done.

http://www.mercurynews.com/sportsheadlines/ci_9980709

What's interesting is it has Nolan taking the blame on himself for poor coaching decisions -

Nolan was more candid than expected about what exactly created the train wreck of 2007. He mentioned the unusual situation of 10 players or coaches (including Nolan) being emotionally hit by the deaths of parents during the season. It had a collective downer effect, Nolan said. But without prompting, he quickly shifted gears.

"Some things we can control, some we can't," Nolan said. "The things we could have controlled, in my opinion, would have made a difference. Had we had better depth, for example at quarterback . . . and had we made a better decision at offensive coordinator, all those things . . . they tie together. Because in some other areas, we did extremely well."

Then at the end of the article, Nolan is asked about problems last season with Alex Smith -

What about any lingering friction between Smith and Nolan, who are still here? Both say the issue - which burst into the open when the quarterback said he thought the coach was undermining him with the team - is now a non-issue. Nothing to see here. Move along. But is that so?

"If you look back . . . I didn't like what happened," Nolan said. "But again . . . there are things I can say and things I can't. As much as I was communicating with him, somehow, we weren't communicating enough."

And this year? Nolan and Smith will tell you they are back on the same page. But the coach, speaking about what he expects to see from whichever 49ers quarterback wins the starting job, did not mince words.

"Every player faces stress in their job," Nolan said. "People are built differently. Some respond differently than others expect them to respond, especially in certain positions. If you're the head coach, you're expected to act in a way that's more responsible than, say, the equipment manager. Well, if you're the quarterback, then you're responsible to react in a way that's more responsible than, say, the kicker. I'm just saying, there's a rule about that."

What do you guys think?  I think we should be able to avoid bringing the problems of last year into this one.  At least Nolan and Smith have got to know what's at stake.

Editor's Note 11:10am - First off, I didn't even realize TO wrote a book (or at least had a ghost-writer write a book for him).  Second, some great details that make this worth moving up to the front page.  If you don't remember this game, maybe you have details of your own favorite game.

The Cincinnati Bengals against the San Francisco 49ers - Things are looking brighter for the Niners, QB Steve Young and RB William Floyd are both back after having to miss numerous games because of injuries. But soon in the first quarter, the Bengals take the lead making the score 7 to 0. The Niners # 2 wide receiver J.J. Stokes had broken his wrist that week, so rookie Terrell Owens was starting his first game. Niners Steve Young completed a first pass to T.O. only to have the Bengals safety strip the ball from his hands for a fumble. Five plays later, Cincinnati scores again, now it’s 14-0. Then they score again and it’s 21-0. And it looks like the game is over. Steve Young was hit hard in a sack in the second quarter and taken out of the game injured. Backup QB Elvis Grbac almost immediately hurts his shoulder and a limping Steve Young is forced to go back into the game.

The Niners finally score a couple in the second half, but time looks like it’s running out. T.O. described what happened next in his book “Catch This!” -

“In the third quarter, Young took me aside and told me that I had to get open, because with JJ out of the game, the Bengals secondary was putting all their attention on Jerry Rice. Nobody was going to be worried about me - until I made them aware of my presence on the field. If the Bengals could take Rice out of the game through double or triple coverage, we were in deep trouble, but if I could shake free, Steve wanted to get me the ball. “If you don’t step up now,” he said, “it’s going to hurt the team.”

Early in the fourth quarter, with the Niners trailing by seven, Young threw me a deep pass, but it was too far, and I couldn’t get under it. I was disappointed all over again but when I got back to the huddle, Steve said he wanted to try the play once more.”

SCORE: Bengals 21, 49ers 14 - TIME: 2 minutes and 8 seconds are left on the clock

T.O. - “When I saw the defender playing me on my outside shoulder, I adjusted and dipped to the inside, even though that wasn’t the route I was supposed to run. Steve saw me, made his own adjustment, and threw to where I was going. The ball was coming down toward me, right into my hands. I raised my fingers, blocked out everything else, and used all my concentration to focus on catching it first - and then preparing to get hit. But the hit didn’t come, and I kept running and running all the way into the end zone, a 45-yard reception and touchdown…”

Young’s 45-yard touchdown pass to T.O. tied the game, 21-21. But now the Bengals had the ball again.

When Dedrick Dodge intercepted a Bengals pass with the clock at 1:40, the magic that was San Francisco was finally starting to fill the hearts of all the fans.

FAVORITE GREATEST MOMENT IN SPORTS: The clock is at 1:08, and Steve Young limps and hobbles as fast as he can for 15 yards to make it into the end zone and wins the game. (On a side note: this was also with the help a block rookie WR Terrell Owens throws against Bengals CB Jimmy Spencer - it made you love your team whenever you saw Rice or T.O. throwing blocks for their scrambling QB).

Quotes from after the game -

“I know what it feels like to be a 49er now.” - Terrell Owens

“I’m as proud of (the players) as maybe since I’ve been here.” - Coach George Seifert

“To me, Terrell Owens is the kind of kid who, if you say something he doesn’t like, he’ll punch you in the face. He’s got a nastiness to him like John Taylor, and I like it.” - Steve Young

Niners 28, Bengals 21

I watched every minute of the Thompson-Klitschko fight and even though every once in a while it looked like something really exciting was just starting to happen, then everything would always suddenly slow down again.  Thompson basically just seemed to fight only defensively for the second half of the fight, and Klitschko just took his own sweet time in deciding when to finish him.

I'm just starting to get back into boxing.  I used to watch it with my dad years ago and I have way too many friends who are stuck on UFC.  Whatever.  UFC sucks compared to boxing and always will.  I'm reading up on Chris Arreola now and have seen him fight once before, he's a pretty likeable guy and looks like he has a lot in him.  My dream fight is now seeing Chris Arreola vs. Klitschko, but what exactly does he have to do to get there.

I looked for any recent posts or threads about him but couldn't find any, so this one can serve the purpose.  What do all you guys think?  Have you been watching his most recent fights?  What's the latest news of who's next?  Can Arreola do it or is there some other American heavyweight who has a better shot?