Niners may not be who we thought they were

SAN FRANCISCO -- The rant was predictable. What Mike Singletary said was the way the 49ers played, or in truth misplayed, is unacceptable. “Stupid stuff,’’ was his terse analysis of another game squandered.

Indeed, but should we, and he, expect anything else?

Maybe the Niners, who Sunday at Candlestick Park lost their fourth straight game, this one to the bottom-feeder Tennessee Titans, 34-27, are no more than they can offer.

Maybe those wins in September were illusory, giving everyone including the head coach the mistaken idea the team was in the upper echelon of the NFL.

Maybe the thought San Francisco could for the first time in seven seasons finish with a winning record, or at the least an even record, was the stuff of fantasy rather than reality, a dream for the faithful nurtured on the greatness of Montana and Young, Lott and Rice.

Indeed, the Niners could have beaten the Titans, perhaps should have beaten the Titans, whom they led 20- 17 in the fourth quarter. But they didn’t, and no matter how you analyze it, the four Alex Smith turnovers, three of them interceptions, the inability to shut down  Tennessee running back Chris Johnson (135 yards and two touchdowns), that’s all conversation.

Singletary, who now has a losing record, 8-9, since being elevated to then interim head coach a year ago, spoke of giving away the ball and of giving away games, both contentions being undeniable.

“The No. 1 thing is we cannot turn the ball over,’’ said Singletary after the Niners record slipped to 3-5, “and that’s the thing that basically killed us today . . . We’re not finishing football games. If you go back to Minnesota, back to Indianapolis, back to the game today, take your pick, we’re not finishing games.’’

But the response to both explanations is a question, to wit: Why? Why are the Niners making mistakes? Why are the Niners blowing leads down at the end?

Could it be their players simply are not as good as the other team’s -- even a team such as the Titans, which won a second straight game after opening with six consecutive defeats? Could it be the offensive game plan, so restrictive, doesn’t fit the players in the lineup?

Singletary is understandably supportive of offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, since he is the man who chose Raye. And no intelligent coach knocks his players, not when there are eight games to play, one of those games in quick turnaround on Thursday night against the Chicago Bears at the ‘Stick.

But Alex Smith isn’t there yet, despite all out-of-control optimism constructed over the previous two games. And the offensive line remains a problem, even though Singletary avoided a direct assessment of this game with the answer, “You know what, the past two weeks, I think they played well, I really did.’’

They didn’t play terribly well when Alex, who appears more comfortable in the shotgun formation he played at the University of Utah, was under center in the “T.’’

Smith was sacked four times, one of those resulting in a lost fumble with some nine minutes left in the third quarter when the ball was knocked out of his hand as he reached back to throw.

Raye, the coordinator, had been criticized for his conservatism, mainly because Shaun Hill was at quarterback. But with Alex playing a third straight game and starting his second in a row, it wasn’t what was called -- Smith threw 45 passes and completed 29 -- but the style that was utilized.

So many of the passes were short and wide, four yards, five yards. Alex has an arm. What he didn’t have was time, and perhaps Raye figured that into the equation.

What nobody figured was Smith would throw three interceptions, although one came after the Titans had taken a 27-20 lead in the fourth quarter, and Alex was forcing an attempted comeback and two others came after tipped balls.

“I wouldn’t say that at all,’’ Singletary insisted when asked if the interceptions were Smith’s fault. “I thought Alex was playing well today, for the most part. When you get turnovers, obviously you can’t say that, but I thought he made some good decisions . . . It looked to me that he was getting the ball where it needed to go.’’

The 49ers are not getting where they need to go. Losing to the Vikings, then undefeated, at Minneapolis, or to the Colts, still undefeated, at Indianapolis, both narrowly, is no sin. But losing to the Titans could be considered one.

When Alex, as a starter four and five years ago, before the injuries and agony, had an unusual number of fumbles, someone, fact or fiction, determined Smith had abnormally small hands. Singletary refused to enter that discussion.

“What he did in the past,’’ Singletary said of Smith, “I’m going to leave in the past. All I know is what I saw today was a quarterback throwing the ball pretty effectively. As far as the fumbles, we have to look at it, but I’m a little bit surprised he hasn’t fumbled more. When you get a quarterback that’s coming in new and not taken any snaps during the year, there are some of the things you’re going to have early on.’’

It’s early for Alex. For the 49ers, it may be later than they think.

RealClearSports: Harbaugh Turns Stanford Into a Winner

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford didn't as much play football as endure it. It was a place kids went so they could get into medical school or create Google, not get into the NFL. There was a reason it was nicknamed Harvard of the West, besides the academics.

Then a coach named Jim Harbaugh arrived a couple of years ago with the stubborn idea kids who had brains could also be kids who had athletic ability. He was going to recruit people who not only could score on the SATs but also on the field.

Read the full story here.

RealClearSports: Cable's Troubles Becoming Unacceptable

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND -- No one's ever judged this region by what might be called normal standards. The Bay Area, Northern California, was settled by Spanish missionaries, who were pushed out by pioneers looking for gold, with a lot of frontier justice on the side.

The edge of the continent may have put a limitation on movement -- this is as far west as you can go without a ship or a surfboard -- but there never has been any limitation on ideas, no matter how irrational or unpopular.

Almost anything is acceptable. Almost.

This situation with the man who coaches the Oakland Raiders has all but reached a point of unacceptability, with people who don't know exactly what happened screaming "Off with his head'' and those in a position to find out the details saying very little.

Oakland is one city south of the Protest Capital of the World, Berkeley, or as the late columnist Herb Caen called it, "Berserkeley.'' It was an Oakland native, Gertrude Stein, who said of the city, upon returning to find her old home had been razed, "There is no there, there.''

These days, with Tom Cable being accused of everything except that recent mechanical failure of the Bay Bridge, the one that closed the structure for eight days, there is plenty there.

Too much for Cable and the Raiders organization.

The Raiders have a bye this weekend, which, when you're 2-6 for 2009 and haven't had a winning season since 2002, might be viewed as beneficial. Instead, it's proving just the opposite, since media that might be focused on the team's troubles instead are concentrating on Cable's.

And they are many.

During camp in August, up at Napa in the middle of the wine country -- where else would a Nor Cal team train, anyway? -- Raiders assistant Randy Hanson incurred a broken jaw during a meeting of the coaching staff.

He accused Cable of causing the injury, either, as the story goes, by shoving him out of a chair in which he had leaned back, or punching him in the jaw.

After an investigation, and surely deliberation, the district attorney of Napa County declined to press charges, maybe because he didn't believe the case was strong enough, maybe because Napa didn't want to aggravate the Raiders and chance losing them to another city.

For a few days after the announcement, the Raiders' subject matter dealt with the ineffectiveness of third-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell and other paranormal items. Then on its "Outside the Lines'' program last Sunday, ESPN provided the revelation that some 20 years ago Cable had hit his ex-wife and early this year smacked a girlfriend.

The Raiders contended they were blindsided by ESPN, a network the team contends harbors a grudge against it. But to the credit of the Raiders -- meaning owner Al Davis, considerably more sensitive than his critics want to believe -- and chief executive Amy Trask, the allegations were not taken lightly.

"We will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter,'' read a release from the Raiders. "We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged.''

This was not good enough for the National Organization for Women, which demanded Cable be suspended while the allegations are checked out. It wants NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has spoken about fairness, to make a statement about Cable.

Earlier in the week, asked about his future, Cable insisted, "I'm coach of the Raiders, and I think my future is to be coach of the Raiders.''

Al Davis does not like firing coaches, despite all the coaches he has fired, and he likes even less dismissing them during the season, having done that only twice, Mike Shanahan and Lane Kiffin, over the past 40 years.

But this uproar over Cable is an embarrassment. It may even become a distraction, although the players, worried about their own futures and paychecks, invariably ignore everything except trying to keep the opposition from making a touchdown while making some touchdowns of their own.

Cable conceded he did slap his first wife, with an open hand, not a fist, and has regretted it. He said he did not strike any other female.

A team as bad as the Raiders, groping for any reason to be optimistic, hardly needs the current scenario, a coach under fire for reasons other than his record, and even the folk of Northern California wondering what is going on.

Any moment, we may all go over the edge.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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http://www1.realclearsports.com/articles/2009/11/06/cables_troubles_becoming_unacceptable_96527.html
© RealClearSports 2009

 

RealClearSports: Urban Meyer Teaches a Bad Lesson

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

They're teachers. That's how coaches describe themselves. They take pride in helping the youth of the country, instructing them in how to become better players, become better citizens.

We're always hearing about the second part, how what a coach wants most is to prepare a kid for life after sports.

Do something wrong, you get punished. "Coach Suspends Halfback'' is the headline. Unless he's too valuable. Then, well, as we're often reminded, discipline will be private.

Or virtually non-existent.

Urban Meyer, the Florida coach, has his own ideas about justice. And lesson-teaching. They might not be similar to ours, but we don't have to think about national rankings and the BCS.

Our ideas have to do with the difference between right and wrong.

To Meyer that difference is only 30 minutes, half a football game.

One of Meyer's players, linebacker Brandon Spikes, was caught last Saturday on videotape intentionally sticking his fingers through the facemask and into the eyes of Georgia's Washaun Ealey.

A dirty move, a cheap shot. And an incident replayed again and again on the various networks.

It bothered us. It didn't bother Meyer, not to the point he would keep Spikes out of uniform for the next game, against Vanderbilt.

Meyer understood he was required to make a showing. So he announced Spikes would have to sit out the first half of the Vanderbilt game. Then Spikes will be permitted to go out and gouge someone else's eyes.

"I don't condone that,'' said Meyer. He seemingly was referring to what Spikes did, not about his own decision.

Out west in September an Oregon running back, LeGarrette Blount, sucker-punched a Boise State defensive end after the game, and Blount was suspended for the season. Or, barring a change in mind by Oregon coach Chip Kelly, to this point in the season.

But in the Sunshine State, the coach looks at violations a little more kindly. Or at the AP rankings a little more intently, not that Florida should need Spikes to beat Vanderbilt.

What it does need, however, is a sense of perspective and an understanding that there's no place for scofflaws in activities built on rules and fairness.

Reprimands have been popular of late in our sporting world. Chad Ochocinco, the Cincinnati Bengals receiver, was fined $10,000 for wearing a black chinstrap. That NFL certainly has its priorities.

Then a golfer nobody ever had heard of, Doug Barron, became the first PGA player to be suspended for violating the Tour's performance-enhancing drug policy. He's gone for a year.

Now, Brandon Spikes is going to be banished for an entire 30 minutes of a 60-minute college football game. That should make him contrite.

"I talked to him,'' Meyer said of Spikes. "That's not who he is. I love Brandon Spikes.''

And then my favorite phrase in failing to explain why an athlete gets away with almost anything, "We're going to move on.''

They're going to do anything to avoid the facts, the implications, the embarrassment. They're going to worry about putting the ball in the end zone instead of putting a finger in an opponent's cornea or retina.

Why does it always have to be like this? Why does the final score have to supersede common decency? Why can't a coach, any coach but particularly one as recognized as Meyer, step forward and act responsibly, since he wants his players to act responsibly?

We know Urban Meyer can recruit and motivate. We know he's won national championships. What's so hard about admitting that there was a problem and, as a leader of boys who would be men, that problem will be corrected?

Why is Brandon Spikes being given a figurative slap on the hand used to attack an opponent's eyes? Why is getting a man into the lineup more important than getting a message across?

We found out long ago sport does not build character. What we found out the past few days from Urban Meyer was that anything is permissible. Except defeat.

The sin, the author John Tunis said, is not failing to act like a gentleman, but in failing to win. Florida fans are thinking of another national title, not of reprimanding an act that in some places would be considered disgraceful. Get the kid out of the doghouse and back on the field. That's all they care about.

And so that's all that Urban Meyer cares about. You're surprised he didn't have Brandon Spikes write an apology on a chalkboard. That is if Spikes is apologetic.

Urban Meyer certainly doesn't appear to be.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2009/11/04/urban_meyer_teaches_a_bad_lesson_96526.html
© RealClearSports 2009

SF Examiner: Allegations against Cable have caught Davis’ attention

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Al Davis is watching. That should be understood. He may be 80 and hurting physically, but nothing gets past him. Including this embarrassing business with his coach, Tom Cable.

We know Al’s philosophy of sport, the idea of just winning. Not that he’s any different from the rest of us. As Red Smith wrote decades ago, you’re not going to field a team of choirboys. Not if you want to be successful.

You use who you can, when you can. Get them out of bed sick, get them out of jail, get them on the field.

Al Davis, however, has a social conscience, supporting the less fortunate, especially former players. He often talks tough. He doesn’t talk nonsense.

The statement from the Raiders, meaning from the desk of Al Davis, that they are aware of the allegations against Cable, accused of striking an ex-wife and a former girlfriend, “and will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter,” is proof Davis is not taking the issue lightly.

Not dismissing it with the commentary, “We’re just thinking about the season,” which is what we usually get. Along with suggestions any criticism of the Raiders is a conspiracy hatched by the NFL.

In one of the more unusual interview sessions, Cable on Monday stood behind a podium to be confronted by a house divided by gender.

The male reporters were more interested in the progress of quarterback JaMarcus Russell, or rather the lack of. The females asked Cable about the allegations against him and how he felt about anger management.

His repetitive answers referred to a statement released in the wake of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” program on Sunday — a short while before the Raiders lost to the San Diego Chargers 24-16 — that Cable physically abused the women.

This after the Napa County district attorney said he would not pursue charges against Cable over the incident in August in which a Raiders assistant coach claimed the coach broke his jaw.

Cable’s response to “Outside the Lines” said that more than 20 years ago, during the marriage to his first wife, Sandy Cable, he learned she had committed adultery and he “slapped her with an open hand,” and has regretted it. He denies striking ex-girlfriend Marie Lutz earlier this year.

When Cable was asked by a woman reporter Monday, “Can you tell us what Al Davis has said?” he answered, “We have not had a discussion.”

They have now. You can be certain. And whether Cable’s position as coach is in jeopardy because of the allegations, as opposed to being in jeopardy because of a 2-6 record, one need only read the release from the Raiders.

“We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged,” the Raiders’ statement said. “There have been occasions on which we have dismissed Raider employees for having engaged in inappropriate conduct.”

Not surprisingly, the Raiders sent out another release insisting “during the past year ESPN engaged in a calculated effort to distort the truth about the Raiders.”

That can be ignored. No one, the Raiders, the NFL, the public, can ignore what the team calls “the allegations” against Cable.

If those allegations are at the point of “he said, she said,” remember the only thing that counts is what Al Davis says.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Spander-Allegations-against-Cable-have-caught-Davis-attention-69034562.html
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