San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
49ers fans lucky to have QB worth backing
If Trey Lance does something good this season for the San Francisco 49ers, and the prediction in this corner is that he will do many such things, you fans who cheer him won’t have to apologize, or barf into your beer cups.
Cleveland Browns’ fans? Different story. Their guy is Deshaun Watson.
“Yeah, Deshaun! I’m sorry honey. Whoo, great pass, Deshaun! Sorry kids, but remember, in America we believe everyone deserves a 25th chance. Woo, Deshaun!” (Barf.)
You Bay Area sports fans have it good. No cheer of shame for you. You won’t face an existential crisis of conscience every time Lance does something cool.
It’s scary to imagine what might have been. When the Texans were shopping Watson back in March, there were rumors of interest by the 49ers, and reliable reports that Watson wanted to be traded here.
It’s possible the 49ers kicked Watson’s tires. Nothing happened, because, for one thing, to get Watson would have required the 49ers to trade away a couple of first-round picks and much more.
Had Watson gotten his wish, 49ers fans would have had to go to confession Sunday mornings to confess the sin they were about to commit, of cheering for their quarterback.
Instead, we get the opposite with Lance. The fellow seems to be of splendid character (caveat: we never really know), with a refreshing sense of humor, a lack of self-importance, and an awareness of the obligations of leadership.
He fits right in to the Bay scene. We already have Stephen Curry, who is to solid values and charitable works what Stephen Curry is to jumpshooting. We also have Klay Thompson and Draymond Green (who is not everyone’s cup o’ tea, but a decent fellow). Not long ago we had Buster Posey. Jimmy Garoppolo was a team leader you could cheer for without cringing.
We can’t be too smug here by the Bay, because we have been on the other side. Barry Bonds. Jose Canseco. Aldon Smith and all those other 49ers, back in the 49ers’ infamous crimes-and-misdemeanors era.
But we can be grateful. Our Bay Area heroes, right now, are refreshingly non-creepy and non-cringey, which makes the fun more fun.
Onward and downward ...
Sure, the Browns sold their soul when they traded for Watson, but at least they did their due diligence. Said team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam back then: “Our team’s comprehensive evaluation process was of utmost importance due to the sensitive nature of his situation and the complex factors involved . ... (Watson) was humble, sincere, and candid.” And yet, I can’t shake the feeling that the Browns may have missed something.
Back then, if a Browns’ adviser told the Haslams, “We seriously have to vet this guy,” I suspect that Jimmy Haslam went out and bought Watson a Corvette.
Not to bag on Cleveland, but ... The baseball team finally dropped its offensive nickname and racist “Chief Wahoo” mascot, but this is still the town where peaceful Native American protesters outside the ballpark were verbally and physically attacked every year. Now Watson is Cleveland’s darling. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should pack up and move out.
Is big-league baseball really a lot harder to learn and excel at than NBA basketball? The A’s started five rookies in a game last week. Ages 25, 24, 26, 23 and 26. Here’s the Warriors’ Kiddie Corps, with their ages when they were rookies: James Wiseman, 19; Jonathan Kuminga, 19; Moses Moody, 19; Jordan Poole, 20; and this year’s top draft pick Patrick Baldwin, 19.
Robo umps, please! Last Tuesday, when the Giants beat Arizona on Brandon Crawford’s two-out, two-run walkoff homer, here’s how the bottom of the ninth started. Evan Longoria gazed at a pitch that was four inches outside the zone. “Strike,” said plate ump Cory Blaser. The next pitch was in the same spot and Longoria, realizing the dramatic expansion of Blaser’s strike zone (noted more than once on TV by Mike Krukow), reached out and fouled off the pitch. Instead of 2-0, the count is 0-2. Five pitches later, Longoria popped out. The umps either can’t or won’t call the strike zone correctly, so it’s time for a change. When it’s time for a change, think speedy replacement of home-plate umps by robots.
Pete Carril, the famed Princeton basketball coach who died last week, wasn’t just a fine basketball mind from a distant age. From the Associated Press obit, here’s a description of Carril’s offense (see if it sounds familiar): “Patience, intelligence, constant motion, quick passing and back-door cuts that often ended in layups.” I ran it by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. His response: “Coach Carril influenced what we do. We have what we call a ‘Princeton cut’ based on their offense. Spacing, back-door cuts, ball reversals, dribble handoffs ... everything we do has his fingerprints on it.”
Dept. of Minor Beefs: In the phrase “small sample size,” “size” is extraneous. Let’s fix this, going forward.