All-American Sports

Anonymous commentator said:

"Yeah, but you guys (Blue States) get the 49ers."

Whoop-de-doo. Have you seen their record lately? Fortunately, there seems to be some hope on the horizon. The cheap-ass owner's backed up the truck on the whole staff and next season doesn't seem likely a bottomless stanky hole.

Like most new coaches, Nolan comes in with a ton of authority, because ownership is desperate and will give him whatever he wants. If the record elsewhere is any indication, this is a for a limited time. As the seasons go by, ownership in our "win or else" sports culture gets frustrated and gradually shaves all this authority off, as both punishment and so the coach "can focus on the field." Just watch. It'll happen.

The real test of how invested the 'Niners owner wants to be comes with the stadium. Simply put, he's gonna have to build it hisownself. The City's meager contribution was based on some kind of revenue-generating mall built where no one is ever going to go to shop. The only way any new football stadium is built is with York's own money. Maybe not in San Francisco, since only Candlestick's got the space to do it. Heck, maybe this is San Jose's chance to get a pro sports team, since the 'Niners are already HQ and summer camping it there.

I'll miss the 'Stick, though. A crappy baseball park, it actually serves football well. The weather's better during fall days than summer nights, and it'll always be home to those great moments from the '80s and '90s. Sigh ...

Which brings us to baseball. People keep bugging me about the steroids thang. I feel like Stephen King being interviewed in the stands at Fenway during Game Three of the ALCS, as the Yankees were whomping the Sox a zillion to two, and seemingly well on their way to the Series. King kept telling the guy that the Sox had a great year and he enjoyed it all, and the interviewer kept nagging him to break down and cry. He didn't.

Baseball, like all pro sports, makes money by giving us a welcome diversion after a tough day or week at the mines. It ain't real life to us. This ain't so for sportswriters. This is all they do and think about, because it's their living. They got nothing to apply it against to give them perspective. So they blow it all out of proportion. Add any writers dream to go Woodward and Bernstein on some issue, and it's not surprising the whole thing is treated like the Watergate break in. But it's not.

No one has ever said how many more home runs any player has hit because they goosed up their body strength. Putting on lbs. is generally accepted in baseball. Some teams encourage it among young players, so they can hit the ball harder. Did growth inducing steroids make it easier for some to bulk up? Certainly. But they woulda done it anyway. As I understand it, you take these things as part of an exercise regimen. They ain't comic book Power Pills, duck into a nearby phone booth, down one and fly out to save the day as SuperStud. If they're unhealthy, then regulate and/or ban them. But you can't punish someone after the fact.

All I know now about Barry Bonds is that this season, as always, the crowd at SBC will stop whatever it's doing, even buying hot dogs, when he steps to the plate, to watch. He's exciting to watch, and for $25 a seat in the upper deck, that's all that matters.