I've Got A Bad Feeling About This...

"You said it! No, YOU said it!"

Although I didn't dial in to last night's Fan Forum, I did manage to read Jim Harbaugh's quotes from the event, courtesy of the always excellent efforts of Matt Barrows and Matt Maiocco. Maybe hearing the coach live would have made a difference, but some of the things Harbaugh said sounded like the same rhetoric I heard from his two predecessors...

• "I really think Frank Gore is one of the best running backs in the National Football League, the most complete back."
• "As a coaching staff, we are putting together the playbook and getting things down on paper and getting ready for those minicamps and offseason workouts. But now is the players' time off. They're not required to be here. They're not required to come to meetings or come to workouts until March 14, which is the first day of the offseason training. So to answer your question, no, there's been no meetings or anything of that nature."
• "I can promise you this: I'm going to work at it every day. When I'm home, I'm thinking about it ..."

Ok, whatever. "Coachspeak" usually isn't very insightful, and I suppose most of this comes from "The Great Big Book of Cliches" that every new coach receives when they sign their first contract. Still, I can't help but get that same sense of dread when I hear about how hard the 49ers' head coach is going to work at learning how to be a Head Coach in the National Football League, how Frank Gore needs to get rested during the games to be more effective, how none of the players have seen a playbook, etc.

Still, I can live with that. But then, there's these two quotes about #11:

• "Yes, Alex Smith is definitely in (the quarterback mix)"
• "I like him (Alex Smith) very much, too."

Yep, Alex Smith, who has already been a 49er longer than Jeff Garcia despite never coming close to becoming a legitimate NFL starting quarterback, is currently Plan A for the 49ers in 2011. And the best part is, Harbaugh is already bending over backwards to compliment him since the 49ers are going to have to woo him and convince him to return. Once again, Alex is being treated with kid gloves, and incredibly enough, he has total leverage against the 49ers as they scramble to find an answer to the question that has plagued them every offseason since 2004: "who is our quarterback?"

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. After six seasons of inconsistent play, wasted millions in dollars and unfullfilled promise, Alex Smith somehow remains the "key" to the 49ers' offense heading into 2011 while the Niner organization prepares to spend another season in the nuthouse.

At least it will be blacked out this time.