Slightly Off-Topic NFL News

One thing that's driving me nuts during this offseason is how the League continues to operate as if nothing's wrong and that there isn't a player lockout jeopardizing the upcoming season. Until the rookie symposium was canceled this week, everything has been "business as usual" (Exhibit A: NFL Draft) while the commissioner's office pretends that the lack of a collective bargaining agreement is just a minor nuisance - "Move along, nothing to see here, people."

I can't help but laugh when I read reports about Peyton Manning having neck surgery and that he will be fully recovered in time for the NFL preseason. Of course he will. At this point, Manning could have both knees surgically replaced and still be in uniform by the time the NFL and the players agree to start the season!

Somehow, I doubt that the fans, networks and sponsors who have already made their financial commitments to the 2011 season don't feel the same way. I am sure the team employees who will be laid off or have had certain benefits removed aren't thinking that this is an inconvenient speed bump, either.

Isn't it amazing how these multi-billionaires suddenly don't have the money to pay standard offseason operating costs? How did these people ever make their money in the first place if they (apparently) have none remaining to pay wages to their working-class employees following a lockout that's only affected offseason activities thus far?

I mention "arrogance" quite a lot on this blog, and the arrogance found inside the Niners' front office is just a smaller version of the arrogance that permeates throughout the League offices on Park Avenue. The League is now treating both employees and fans like garbage while making sure the owners' coffers stay full.

For decades, the NFL has prospered as a titanic moneymaking machine while sitting atop the sports world, but everybody has a breaking point. I reached mine this past season, along with many other fans. As the League continues to display their disregard for their customers, these numbers will increase. And when fans leave, it's hard to get them back. Just ask the Buccaneers, who didn't sell out a single game in 2010 despite a 10-win campaign.

The NFL needs to wake up and face reality before the ill will they've fostered over the past several months turns into an irreversible decline towards the middle tiers of the North American sports hierarchy.

And finally, your Daily Dose of Sunshine:
Matt Barrows of the SacBee details all 32 teams' player-led workouts and notes that the Niners aren't faring too well.

Enjoy.

Vikings Get NFL Stadium Money, 49ers Get...Alex Smith

"How in the hell did I end up here?"

Interesting news from the commissioner's office today, as the league announced it will provide financial support for the Vikings' proposed new stadium. On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer to keep the Vikings from fleeing to Los Angeles or elsewhere. However, considering the NFL has stated many times over the past few years that their magical stadium fund has run dry (now that New York has their fancy new facility), I bet the Niners are pissed off that they haven't received any similar committment from King Goodell.

What's most irritating is that, in theory, the Vikings have no business getting a new stadium before the Niners. The Metrodome is only about 30 years old (Candlestick Park is over 50 years old). It's even hosted a Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the Metrodome is also a poorly-executed and flawed stadium that has always been ridiculed throughout the NFL and Major League Baseball. When the roof (ceiling?) collapsed last season, that was the final straw for the Vikings (the Twins had already said adios to the Metrodome a year earlier). So, because Minnesota had their heads up their asses when they designed and built the Metrodome, they are getting another new stadium with a little help from the league and some money that has magically re-appeared.

Meanwhile, in Ninerland, Alex Smith has affirmed that he will likely stay with the 49ers. I mentioned yesterday that it's a case of two desperate parties that still need to rely on each other. It's not like Alex Smith will be fielding phonecalls from any of the other 31 teams in the league to be their starting quarterback, and the Niners can't seem to come up with a better alternative than a seventh (SEVENTH!) season with Smith at the helm.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me seven times and I'm a goddamned idiot who doesn't know my ass from a hole in the ground and I should sell my football team.

And Another Thing - Your Helmets Are Ugly, Too



I mean, really - is it THAT ugly?

Since ESPN is running out of NFL-approved features to run on their website during the lockout, they've made the editorial decision to devote a top story to ranking the league's helmets. Seriously. They paid people to rank helmet designs and write about it.

Yes, smack dab in the middle of the NHL and NBA conference finals while the MLB season kicks into high gear, The Leader is occupying itself with "who has the prettiest helmets in the NFL?" I'd be much more impressed if they ran an article about how ridiculous it is to be thinking of these things while the entire league has ceased operating because billionaires can't share their toys with millionaires.

About the only surprise in the article was that the Niners' current throwback design was among six helmets that received ZERO votes. Ouch. On the other hand, a "guest" judge who was a contestant on "Project Runway" ranked the Niners' helmet at No. 2. So take that, ESPN columnists!

I always considered the latest uniform design as a small victory for York and co., even if they still had to muck it up by keeping the modern logo on the helmet.

And, here's your Daily Dose of Sunshine: Alex Smith On Board with Harbaugh, Envisions Returning to 49ers.

Really? The Packers didn't want Smith (Alex)? The Steelers? The Lions? ANYBODY? What a surprise. Two desperate parties, both needing each other. Pathetic. And expected.

If You Really Valued My Feedback...

...instead of sending me a survey asking me how much I enjoyed the draft party (that I wasn't invited to), you'd call some of the once-loyal fans who were ticketholders for several decades and ask why they decided not to renew their invoices. It seems like that would be more important than if I received any value from Trent Baalke's Q&A session or whatever other nonsense that happened at the draft day party.

When I say that this organization is clueless and doesn't get it, this is exactly the kind of garbage I'm referring to. I personally know 4 other individuals who had season tickets (one for more than 50 years), and the team continues to ignore the fact that they have stopped purchasing their product while still pestering them about trifling minutiae like how they can improve their draft day party.

When you're ready to talk to me about real issues people have with your organization, feel free to contact me. Until then, stop trolling for compliments about crap nobody cares about. Otherwise, all you are going to get is responses like this:

What would you like to see added to the entertainment next year?
I'd like to see an actual NFL team that made the playoffs the prior year send some of their players to come out and talk to fans and tell them what it's like to root for an organization that doesn't have its collective heads up their asses while increasing ticket prices every year.

What other activities would you like to see at future 49ers Draft Parties? I'd like a raffle that allows a random fan to run this franchise for one day. You should award 365 of these prizes each year.

What could the 49ers add or change that would make you more likely to attend next year's Draft Party?

• Make the playoffs
• Lower ticket prices for all of loyal fans in the lower deck who have had their tickets raised several times over the past decade.
• Sell the team to somebody who knows how to run an NFL franchise