We’re in the season of NFL rules changes – some of which are highlighted in Lanz’s “Talking Sports” this past week.  Every year the NFL owners gather, propose, consider and vote on rules changes for the coming season.  This year, the “Tuck Rule” makes its way into the history books – alongside Super Bowl XXXVI and the 2001 post-season.

With player safety becoming a mantra of the NFL – take a look at the NFL Communications website.  No less than weekly -  sometimes more frequent – updates to the player safety activity of the league. 

From February: “In December, there was a meeting with the Foundation of the NIH with about 50 different researchers [from] across the U.S. to look at PET scans, other types of scans, equipment, autopsy results and helmets. All of those at the moment are being studied, and the NIH will help decide the best studies in the next year.”

From earlier in March: “Raising Brain Injury Awareness.  March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. Throughout the month, organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will host events to help educate the public about brain injuries and how to prevent and treat them.”

We get it.  Football is an inherently violent, and dangerous game – highlighted by high profile suicides, such as Junior Seau.  Do a Google search – you’ll come up with articles on brain injury research  from this year and going back to Ted Johnson, formerly of the Patriots, coming out about his depression and divorce back in 2007.  The news is not new.

The NFL is also a business.  This, too, is not new.  This is a business that prints money in the basement of their offices.  But flush with money or not, at the end of the day businesses run on their EBITDA.  One improves EBITDA (or cash flow) by increasing incoming revenue and by reducing costs.  Hardly rocket science.

So it comes as a shock that the league and Riddell – the leagues’ official helmet provider – are facing lawsuits that accuse Riddell of having produced inadequate helmets.  Surprising really.  “Hey look over here – look at our investment in research!”  while holding down R&D costs, production, and procurement costs associated with the most important piece of safety gear on the gridiron itself.

 It’s not just about their relationship with one helmet provider.  It’s about the entire marketing relationship machine that IS the NFL.  To allow an aftermarket attachment to a helmet, violates their exclusive relationship agreement and compromises their other exclusive agreements.   One would think that there would be some pressure on Riddell to buy the patent, or to develop safer helmets – if the NFL doesn’t use your head gear, who will?  I mean, does Bike even make helmets anymore? – and yet it’s not apparent there’s significant progress being made in that arena. 

Worse, from the linked article above:  “A helmet attachment called ProCap has been shown to reduce the chance of concussion in collision. The NFL committee that deals with brain injuries issued memos warning players that they risked death by wearing it.”  Wow.  Shown to reduce concussion and the league swears it off – again, I guarantee you it goes back to the marketing machine, as well as the legal liability mitigation machine: maintain your plausible deniability at all costs.

The league is moving toward player safety – Bernard Pollard claims it’s becoming too soft and people will lose interest.  Instead of improving the equipment that will allow the game to be played as it has been, the rules are being changed.  As sacrilegious as it sounds coming from a current player – he’s probably not wrong.

It’s the marketing success of the league that is forcing the league to make the rules changes instead of focusing on the making the equipment safer.  Certainly, some rules changes are for the best – if you’re truly interested in player safety, you have to look at all options.  Arguably, the addition of equipment could actually be a cause of player injury – consider this: helmet-to-helmet contact only really becomes an issue once the helmet is no longer leather.  I’m not arguing returning to leather helmets, I am however arguing that if player safety is really the #1 priority, we’re not dicking around with press releases, small research grants, and tweaking rules to make it appear as though we’re progressively improving.  We’re forcing our equipment suppliers to demonstrably improve their product quality and safety, we’re demonstrably committing to a sustained research and development program that adds to the body of knowledge, which would then better inform the research behind helmet safety. 

BUT – that kind of investment threatens EBITDA, threatens their marketing machine, and threatens their legal position in current and future legal action.  So, we’ll continue to watch the league suffer a thousand paper cuts defending their untenable situation, and continue to watch the league propose rule changes like eliminating the kickoff.   

Manti Teobowing

Yep I'm back. I wasn't sure I had the okay to continue but what the heck I'll try to keep this short. And gosh since I posted my comments about Alex Smith, I discover there's been some hubbub about him. Rumor has it a deal to trade Smith is just about "complete." But nothing can be finalized until March 12. Whether or not this is all talk, it makes me wonder if someone at the 49ers is actually reading this blog. The chances of that of course are roughly equivalent to Tim Tebow playing in the NFL as a running back. Or even playing in the NFL next season.

Which bring me to the title. Yeah I'm combining Manti Teo (sp?) with Tim Tebow. I thought it a clever pun. Good thing my wife is sleeping because if she saw this title, she'd roll her eyes and groan like she usually does when I tell one of my bad puns. So no this post is NOT about Tim Tebow. It is about Manti Teo who because he's at the combine might have to endure a lot of equally bad puns and jokes about his phony girlfriend. And I got to thinking recently that he shouldn't be too embarrassed about what happened to him.

He of course met "Lenay" on an online chat channel. As a "veteran" of those things, I can say that some guys can easily pretend to be women. There are lots of lonely guys there (not that Manti is lonely) and anyone using a female nick and a decent grasp of spelling, grammar and complete sentences can fool a guy. In fact, back in my chat channel days I acquired quite a few online women friends who years later admitted to me they had a crush on me because "I could type a complete sentence." And no I'm not making that up. Many men online clearly forgot how to spell or type. They think that by shortening words ("are you" becomes r u & no I don;'t know what a ru is) makes them cool. No dummy it makes you look stupid or lazy. Online chat channels can be really interesting, to say the least. And to say the most, it's easy to hide things. Like what gender you really are.

So the guy pretending to be Lenay found a picture of a woman he knew and pretended to be her. He probably had a good command of spelling, grammar, appeared reasonably intelligent and sympathetic. Since I'm not privy to the chats "Lenay" and Manti had, I have no idea what they talked about. And the guy pretending to be Lenay probably realized eventually Manti would realize "she" was a fake, so he had her die of leukemia. Really mean to say the least, but I recall someone I casually knew on line who claimed to be female who then suddenly died of a heart attack. I later found out "she" was a he who was in danger of being "unmaked" so to speak so "she" suddenly died. Go figure.

It's safe to say Manti is not going to go near any chat channels anytime soon. Or ever. In the meantime, at least two minor league baseball teams will have "Manti Teo" nights this season. Probably many more. Hopefully Manti will continue to be a good sport about the unwanted attention It appears he has a chance of being a NFL caliber player. Not an easy thing to accomplish. So many great college players are total busts in the NFL. I seriously wish him well and hope he outlasts all the jokes and has a great NFL career.

I still want to attend the Frontier League Florence Freedom's game where they will be giving out Lenay Kakua bobbleheads. Actually they'll give out boxes with nothing in them. I bet they sell out that game.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. See ya next time.

The Jim and Alex Show

I've been a fan of the San Francisco 49ers for decades now. I moved to the SF Bay Area in 1981, just in
time to see them rise from a perennial non-contender into a Super Bowl champion team. One of things I
used to enjoy about those great teams of the 80s was Bill Walsh's weekly jousts with the media. It seemed
to be a game he loved to play. he also knew when to be complimentary and when to defuse a potential
media fire storm. It seems that Jim Harbaugh, the current 49ers coach and like Walsh a former Stanford head guy studied how Walsh dealt with the media. While Jim doesn't always spar with the media the way Walsh did, he knows what to say and what not to say.

Let's go back to the middle of last season. Alex Smith, the 49ers starter was having his best season ever. You'd see his backup Colin Kaepernick come in occasionally when the 49ers wanted to run an option play but
that was it. And then came Smith's concussion and we never saw Smith play again (except for a few downs against Arizona in the last regular season game). This could have started a fire storm too except Harbaugh effectively knocked it down by saying "we have the opposite of a quarterback controversy. Is that a protoversy then? Hmmm. Well I digress as I sometimes do.

Kaepernick went on to play the rest of the season (did very well too) and led the 49ers to their first Super Bowl appearance in 18 years. Quite the runner as well as passer. I was at the playoff game versus Green Bay and his fabulous running made us all forget the pick six he threw early in that game. To quote that old Timbuk3 song, his future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades." Meanwhile Smith cooled his heels on the bench. And give Smith a lot of credit for not openly complaining about the situation. He could have whined and sulked but instead he simply said, what happened sucked and that was that.

Speaking of which, Smith is quite the expensive backup now. He of course is owed 7.5 million by the 49ers if he' still on their roster on April 1. Oh man if they don't get rid of him by then, think of all the April Fool's jokes that will start up. Jim Harbaugh was quoted yesterday as saying they "have the best QB situation in the league" (hmm that's what Seattle is saying too) and they have no plans to get rid of Smith.

Uh huh. OK Jim whatever you say. You want us to believe you're not going to unload Smith, fine. Harbaugh has his way of playing the media just like Walsh did. Cool and it is fun to watch. While I have no way of verifying this (I'm just an armchair blogger, folks), I suspect there's a deal brewing somewhere. Kansas City would be the obvious choice since they NEED a QB and the QB's in the draft this year don't exactly make you jump up and down for joy. Hey they may turn out to be good starters but it seems iffy at best. Then again, the last time I saw a QB drafted in the first round do well immediately was Dan Marino. In fact, that's the ONLY time I've seen a rookie QB excel in his first season.

Any team with a dire need at QB is probably thinking, "hey Smith might be a good fit for us. Let's see what we can offer the Niners." Although I would imagine Arizona is not in the mix. Why would you trade your former starter to a team you have to face twice a year? The previous regimes (Hi Mike Singletary and Mike Nolan!) might do that but not Harbaugh. Say what you will about Jim Harbaugh (and people seem to say he's not a nice person), but he's a winner and he's getting paid to win. End of story.

Speculation of where Alex is going to wind up is fun and is the perfect way to spend a rainy day. Except it's clear and sunny here in SF today. Think I'll go back out to pruning the fruit tree in the yard. It's beginning to look a little like Jim Harbaugh.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it. See ya next time.

Somehow it turned out to be a thriller after all.

With seconds gone in the second half, the Ravens had administered the coup de gras in a contest they had dominated to that point when Jacoby Jones did his Desmond Howard imitation and put the icing on the cake for Baltimore at 28-3. It would, much later, prove to be the difference. But the only story line that seemed viable at that time was how Air Flacco seemed no fluke, and Jump Ball Joe's long throws into single coverage might involve more skill on his part than most imagined. His short throws were precise and effective also, and all that remained was the coronation. Then the lights went out, and over half an hour later the game resumed. One might have thought that would help rest the team that had the lead, but instead it turned into a mirror image of the Niners' late-season win at New England. This time the roles were ironically reversed for San Francisco.

The Niners proceeded to take the ball away, drive for scores, and turn the game into a 28-23 nailbiter. But when they got the ball into the red zone on the last score of the lightning comeback, their momentum faded a bit and they came away with a field goal. The Ravens responded with a field goal of their own. When the Niners regained their impetus and drove smartly for another full score, things inched tighter still. After another Tucker field goal made it a 5-point lead with 4:19 to go, the die was cast.

The Niners again streaked downfield and, with the clock running down of their own accord, stood at the 7 yard line with first and goal. The story line had seemingly morphed into "Blackout Bowl Sends Niners to Super Comeback."

There followed some odd play calls and nearly a delay of game penalty. On 4th and goal from the 5, the odds had swung back to Baltimore and they knew it. Much as they had done to foil the earlier 2-point conversion, the Ravens came all-out and forced Kaepernick to throw what was a marginally catchable ball at the side of the end zone. Niner fans had to be as frustrated as Jim Harbaugh at the lack of a call, as Crabtree was not only 'chucked' past 5 yards but also clearly held. It is doubtful he could have made the catch, but not impossible. It was a terrible non-call, considering it effectively ended the game, while making the call would have (probably rightfully) given SF four more shots, either from the 1 or from the 2 1/2 depending on the call. Phil Simms' company-guy rationales sounded forced. It wasn't a good way to end an amazing game, though it was a tough call to make.

But end it did, especially after John Harbaugh instructed his punter to not only take a safety but also to take his sweet time doing it. Somehow the Niners failed to pressure him until 8 of the remaining 12 seconds were gone. The Ravens were, of course, holding and even embracing the rushers, figuring the worst that could happen was a safety anyway, but what was happening didn't seem to cross the Niners' minds until it was too late for even a prayer. The ensuing free kick, a 60-yard bomb, probably would have extinguished hope in any event.

So what was the final story line? Lost in the schizophrenic nature of the game, the blackout, the non-call at the end and the resultant drama, there were certainly a number of alternatives, in no particular order:

A. Unitas Returns to Baltimore

B. Niners Become Patriots in Schizo Bowl

C. Jacoby Reprises Desmond

D. Double Murder Rewarded --- Again

Don't laugh. Apparently the endless Bus-like accolades that surrounded Ray Lewis' retirement announcement proved too much for more than a few, prompting such a backlash that even the broadcast booth elected to state the case for resentment in the clearest terms ever heard on an NFL broadcast.

The most intriguing leftover of the bowl will be whether Joe Flacco has truly found his niche as a great quarterback after so many years, or whether Caldwell's offense will be digested and obsoleted by next season. Other than that, there's not much. Kaepernick still has a job, and both teams will contend again.

Students, Professor Bandito will give you a bit of history lesson today. Lets go back some 54 years ago. The NFL consisted of 12 teams in 11 cities. The league would mourn the death of its commissioner Bert Bell midway through the season. The Colts (who were playing happily in Baltimore would defeat the New York Giants for the second time in as many seasons to win the NFL title. The Cardinals franchise played in Chicago, and were the poor south side cousins in Comiskey Park to the more affluent Bears who played in Wrigley Field. But they were owned by Violet Bidwell-Wolfner widow of Charles Bidwell one of the more senior owners in the NFL. She was besieged by suitors for her ball club who was losing money. The Bidwell family decided to spurn all the suitors and not sell, and instead moved to St. Louis where for 27 years they would be the football counterpart to a more famous (and more successful) baseball team of the same name.

One of those spurned suitors was Lamar Hunt, heir to a oil tycoon fortune. Hunt was frustrated in his bid to buy the Cardinals and annoyed that the NFL showed no signs of expanding beyond its 12 team, 12 city base. Hunt contacted another Texas oil tycoon, Bud Adams as well as 6 other owners including Barron Hilton (yeah the hotel owner and Paris’ grandfather) Bob Howsam in Denver, Billy Sullivan in Boston and Detroit insurance magnate Ralph Wilson (who was considering Miami, then chose to go to Buffalo because it had a stadium to join his “foolish club” which would become the American Football League.

The league started in earnest in 1960, though the NFL initially gave the AFL owners some guidance (Bell gave Hunt a copy of the NFL constitution to copy as a framework for the AFL’s bylaws.) they strategically moved to kill the upstart league before it got playing. The NFL awarded an expansion franchise to the owners of the AFL’s Minnesota contingent, but the AFL scrambled quickly and came up with a new team to play in Oakland. With 22 pro teams playing (14 in the NFL and 8 in the AFL) there was a lot more football. The NFL tried its best to ignore the younger league and for the first five years succeeded. Some of the AFL teams struggled, most notably in Oakland, Denver and New York and two of the stronger teams in Dallas and Los Angeles had trouble competing with their NFL counterparts and moved to Kansas City and San Diego respectively. Nevertheless the AFL survived and began to thrive after inking a multimillion dollar broadcast deal from NBC in 1965. This set off a brief but very expensive signing war. Realizing that this war would ultimately hurt everyone involved, the two leagues would agree to a merger, but not before two more franchises were formed in Atlanta & Miami and still two more were formed in New Orleans (to placate a Louisiana congressman that was helping to push through the merger) and Cincinnati (Paul Brown’s re-entry into football after 5 years.) The lasting result was 28 teams in a new NFL going forward.

Super Bowl 47

Baltimore Ravens (13-6) vs San Francisco 49ers (13-4-1)

For the NFL Championship and the Vince Lombardi Trophy

Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans 6:30 (CBS)

Favorite 49ers by 4

Super Bowl Fast Facts: There has never been a shutout or overtime in the 46 previous games and all but one (Miami in 6) has seen both teams score at least one touchdown each.

Fast Fact: This is the first time that teams with no losses in the Super Bowl have faced one another.

Last Meeting: Ravens defeated 49ers 16-6 in 2011 Ravens have won 3 of the 4 regular season meetings

AFC Champion Baltimore Ravens

Regular Season: 10-6 AFC North Champions

Defeated AFC Wild Card Indianapolis (#5 seed) 24-9 in AFC Wild Card Round

Defeated AFC West Champion Denver in 2OT (#1 seed) 38-35 in AFC Divisional Round

Defeated AFC Wild Card New England (#2 seed) 28-13 in AFC Championship

Team Leaders Joe Flacco 3817 Yards 22 TDs, Ray Rice 1143 yards rushing, 9tds, Anquan Boldin catches 921 yards 4 tds, Torrey Smith 49 Catches 855 Yards 8 TDs

1-0 in the Super Bowl winning Super Bowl 35

NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers

Regular Season 11-4-1 NFC West Champions

Earned 1st Round Bye as NFC #2 seed

Defeated NFC North Champion Green Bay 45-31 in NFC Divisional Round

Defeated NFC South Champion Atlanta 28-24 in NFC Championship

Team Leaders QB Colin Kaepernick 1814 Yds 10 TD, 415 Rushing Yards 5TDs, Frank Gore 1214 Rushing Yards 8 TDs, Michael Crabtree 85 catches 1105 yds 9 tds

5-0 in the Super Bowl Winning Super Bowls 16, 19, 23, 24 & 29

When the Ravens have the ball

Led by their quietly confident QB Joe Flacco the Ravens started fast kind of coasted to the postseason and grinded out 3 wins over teams with higher profile QB’s The Ravens arent the game manager/possession manager type team that won the Super Bowl 12 years ago. They have top notch players at the skill positions. With the highly underrated Ray Rice able to break off a long run at any point but able to pound the ball when needed. Speed at the wideout is in abundance with Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith being burners but keep an eye on cagey possession Dennis Pitta who has become Flacco’s security blanket. The Niners have a punishing defense led by MLB Patrick Willis, Navarro Bowman, Aldon Smith and Ahmad Brooks who have been stingy with yards and gruding with points. Joe Flacco has had plenty of time to throw the ball with a solid offensive line led by veterans Matt Birk and Michael Oher but the Niners are exceptional at putting pressure on the QB so it will be inter

When The Niners have the ball

Since taking over QB duties for Alex Smith some ten weeks ago. Colin Kaepernick has taken the Niners from playoff contender to Championship caliber. He adds a dimension of speed and daring to an offense that had gotten predictiable under Smith. Frank Gore is a bulldog of a running back who has a solid blend speed and power that keeps opposing defenses honest. Michael Crabtree has really matured into a primo target and had a monster season. Vernon Davis has become a bit of a forgotten man in the offensive scheme with Kaepernick’s rise but was getting plenty of touches in the conference championship he is a tough matchup for any defense. This defense aint the feared squad of yesteryear. Many of the names are the same Ray Lewis, Ed Reed et al. They are a bit older and slower but are still cagey enough to cause offenses problems and must be accounted for. The Ravens give up much more yards but dont give up the big play or big score

Coaching

Much ado has been made about the Harbaugh Brothers facing off but the truth is that both coaches are top notch and are more alike than one would think. They both have the teams playing at top notch. The younger Harbaugh (Jim) may be a bit more likely to take a gamble or three while the older Harbaugh has been accused of being a bit too predictable in his play calling and forgetting about his running game at times.

The Prediction

The game is a bit too close to call. Both teams are more alike than not. Strong running games, swashbuckling QB’s unafraid to go after the big play. Defenses that will ballhawk and create turnovers. Coaches who are literally cut from the same coaching cloth. I think that the unflappable Kaepernick will be the slight difference here and for some reason, I think that this is the best defense Joe Flacco has faced and he will make just enough mistakes to get beat. This will be one of the better Super Bowls regardless.

Pick Niners 28 Ravens 23