A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Where is everyone watching the game? I’ll be in Reno with some of my main men. I am hoping San Diggity puts me on a group text with him and Loo but I understand if that type of enemy infiltration is too much for them to handle. Fair warning: there will be no texts from Big Flavor reassuring you if you put me on a group text. I *assure* you.

Here’s a clip of that idiot Francesa saying you can’t watch the SB alone only to, one second later, reverse course and say he wishes he could watch the game alone. This guy is one of the dumbest, corniest, most self absorbed sports show hosts I have ever listened to. And luckily I only hear the clips this dude posts on twitter.

Ok, I can put up with a lot of shit…..actually that’s not true at all.

So if they do this:

…..Ima go off.

This couldn’t be a more disrespectful move to the fans. If this happens, and it really already happened with The Panda, the front office is saying “We know you’re a bunch sheep who will sit passively and graze at the trough of garlic fries as long as we trot out names you’ve heard of.”

There is absolutely no other reason to bring back Hunter Fucking Pence.

I am telling you right now, I am not going to a game in 2020 unless the ticket is free…..

I had a dream last night. And it wasn’t one of those good ones like MLK had.

Niners were up 26-24, clock winding down, Maholmes driving…..

Butker kicked a game winning field goal, we lose 27-26.

Terrifying.

Glad I dreamed that last night and not the night before the game. What now? I’m beginning to put my game face on. Confidence is rising. Knowing dude head nod be boppin’. By Sunday you could fire a 45 off next to my head and I wouldn’t flinch.

I like seeing the Dbacks trading for Marte. They’ll give the Dodgers a bit of a fight and that’s something to root for, I guess.

It still sucks for us. Z is spoon feeding us a throw away year and when tomorrow isn’t guaranteed it’s bullshit that we get an entire year of no hope whatsoever.

I’ll make it through the season, I love the sport and have no problem focusing on other teams/players through daily fantasy play. Part of me would really like to see the fans not act like sheep this year. Refuse to buy expensive season tickets for this crap product. A message has to get sent to Baer and his money driven cronies that this is an unacceptable way to treat such a loyal fan base.

Kobe is gone. While I won’t be missing him I definitely understand why this affected so many people the way it did. It was gut wrenching to watch so many NBA players weep before and after the games yesterday. His passing has left a huge hole in the league.

Eight other people died. At first I thought John Altobelli might have been Joe’s son. I’ve never even heard of another *Altobelli* and this guy is a baseball lifer. Turns out they aren’t related.
This is a great (unlocked) article about him. I recommend reading it.

https://theathletic.com/1563483/?source=twitterhq

Absolutely. It’s a story I’ve told before. 2004 Super Bowl. I was in Reno with my main man Pa Salon, we were at the Grand Sierra (it might have been the Hilton back then I can’t recall for certain). I was not being the most responsible patron, boozing pretty good, carousing around. I think I even played some black jack that night something I don’t think I’ve done since. Most of the second half, I was all over the casino. I don’t remember what specifically caused me to do this but with a few minutes left in the game I decided to purge myself of all my losing tickets. I threw away a bunch of them (it felt sooooo good) and then trudged off in a huff to go get another beer or lose money, I don’t remember, it’s a haze this many years later.

The end of the game was the Vinatieri field goal and I was staring at the score and I was like, “wait a minute I think I had $20 on Carolina to score 29 at 40-1.” That’s when I realized what an idiot I had been and I went looking for that damn ticket that I’d thrown away. I scoured garbage cans. Looked all over the ground. I must have looked like such an idiot. No luck.

Anyway, this story goes on and on but it ended with Pa Salon convincing the pit boss to pay out my ticket without producing the winning ticket. I forget the details, he can chime in in the comment section if he reads this, but it had something to do with it being such an unusual bet and it would be easy to track if that ticket ever got cashed or not. I think we had to wait a couple weeks or so? Anyway, they paid out the bet despite never receiving or running the ticket through the machine. A definite first for me.

So, I’d like something similar to that happen this Sunday minus the losing the ticket part…..

Entering a bit of a dead zone for sports around here. No NFL this weekend with but one game to go next Sunday. No baseball. NBA without the Warriors is just ok. Excited for them next year though with Steph, Klay, Green, a stud FA pick up and whoever their top draft pick will be.

Until then I’ll continue to dutifully memorize Ruf’s Korean League stats and stare out this window waiting for Spring to begin….

Maybe we just have too much time leading up to this game. Maybe paranoia starts to set in for no reason. Maybe Salah is just engaging in hyperbole.  But this quote has me shakin’ in me boots.

Giants News: As you heard, they signed Darin Ruf(faroundtheedges). He is old and he is back from Korea where he raked.

That is all.

The betting line still favors the Chiefs by 1. The O/U has crept up a couple of points to 54. Obviously I’d take the Niners on the ML but the O/u intrigues me. EVERYONE is saying this is going over. That alone is the reason to take the under.  I’m looking at 2 good defenses and a Niners team that is currently hell bent on running the ball nearly every play (thus bleeding that clock down). I’d take the under in this game at anywhere in the 50’s…..

Giants news: Hensley Muelens likely to not get the Met’s managerial job. Between him and Wotus they have to be like 0h for 20 on interviews. Time for both to accept that the rest of the baseball world doesn’t see them as managerial material……

…whatever, you know the rest.

This is probably going to be a Niner blog for the next 2 weeks. I can’t bring myself to tout the Blevins pick up. The Giants seem content on doing nothing in 2020. My strong advice is to get into daily fantasy baseball if you want to stay interested in the upcoming baseball season…..

I used to take this shit for granted. Back when I was a kid we’d break off Super Bowl wins like a damn Kit Kat bar. Then, many years passed. Harbs got us there in 2012 and I just figured we’d win another one because that’s what we do. Reality set in hard as Kap threw a desperate floater to Crabtree. And we had finally tasted defeat.

Seven more years clicked by and we find ourselves back again. Wiser now, I don’t take this berth for granted nor do I confidently expect a win. Dark questions remain unanswered. How will old-ass Richard Sherman keep track of Tyreke Hill flickering around the field? I can barely keep track of him with my eyes. How can we possibly stop the great Maholmes who is Russell Wilson only taller with a better arm? And we cannot stop Russell Wilson…

I don’t have the answers to those questions, my friends. What I know is that I won’t take this game for granted. Unless Joe and Ronnie and Jerry and Keena are on the field, there are no guarantees. So I will bask and appreciate every moment. Win or lose.

Now, a quick comment on the current POTD. Loo, this isn’t even close to the same thing as Rooster. I hate the Dodgers and celebrate every sadness Rooster has in his life. There are so many. But truth be told, I actually like KC a lot. They are so fun to watch. And if my Niners can’t nail down #6 I would be happy as hell for you, a Hall of Fame Flapper, to get the win.

So I get to watch this game with serenity and contentment. Either there will be a preferred outcome or a tolerable outcome. I will celebrate either, just with different levels of joy…..

Woke up today feeling not as confident as the days leading up. This is Aaron freaking Rodgers. We’re doomed. He’s gonna sit behind a rock solid line, scan the field and have his pick of receiving options before rifling a laser pass to a pinpoint target.

Just kidding. We’re gonna smoke these fuckers.

Full steam ahead to Super Bowl 54…

So is it too extreme to look at having the dugout/catcher/pitcher communicating electronically? I don’t see any other way you could stop someone wearing a wire/buzzer. It’s an enormous advantage if you know what’s coming. There’s got to be someone smart at Apple who can devise something quick, easy and hack proof that would work. I mean, the Russians would be able to hack into it but that’s cool if it’s only them, right? How come it’s always the Russians hacking into our shit? Do we ever do it to them? How come we only hear about Russia disrupting our election/our shit? Are their hackers just better than the good ol’ USA’s? Say it ain’t so…..

Funny…..

I am just stunned and beyond sickened by this cheating scandal. At least in the steroid era the playing field was *even-ish*. So many players were doing it. But with this scandal seemingly contained to just the Houston cheaters I want to see something dramatic done by the commissioner. Manfred should take away their world series win. Just make it vacant. No winner that year. Letting them keep it when they have proven to have cheated so pervasively shouldn’t even be considered at this point.

Fuck Altuve, he should be suspended for a year for that video alone. He’s crossing home plate with that dumbass coy smile on his face holding his jersey tight to his neck. And how dumb do I feel for believing in this guy? Lol, some pint sized midget is out there winning MVP’s and I’m thinking the guy was some super human stud. Jeez.

He’s just a fake cheater. A damn wizard of Oz. Being disgraced publicly isn’t enough. The punishments better keep coming for these Astro bastards….

I really enjoyed reading yesterday’s thread, I thought everyone made valid points. My issue is not that I think we could compete this year. I just don’t see the need to go full tear down-lose as many games as you can-mode. I’m  not advocating signing Nicky C, I agree he wouldn’t make more than a few games of difference. But jettisoning Pillar and others while adding the Jake Jewell’s of the scrap heap, that’s not something a 77 win team can do and expect anything other than 60 wins next season. And that’s lame, we didn’t have to be a 60 win team in 2020.

SF season ticket holders are pretty much sheep who won’t complain about anything and will probably just continue to re-up and give the tickets away to their clients until the team is good again. Z and ownership know this and that’s probably why we’re seeing this off season approach of not trying to get better, like, at all.

And maybe that’s why they’re keeping Belt and Crawford. I have to believe someone would take them if we paid most of the rest of their deals. But ownership probably wants to keep making a boat load of money without completely alienating the fanbase–they’re sheep but they’ll only remain sheep as long as we run the core guys out there. The FB housewives love seeing those familiar names on the back of the laundry….

In the meantime Larry can keep building his shopping mall or whatever the fuck it is he’s doing…..

I still don’t understand this.

Does Z hate Cozart this much or is he in love with Jake Jewell? We’re already paying this dude 12 mil, there isn’t a spot for him on the bench? If his shoulder is recovered, and maybe it isn’t, I don’t understand this. 12 mil for Will Wilson?

Ten bucks says Wilson gets DF’A for Erik Kratz in like a week……

I can’t remember an NFL playoff with this easy of a path to the Super Bowl—the Niners are a good team, not great, but the drama of them getting there, since the moment Greenlaw stonewalled Hollister at the goal line, just hasn’t been there. They got a freeroll with the Vikings and beating Green Bay won’t be that much more challenging.

KC? I’m assuming that D will be better when they get Chris Jones back. But even then they don’t seem hard to score on, especially when you get them out of Arrowhead.

Maholmes is definitely an issue. But to win a Super Bowl you have to be able to overcome at least some greatness, right? Can we really win it all just by being good?

Who knows? Tennessee could beat KC. No one thought they could beat NE or Baltimore so I can’t say they can’t beat the Chiefs. There is a narrative out there that Henry will be able to run all day keeping Maholmes off the field. I guess I could see that happening. Unlikely though.

Weird, wild stuff in Baltimore last night. Just like Greenlaw stonewalling Hollister and setting the seedings on fire, Tennessee has done just about the same thing by knocking out the Ravens. Some dude bet $420,000 on the Ravens money line last night at -420. Would love to hear his thoughts today. Or how he went about telling his wife. On second thought there’s no way that guy has a wife.

I guess I’m rooting for Green Bay today because they’d be easier to truck than Seattle. But part of me really wants to fly over the Seahawks dead corpse on the way to Miami.

KC gets a freeroll there now, right?

Too soon?

lqtm

When it comes to the 3 big teams in the Bay Area there is no question which team represents the will of the people. The Niners. Hands down.

For me, obviously baseball is my game, that’s where my heart is. But I get why the 49ers are *the heart* of this area.

When they won it all in January ’82 it just changed this place. A huge weight of loserness was shed.

So when games like this one come up we represent. The first knowing dude head nod I ever knew was because of Joe and his crew.

Let’s go.

Everything still lining up for the Niners this Saturday. They are full strength. And Theilen looks to be injured again. It’ll be interesting to see if Kyle tries to attack on the ground or in the air. Vikings seem vulnerable to the air attack.

The Giants? Nothin’ happening…..

Today is Shout Out Thursday. And today’s shout out goes to my main man in….checks notes…..Bainbridge Island, Washington! Ervin is a true Flapper who checks the blog every morning like all the rest of you. He just doesn’t post anything. That’s ok we appreciate the support anyway!

This is an older pic of my main man in Reno (Pa Salon) and my main man in Washington (Ervin) representing at my main spot in SF. #3in5 #4life

Seriously though, you Flappers who have stayed with the team through thick and thin, you guys are the reason this is the best fan base in baseball. I give a knowing dude head nod to all of you….

This text came in yesterday from my main man in Reno, Pa Salon.

In keeping with my new theme of screen shots and pictures, does THAT do anything for ya?

I’m going to add an image to see if that makes this news more exciting.

Did that do anything for ya??

Again, if there’s any Giants baseball news out there that I’m missing please forward it to me.

Till then gotta keep the threads humming so….

Niners seem to have caught a break with the Vikings becoming their surprise divisional round opponent. On the surface it looks great. We’re getting our hurt players back. Cousins sucks (at least that’s what everyone *says*). And we will have a geeked up and rockin’ 501.

Looks good right? But so did January 9th 1988.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198801090sfo.htm

All I’m saying is, this magic carpet ride to the Super Bowl is anything but. Let’s get there first before we act like we’re already there…..

Wasn’t it? I mean, I don’t know what happened to Josh Allen. He lost his damn mind. He was taking terrible sacks, throwing wobbly, wildly inaccurate balls. He didn’t run enough on those last couple of drives but when he did run, like, what was up with the lateral to the tight end with 1:06 left on the clock? And when push comes to shove and you need a big play run the 50 yard vertical to the fullback who is double covered….said no one ever.

Still, gotta give Houston credit, and especially Watson, for not giving up and making plays to beat a team who, for some reason, was trying to beat itself in the second half……

And that Patriot game, oh baby, I’m still high off that game. Look, I HATE Tom Brady. I hate the way he talks. I hate the way he looks. I hate how he’s got at least 2 Super Bowls that were gifted to him. I hate that he plays in a division that bends over and hands him the division every year.

He was a great quarterback. He was only arguably the best of all time if you factor in his longevity and even then I’d give you 2 Flaps and 2 thumbs down because…….

Joe Montana was the greatest quarterback of all time. That is just about a damn fact.

With Assdribble Cabrera now snatched off the board by the Nationals the Giants need to take a deep breath and head back to the drawing board……Kidding. There’s nothing going on with the Giants. We could take a deep dive into the Tyson Ross signing or we could get geeked for the football games this weekend. I choose the latter….

Still on Buffalo (+2.5), New Orleans (-8) and Philly (+2). No opinion about the Pats game…..

With baseball still in a deep slumber (at least for SF) let’s take a look at the current SB odds before the excitement of Wild Card weekend kicks off.

Of the LONGEST odds offered I like the Bills the best. They have a good defense and I expect them to get by Houston. Josh Allen is fun to watch. They might not have enough on offense. Still, for $5 I’d throw it at them for fun.

The lower odds look ok except I’d put the Niners at 2-1 ahead of the Chiefs. The AFC is going to have to prove to me they know how to handle L-Jack before I could see one of them getting past Baltimore. KC could do it but I’d still have SF ahead of them to win it all…

As you guys know I don’t like watching movies for at least 10-20 years after they come out. I broke tradition with that approach this holiday season and watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Uncut Gems; both, outstanding.

Question though: what was the significance of all the dirty feet shots in OUATIH? I didn’t get that–the ending of that one, wow, I’m still reeling from how awesome that was….