New Fearless Spectator

Charles McCabe was a heck of a guy. San Franciscan journalist, basically just lived a care-free life and hammered out a column every week to pay his way. Sports, meditations on religion or women or drink - whatever he felt like. I am nowhere near McCabe, and frankly, including the words "I" and "McCabe" in the same sentence feels wrong even INCLUDING the qualifier. But I couldn't think of a title, so I just used this. Read McCabe, it's a better use of your time than this post.

niners suck niners suck

The San Francisco 49ers are actually within striking distance of being good this year, and with a good draft and free agent period, we could contend next year. Singletary seems like a good coach, a good leader who can get players fired up and into the game. Martz is a fine offensive coordinator, especially when he has somebody (ie Singletary) to make sure he runs the ball enough. Manusky and all the rest of the lower level coordinators seem to be doing pretty well, especially manusky - the defense has had a lot more passion since Manusky came in. And the players have been a lot better - Hill is good enough to be our go-to guy next year (although memories of Derek Anderson do make one leery), Hill2 and Morgan look like they're going to be good wideouts down the line, Gore is Frank Gore (and I submit we probably beat Miami if Gore is healthy - we're not as terrible in the Red Zone, and Foster doesn't fuck us over on a couple plays), Heitmann, Staley, and Rachal have really stepped it up, and the defense is passable. Also, VD has been playing immensely better since the first Singletary game, and it's beautiful. however, there's still some gaping holes.

Mark Roman is not a competent free safety. He is absolutely terrible. We don't have a right tackle - Barry Sims sucks and Jennings is injured too much. We also don't really have a pass-rushing OLB. And Aubrayo Franklin has been playing better recently, but he's still not great. So whadda we draft? If we can pick up a OT like Monroe or Smith, I would be very happy with that. Oher is fine, but he's a little too pampered, I'm not sure if I want him on my team. If we can pick up Taylor Mays to replace Roman, our defense would be a thousand times better. Similarly, an Aaron Curry would make our pass rush much better, and a Terrence Cody or BJ Raji could help a lot by being a stud DT. Finally, a good cornerback wouldn't hurt. So what's my ideal draft? Keeping in mind that Monroe and Smith probably won't fall to where we draft, I'd like us to grab Mays in the first, Raji in the second, some OT in the third, maybe a corner in the fourth and a qb in the fifth. If Mays isn't available grab Curry. Combined with smart free agent pickups, a defense with Mays and Raji in it would be good enough that we could seriously consider a playoff shot.