Who's to Blame for QB Controversy?

Jim Harbaugh came to the podium after the Niners handed the Saints a 31-21 loss and wanted all the attention to be on the physical football contest that the players won, not the quarterback controversy. There was agitation behind his voice when asked about Smith and Kaepernick. He repeated that the media should keep there attention on what was important; the game, the win. When he left the podium most Niner fans were to believe, according to Harbaugh, that the media was to blame for making a circus out of the QB situation. The question is; is that true? Is the media to blame for the controversy?

When Harbaugh insinuated that the media was concentrating on the wrong aspects of what is happening with the Niners he indirectly was also blaming the fans for doing the same thing. If you were to look at social media websites after the game all the fan's talk was on Kaepernick vs. Smith, peppered in with some talk about the win. The fact of the matter is that this is what everyone is talking about and thinking about, and it's not the media's fault; it's Jim Harbaughs fault.

Had Harbaugh not wanted this circus he could've had it. Had he not wanted the attention, it could've been avoided. Simply, had he not wanted the QB controversy, there wouldn't have been one. All Harbaugh had to do was tell the media Kaepernick was starting because Smith was still showing concussion symptoms, then he could have followed up with; as soon as Smith is healthy he'll be back starting. Harbaugh didn't say this because he was apparently looking for a "1% advantage" against his opponent, not knowing who would start. How valuable was that 1%? Let me ask this; How big of a percentage of distraction to the Niners is the QB controversy? 20%? 30%? More? It definitely has been a distraction for the players, because they keep commenting on it. Now this mess has to get cleaned up and ONLY Harbaugh has the broom.

Jim Harbaugh has no else to turn to or 

blame when it comes to the 49ers controversy.

Harbaugh has also created an uncomfortable situation for his QB's no matter who he declares the starter this week. Here's why;

If Alex Smith is the starter
This means Colin Kaepernick would be benched after playing really well (a common theme here). He goes back to the bench and has to wait to become the next Niners QB. Some players who have sided with Kaep and like his approach will be more critical of Smith. The media and fans will be more critical of Smith. The pressure mounts and becomes very strenuous for Smith. Once the season is over Smith now has to decide if he should walk or not, by asking for his release. Obviously the long term plan is to have Kaepernick so Smith is stuck between a rock and a hard place. And if the Niners win the super bowl then you may have the first team, since the Ravens with Trent Dilfer, to get rid of their super bowl winning QB the next season.

If Colin Kaepernick is the starter
This means Alex Smith would be benched after playing really well. Harbaugh's word on players becomes completely unreliable. Harbaugh has championed for Alex for the past 2 years, only to bench him when he's playing his best football. How does that work? Alex loses complete respect for Harbaugh and subconsiously tunes out (he's been a professional but something like this has to take a toll on a guy eventually). If Kaep goes down with an injury and Smith comes back in; how motivated will he be? What if he leads them to a super bowl (after a Kaep injury)?

Not great scenario's either way.

I do believe the 49ers will be really good with either QB at the helm, and that a super bowl is within reach with either guy. I don't even mind having Kaep start over Smith (even though I've been vocal about being on "team Smith" since this controversy started). My big problem is with how this situation has been handled. Harbaugh likes to be coy with the media, even to a fault (remember his unprovoked rant to the media about how they "never pursued Peyton Manning"), but this situation was blown out of proportion. Jim Harbaugh can't blame the media, he can't blame the fans, the only person he can turn to is the man in the mirror if he wants to figure out why there is such a big distraction on the team. If you think there isn't any distraction then you've never been in a locker room, this is a distraction. The bigger question is how will it effect the teams goal's? Can the Niners overcome this and still make the run we all know they're capable of?

QB Controversy 2012 edition

Monday Night Football ended in a 32-7 49ers romping of the Chicago Bears last night, but what emerged from the game was bigger than the 7th win of the season for the Niners; San Francisco, we now have a quarterback controversy.
This controversy couldn't have come at a better time for publicity, I mean think about it, you have The Twilight Saga; Breaking Dawn Part II just coming out and all the craze surrounds who's side you're on Team Edward or Team Jacob? The Niners can appeal to this genre of crazed teens with their own version of 2 stud guys with Team Alex vs. Team Colin! For PR it's like the aligning of the planets.


The 49ers have found their own pop culture appeal with their own studly dilemma...
Team Alex? or Team Colin?


Who will win the hearts of screaming 49er fans everywhere once the dust has settled?

If this seems a bit over the top or silly that's because it is.

Alex Smith is the starting quarterback for the 49ers and should remain so. Coach Harbaugh has left the door WIDE open for controversy but Harbaugh has a tendency to love it when people are guessing at what his team is going to do next. The fact of the matter is that if Alex Smith is cleared to play the Niners have little-to-no option but to play him.
The main reason the Niners can't afford to move ahead with Colin at the helm if Alex is healthy is simply because he's earned the right to start and he's the veteran. You can't come back from starting the young guy over the older guy, YOU CAN come back from starting the older guy over the young guy. In other words this is Alex's job already. If you take it away, and Colin falters, then you can't just walk back up to Alex and say "hey bro', I know we benched you for the kid and all but uh... I was wondering... I mean uh... I want to give you another shot." It's the equivalent of going up to an ex-girlfriend and asking her out again after dumping her for her younger sister; it ain't gonna' happen dude!
Alex is 3rd in the NFL with a 104.1 QB passer rating (for qualified QB's), he's 1st in the NFL in completion percentage at 70%. Sure Kaepernick has looked good for the last 6 quarters but Smith has looked good all year, minus the NY Giants fiasco.
My thought is that this controversy really is a no brainer for now. So why the controversy if it's so obvious Alex should keep his job? The 49ers have a rich history of QB's so we hold our standards high, and we are no strangers to QB controversy in the past. There were two guys named Montana and Young who had a "thing" a while back that went on for a while too.


The Niners are no strangers to QB controversy. It's propelled them to Super Bowl victories in the past.

With Kaepernick being the current version of Steve Young (the younger more athletic QB), it is no wonder SF fans would be salivating at his performance; we see the potential! But even though Colin has great potential it won't hurt him to sit for another couple years and learn while Alex does his thing. Colin does have room to grow still in my opinion. I would also claim that this will push Alex Smith into playing even better. Alex has arguably had an all-pro year so far, there's no reason to think he can't come back and not only play at the same level, but even step it up a notch because he now has some real competition for the job.
This is a good, no a great, problem for the 49ers to have! The team needs to keep this as a positive competition that will push the QB play to high levels. The Niners now have the luxury of having 2 starting QB's on their sideline and that makes an already complete team with depth even deeper.
If you want me to be truthful I have no idea what team Jacob or team Edward means, except that they are vying for the girl and one is a vampire and the other a werewolf (I don't know which is which) what I do know is who's side I'm on in the 49ers new dilemma; I think it's obvious that I'm team Alex right now, but I also LOVE what I see from Colin. It's a great time to be a 49er fan!

Champs 2012

The Giants won the World Series again, in case anyone didn't know. That's 2 in 3 years, and I'm going to stick by my prediction that this nucleus will win 5 titles when all is said and done, they're almost half way there.
I just looked over my silly predictions for this past season and I was happy with some of my near pin-point accuracy (including crowning the Giants champs in 2012). I also was amused by some of my bold predictions that fell further than short of reality or were ironic, like saying Pablo and Posey would be finalists for the MVP but neither would win, or the awesome prediction that we need Theriot to step it up in the second half (no mention of a still not acquired Scuturo). Now I'd like to give some tid-bits on the off season and future as us Giants fans get ready for the holidays and bask in championship glory.

This off-season
-The Giants shouldn't over-pay for Pagan. I know, I know, he was great this year and very valuable but the fact of the matter is that he is 31 and he had a career year playing in S.F. Remember back in 2010 when we had a lead-off CF who had a career year as we marched to the championship (Torres), how did that go? I'm not saying Pagan is Torres but the Giants do have Gary Brown in the minors and simply do not need to over-pay to keep Pagan around.
-Speaking of Brown, he needs to get a shot. The Giants need to seriously consider starting him next year. Brown played CF with Mike Trout and Bryce Harper in the same outfield in a minor league division; it should say something that he was the one playing CF. Brown will be cheap for a while so the Giants could cut payroll there and Brown is getting close to his mid twenties so you need to pull the trigger eventually. I could even see a scenario where the Giants re-sign Pagan on a decent contract and still bring Brown up to play an outfield spot along side Pagan and Pence.
-Melky Cabrera is a catch 22 this off-season. I think there are one of two Melky's a team will be signing this off-season; either a still-juicing Melky that is able to perform at the high level he left off at, but you run the risk of losing him again to another suspension, or a non-juicing Melky who's production returns to human like levels and he becomes not worthy of the money he's going to demand. Either way I think Melky is a big gamble for any team this off-season. Keep in mind he will be a distraction because he is a convicted "user" and it won't help how he immediately dealt with the situation. On the other hand Melky might also come cheap. There is an outside chance that I am wrong and he his going to be dominate without the juice, but if you look at the numbers over his career they say that he's probably headed back to being an average player if clean.
-Warning: This is not going to be a popular suggestion! The Giants should consider bringing back Melky over Pagan. Yeah I said it. Look Melky is a gamble but Pagan could be locking up as much as 15 million a year for 4 years! I'm sorry but right now I'd rather see the Giants gamble on Melky for 1 year and then re-assess next season how to deal with the third outfield spot (assuming Pence and Brown would have locked down RF and CF).
-The Giants need to trust in Crawford at SS and Belt at first. They have experience now; let them blossom!
-Pence and Lincecum should get extensions. The Giants have wanted Pence for years, they got him. The Giants gave up some good prospects for Pence and after trading their top prospect for Beltran and losing him for no return I can't see the Giants letting that happen again with Pence. Pence is under team control for one more year but expect an extension soon. Even with Posey winning the MVP the Giants most popular player is none other than Tim Lincecum, they have to extend him. Sure both sides may wait until after next year to reassess his value but the Giants need to get this done or they might piss-off a really strong fan base, even with the championships.
-Scuturo must be resigned. They have Panik in the minors ready for a call-up soon but that could still be a year or so away. With Scuturo's age (38) getting up there he won't be able to demand many years, the Giants should pay him to be the stopgap until Panik is ready.
-The Giants should lower the tickets prices. Hey, I'm still in college with a wife, a son, and a daughter due in December, I need to find a way to still afford games!