woes of a bay area sports fan

gosh, it's been a rough fall and winter in bay area sports.  the sharks are under a 500. the niners up and down season has become a nose dive. the season hadn't felt right from the start and the heart of the team wasn't all there.  yes, we had a ton of injuries, but there were bright spots with folks off the bench - jordan mason, who eventually got injured. cmc returned briefly only to head back to injury reserve. what was most disheartening is deebo pushing a teammate and then barking about not getting the ball to drop a potentially game winning TD last thursday. that has been the niners season. do we ask too much of our stacked team? probably. niners could be better mentally because i think that's where we need to make the biggest strides. 

now to the warriors. i'm starting to think i'm bad luck because they only seem to win when i'm not watching. that loss to the rockets (image above of controversial game winning call) really hurt. then we got pummelled by the mavs and yes klay beat us. they were shooting lights out and we weren't too shabby keeping up with them.  just not enough. so tomorrow is the debut of dennis schroder and it couldn't come at a better time. here's to hoping for a little push before all star week.

empire of the sun at kings theatre

 empire of the sun close out american tour 
with over-the-top show at kings theatre

photo: samantha schraub 

slow pulp at webster hall

slow pulp leave sold-out webster hall spellbound

photo: hilary safadi

 

niners win

From The Bay to Tampa Bay, we see you Faithful. pic.twitter.com/DhzSFLLG4b

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) November 10, 2024

welcome back cmc! sorry i didn't see much of your plays since i was stuck in the chaos of brooklyn's costco. i did manage to catch ricky pearsall's first nfl touchdown before i headed out of the house. i suffered watching gamecast on my phone and honestly it looked to be very frustrating with jake moody missing three field goals.  it got so frustrating that deebo samuel put a hands on long snapper taybor pepper. i really don't love when teammates get on teammates.  needless to say i wasn't confident when moody was up to kick a game winning field goal, but he redeemed himself.  we finally got a back-to-back win.  wow, this season has been rough and next week is another BIG game at home against our division rivals, seattle seahawks. our division is so tight and we will have to get better. 

niners win

 

photo: Michael Owens/Getty Images

thank goodness we got this win against the cowboys.  i wasn't feeling confident going up against kansas city last weekend, but i NEEDED the niners to comeback strong. the defense still is making me feel uneasy late, but there were bright spots with two picks. i'm happy george kittle got to celebrate national tight ends day with some monster catches and a touchdown. starting running back jordan mason went down, and i was impressed by the "next man up" mentality of rookie isaac guerendo. we are banged up and if i have to hear a commenter mention "when cmc" gets back i will throw something at my tv. i'm happy to have the bye next weekend to rest up and heal.  here's hoping for back-to-back wins.  something we haven't been able to do this season. i did see stats on the 2021 and 2022 starts that mirrored this year's start and hoping we are hitting some stride but we have a lot of work to do.

all the colors of the dark

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"paint it for me." wow has chris whitaker done so! it took me a little bit to get into it at the get-go but once i was in i was IN. whitaker has a marvelous way of telling you something without explicitly doing so, which i find especially admirable for a serial killer thriller. he trusts his readers to put it together and not explained to. what truly hooked me was the love stories that were romantic, unrequited, and familial. i enjoyed the cadence of short chapters that pushed me to read more and more until i slowed down knowing the conclusion was nearing an end. i haven't openly sighed and awwwed reading a book in a long time. i'm often averse to "read with jenna" picks but this one was worth it.

i'm waiting for the film adaptation that won't measure up to this prose, so do yourself a favor and read this.

niners win

 

photo: getty images

wow this was a wild one. is it wrong that i immediately get ptsd when we are up 13 points? we still aren't converting in the red zone, which is concerning. we are getting by with back-up running backs as jordan mason went down in the first half. enter isaac guerendo, who rushed for 99 yards on 10 carries. george kittle got not one, but two "receiver" type catches. the d was giving me heart palpitations all through the second half, but they got it done thankfully. two rookies got interceptions in the game, malik mustapha and renardo green. next man up mentality is definitely great to see, but we need to tighten up our second half. it was better last night and vets nick bosa and fred warner did their things as leaders. i'm hopeful for this example of perseverance, however there is a TALL order next with the kansas city chiefs.