BayAreaBall Musings – IT ALL ENDS NOW!!!

December 21, 2012

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So the BayAreaBall Musings for the week are back and what a week to come back. If you are reading this then the Apocalypse has been postponed or you just haven’t looked outside of the window yet and all hell has already broken loose. Hopefully you have stocked up on supplies and water or run the risk of having to drink your own pee Bear Grylls style.

FG: Since this is technically the last post we will theoretically be writing Aaron, what would your plans have been for watching sports this weekend and what are your last thoughts on this past week in Bay Area Sports? We probably should have known that the world was ending because the Warriors were in second place in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference and 8 games over .500.

AR: What the Warriors are doing, especially with Andrew Bogut still being a 7ft question mark, probably would have been considered a sign of the apocalypse if it weren’t so unlikely. Like a lot of people I figured the Warriors could find themselves in the lower half of the playoff bracket in the West and maybe sneak all the way up to the 4 seed if absolutely everything went their way. Without getting anything from Bogut though? I definitely didn’t see this coming. Bogut’s health certainly hasn’t gone their way but a number of other factors have.

This is a pic of Bogut’s ankle from last year. Are we sure his ankle still doesn’t look like this?

First, they’re better and deeper than they’ve been in years, and unlike in the past they aren’t trying to put any square pegs in round holes. The players all have established roles and no one is being asked to do something they aren’t capable of doing. Second, the Western Conference is wiiiiiiiiiiide open. It’s basically the Thunder and everyone else right now and that’s helped the Warriors build some momentum and some confidence in the first part of the season. There’s a long way to go but they are starting to give themselves a little bit of a cushion should they struggle later. And finally, they’re sneaking up on people. One of the advantages of being bad for a long time is that no one takes you seriously until it’s too late and I think that might be happening with the Warriors right now. Give them credit for taking advantage of it though.

As far as the local NFL franchises are concerned it seems almost impossible that these two teams actually play in the same league. On the one hand you have the 49ers, with essentially a rookie QB, coming off a 41-34 win in Foxboro in which that rookie threw 4 TD’s and was just nearly as effective as Tom Brady. On the other hand you have the Raiders, who look like Tom Brady will retire long before the Raiders are capable of fielding a team that could even come close to beating him. And yes, I know the Raiders are coming off a shutout against the Chiefs but being less bad than the Kansas City Chiefs really shouldn’t count as a win.

FG: Honestly Aaron, I wish they wouldn’t count last weeks victory against the atrocious Chiefs as a win. As of right now I am all for the #TankExpress to get a full head of steam right now so the Raiders don’t drop further down in the draft. Oh and for all those fans that get Mad about wanting a team to lose and saying that people who say that have never won anything, STFU!

Hey idiots just look at how the #TankExpress helped the Warriors this year and tell me that it doesn’t help sometimes to just lose in order to put yourself in the position to get premium talent. Sure the draft is still a crap shoot and ultimately it is up to the front office to make the right decisions when making the draft selection. But what the hell is 2 more wins for the Raiders going to do for them this year other than drop them to 7 or possibly 10th in a draft where all the projected difference makers are in the top 5? Oh and not to mention if they win 2 more games, the greater the likely hood that Greg Knapp comes back for another lackluster season and gets another shot at turning Darren McFadden into a square peg that doesn’t fit into the ZBS hole.

As for the Niners, I’m very interested in seeing how they fair in Seattle this weekend. Since I’m not a Niners fan, I’m usually hoping they lose but their play as of late has turned down the hate knob and turned up the respect knob. Honestly I fully expected the Niners to have a subpar season this year but the way their defense has played, left me wishing that maybe Santa can leave the Raiders that type of defense under the NFL Christmas tree. Also I liked the Niners way more when they played Alex Smith because I always felt they had the chance to lose way more frequently than I do with Colin Kaepernick under center. I hate to admit it but the kid can play and Alex “Pipp” probably should be fielding offers for another starting QB job and looking for a new apartment next year.

So what do think the score will be against Seattle this weekend? Finally to close out our Doomsday post, the A’s signed Hiroyuki Nakajima which means the Front Office spent some money so obviously the world is slated to end. What are your thoughts on the signing and why do the Japanese make such great documentary style animated videos to coincide with news like this?

AR: It’s a home run. Who knew Borat was a Nakajima fan?

Hard for me to say that signing Nakajima is proof of Wolff finally spending money considering the fact that Stephen Drew just got $10 million from Boston and Nakajima only cost the A’s $6.5 million over two years. Since the A’s were getting nothing out of the SS position last year offensively and went on to do quite well I would say that as long as Nakajima gives them solid defense it’s a great move for them. And that’s good for Nakajima because at 30 years old he’s going to be adjusting to Major League Baseball as his physical skills are starting to decline, making a difficult transition even tougher. As long as his bat doesn’t start to impact his glove this is a nice move, but not a game changer.

49ers at Seahawks. Immovable force vs irresistible object. Something’s. Gotta. Give. Maybe I’m just a delusional fan but I like the 49ers in this game, a lot more than I did last week in Foxboro. I should add the disclaimer that if Justin Smith is unable to play, or plays at significantly less than 100%, I think it’ll end up being a close game. I still like the 49ers though. With Justin Smith I think the 49ers hold the Seahawks to around 17pts and without him I think Seattle might get to 24. Let’s call it 31-24 with the 49ers clinching their second consecutive NFC West title and all but locking up a first round bye.

Raiders are going to get stomped in Carolina, which is great for me since I have Cam Newton in the BayAreaBall Fantasy League championship game where I, like the 49ers, will be chasing a second consecutive title on Sunday. I’ll say Panthers 45, Raiders 9.

FG: Goddamn it, I completely forgot about the BayAreaBall Fantasy League since I thought everyone would be in the playoffs with our small league and instead only 4 teams went to the playoffs. Can someone say Fantasy Football Playoff Blueballs?

Well since it may be the last fantasy league you play in due to the end of the world, worst of luck to you. HA! You thought I would go the other way with that but I didn’t and went in the exact opposite way…Sorry the clostrophobia of being inside during the end times is finally starting to get to me.

Welp if this is farewell, here are my predictions for the weekends Bay Area games during the Apocalypse.

1.) Niners beat the Seahawks in spite of David Akers missing 2 FG’s and causing massive in unison heart attacks throughout the wasteland that has become San Francisco. Niners 20, Seahawks 13.

2.) The Raiders on the other hand will push me to the limit of suicide by actually winning in Carolina. Inspite of all my objections to win meaningless games, the Raiders will decide it’s more important to keep Knapp around for another year. Raiders 29, Panthers 24.

3.) Finally, in order to give me one shining moment before the end of the world, the Warriors will beat the Lakers on Saturday. I don’t even care what the score will be because there is a little part at the end of the Mayan calendar that preordained a Warriors victory at Oracle that would usher in the Rapture. Hey I’m just keeping it real folks.

Aaron it’s been great writing with you and always remember don’t be the guy who rides the horse against traffic on a desolate highway. Oh and always aim for the head and don’t trust anybody! Until next week…. Hopefully…Oh great, more explosions and screaming.