TheLounge
10-10-2007, 06:08 PM
I’m guessing the Aragon and Woodside football coaching staffs won’t be exchanging Christmas cards this year after a contentious finish to their game Friday afternoon. Once again, those pesky “unwritten rules” were violated and each coaching staff displayed their anger in predictable ways.
Aragon won the game 35-14 but after recovering one onside kick early in the fourth quarter and converting it into a touchdown for a 21-7 lead, the next kickoff was the subject of debate. The Aragon kicker kicked a ball that could have been considered an onside kick, which Aragon coach Steve Sell insisted was not.
Woodside coach Steve Nicolopulos didn’t see it that way. As a result, once Aragon put in its second string, Woodside stuck with its first team.
Sell insisted that Woodside’s first-string defense was blitzing the Dons’ second-string offense every play —*which, according to the unwritten rules is a no-no. To retaliate, Sell put his first team back on the field and completed a long pass on fourth-and-one —*again in violation of the unwritten rules. The result? Both coaching staff screaming at each other from opposite sides of the field.
Needless to say, the post-game handshake between the coaching staffs was not very friendly.
***
What do Aragon, Menlo-Atherton and Serra have in common? All three high school teams have a better offense than the San Francisco 49ers —*a professional football team. Actually, I use the term “professional” loosely because I’ve seen more innovative offenses from Pop Warner teams.
In case you missed it, and after wondering why I watched that wretched mess myself, the Niners lost 9-7 to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, generating less than 200 yards of offense and only four first downs. Niners’ offensive coordinator Jim Hostler must have stayed at Tom Walsh’s Idaho bed-and-breakfast and picked the brain of the Raiders’ former offensive coordinator.
To say the Niners’ offense was putrid is an understatement. There is absolutely no imagination when it comes to San Francisco 49er football this season. None. When the majority of a team’s offensive game plan is to run your running back up into the middle of the line 15 times a game, results be damned, it is a recipe for disaster. I don’t mind a team running the ball, but there are other varieties from which to choose — there are pitches, sweeps, tosses, off-tackle runs, counters —*have the Niners not heard of these? Apparently not.
People may say that Hostler needs to be fired. Hey, it’s not his fault. The Niners’ ineptitude falls squarely on the shoulders of head coach Mike Nolan. He is such a micromanager, do you think Hostler is implementing these game plans without Nolan’s input? Nolan is the one signing off on these plans.
I’ve been a big defender of Nolan. He has the team heading in the right direction. But if he refuses to change his offensive mindset — with the 49er Faithful showering boos on the team and the media blistering the team’s offensive offense — then maybe it’s time to find a coach that will try to do something on offense.
I don’t care if they try to open up the offense and fail. Anything is better than the slop they’ve displayed the first month of the season.
***
Now here’s a first. Having been a sports writer and editor for the better part of 13 years, I had never heard of anyone winning a car after recording a hole in one during a golf tournament.
Until Monday. I recieved a call from Ken Ingram, a member of the Burlingame Lions Club. He informed me that at the No. 8 hole at Crystal Springs Golf Course, during the Tri-Peninsula Lions Club Tournament, Ruel Cordero won a 2008 Buick Lucerne by acing the 165-yard hole.
What makes the story more funny is Ingram and another Lions Club member, Dan Anderson, called the Daily Journal at the exact same time to inform the paper of the accomplishment. Another humerous part of the story: The car that was actually on display was not the car Cordero won. The car at the golf course was actually a cheaper model of car than the one that will be awarded to Cordero. The Lucerne is Buick’s highest-priced luxury sedan.
Aragon won the game 35-14 but after recovering one onside kick early in the fourth quarter and converting it into a touchdown for a 21-7 lead, the next kickoff was the subject of debate. The Aragon kicker kicked a ball that could have been considered an onside kick, which Aragon coach Steve Sell insisted was not.
Woodside coach Steve Nicolopulos didn’t see it that way. As a result, once Aragon put in its second string, Woodside stuck with its first team.
Sell insisted that Woodside’s first-string defense was blitzing the Dons’ second-string offense every play —*which, according to the unwritten rules is a no-no. To retaliate, Sell put his first team back on the field and completed a long pass on fourth-and-one —*again in violation of the unwritten rules. The result? Both coaching staff screaming at each other from opposite sides of the field.
Needless to say, the post-game handshake between the coaching staffs was not very friendly.
***
What do Aragon, Menlo-Atherton and Serra have in common? All three high school teams have a better offense than the San Francisco 49ers —*a professional football team. Actually, I use the term “professional” loosely because I’ve seen more innovative offenses from Pop Warner teams.
In case you missed it, and after wondering why I watched that wretched mess myself, the Niners lost 9-7 to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, generating less than 200 yards of offense and only four first downs. Niners’ offensive coordinator Jim Hostler must have stayed at Tom Walsh’s Idaho bed-and-breakfast and picked the brain of the Raiders’ former offensive coordinator.
To say the Niners’ offense was putrid is an understatement. There is absolutely no imagination when it comes to San Francisco 49er football this season. None. When the majority of a team’s offensive game plan is to run your running back up into the middle of the line 15 times a game, results be damned, it is a recipe for disaster. I don’t mind a team running the ball, but there are other varieties from which to choose — there are pitches, sweeps, tosses, off-tackle runs, counters —*have the Niners not heard of these? Apparently not.
People may say that Hostler needs to be fired. Hey, it’s not his fault. The Niners’ ineptitude falls squarely on the shoulders of head coach Mike Nolan. He is such a micromanager, do you think Hostler is implementing these game plans without Nolan’s input? Nolan is the one signing off on these plans.
I’ve been a big defender of Nolan. He has the team heading in the right direction. But if he refuses to change his offensive mindset — with the 49er Faithful showering boos on the team and the media blistering the team’s offensive offense — then maybe it’s time to find a coach that will try to do something on offense.
I don’t care if they try to open up the offense and fail. Anything is better than the slop they’ve displayed the first month of the season.
***
Now here’s a first. Having been a sports writer and editor for the better part of 13 years, I had never heard of anyone winning a car after recording a hole in one during a golf tournament.
Until Monday. I recieved a call from Ken Ingram, a member of the Burlingame Lions Club. He informed me that at the No. 8 hole at Crystal Springs Golf Course, during the Tri-Peninsula Lions Club Tournament, Ruel Cordero won a 2008 Buick Lucerne by acing the 165-yard hole.
What makes the story more funny is Ingram and another Lions Club member, Dan Anderson, called the Daily Journal at the exact same time to inform the paper of the accomplishment. Another humerous part of the story: The car that was actually on display was not the car Cordero won. The car at the golf course was actually a cheaper model of car than the one that will be awarded to Cordero. The Lucerne is Buick’s highest-priced luxury sedan.