Confessions of a True Alex Smith Fan

Growing up a 49ers fan, I’ll admit it was hard to be pro Alex Smith for the five years from the 2005 through 2010 seasons. However, I, unlike so many others, always gave him the benefit of the doubt. This is mainly because, well the Mikes, Nolan and Singletary that is, seemed to have a knack for taking pretty much any quarterback and making him worse. Additionally, Smith dealt with having four different offensive coordinators throughout those five seasons.


It seemed like Smith finally found the Belichick to his Brady when Jim Harbaugh arrived in San Francisco at the start of the 2011 season. Smith passed for over 3,000 yards with a completion percentage of around 61 percent. Smith also led the 49ers to a 13-3 season, with a first-round playoff bye, making it their winningest season since 1997.

Despite this success, many hailed Alex Smith as simply a “game manager.” He was a mediocre quarterback surrounded by a good offense and incredible defense. His sole purpose on the field was to put up a few scores and leave the rest in the hands of the defense.

Smith did this job impeccably, finishing the season with 19 touchdowns and a 1.123 percent interception rate that was not only a personal best but was also the lowest percentage in the NFL for the 2011 season.

In the 2011 playoffs, I would argue that Smith was much more than a game manager. His 4th quarter performance in the NFC Divisional playoff game against the New Orleans Saints was one of the best late game quarterback performance that I have experienced in my lifetime.

Let’s be real for a second, his touchdown pass to Vernon Davis with nine seconds remaining in the game was affectionately nicknamed “The Catch III” by 49er fans. Anyone who’s heard of either the previous “Catch I” or “Catch II” can understand just how monumental Smith’s play was.

In addition to that stellar performance by Smith, he completed 12 of 26 passes with two touchdowns in the NFC Championship loss to the New York Giants. Despite what many might have thought, that loss goes out entirely to the 49ers special teams players. I can personally attest to that, as many ignorant fans realized Kyle Williams was alive in one second and wanted him dead in the next.

Going into the 2012 season it was clear to everyone that Smith was going to be the 49ers starting quarterback. Harbaugh went so far as to say that “Alex Smith is our starting quarterback. He’s earned that.”

The 2012 season was arguably Smith's best as the 49ers quarterback. He threw for 1,736 yards in nine starts, was named NFC Offense Player of the Week in late October, and had a passer (QB) rating of 104.1. Had he qualified (he was six attempts short), he would have been third amongst all NFL quarterbacks in 2012, behind only Aaron Rogers and Peyton Manning.

The reason why Smith was never able to qualify is well known to almost any NFL fan, even those outside of the Bay Area. Smith got a concussion in that ninth start against the St. Louis Rams and was forced to ride the bench until he had been cleared by an independent neurologist. He was told he wouldn’t lose his starting spot, but onto the scene burst Colin Kaepernick and the rest is, as they say, history. Smith did indeed lose his starting spot and was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs during the offseason.

While the 49ers have gotten off to a somewhat rocky 5-2 start, the Chiefs have the best record in the NFL, a perfect 7-0, led by their quarterback Alex Smith. While his performance this Sunday may have some harkening back to his days as a game manager, Smith has truly become a quarterback, the one the 49ers hoped for when they selected him as the number one pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.

Now I know I’ll be a pariah among 49er fans for this, but I don’t necessarily think Kaepernick is doing all that much more for us. Kaepernick has eight turnovers this season to Smith’s three. The only benefit of Kaepernick is his ability to run the pistol offense in a way Smith would never have been able to.

Although Kaepernick’s ability to run the read option may prove to have made the discarding of Alex Smith worth it, the way the situation was handled will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. Smith was promised to be Harbaugh’s “guy” and at the first test of that promise, Harbaugh folded. Perhaps it is just the emotional female in me that naively believes in fairness at the NFL level, but if we are all being honest with ourselves, Smith got the seriously short end of the stick on this one.

While I forget about my dislike for the way Harbaugh handled this situation every time the 49ers take the field, I write this not for the apology that I think Smith deserves, but for the praise I think he is due.

I will forever spend every Sunday rooting for Smith because I think he is a true professional and a great football player that deserves the admiration and respect that he never received in San Francisco.

All Smith needed was someone to believe in him and Harbaugh gave that in spades, allowing the 49ers to again become the franchise that all San Franciscans dreamed for. So, from all 49er fans to Smith, I say thank you. Thank you for everything you did and everything you gave to us in your last two seasons in a red and gold jersey.

And as was said during the broadcast of that fateful NFC Championship game, we will never ever doubt you again.

The Reality of Fantasy Sports

As I sat down to watch the 49ers play in the first Sunday Night Football game of 2013 in my dorm, I couldn’t help but feel a rush of jubilation at the thought of a new season, a clean slate for my team after Super Bowl XLVII. But for many football fans a new season holds more excitement than what is simply found in 60 minutes on the gridiron and they work themselves up into a frenzy over one thing, and one thing only: fantasy football. Now this excitement over fantasy teams is in no way unique to NFL fans, but rather there are fantasy leagues for basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, and even auto racing along with many others.


Much like the professional leagues themselves, fantasy sports have become an incredibly lucrative industry. According to IBISWorld US, fantasy sports services have estimated annual profits of $445.8 million from $1.2 billion in revenue. This is not difficult to believe as The Pew Research center reports that 46 percent of those who have fantasy leagues have paid to play. Additionally, IBISWorld US reports that fantasy sports services have been growing rapidly. In a market dominated by ESPN, CBS Corporation, and Yahoo! Inc. in the past five years fantasy sports have grown at an annual rate of 11.7 percent.

This high rate of growth can be easily explained by the growth of the technology industry. In addition to having Internet capabilities in many buildings throughout the world, the development of applications for not just fantasy leagues but sports in general has allowed many fans that might not have played on a computer originally to have the a fantasy league app at their finger tips all day every day.

However, on this Sunday spent sitting on the couch in my dorm, enjoying the 49ers win their third straight game against the Packers, the thoughts of fantasy football hadn’t even crossed my mind. Many friends have told me over the years about how much I would enjoy starting a fantasy team in a variety of sports and yet I have never brought myself to actually do one. This begs the question: if I am already following the sport closely why not draft a team? Well, for two reasons. The first of which is that there are only so many hours in a day and knowing myself as I do, I would become enthralled, spending hours looking up players, stats, etc. trying to craft the best team possible.

 

While this may sound enjoyable to many, I have made the smart decision to direct my time towards more useful endeavors, like actually reading that chapter of homework that was assigned for class. However, the second reason I have never ventured into fantasy sports didn’t become clear to me until this Sunday afternoon. In being the only person from San Francisco on my floor, I was left to enjoy the 49ers game by myself as the Bills and Jets fans filtered out of the TV lounge. But sensing what a fantastic matchup this game was likely to be, some fans returned, many talking about how the game would affect their fantasy teams.

This idea of how a player’s performance can affect your overall score is at the crux of my dislike for fantasy sports. One young man on my floor remarked at how Aaron Rodgers needed to stop throwing to Jordy Nelson because he needed James Jones to pick up a few more yards. Others watching the game urged Colin Kapernick to throw an interception because their competition needed to lose a few points (a suggestion, I might add, that I clearly objected too).

In listening to these ridiculous requests I started thinking about how with the growth of fantasy sports we have lost what made watching sports so enjoyable in the first place. In focusing on how individual players’ performances affect a fantasy score, people may find themselves even rooting against their own team.

Not a bad bet to lose points.

Need someone in the league who has Eli Manning at QB to lose a few points? Then the Giant’s first two games of the season were great even for a die-hard Giants fan.

Have Anquan Boldin on the roster? Screw the Packers then, because after all those points could be the difference in beating the guy that started James Jones at wide receiver.

At the heart of this issue is that in focusing on this microcosm of competition we forget that the purpose of sports is to enjoy the game rooting for one whole team and each and every one of its players. In sports the whole is most definitely greater than the sum of its parts.



President Obama's March Madness Bracket

This same behavior is demonstrated each March as sports fans madly rush to perfect their brackets. In choosing teams for the sake of small time competition, many of us find ourselves rooting against the Cinderella teams that are what makes the NCAA Tournament so great. I myself rooted against Wichita State and Florida Gulf Coast University because they kept busting my bracket, while I should have been cheering for the underdogs that are what make the Tournament more than just a mathematical equation where the winner could easily be found through running a simulation.

While my opinion may be easily dismissed as one ignorant girl’s ideas, my dislike of fantasy sports could be rooted in the fact that only one percent of all females actually play fantasy sports according to The Pew Research Center. Maybe us female sports fans are just missing something from the experience. But for the 14 percent of men 18-29 out there who have fantasy leagues I suggest an evaluation of priorities when it comes to sports. If sports hold no meaning beyond a way to compete with friends, then by all means continue with these fantasy activities.

But if you are like me, your love of sports is rooted in more than just small time competition, and instead in pride for a team and respect for the talent it takes to play at these high levels, it might be worth considering how fantasy leagues affect the way we view sports. For those out there who agree with me I urge the following: save the phone battery and the cash and stop wasting time on fantasy sports.