The Editor’s Rant: Highlights and Lowlights From This Week in Bay Area Sports

Aug 16, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt Flynn (15) is sacked by New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) in the first half at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Alright, so this is something new that I’m doing that hopefully becomes a weekly column. It’s the “editor’s rant,” where I point out some of the highlights and lowlights from the past week in Bay Area sports, with a little sarcasm and humor mixed in (ok, a lot of sarcasm, and as for humor, you can decide whether it’s funny or not).

Let’s get it going for the week of Aug. 11-17…..

Highlights

BREAKING NEWS: The San Francisco Giants won a game on Thursday (that’s amazing in and of itself) when they were trailing 3-1 in the ninth inning. Even more shocking, they won it on a three-run homer by Hector Sanchez, of all people (many of you probably weren’t even aware that he was still on the team).

How about more BREAKING NEWS: The Giants have won three games in a row.

And just for the heck of it, one final BREAKING NEWS: The Giants scored 14 runs on Friday (I’m totally going to bring down your enthusiasm by telling you they did it against the Marlins. Sorry).

Whatever. Seems like Bruce Bochy’s pregame speeches are working these days:

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The Warriors are now valued at $800 million, which, according to a Forbes report in January, would put them in a tie for the third most valuable franchise in the NBA.

Is this really happening? Did the Warriors just make the playoffs for the second time in 19 seasons, sign a top-tier free agent, and almost double their franchise net worth?

Somebody should have told that to the 18,000 fans at Oracle Arena when they booed poor Joe Lacob a year and a half ago.

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Frank Gore had a nice 52-yard run during the 49ers preseason game on Friday against the Chiefs, and it really was vintage Frank Gore:

It probably wasn’t fun for some fans though, considering the number of key injuries that have already occurred around the NFL during the offseason. Fortunately Gore wasn’t hurt at all during the play and didn’t see much action after that, but wait…watch that run again…was that Colin Kaepernick running 30 yards downfield, trying to block for Gore?

You can just imagine the screams of “NOOO” coming from the 49ers coaching staff.

“I tried to chip someone, but I had second thoughts about going in head-first,” said Kaepernick. 

Yeah, phew….

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The Cal Bears named true freshman Jared Goff their starting quarterback for the upcoming season. For his welcome party, Goff will have the pleasure of facing three ranked opponents in his first four games, including a brutal two-game stretch against Ohio State and Oregon.

Lowlights

The world hates Chris Young:

Missing consecutive walk-off home runs by a matter of inches? This might be the lowest lowlight of all-time.

Young said it best:

"I’m doing something wrong in life. I need to change."

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While we’re on the subject of the A’s, let me just point out that they have lost 10 of their last 16 games and are looking up at the Rangers in the AL West standings. And also, they lost back-to-back games to the Astros. It’s safe to say that they are in a bit of a funk right now.

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The entire Raiders offensive line gets this next lowlight, because they were downright awful against the Saints on Friday. Awful with a capital “A,” and losing Jared Veldheer is not going to help. Even Tom Brady wouldn’t be successful if he had this O-line blocking for him.

But hey, as long as Terrelle Pryor gets some playing time, everything else will probably go unnoticed.

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Speaking of the Raiders, Tracy Porter played so badly that he offered a public apology on Twitter, which is the best place to do it:

Between this and “JerseyGate,” I’m not sure Porter is really making a good first impression on the Raiders and their fans.

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Believe it or not, we are less than two months away from Barry Zito’s final game in a Giants uniform.

And by pitching him out of the bullpen for the past week and a half, the Giants are basically telling Zito, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Oh, and in four relief appearances, Zito has an ERA of 10.80, which is worse than his road ERA of 9.97.

$126 million.

That is all.

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Right now, the 49ers may not have a backup quarterback, as the reviews of Colt McCoy and Scott Tolzien from Friday’s game were not exactly positive:

From the San Francisco Chronicle: 

"For the second time in as many preseason games, the primary quarterbacks battling to be Kaepernick’s understudy, Colt McCoy and Scott Tolzien, turned in forgettable performances."

And the Press Democrat, quick and concise:

"Colt McCoy and Scott Tolzien were horrible."

Somewhere, Alex Smith is laughing.