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

Nov 19, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; General view of the Bay Bridge and the downtown San Francisco skyline before the NFL game between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

The Bay Bridge may be shut down, but the Bay Area sports scene rolls on. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights from this past week:

Highlights

The top highlight of the week happened just hours ago in Berkeley, as Jared Goff introduced himself to the Cal Bears’ faithful with a performance for the ages. Although his team lost, Goff threw for 445 yards, which is second most in a game in school history, and did not look like a true freshman to anyone who was watching.

However, Sonny Dykes learned Saturday night that he isn’t coaching at Louisiana Tech anymore. He’s coaching in the Pac-12, where you can’t win without an effective defense.

Now, about those Northwestern players who were faking injuries to interrupt Cal’s rhythm…

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You want to see the epitome of “class act”? Look no further than former 49ers long snapper Brian Jennings, who was released on Saturday after 13 seasons with the club. In fact, Jennings has been with the 49ers so long that he was drafted by the Bill Walsh.

After he heard the news, Jennings issued a emotional and touching statement to CSNBayArea.com:

"Today, I feel as though I’ve been honorably discharged from the team I love….Currently, the team is full of men who are more than capable of not only carrying on a tradition of winning but bringing championships back to the 49ers.In a very real way I learned to be a man while with the 49ers — molded through the preparation and performance of game day, completely tested while on and off the field this game, this team and this group of men made me who I am today."

Long snappers: you take them for granted, and they only get noticed when they screw up. Or, in Jennings’ case, when they retire.

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Hey look, it’s Colin Kaepernick on the cover of Sports Illustrated!

Like America hasn’t seen enough of this guy in the national spotlight. The season can’t start soon enough.

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The good news for the Giants? Leadoff hitter and catalyst Angel Pagan is back.

The bad news? They’re still the Giants.

Lowlights

What’s all the big hoopla surrounding Terrelle Pryor? Sure, he can run like the wind and excite fans like no other quarterback on the Raiders’ roster can, but he’s not going to be able to catch the ball, block pass rushers, sack quarterbacks, or defend opposing wide receivers.

One guy can only do so much. With this current Raiders’ squad, Pryor will be running for his life every other play. The Raiders have much bigger issues than quarterback, but I guess when you incite fans with controversy, they ignore all the other problems and focus on the “hot topic.”

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Seneca Wallace made a big deal out of “leaving” the 49ers. After Jim Harbaugh told the media that Wallace informed him that he was no longer going to continue playing football, Wallace decided to rip Harbaugh and the 49ers.

Wallace told the Des Moines Register that the 49ers signed him only to persuade Colt McCoy to take a pay cut, and he also claimed that Harbaugh’s statement about him retiring was untrue.

Here’s a little bit of advice for Mr. Wallace: first of all, why would you try to make a comeback bid on a team with three other quarterbacks on the roster? And if you knew that you were signing just to help the organization save some money on McCoy, then why even sign with the 49ers in the first place?

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You ever hear of the baseball strategy, “lock the opposing closer in the bathroom and don’t let him out until the game’s over”?

That nearly worked for the A’s, when Rays’ closer Fernando Rodney was stuck in the dugout bathroom for 15 minutes during the eighth inning before someone broke the doorknob with a bat to free him:

You know what else this shows? The A’s need a new stadium. Badly.