Ben's Fitness and Exercise Blog

All signs seem to be pointing in this direction, or at least indicate that this is the way the forty niners would like to go. With that said, the forty niners haven’t, in the recent past, followed conventional wisdom. They have instead opted for the easy route. Mike Nolan, Jimmy Raye, Scott McCloughan, etc. It is not in their nature to make the tough decisions that need to be made. With Jed York not yet having reached his 30th Birthday, I am hard pressed to believe that he has the intestinal fortitude to make the tough decisions necessary for the team. The impending choice of Baalke is a good indicator of that. It seems suprising to me that the best choice for GM could be housed on a team that hasn’t had a winning record in 8 years. Instead is seems like the comfortable choice. I don’t know that I feel that his one and only draft was a huge success. His first pick struggled mightily. I can’t help but think how our season may have been different if Brian Bulaga was the choice. He played well for a much better team. Who knows, maybe Baalke is the key to delivering Harbaugh. If that is the case, he might be the right choice. 

Micheal Lombardi reported today, after being interviewed himself, that Trent Baalke is the leading candidate for the the job. That has been reported by multiple sources including matt maiocco, so it is probably credible information. Aren’t these the same forty niners that promoted McCloughan after 3 years with the forty niners only to fire him a year later. Obviously, they didn’t get it right after a 3 year interview. What makes York think he can do any better with a ninee month interview. I really think it is time for them to go outside of the organization.

From all accounts, the GM role appears to be Baalke’s to lose. I am not sure how I feel about this. He appears to be a fairly good talent evaluator. There have been some head scratchers like trading up for Anthony Davis with Bulaga on the board. Bulaga has performed much better this year than Davis. What really worries me is that the York’s are just getting another rubber stamp for their way of doing business. The challenge to succeed with Baalke will be for him to be able to make decisions outside the York’s innner cricle of York and Paarage Marathe. I haven’t seen anything yet from the forty niners that makes me think that is possible.

I was suprised to find out that the Forty Niners are planning on selecting a GM before the head coach, mostly because it is probably the right thing to do. Jed must be talking to Eddie D. There seems to be a rash of common sense in the building. With that said, I am concerned about the time frame and wish that they had tried to get a GM on board sooner. Hopefully, things have been going on behind the scenes and they are ready to name a GM in the next couple of days. I would hate to see them lose out on the best coaching candidates because they are going through a GM search. I have to say that I’m not overly wedded to one name as a GM. I’d just like to see someone who is an NFL insider. I can say that I don’t want to see Tony Dungy. The guy was a defense oriented head coach who only had moderate success. I would definitely attribute his superbowl win to the fact that he had Peyton Manning. I don’t know that he is on the radar, but I did read his name in an article post today.

Finally, the Forty Niners have been officially knocked out of the playoffs. It has been a long time coming. It’s nice that we won’t have to listen to the “there’s still a chance” speech this week, when anyone that knows football knows that this season was over after week 5. What a sorry excuse for a team. The coach defers the opening kick, switches QBs twice this week, and looks like an idiot running up and down the sidelines jawing at the officials every week. If we don’t get Gruden, Cowher, Billick, or Harbaugh, I might just pack it in.

By the way follow me on Identi.ca

Anyone who read my post on Garth DeFelice last week already knows the issue. I question Garth’s ability to be an impartial arbiter of the game. Numerous times over the course of his career he has interjected himself in the game. Clearly, an official is not supposed to make himself part of the action. 

Well, the league clearly sided with me. Had there been any real justification for Justin Smith’s ejection from the Forty Niners / Chargers game last week, Justin would have been fined. This play was clearly a back breaker to the forty niners. They had just failed to punch the ball in from the one. Then, Several plays later Justin is ejected and Travis Laboy tears his ACL on the same play. Not only was this ejection uncalled for. It was clearly initiated by Garth DeFelice’s overzealousness. Then, after ejecting Justin, the referee went ahead and stated after the game that Justin had pushed Garth on purpose. Most reasonable people were able to see from the replays that Justin didn’t look directly at the Ref and did not “push” him. He instead pushed and unrecognized attacker’s hands off of him. Again, a product of Garth trying to relieve his younger years as a player, rather than realizing he was a ref. Unfortunately, the two people who should have been fined for this play, Garth DeFelice and Clete Blakeman. 

I just started listening to the challenge to succeed by Jim Rohn. I thought it was going to be focused on network marketing, but it isn’t. Sometimes I like to listen to motivational or uplifting stuff on the way to work to help get me ready for the day. I think this CD may hit the rotation. I really hadn’t spent much time listening to Jim Rohn before. You can see how he has been so successful, as he is very captivating story teller.

San Diego native Garth Defelice makes a critical call ejecting Justin Smith early in the December 16 Forty Niners Chargers Game. Garth, clearly unable to control his temper, ejects Justin Smith. You know Garth from other game changing moments like his tackle on Kenneth Darby. Garth goes to push Justin, who in turn pushes his hand off of him, obviously without seeing he was an official. This is the peril of having an official that thinks he is part of the game rather than, a bystander who is there to adjudicate the rules. Unfortunately, Garth had interjected himself in to games before, wether if it was because he intends to, or is just a poor official, I cannot pretend to know. Unfortunately, his poor officiating might be the final nail in the coffin for the Forty Niners Playoff Hopes. The Forty Niners had the slight edge in momentum leading up to this ejection and clearly lost their best healthy player due to Garth’s over-exuberance. Garth appears to be a clear case of someone who was unable to make it as a player who is trying to re-live his glory days as a ref.

I really got on a slight edge kick today at work. After Listening to the slight edge book on the way to work, I proceeded to put a little extra effort in to everything that I did today. The end result was that when I left the office, It was far cleaner than when I got there and I felt much more organized and accomplished. I really like that about audiobooks. I try and listen to them on the way to work to help me get on track for a good day.

We just made these Toffee Pecan Drop Cookies tonight. They were great. I recommend this recipe if you are looking for a good christmas cookie. We are going to make another batch of these before christmas because the kids loved them and we only made one recipe.

I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad Several years ago and thought that it was very insightful. Recently I’ve tried to undertake reading all of his books. I really enjoyed the cashflow quadrant. I think his take on Network Marketing is interesting. I find it hard to see it as a serious business. It seems that most people come in, put in a lot of effort, get discouraged, and move on. It seems to only benefit a lucky few who are able to capitalize. Anyway, I’m reading The Business School for People Who Like Helping People . I’m not sure what I think yet. I’ll post again when I am finished.