It’s t-minus one hours, 59 minutes to kickoff, and shockingly, I’ve already made a mess of my workspace.

Before I get into my first pre-game entry, let me introduce our first pre-game podcast of 2007, which you can access by clicking here. Just some guys talking football from the press box — myself, Kyle Sonneman and our in-house stats guru, Patrick Smyth. Take a listen. Hope you like it.

Anyhow, fond greetings from Monster Park at Bill Walsh Field — or is it Bill Walsh Field at Monster Park? To make it additionally complicated, I could add “Candlestick Point” to the deal as an homage to this stadium’s former name. Monster Park at Bill Walsh Field on Candlestick Point. Typing that cornucopia of words isn’t pleasant when you’ve got an ingrown thumbnail.

It’s t-minus two hours to kickoff, and a small smattering of players is warming up on the field. It’s too early to tell whether any names will be added to the roster of Broncos not taking part tonight, a bulbous list that included Matt Lepsis, Ben Hamilton, Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler and Rod Smith.

The afternoon here is glorious. As I write, the temperature is 70 degrees, the skies are clear and the conditions generally glorious. No wonder it costs so much to live here — it is a textbook case of supply and demand — for some of the finest weather known to man. San Francisco remains among the world’s most wonderful cities, and I treasure any trip I can make here — even if it is as brief as this one.

Thoughts from the road …

While the remainder of the DenverBroncos.com traveling Web team opted to head for The Embarcadero as soon as they could drop their bags in their rooms, I opted to take my time, post last night’s blog entry on training camp, watch the Braves pay for a lapse into defensive sloth and then make a mid-evening shuttle bus-and-BART jaunt into the city for a leisurely waterside stroll and dinner. This being Sunday night, the city was fairly placid; the only lapse into lunacy I encountered on my 4.2 miles of walking was some guy on Powell Street a block from Union Square wandering around a parked car yelling indecipherable comments to no one in particular …

… Our Sunday evening dinner at Crab House on Pier 39 will be difficult to surpass in this year’s travels. Very simple — a whole Dungeness crab, a side piece of sourdough bread and a sumptuous bowl of crab chowder, which appeared to have almost as much crab meat as the crab itself. And yes, J. Michael Moore, it was exquisite … but so too was the dessert, a strawberry shake from In-n-Out on Fisherman’s Wharf. After that, one needed a vigorous constitutional, and we got it, with an uphill walk along Powell Street into downtown. Jerry Rice used to train by running up the hills outside the immediate Bay Area, but he could have probably had the same kind of workout by running up and down this city’s streets. Gracious, they’re steep …

… Apparently, DenverBroncos.com intern Christopher Smith gobbled two double-doubles at In-n-Out this afternoon. Impressive …

… Miko Marks, tonight’s national anthem singer, is trying way too hard on that last note. You’ve got a lovely voice, my dear, but we don’t need The Star-Spangled Banner to end with “bra-aaa-aaa-aave” with the final note rising four times. Besides, half the crowd will be applauding anyway and no one will hear it. Just sing “brave” normally and be done with it …

UPDATED 4:37 P.M. PDT:

Pre-game notes addendum …

Tony Scheffler and Brandon Marshall are in uniform, but they are nevertheless not expected to play in the actual game. Gerard Warren is not in uniform, so look for Jimmy Kennedy and Amon Gordon to see plenty of playing time tonight …

… The crowd is sparse but well-dispersed. It’s what you expect from a sold-out house that will have plenty of no-shows. I can’t say I’m surprised … a 5 p.m. local time kickoff on a weeknight is pretty tough to make.

The press-box food here … not great. Chicken with a mushroom marinara sauce and salad. It does the job adequately as far as providing sustenance, but all things considered, Frank Schwab of The (Colorado Springs) Gazette had the right idea in stopping at In-N-Out on his drive to the stadium. The Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream bars, however, helped redeem the meal. GRADE: B-minus

More seemingly random photos …



Kickoff drawing closer … We’ll return then to take you through the game.

Tags: Food, Road trips, San Francisco 49ers, Thoughts from the road

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