By Brian Murphy
The 49ers leave for Australia on Wednesday — what in the name of Mitch Wishnowsky is going on here?
Think of all the negatives:
— Losing a chance to play the Rams at SoFi Stadium, a de facto home game.
— Disruption to the process of staying in a routine at home before Week 1.
— Uncertainty over who to take on the plane and put on the roster, given unresolved injury concerns.
— A long-a** flight there, and a long-a** flight back after.
— The head coach is miffed about the whole thing, and made his feelings known as much in the spring when he said he was “fired up . . . my goal was to go 19 hours to play a game.” Sarcasm font mandatory, Coach.
Plus, they lost the local South Bay “player party” they usually have before Week 1 — although the idea of a player party on a rooftop at a Melbourne luxury hotel sounds boss. Someone call 10-time Aussie Open champ Novak Djokovic and ask him the best spot.
But! The Jock Blog is here today to go all Ted Lasso on you and make this whole thing a big fat POSITIVE. As John Lynch said to us on the show today: “…the complaining is done, and now is time to embrace it and go see a country we’ve never seen and know it’s a business trip and find a way to win a football game.”
Or, as Lasso might say upon facing Myles Garrett and maybe Aaron Donald and league MVP Matt Stafford: “Believe! . . . even if they do have Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald and league MVP Matt Stafford.”
The Jock Blog is starting to see the positives of the 49ers going Down Under a week early, and it’s just not more time to tour the childhood homes of pop star Kylie Minogue, brooding indie artist Nick Cave and the late, great Olivia Newton-John, each of whom called Melbourne home.
Kyle Shanahan has laid out the game plan in which this Saturday in Australia is game week Monday, which makes this Sunday in Australia game week Tuesday, meaning next Monday in Australia is game week Wednesday and . . . well, The Jock Blog is getting down under on the math. Bottom line is, when it plays out that next Friday in Australia at 10:35 am — our Thursday, Sept. 10 5:35 pm kickoff — the 49ers will have gone through a full week of game prep in Australia, and that sounded fairly logical.
That even includes a Sunday off day (Stateside Tuesdays are players’ day off), meaning I am already looking forward to the Instagram footage of George Kittle dominating the outdoor Queen Victoria market, or Fred Warner studiously absorbing art at the National Gallery of Victoria. Maybe Jake Brendel goes surfing?
The Rams are taking the opposite approach, knifing in like burglars. They land 24 hours before kickoff. The result of the game will surely be a sport science data study for years to come in NFL team board rooms.
Here’s the spin: the Rams are thumbing their noses at Aussie culture, while the 49ers will be ambassadors of goodwill and American football vibes. The 49ers and the Faithful, in a weeklong run in Melbourne, can be to Australia what Scotland’s ‘Tartan Army’ was to the U.S. during the World Cup. I say the 49ers win the culture and karma war here, and the fans will decidedly roar more for Brock Purdy and the crew.
Told ya the Jock Blog was spinning positive.
Listen, we’ve done the negative thing. The game does not need to be played in Australia. The whole idea of playing in Australia is strictly for greed and what the NFL hopes is world domination. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. Alexander the Great probably would have made a good NFL commissioner, and Roger Goodell probably fancies himself the modern day Alexander the Great, if Alexander the Great wore sneakers with sport coats.
But as Lynch said, the time for bitching and moaning is done.
Ted Lasso is boarding the flight to Australia, and he has Men at Work’s “Greatest Hits” blasting on a boom box for Mac Jones and Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel to curate. Can’t you hear, can’t you hear, the thunder? Turn it up.
