Shootout at the note-day corral. The dot-dot-dot following the bang-bang-bang of the 10th annual Pepsi Quarterback Shootout at Buckingham Golf & Country Club and other pearls of wisdom …
… If an Oakland Raider quarterback from past seasons is to be believed, the Raiders” QB for future seasons — including possibly the immediate one — may not be Aaron Brooks. In fact, Daryle Lamonica”s comments suggest that he believes Brooks, who”s had an up-and-mostly-down preseason and may be ill-suited to the Oakland offense, may not be in the Raiders” plans at all (despite the fact the Raiders are 4-0 in preseason competition).
It depends on how much Lamonica knows about what goes on in Oakland coach Art Shell”s head. Shell once blocked for Lamonica, so it follows that they must be close.
“I think it”s up in the air a little bit,” Lamonica says of the Raider situation. “I think Art is going to give everybody an opportunity to earn that spot.
“Aaron Brooks is a good athlete and he can scramble and do things, but in the long-term future (Andrew) Walter is looking good and I like Tui (Marques Tuiasosopo) in the right offense and the right system. So, you have two good young quarterbacks who are mobile enough to get the job done, although you still need to have a veteran, somebody who”s been there.”
The perfect veteran in a back-up role for a younger quarterback is one who knows the team”s system and becomes a quasi-coach. Like, for instance, 38-year-old former Raider Jeff George, who returned to the Raiders after a seven-year hiatus, including a year of inactivity, this past weekend.
It”s been speculated that George”s presence gives the Raiders the leverage to trade either Walter or Tuiasosopo. But both may fit the Raider QB prototype better than Brooks. In which case … Lamonica, who still speaks in “we” terms as if he is still a Raider, also predicts “a good year” for Oakland with Shell”s return as head coach.
“I don”t know if we can go all the way — it (American Football Conference West) is a tough division. But I think we”re within a year and a couple of good athletes of being real competitive and right at the top. I think we have a better mix of veterans and younger players,” Lamonica says. “They”ve got to be in better shape to finish the fourth quarter; the last couple of years we haven”t been able to do that.
“They”re playing smarter right now. You play the way you practice, and Art says You jump offsides in practice you”re running sprints.” Now, you got a team that is really thinking, 11 guys functioning as one.”
Lamonica adds, “Art”s going to need a couple of players and in a couple of years he”ll find them. He knows what he has and he knows what he needs. He might be able to do some stuff with some trades.”
… Dan Pastorini”s presence at the shootout resurrected the close parallel of his career and that of Jim Plunkett. In 1971, remembered as “the year of the quarterback” in the NFL draft, Plunkett, the Heisman Trophy winner that season at Stanford, was the No. 1 pick.
Pastorini, the MVP of the East-West Shrine Game out of Division II Santa Clara, was No. 3. Plunkett got beat up at New England and Pastorini didn”t fare much better in Houston.
The Patriots went 2-12 to earn No. 1 draft selection rights. Houston was 3-10-1.
Ultimately, Pastorini and Plunkett wound up as teammates with the Raiders, where their fates took a dramatic turn
“I started the season, but I broke my leg and Jim took over,” Pastorini said.
Plunkett went on to lead the wild-card 1980 Raiders to a Super Bowl triumph. Raiders fans, being what they are then as now, booed Pastorini, broken leg and all, as he was taken off the field.
“You thought you were coming home, but the reception wasn”t the best,” he recalls of the sorry incident.
… Sad note on 49er quarterback legend John Brodie, a stroke victim, from former teammate and receiving target Ted Kwalick. The 71-year-old Brodie, says Kwalick, will never fully recover. “He has a lot of paralysis and his speech is a little slurred,” Kwalick said. “No, I don”t think he”ll ever be 100-percent again.” Saddest of all, “Brode,” a man who loved and excelled at the game, will never play golf again, Kwalick said.
… All those golfing quarterbacks make you kind of wonder if any of them ever listened to Frankie Albert, who preceded Brodie as a quarterback at Stanford and then with the 49ers. The feisty, bantam-sized Albert, who had a flyer as the 49er head coach (1956-58), was a tennis devotee who never played golf. Why? “Did ya ever see a happy golfer?” he”d say.
… In the minds of many, the day of infamy in Bay Area pro football history was Dec. 23, 1972, a day that first the 49ers and then the Raiders were knocked out of the NFL playoffs by come-from-behind efforts. The Raiders lost in Pittsburgh with no time on the clock on a controversial touchdown that Franco Harris scored after snagging a Terry Bradshaw pass off his shoe tops after it bounced backward from a collision of Raider Jack Tatum and Steeler Frenchy Fuqua — “The immaculate reception.”
“It was kind of tough, we should have beat them,” says Otis Sistrunk, who was chasing the elusive Bradshaw when he threw the hurried pass. “The official could have made a mistake, but a mistake was made by us. He (Bradshaw) should never have gotten the ball back at that stage.”
Was it a low point in being a Raider for Sistrunk?
“I”ll tell you what …” he glowered, “it”s special to play with the Raiders. There was no low point in being a Raider.”
… One-line joke: 12 losing seasons, eight coaches, the Warriors.
Editor”s note: John Lindblom is a former Bay Area sports writer who now covers news and sports for the Record-Bee.
