Bay Area Sports Guy – More photos of the grass David Akers will kick from on Saturday (contest post)

Jim Harbaugh must have come to the realization that Billy Cundiff is not a very good placekicking option, because this is how his press conference started.

Who’s going to be your kicker Saturday?

“[K] David Akers.”

Why’s that?

“I feel like he gives us the best chance.”

We don’t know if Harbaugh ever truly considered swapping kickers, but Cundiff dutifully made a trip up to Candlestick Park to show his stuff in front of Brad Seely on Monday. We posted some of the Facebook photos from that afternoon, which led to a link from Pro Football Talk and The Stick’s grass growing into a nice little subplot for those who are tired of wondering about Justin Smith’s health.

All the turf talk led to this exchange during Wednesday’s Harbaugh presser:

The pictures at least from his time out there, the turf did not look very good. And the turf didn’t seem too good in your last game. Are you concerned about the Candlestick turf for this game?

“From what I’ve been told is new turf was put down three weeks ago. That comes from our general manager who says that, and says the field’s going to be in good shape.”

Did you think it was OK for the last game?

“I thought it was OK, yeah. It’s not like it is in September. Most grass fields tend to not be as lush in the winter months.”

So even Harbaugh admits that the turf at Candlestick falls short of Augusta (or even your local muni course) these days, and maybe that went into his decision to stick with Akers. Or maybe it was because Cundiff was lousy from in 2012 from beginning to end, or Cundiff’s crack about all the old stadiums in California.

If you’re curious as to how the oldest stadium in Northern California that’s still used for professional sports is looking these days, here are a couple photos someone passed along to me via the tips line. Both photos were taken around 3 pm on Wednesday (yesterday) afternoon. So besides the end zones getting a fresh coat of red playoff paint, this is probably how the field should look come Saturday evening.

Harbaugh is right, the grass isn’t all that lush. But it doesn’t look to be FedExField bad, by any means. The brown patches appear more likely to cause a cosmetic problems than anything that’s going to affect gameplay, especially since the weather forecast calls for dry conditions over the next week.

But doesn’t it seem a little strange that in a league where the coaches sleep about four hours a night and leave almost nothing to chance, there is so little attention to detail when it comes to the grass fields these teams play on? This particular field will be shown on TV for roughly three hours on Saturday night, and Fox’s cameras will be of the hi-def variety (although Fox does seem to have the blurriest broadcasts of the networks that carry NFL football, or in soap opera parlance “the most dream sequency”). Maybe the NFL thinks field maintenance is the job of San Francisco Parks and Rec, or they figure that if the helmets are shiny enough the viewing audience won’t notice. But it seems odd that the richest professional sports league would have the lowest standards when it comes to groundskeeping.

Contest Question

We’ve been running a question every day, and the people who comment (with a valid email address) are entered to win one of two 10-person pizza parties from Amici’s. Today’s question:

What (if anything) will you miss about Candlestick Park when the 49ers move to Santa Clara for the 2014 season?

Some people are sure to trash the place, and that’s fine. I’m attached through force of habit (attending dozens of Giants and 49ers games over the past 25 years), but I might miss seeing the place from the highway most of all. In Oakland you can see the Coliseum and Oracle from 880, and while driving on 101 I always glance over at The Stick, regardless of whether I’m driving north or south. It’s going to be a bummer after Candlestick is torn down and a bunch of cookie-cutter condos and/or office parks rise up in its place.

Feel like increasing your odds of winning a bunch of free thin crust pie for you and your friends? You can answer these questions, too:

If the 49ers beat the Packers, which matchup would be more advantageous and why — playing against Atlanta in the Georgia Dome or facing Seattle at Candlestick Park?

What is your favorite 49ers playoff memory?

Who’s your kicker on Saturday, Akers or Cundiff?

14 comments

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I will miss the announcers talking about the swirling wind in the park. The swirling wind and soggy field have always been staples of 49er football at home and once the new park opens, those characteristics of Candlestick will be gone forever.

SantaCruzSpike

I haven't been to Candlestick in years. The last Niners game I went to was a playoff loss to Green Bay in 1998. That was a dud. I also went to the Monday night game against the Giants that year. Bryant Young broke his leg. I was sitting about 20 rows up on about the 50 (great seats) and you could hear the SNAP of his leg. Brutal. Mostly I will miss the it because of many fond Giants memories. Bleacher tickets were $2.25 when I was in high school and I used to steal my moms laundry quarters and cut afternoon classes at Los Altos High to go to day games. For many, many years we would park in the cul-de-sac (Ignacio Ave.) above the LF bleacher gates play catch, drink beer and have fun. Driving through Hunters Point before and after games was all part of the Candlestick experience. We used to just carry our beer in in jugs. Man...Candlestick is right up there with the Russian River as the best memories of my life. I will miss it.

Edward

I will miss nothing. As a lifelong San Franciscan and 49er fan, I have been in person to exactly 2 games in 40+ years of fandom. Football is better on TV and as long as the helmets have that SF on them, I'm OK with the move. If anyone tried to move the Giants, however, I'd probably shake my fist in anger or something equally effective.

devnull

Echo that -- I won't miss anything about Candlestick itself either, and football *is* better on TV. Even with Joe Buck calling the game. It's still better. True for most sports, really. The one thing I will miss is the name -- "Candlestick". Just the fact that it has sort of a unique name that everybody knows and uses, rather than a corporate-sponsored name which nobody but the sponsor cares about.

Bay Area Cholo Guy

I'll miss the fellow [real] Cholos harrassing me the couple of times I decided to wear my Arizona Cardinals jersey to the game, and baptizing me with a couple of beer cups thrown my way.

Fitz's Future Unemployment Check

I'm searching for something and coming up blank. I guess I'll miss the good memories of what happened on the field, but everything else about it not so much.

Sunset Boy

I believe that Harbaugh's plan had always been to start Akers for the playoffs. Cundiff's appearance was just false competition: create the illusion that Akers' job was in jeopardy, force him to go head-to-head with another NFL kicker to win his job back, then have Akers emerge victorious. If Akers can't get it done on game day, then at least allow him to believe he can get it done in practice. It was a "tune-up".Harbaugh wanted to jump start Akers' confidence.

Paperback Writer

Like any candlestick, it will feel cold when the flame is gone out.

Otis Byrd III

I totally agree. I will miss the feel of Candlestick whenever you ride by it, or walk near it when you go to a game. I can't explain it, but it has a certain feel to it, where you know that 49ers and SF Giants legends have played there and legends from visiting NFL and MLB teams as well, as Kenny alluded to. As I said in my other post, I'm also going to miss seeing the fans going to games there. Nothing like on gamedays seeing fans driving and walking to Candlestick for a 49er game. It really gets you excited about the game! In a sense, I guess I'll miss how Candlestick was kind of a home field advantage, because of the fog and wind. Obviously the fog and the wind won't be as much of a factor in the 49ers new Santa Clara Stadium, but it was kind of interesting how visiting players made it sound like that scared them a lot. That's one of the first things they mention about Candlestick, whenever they are asked about playing there. Morton Anderson talked about that (moreso the wind though) when Bucher and Townsend interviewed him the other day, and they asked him about playing about Candlestick, but it was more in relation to talking about Akers and Cundiff though, and kicking and Candlestick.

*playing at Candlestick

Kenny

I will miss the flood of memories that come back to me every time I pass through the doors and see the field. Sure, you can can call the place a dump, an embarrassment, but it was also the ballpark of my youth. I watched Mays, McCovey and many other Hall of Famers play on that grass! I saw Brodie, Gene Washington, & even Franco Harris play on that field.

InquisitaB

I'll miss being able to go to games is what I'll miss. I'll most likely be priced out with the new stadium. Unless my name is Google, Yahoo, Cisco or some other crazy name for a "person" (get it? that's a political dig at Citizens United...in a sports blog no less!!) I doubt I'll be attending 49er football games.

Yeah, a lot of us probably in that same boat. I mean, I'll probably go to some games if someone gives me a ticket or I go with a group or something, but for most of, if not all of us San Franciscans, it's going to be harder going to 49er games when they move to Santa Clara. That's one of the reasons why the 49ers moving to Santa Clara is a bad idea, even though yeah, it made sense from the standpoint of them already training there and having their practice facility there. But yes, I'll miss going to games at Candlestick too. Yeah, I don't go to a lot of 49er games, but I live near Candlestick and I'll miss seeing the fans walking to Candlestick on gamedays.