National Football League

Desperation makes 49ers dangerous

Published Oct. 19, 2010 10:17 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Bay Area wakes up this morning to an ugly reality. The Raiders are playing the 49ers, and it's hard to say which team is in worse shape. Let's see if we can help fans make the call.

-- The Raiders are 2-3, chasing an overachieving 3-1 Chiefs squad in the weak AFC West. The Niners are 0-5, chasing the 3-2 Cardinals in the NFL's weakest division, the NFC West. While neither team is likely to make the postseason, the Raiders could make it interesting down the stretch. Advantage: Raiders.

-- Raiders management has been silent this season, reflecting the cloistered culture of Al Davis. Niners management has been surprisingly vocal, allowing young Jed York to make predictions and hand out votes of confidence. Unfortunately, that has made him the punch line of a national joke. Advantage: Raiders.

-- Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell was benched after six quarters, only to return last week to mixed reviews. Niners quarterback Alex Smith is still trying to prove himself in his sixth season. Advantage: Raiders.

-- The Raiders' offense is ranked 11th in a league of 32, scoring 22.2 point per game. The Niners' offense is ranked 31st in the league, averaging 15.2 points per contest. Advantage: Raiders.

-- The Raiders' defense is ranked 28th in the league, allowing 26.8 points per game. The Niners are ranked 27th at 26 points per game. That's a wash, but the takeaway/giveaway ratio is not. The Raiders are at zero, having lost the ball as often as they've taken it away. The Niners are at minus-10, worst in the NFL. Advantage: Raiders.

So, that would make the Raiders a clear favorite, yes? No.

-- The Niners are ranked 1st in the NFL in desperation. And a desperate team usually beats an average team. Advantage: Niners.

Cain's all business: While the rest of the Giants traipsed through their workout Wednesday at AT&T Park - highlighted by infielder Juan Uribe taking a comical turn on the mound, throwing to a chuckling Buster Posey - Game 3 starter Matt Cain was all business.

He threw a blistering bullpen session, did his running in the outfield and then sat in the stands behind home plate, watching batting practice apart from his teammates.

Was he upset that manager Bruce Bochy had pushed him back a spot in the rotation, giving Jonathan Sanchez the Game 2 start in Philly? Not at all, he told me, somewhat tight-lipped. What about the Phillies? Anyone in particular give you fits? "I'm going to say none of 'em," said Cain, staring straight ahead. "You have to make good pitches to all of them or they'll take you deep."

As I left the field, Cain was still sitting there, staring at the mound he'll take on Tuesday afternoon.

Mad Dog howls: Sports talk radio host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo is known for his staccato voice, his passionate delivery - and for being the nation's biggest Giants fan, outside the Bay Area, of course.

We caught up with Russo this week to talk Giants. But first we had to ask how a kid from Long Island becomes a die-hard fan of the black and orange.

"I've been a fan since 1968," Russo said. "My father was a jewelry salesman, and that year the big convention was in Philadelphia. We went down for three-four days and the Giants were in town, staying at the same hotel.

"I got all the Giant autographs. Willie McCovey, Mike McCormick. Bobby Bonds was a rookie. Only guy that wouldn't sign was Willie Mays. I've been a fan ever since."

Russo feels great about this year's squad, predicting victory over the Phillies. "I do like the Giants in the series," he said. "I think they have a lot of magic dust on them."

He added: "There's a reason that no NL team has won three straight pennants in a long, long time. It's tough!"

A long-time partner of Mike Francesca's on New York's WFAN, Russo now has his own show, "Mad Dog Radio," on Sirius XM Radio.

RTJ: Robert Trent Jones Jr., the noted Bay Area golf course architect, has been on a roll this year. This weekend's Frys.com Open at Corde Valle is the fourth tournament played this year on a course he designed.

"We've had a great summer," said Jones, whose course designs were also the sites of the Scandinavian Masters played at Bro Hof Slott in Sweden, the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., and the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Jones said Corde Valle was a long time in the making. "Way back in the 1960s, the head of Lucky Lager owned it, and he wanted to make a course out of it," he recalled. "My father and I went to take a look and it was just a natural site. It had to be a golf course."

It also had to wait. Jones and his father wrangled with foreign investors and county planners for three decades before building the course, which opened in 1999. This weekend, a national television audience saw the course's pristine setting for the first time.

"It really is old California," Jones said. "It is the image of the golden hills of California."

Parting shot: The PGA might be playing on his course, but like everyone else, Jones is thinking about the Giants - the team he rooted for as a kid in Montclair, N.J., before both of them moved west.

His brother, Reese, was a Dodgers fan, so it was tense in the Jones' kitchen as they watched the rivals in the famous final game of the 1951 season. In the late innings, when it appeared the Dodgers would win, Jones' spirit sagged.

"My mom said, 'Don't worry, maybe Bobby Thomson will hit a home run,' " he remembered. "She actually called the Shot Heard 'Round the World! She was just trying to placate me. Then she had to placate my brother. He didn't speak to us for a week."