Who is the real face of Bay Area sports?
This question—purely on its face—involves a totally loaded query.
Whether aura, accessory or actual crown-to-chin countenance, what does it look like, where does it come from and who brings it to work everyday?
More so, when did it secure such an exaltedly popular position, how long has it been there and why is it there in the first place?
And, of course, from which sport does this face derive?
Of the “Big 4” in the professional arena, football owns the hearts and minds of both the national population and those residing in Northern California.
The NFL—and the faces of the players within it—captures the collective consciousness year round. It does do without countervailing force.
Competitive balance vis-à-vis the MLB, NBA and NHL is simply reduced to a theoretical construct.
One can make the argument that the NBA wins the day through its marketing of pure unadulterated face—ones that are unobstructed by hats, masks or helmets.
In full view of the naked eye as they may be, basketball players are showcased in a sport whose playoff series’ television ratings cannot even sniff those of a regular-season Monday Night Football matchup.
So, the Golden State Warriors—the real darlings of the Bay Area—will not find in this discussion the names or handsome mugs of their marquee beloveds.
That means the baby-faced, mouse-like tour de basketball force that is Stephen Curry will not gain entry into this face-based competition.
(And while we’re on the subject, did it occur to any of you that Klay Thompson resembles a cross between an unfinished depiction by a police sketch artist and one of those superior beings from the movie Prometheus?)
The same goes for the former NL MVP-Cy Young duo of Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum. The two-time world-champions of the San Francisco Giants are close, but ultimately pale in comparison to their NFL counterparts.
If the Giants don’t qualify, neither do their more talented—but less fashionable—little-brother Oakland A’s.
Coco Crisp’s flowing locks and Josh Reddick’s bearded visage are sadly relegated to the cult-following sideline.
And please don’t inquire about the San Jose Sharks. We wouldn’t want to have to say to the face of those apex predators why they didn’t make the cut.
OK, so where does that leave us?
If it’s not the once league-venerated, but now irrelevant, woebegone faces of the Oakland Raiders, then…
Oh, yes—the perennially contending and Lombardi Trophy-favorite San Francisco 49ers.
Surprise, surprise!
Playful mockery and sarcasm aside, the 49ers undoubtedly hold serve in this discourse on the most popular countenance of Bay Area sports.
Outside of the individual World Series-winning Giants and high-flying Warriors, the Red and Gold have been the most successful and captivating.
They have reached three consecutive NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl since 2011—doing so via a last-second Vernon Davis touchdown, NaVorro Bowman fourth-down pass breakup and dominant second-half performances by Colin Kaepernick.
The eclectically composed A’s notwithstanding, the 49ers are also the most multifaceted and entertaining.
They satisfy the old timers with their hard-hitting top-five defense, and beguile the ADD-plagued new school with a dual-threat quarterback who breaks games wide open with his rocket arm and cheetah-inspired speed.
All due respect to the blue-collar, trophy-wife-bearing Sharks who win more often than not, but the 49ers invariably get the proverbial girl.
They win with more style, and make more money doing it.
As for the unfortunate Raiders, they’ll find their place at the table when winning of any kind materializes for the Silver and Black.
We wish nothing but success for the legendary franchise once headed by the late great Al Davis—a man unmatched in personality and in his on- and off-the-field influence toward developing the NFL into what it is today.
Nevertheless, both this day and the long foreseeable future belong to the San Francisco 49ers.
They remain the class of the Bay Area sporting world in all ways imaginable.
To wit, California lending establishments bankrolled $800 million of a $1,000,000,000 state-of-the-art facility, one where the fashion giant Levi Strauss forked over a boatload for the stadium naming rights.
These industry-leading institutions recognize the sustainable success that the 49ers enjoy on the field and the accompanying profitability off it—both from an economic and marketing perspective.
But who was it exactly that brought them here? Who orchestrated the incredible turnaround from eight years of seemingly endless futility into ostensible greatness for the next decade-plus?
We know that owner and CEO Jed York did the visionary hiring. We understand that general manager Trent Baalke ascended the organizational ranks and signed off on the miraculous overhaul of player personnel.
Yet, who synthesized it all into pure unforeseen domination on the gridiron from Day One? Who really implemented the cultural transformation that has fostered 41 wins over the past three seasons (playoffs included)?
Two words: Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh took over a talented, but thoroughly wayward 6-10 squad and doubled its win total just one year later—a year in which the 49ers were destined for failure after the lockout-shortened offseason.
He resurrected the much-maligned former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith and turned him into a 13-game, playoff-winning quarterback.
He then materialized into courage personified by benching a near-perfect Smith in 2012 in favor of a higher-upside, but unproven Kaepernick.
If memory serves, the 49ers made it to Super Bowl XLVII due heavily to that mid-season quarterback change.
Harbaugh assumed the reigns of a 46-82 team over the previous eight campaigns and transformed it into a 36-11-1 annual winner since 2011.
He galvanized an underachieving, dysfunctional loser into a fearsome contingent that brings victorious euphoria to its fanbase on Sundays.
Jed…Mr. Baalke—you’re officially on notice.
His deserved pay-raise and contractual fiasco aside, Harbaugh is Public Hero No. 1 of Northern California’s No. 1 franchise. Expect the 49ers to represent the NFC once again in Super Bowl XLIX with their quirky, but indomitable head coach on the sideline.
Jim Harbaugh is the real face of Bay Area sports.
And he’s got many to choose from.
Follow me on Twitter @jlevitt16