Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . . The legend of Colin Kaepernick keeps growing and growing. Kaepernick said this week on the Comcast Sports Net Bay Area television show "Chronicle Live" that he played his last four games at Nevada on an injured left knee. The Pack went 4-0 in those four games, beat Boise State, won a Western Athletic Conference title and won a bowl game. Kaepernick also ran the ball 46 times for 257 yards and five touchdowns in those games. The ex-Pack quarterback also said he turned down $30,000 to pitch for the Chicago Cubs for about a month in July of 2009 because he preferred to show leadership and lift weights with his Pack teammates. In this day and age when players are selling championship rings and the jerseys off their backs in exchange for tattoos and a few extra bucks, and missing games because their shoes are untied, Kaepernick remains too good to be true.
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We better not see anyone wearing No. 10 in a Wolf Pack uniform his fall. In fact, we better not see it ever again. The number needs to be retired. Three of the greatest quarterbacks in Wolf Pack history -- Eric Beavers, Chris Vargas and Kaepernick -- have worn the number. Bring all three to Mackay Stadium for the ceremony then immediately stick all three of their jerseys in a frame and hang them in Legacy Hall for generations to marvel at and treasure.
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Alex Smith must be pretty confident that he will be the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback in 2011. Smith, Kaepernick said, has been very gracious and helpful this spring to the young former Wolf Pack quarterback. "Alex has been great with all of it," Kaepernick said on Chronicle Live. "He came up and introduced himself to me and he told me if I need anything or have any questions, just ask him." Kaepernick is currently studying the 49ers playbook and "just waiting for the doctors to cut me loose" after his minor knee surgery this spring. Look out, Alex, Kap is coming to get your job.
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The USC football team has had its 2004 national championship taken away and Reggie Bush was forced to return his 2005 Heisman Trophy. Big deal. Everyone knows Bush won the Heisman and USC won the title. Taking away a trophy (I'm shocked Bush hadn't already sold it for tattoos) or erasing a line in a record book doesn't change anything. The same thing will happen four or five years from now when the NCAA finally figures out that Auburn paid Cam Newton and members of his family last season.
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If you are a NFL team do you really want to add Terrelle Pryor to your roster? You bet you would. Pryor, who will pass up his senior year at Ohio state, is 6-foot-6, 235 pounds and an amazing athlete. Think Kaepernick on the juice. He's a winner (31-4 at Ohio state with three Big 10 titles). Yes, he sold some memorabilia for tattoos and probably got a sweet deal on a new ride from some boosters. Do you think the NFL cares about that? Heck, Ohio State didn't even care about it until they got caught. Pryor is not ready for the NFL but he's someone that you just can't pass up.
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Another player that the NFL will fall all over itself to sign this off-season is Plaxico Burress. So the guy brought a gun into a club and shot himself in the leg. In the NFL that is about as serious as chewing gum in first grade. Burress is a big-time talent. He could step right in and be the No. 1 receiver on about two dozen teams right now.
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LeBron James is a great basketball player. A future Hall of Famer. But let's just leave it at that, OK? He's not as good as Michael Jordan. Never will be. Just ask yourself this. If Michael Jordan was in his prime and playing with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh -- or just about any other two players in history -- do you think he would defer to his teammates in the fourth quarter of a NBA Finals game and go sit in the corner like a shy freshman at a school dance? Uh, no. Never. First of all, Jordan would never join a team that already had a player like Wade. With Jordan, it was his spotlight, his ball, his team, his arena, his championship. His NBA.