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49ers look ahead after defeating Rams 34-31

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Santa Clara – An explosive game between two teams desperate for a win tonight.  A pick six put the 49ers ahead for first time in the game but a crucial turnover to start the second half gave the Los Angeles Rams momentum.  A field goal tied the game with 2 minutes left on the clock.  And Robbie Gould kicked the winning filed goal.  The NFC is a tight race for the playoffs, every win is important.  

The 49ers 34-31 victory over the Rams was the win they needed after coming off a loss to the Atlanta Falcons last week.  The final game of the regular season is against their rivals, the Seattle Seahawks.  The playoffs start with them, a team that handed San Francisco their first loss in overtime after going undefeated for eight games.

“Obviously, we had to beat the Los Angeles Rams for that game to matter and now that we beat the Rams, that will be a big-time game,” said Emmanuel Sanders regarding the Seahawks.  “I am looking forward to sitting at home and watching these guys play tomorrow, watching film, preparing all week and hopefully we can go out there and leave with a W.”

LA came out ready to play, on opening drive Jared Goff completed a seven play drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks for a quick 7-0 lead.  On the next drive, Richie James Jr. rushed for 81 yards on a punt return putting the 49ers in great field position.  Unable to get into the end zone, Gold kicked a 26-yard field goal making it a 7-3 game.  

Later in the quarter Jimmy Garoppolo went deep to Sanders but his pass was intercepted by Jalen Ramsey who returned it for 13 yards.  A crucial turnover for San Francisco led to a Rams touchdown.  Goff went deep to Cooper Kupp for 28 yards, moving the chains.  Then he rushed for 2 yards on a quarterback scramble, Richard Sherman was charged with a late hit.  

A penalty for unnecessary roughness put the Rams on the goal line to start the second quarter.  Todd Gurley rushed for the 5-yard touchdown to extend LA’s lead 14-3.  The 49ers went to their running game and scored quickly, Deebo Samuel rushed for a 19-yard touchdown to make it a 14-10 game.  Late in the second, Gurley recorded his second touchdown of the game when he rushed for a 1-yard touchdown extending the Rams lead 21-10.  

“I think we made some adjustments on that which I think was definitely needed,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said.  “From what I saw in the second half, it looked like we slowed them down a number of times on those roll outs.  They had a good plan for us, we were playing sound in the run game and when you play sound in the run game that’s usually what you give up, the bootlegs and things like that.  We had to make a few adjustments and they had a good plan, but I think we were able to slow it down enough in the second half.”

San Francisco keep it a competitive and scored with 2:21 left in the first half.  Raheem Mostert rushed for a 16-yard touchdown making it a 21-17 game.  A crucial turnover to end the half for the Rams, Goff’s pass intended for Malcolm Brown was picked off by Fred Warner who rushed it back for a 46-yard touchdown to give San Francisco their first lead of the game making it a 24-21. 

“Yeah, honestly, I just did my job,” said Mostert.  “We were in man coverage and the back kind of, he checked in the protection and then ran a flat route.  I hugged up on him and I think [Los Angeles Rams QB] Jared [Goff] probably would want to have that one back, but he just tossed it up and I took it. I took it home.”

To start the third, San Francisco committed another turnover but it didn’t prove to costly, Garoppolo’s intended pass for Sanders was intercepted by Darious Williams.  LA struggled to move the ball and Greg Zuerlein missed a 52-yard field goal.  Goff made up for it when he connected with Kupp for a 22-yard touchdown giving the Rams a 28-24 lead.  By the fourth, Garoppolo went deep to both George Kittle and Sanders for 36 to setup Kittle’s 7-yard touchdown making it 31-28 game with 6:06 left on the clock.  

Another field goal attempt by Zuerlein for 52-yards tied the game 31-31.  Despite getting sacked for the fifth time, Garoppolo went deep to Sanders for 46 yards with less than a minute to play.  That play was enough to take a knee and run the clock for Gould to come in and kick a 33-yard field goal for the win.  This win wasn’t just about playoff position.  One of their own is hurting.  Backup quarterback C.J. Beathard lost his younger brother who was fatally stabbed in a fight early Saturday morning in Nashville. And the team won this for him.

“Before we start, I just want to say how much we appreciate the Beathard family,” Shanahan saais.  “What happened last night was very tough on [QB] C.J. [Beathard] and his family.  It was a tragedy.  Such a great family.  We’ve been with C.J. here for three years.  He’s as good as any person I’ve been around.  Their family is unbelievable.  I never got a chance to meet Clay, but knowing how his parents are, knowing how C.J. is, knowing the stuff they’ve told me about him, he was an unbelievably special person.  Just our hearts and prayers are out with them.  His dad reached out to us on text just about how great everyone has been on social media and just the respect everyone has given their family and stuff, he can’t appreciate it enough.  I think everyone understands how horrible a thing that happened to their family last night. Our prayers are with them.”

Arts and Culture

Gov. Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom Host 2024 Hall of Fame Ceremony

Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and three other African Americans were among 10 luminaries inducted into the 2024 Class of the California Hall of Fame on Feb. 8. The 17th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony was held at the California Museum.

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Willie Brown, Former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor, was proud to be among the Hall of Fame inductees. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.
Willie Brown, Former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor, was proud to be among the Hall of Fame inductees. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By California Black Media

Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and three other African Americans were among 10 luminaries inducted into the 2024 Class of the California Hall of Fame on Feb. 8.

The 17th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony was held at the California Museum.

“The California Hall of Fame is one of our families’ favorite traditions as it is a time to come together to celebrate remarkable Californians as well as their loved ones because we know that it is about partnerships,” Siebel Newsom said. “The governor likes to say that California is a dream factory because it doesn’t matter what zip code or background you come from, the California dream is alive and well to everyone who calls this state home.”

The other Black honorees were filmmaker Ava DuVernay; Federal Judge and civil rights leader, the Hon. Thelton Henderson; and basketball Hall of Fame player and broadcaster Cheryl Miller.

“It’s what I’ve been waiting for and to be among a great group of individuals that also deserve the honor,” Brown told California Black Media on the event’s red carpet before the ceremony began. “No, I never thought someone from Texas would be recognized this way. But here I am, and it all happened in the great state of California. It’s a fantastic feeling.”

Other 2024 inductees are: master chef and “mother of fusion cuisine” Helene An; computer scientist and “father of the internet” Vincent A. Cerf; all-female pop punk band The Go-Gos; Chicano Rock band Los Lobos; former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Congressman Leon E. Panetta; and artistic director and choreographer Brenda Way.

This year’s honorees join a history-making club with over 150 inspirational Californians previously inducted for their groundbreaking achievements and personifying the state’s innovative spirit.

“It’s just a humbling experience. I want to thank the Governor and First Partner. Who would have thought 100 years ago (that I would be inducted?) It’s incredible,” Miller said after her induction. “I want to thank the governor and First Partner for an incredible event.”

During his acceptance speech, Henderson said he was deeply honored.

“You know, it really would have been a really big deal to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the area where I grew up, for example, South Central Hall of Fame, or the Watts Hall of Fame, or the Straight Out of Compton Hall of Fame,” he said. “But being inducted into the California Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame of the greatest state in the country in this great nation is something else.”

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Community

El Cerrito High Senior Jayvon Bolds Named to Blue-Grey All-American Bowl

El Cerrito High School senior Jayvon Bolds is set to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl game at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 8. Bolds, an 18-year-old scholar athlete whose favorite subject is history, was nominated for the honor by Rodney Alamo Brown, founder of Soulful Softball Sunday who also serves as an announcer for the Texas bowl game.

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Jayvon Bolds (No. 4) is headed to Cowboys Stadium to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl. (Photo courtesy of Rodney Alamo Brown).
Jayvon Bolds (No. 4) is headed to Cowboys Stadium to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl. (Photo courtesy of Rodney Alamo Brown).

By the Richmond Standard

El Cerrito High School senior Jayvon Bolds is set to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl game at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 8.

Bolds, an 18-year-old scholar athlete whose favorite subject is history, was nominated for the honor by Rodney Alamo Brown, founder of Soulful Softball Sunday who also serves as an announcer for the Texas bowl game.

“It’s a real honor,” Alamo Brown stated about Brown’s selection for the bowl game. “This makes him an All-American.”

Bolds will play three positions for the Eastern team: kr, slot back and special teams—i.e., kickoff and punt return.

“The plan is to line up Bolds all over the field and let him do his thing. He’ll be a weapon for our staff,” said NFL veteran Tampa Bay Buccaneers standout and All-American Bowl Coach Dick Bell. “In a game like this, with the platform being an NFL facility with former professionals as assistants and mentors, he’ll have a chance to shine on one of the biggest stages around.”

Recently, Bolds received a scholarship offer to continue his higher education at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.

Bolds maintains a 3.3 GPA and is heavily involved in leadership as he is the vice president of the Black Student Union.

Blue-Grey Football launched in 1989 by founders Gus and Erik Bell with the aim of helping prospects gain national exposure so that they can improve their chances to secure college scholarships.

Some of the nation’s most talented young football players compete in the annual game, with Fox Sports, CBS Sports and USA Today regularly providing coverage, as well as ESPN.comScout.comRivals.com and 247Sports.com.

Bolds’ family is planning on traveling to Dallas on Friday and is seeking donations from the community to offset the enormous cost. Those who are willing to donate may do so by sending their donations to this cash app, $Juanita Towns.

Rodney Alamo Brown contributed to this report.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: “Who Got Game? Basketball”

A little less than two feet. That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.

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“Who Got Game? Basketball” Author Derrick Barnes Courtesy of EyeSun Photography (Charlotte NC). Book Cover Courtesy of Workman Publishing c.2024.
“Who Got Game? Basketball” Author Derrick Barnes Courtesy of EyeSun Photography (Charlotte NC). Book Cover Courtesy of Workman Publishing c.2024.

A little less than two feet.

That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.

Here we are, football season’s almost over, and your mind has turned to other things – namely, hoops set high over your head, and a round bouncy basketball. Kids like you who “got game” have had it for more than a century. Yes, the game of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 in Massachusetts.

In the years since, basketball has changed a lot, thanks to what Derrick Barnes calls “pioneers.” Julius “Dr. J” Erving improved the dunk. Before that, in 1950, the NBA first allowed Black basketball players on the teams. There have been super-tall players (Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muregan were both seven feet, seven tall) and smaller b-ballers – five-three Muggsy Bogues had a vertical jump of nearly four feet! – and just two years after the game was invented, America had its first women’s team.

A lot of off-court people poured themselves into the game, too. Barnes writes, for example, about Pat Summitt, hoopster, leader, and “one of the greatest coaches in all of sports history.” Her record of 1,098 wins ranks her at first-place in coaching women’s basketball, and as the coach with the second-most wins overall.

You can probably guess that in a book about buckets, there are bucketfuls of stats. Barnes includes a list of NBA players who jumped to a team right out of high school. He writes about the greatest basketball park ever, he explains why winners cut down the net, how Title IX changed the game, why backboards rarely break into a zillion pieces anymore, high scores, bad injuries, “hoops movies,” and where in the world you can pick up a game today.

So, your 9-to-13-year-old loves basketball so much that they dribble a ball in their sleep? They think their favorite jersey is church wear? Then you’ll be the hero of the day when you bring home “Who Got Game? Basketball.”

But first, there’s one big thing you need to know: this is not a how-to book. There aren’t any instructions inside here, no rules or plays to follow. Instead, author Derrick Barnes makes young b-ballers happy by sharing little-known info about the game they love so much, short lists, great stories about great players, wins and losses, and phrases they should know to talk the talk. All this knowledge is supported by colorful illustrations by Jez Tuya that kids will enjoy alongside the facts.

This book is for die-hard young b-ballers, but don’t be surprised if an adult finds a thing or two to learn here. “Who Got Game? Basketball” is a book any fan will want to jump on.

“Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, Illustrated by Jez Tuya, c.2023, Workman Publishing, $16.99, 172 pages.

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