Seismic shifts in Bay Area sports in 2011

As 2011 enters the last lap, here's a look at the top 10 Bay Area stories of the year.

1. Al Davis dies at 82: The death of Raiders owner Al Davis (above, in 1989) was the passing of a true icon - a word often overused, but not here.

The Raiders' long-term prospects became murky with the loss of the man who defined the franchise for 49 years. But their immediate future could fall in line with Davis' legacy of rebellion and creative chaos.

In a classically erratic season, his Raiders are threatening to take down both the NFL's single-season penalty record and make the playoffs anyway - perhaps at the expense of the league's newest icon.

If Tim Tebow and the Broncos miss the playoffs, network executives will be devastated. Yielding a spot to the Raiders would be a double blow to suits everywhere, vindicating Carson Palmer, the quarterback who stood up to his Bengals boss and forced a trade.

Davis died Oct. 8 without a hint that Palmer would become the quarterback of his team 3 1/2 weeks later. But he always did love the outlaws. One of his last acts was acquiring Terrelle Pryor, an NCAA miscreant, through the supplemental draft.

And for all his business savvy, Davis never, ever identified with the suits. He fought his fellow owners on issues large and small, once going to court to challenge the Panthers for encroaching on the Raiders' team colors and Tampa Bay for borrowing too much of his beloved pirate logo.

Other teams can claim three Super Bowl wins. None has a legacy that resembles what Davis left to the Raiders.

As 2011 enters the last lap, here's a look at the top 10 Bay Area stories of the year.

1. Al Davis dies at 82: The Raiders' long-term prospects became murky with the loss of the man who defined the franchise for 49 years. But their immediate future could fall in line with Davis' legacy of rebellion and creative chaos.

In a classically erratic season, his Raiders are threatening to take down both the NFL's single-season penalty record and make the playoffs anyway - perhaps at the expense of the league's newest icon.

If Tim Tebow and the Broncos miss the playoffs, network executives will be devastated. Yielding a spot to the Raiders would be a double blow to suits everywhere, vindicating Carson Palmer, the quarterback who stood up to his Bengals boss and forced a trade.

Davis died Oct. 8 without a hint that Palmer would become the quarterback of his team 3 1/2 weeks later. But he always did love the outlaws. One of his last acts was acquiring Terrelle Pryor, an NCAA miscreant, through the supplemental draft.

And for all his business savvy, Davis never, ever identified with the suits. He fought his fellow owners on issues large and small, once going to court to challenge the Panthers for encroaching on the Raiders' team colors and Tampa Bay for borrowing too much of his beloved pirate logo.

Other teams can claim three Super Bowl wins. None has a legacy that resembles what Davis left to the Raiders.

2. Jim Harbaugh revives 49ers' franchise: Simply winning the Harbaugh hiring sweepstakes in January would have pushed this story into the top five. As other teams lined up to court the Stanford coach, threatening to derail the 49ers' pursuit, the franchise found its first winning formula in eight years.

An indulgent honeymoon period seemed to be in order, given the hindrances of the NFL lockout. Instead, Harbaugh quickly flipped the 49ers' culture.

His early efforts seemed a bit gimmicky - alternating the stalls of defensive and offensive players instead of allowing groupings by position, and handing out blue auto-mechanics shirts to signify working-class sensibilities.

But the 49ers are 12-3, defying serious second-guessing. Harbaugh has coached the skittishness out of Alex Smith's game and, best of all, taken 49ers such as Frank Gore and Patrick Willis to the place where they always belonged.

3. Buster Posey's season ends in May 25 collision: Posey's dismantled ankle would have been big news under any circumstances. The absence of the 2010 Rookie of the Year kept the defending world champs out of the playoffs.

But the Giants' attempts to redefine how players can legally approach home plate elevated their catcher's injury to a cause. So far, their efforts have failed, but they inserted themselves into what is becoming the runaway sports story of the decade.

As head-injury research rewrites the conventions of the NFL and NHL, all safety practices are up for debate. Giants manager Bruce Bochy made his best case when he said he could envision a crash at home that caused brain damage.

4. Andrew Luck passes on NFL draft, stays at Stanford: Luck should be leaving college with the Heisman Trophy. He will have to settle for a valuable degree and the knowledge that he helped entrench his school among the college football elite.

5. Bryan Stow attacked in L.A.; two people injured in Candlestick shootings: The Santa Cruz paramedic and Giants fan continues to convalesce nine months after thuggery leveled him in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. The Raiders and 49ers suspended their preseason tradition of playing each other after the mayhem that accompanied their August meeting.

The blurring of civility boundaries became apparent in a subtler way when MLB had to suspend Atlanta pitching coach Roger McDowell for verbally abusing fans at the Giants' park.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=5e7d7c1e2365f6722dacbafa66912a7e

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