We can't say this was one of the worst years in Bay Area sports but it has to be up there. One only has to look at the early part of this decade to see how far we've fallen. The A's and Giants were both perennial contenders and the Raiders were playoff bound. Only the 49ers and Warriors were woeful but well, beggars can't be choosers. We did get one Super Bowl appearance and one World Series out of our teams.

In fact, we tried to think about when we had a worse year and came up with maybe 1995 or 1996 when both baseball teams kind of sucked and the Raiders still in LA. But then the 49ers were still great. So then we went farther back and came up with maybe '78 or '77. But then the Raiders and Warriors were kind of good.

Either way, this was still a crappy year. The 49ers, Giants, Warriors, and Raiders were all below .500, the Raiders really below .500. In fact, the Raiders had one of the worst seasons in NFL history. As for the Giants, they appear to be mired in mediocrity as they completed yet another immensely frustrating season. As for the Warriors, they occasionally played exciting baseball but failed to make the playoffs for like the tenth year in a row.

But there was some good news out there. The A's finally broke through and made it to the American League Championship Series where the Tigers effectively smacked them around. The 49ers also looked to be on the rebound as they beat a few playoff teams and showed signs of feistiness. But in keeping with our theme, there's still bad news out there as both teams appear intent on moving, the A's to Fremont and the Niners to Santa Clara.

And, oh yeah, there's the Sharks. The Sharks were (are) one of the best teams in the NHL and made a big-time trade for MVP Joe Thorton but they blew a 2-0 start against the Edmonton Oilers to lose out in the playoffs. Even worse, their fans booed the Canadian National Anthem. Never a classy move.

As we said, not a great year for Bay Area sports.

Anyways, after the jump, the Two Chris's take a look at the sports year.

Basketball Chris

Globally, domestically, and locally, hoops in 2006 was pretty much more of the same.

Globally, the USA men's basketball team, a team hand-picked to be competitive internationally, got smoked by Greece at the World Basketball Championships in September, finishing third. When was the last time we won one of these things? It certainly wasn't the 2004 Athens Olympics (maybe the problem is Greece) where the US picked up another bronze but lost three games. As long as USA Basketball and the star-driven NBA continue to think that sheer individual talent can defeat team dynamics in a team game, the Team USA streak will continue.

Back on the home front, the NCAA men's tournament was the usual underdog's delight. George Mason U., out of the Colonial Athletic Association -- that's right, the same mega-conference that boasts perennial powers Drexel and William and Mary -- struck a blow for the little guy by shocking mighty UConn to get the Final Four. There they met irresistible force Joakim Noah and eventual and first-time tourney winner Florida, themselves a pretty amazing dark horse story.

At the professional level, it was more of the same, with the Miami Heat bringing the NBA championship to the Sunshine State as well. Also for the first time in team history. Side note: DWade is the next Kobe is the next Michael.

Locally, it was a down year on the college hoops scene. Among Bay Area men's teams, only Cal and the University of Pacific made the NCAA tournament, and only for the briefest of rounds at that. The Bay Area did get to host a few regional games though. Hey, it's something. For the women, Stanford and Cal made the big bracket dance. Cal was one and done, but Stanford actually threatened to make a run before getting tripped up by LSU in the Elite Eight.

For the Warriors, it was a year of more of more of the same. On January 11, 2006, the Warriors had a record of 17-17 and were fourth in the Pacific Division. On January 2, 2007, the Warriors' record is a hauntingly similar 16-16. Both illusorily decent records were built on generous early scheduling that included a high percentage of home games. We know what happened to the Warriors the rest of that 2005-2006 season, but hopes are high, or not, that this year's squad can overcome injuries and peccadilloes to break the 13-year curse.

Football Chris
Coming to you from Java Beach at the end of MUNI's N-car line, it's American Football Spectacular's 2006 “What Have We Learned?”

The 49ers and Raiders sucked so equally in the 2005 season that a coin flip determined which of the two would pick sixth and which would pick seventh in the 2005 NFL draft.

The tale here in 2006 is one of momentum. The 49ers are movin' on up, as Head Coach Nolan II grinds through his second year of remaking the Niners into a smashmouth run-first Western Ravens. All they lack now is a pass defense. The Raiders' 2006 tale is one of squandered talent and woe -- even more so than usual -- as their within-the-NFL's-top-5 defense drags the NFL's worst offense behind it like a pair of broken legs.

In the last few weeks of the 2006 season as the Niners were swiping at a possible win of the NFC West and its attendant playoff slot, the Raider Nation were mulling their chances of getting the #1 pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.

One team is building a foundation for its future on-the-field in spite of its clueless ownership. The other is being directly bogged down on-the-field by its clueless ownership.

There is no deeper hole for the Raiders to dig. This is the lowest level of hell. No one will offer a fallen bully any pity. The team's rebellious-yet-tolerant-of-the-outsider image doesn't count for anything when they can't present a challenge to any other team on any given Sunday. This ship is obviously sinking. And it was owner Al Davis who scuttled it, with all hands aboard

Even the #1 overall pick is out of reach. The hapless Detroit Lions have the inside track on the top pick, with a weaker schedule being the tiebreaker between DET & OAK.

Knowingly un-adaptive and obstinate; this seems be how Al Davis wants to go out. There is no such thing as a Pyrric loss, right? A franchise can either adapt to on-the-field change in the NFL or keep losing. By choosing to run an outdated offensive gameplan, Al Davis has chosen to waste what player talent he has assembled on the offensive side of the ball in pursuit of a romanticized rheumy glistening mirage vision of yesteryear's glory. Those days are long gone. And so is hope from the Raider Nation in 2006.

As for the Niners' future; being on pace to nearly make the playoffs was surprising and nice. As was the emergence of QB Alex Smith under Norv Turner & Trent Dilfer's tutalage. As was the grim power of RB Frank Gore's running. As was sweeping the Seahawks in 2006.

Spurts of winning where they shouldn't have, and losing where they shouldn't have marked the Niner 2006 campaign.

Yet the franchise's useless foolish wrongheaded dumb-ass ownership is mucking about trying to claim that they're going to build their stadium in Santa Clara and stringing along both SF & SC in their ineptitude.

Owner Dr. John York is so poor at managing the 49ers that he must have worked for Kaiser when he was in his practice. The amateurish blundering of York is a millstone 'round the neck of the franchise even as Nolan II has the team on the uptick.

Will the team keep its home in San Francisco? Will they be building their stadium at Great America in Santa Clara? The only sure thing with Dr. York at the helm is that nothing will happen without the worst case scenario happening first, forcing change.

For 2007, the Raiders remain the National Football League's Cuba; run by an aging strongman who can't make decisions anymore and ripe for swift unforeseen change when the crown finally does slip from his head.

The Niners in 2007 are similar to a band signed to a major label that has outperformed expectations. Like the metal band Mastodon from Atlanta, who delivered their fantastic Blood Mountain album this year for the Warner Music Group.

Both the 49ers and Mastodon are doing well and showing surprising capacity for growth, yet the people who own them and hold the purse strings have a history of making bad decisions and stunting any good things that may flower on their dime.

Here at American Football Spectacular, we don't like or trust Dr. York or major record labels. Their tragedy-strewn histories speak for themselves.

Also from American Football Spectacular, we wish you Flaming Lips-level joy and delight for the new year. Even for you, Dr. York, even for you.