SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- I was thinking when I pulled into the San Francisco 49ers training facility, the once state-of-the-art Marie P. DeBartolo Sports Centre, how much times have changed for the 49ers.
Because I couldn't pull into the place.
On Monday, the first steel beams were laid in place for the 49ers' new stadium -- set to open in August 2014 -- and there was the core of a steel structure in the parking lot and street in front of the building where I'd usually park when reporting on the 49ers. So now parking is on the opposite side of the complex.
Progress is everywhere. When I talked with GM Trent Baalke up in his second floor office, he pointed out his window at the new $1.75 million indoor-outdoor weight-training facility being built; that should open this fall. The practice fields were dug up after the 2011 season and replaced with sturdy sod. The stadium will be a green one, with solar panels set to provide all the electricity needed for the game-day operation of the place. And there will be a huge 49er Hall of Fame inside the place; former 49er PR czar Jerry Walker is organizing it.
On the practice field Monday, I met the new team president, Gideon Yu, who CEO Jed York hired from Facebook. I looked out and saw a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The NFC's best defense in 2011 -- the stingiest in both yards and points allowed -- was back intact. How often does a top defense in the Free Agency Era return all 11 starters? The Niners are doing it. On offense, Randy Moss beat corners Carlos Rogers and Perrish Cox in one-on-one drills; who knows if he'll be able to put a Mossian season together, but the reviews are all good so far. LaMichael James, the quick Oregon rookie, and Brandon Jacobs, the giant ex-Giant runner motivated to prove the Super Bowl champs made a big mistake by letting him go, began to show the new dimensions Jim Harbaugh hopes to have at his disposal.
There were times, many times, I never thought I'd see all things Niner hum so smoothly. For eight years before last season, San Francisco hadn't had a winning season. The team kept butting its head against walls trying to get a new stadium built in and around San Francisco. But York, in charge here since late 2008, kept at it and finally got the shovels in the ground in Santa Clara. He hired Baalke, a Bill Parcells disciple, and wooed Harbaugh after his Orange Bowl season at Stanford, and now the personnel and coaching side seem to be set for a few years.
Short-term the 49ers might be limited by the passing game, though Baalke has upgraded Alex Smith's options (Moss, Mario Manningham) in the offseason. Long-term this is the best I've felt about the 49ers since Steve Young walked off the field for the last time in 1999. The NFL has long wrung its hands about the three California franchises (and the fourth one it wants to see in Los Angeles someday) because of stadium issues. But scratch one off the list. The NFL shouldn't have any worries about the 49ers for a long time.