Day 1: Boo Birds, Motivational Speeches, and a Whole Lot of Nutcracking.

The San Francisco 49ers have opened up only two days of training camp practice—today and next Saturday—to their fans because their Santa Clara facility is undergoing renovations.

If they have too many more practices like their first one, however, then nobody will want to come watch them anyway.

Or to hear Head Coach Mike Singletary's summation of the proceedings, "We've got a long way to go. Right now we're not very good."

He was being uncharacteristically charitable.

The temptation is to lay all the blame on the quarterbacks as bad reads, knocked-down passes and interceptions ruled the day, but really the whole offense was miserably off sync.

On running plays the blockers struggled to get any push, particularly when starting halfback Frank Gore wasn't the one getting the reps, and rookie back Glen Coffee and other runners such as Thomas Clayton and Kory Sheets were quickly enveloped by defenders in the backfield.

Meanwhile on passing plays it didn't matter if it was a 3-on-3 drill, a 6-on-8, or the full 11-on-11, it was a rarity for any of the team's signal callers, whether it was Shaun Hill (who took the first team reps), Alex Smith, or Damon Huard to complete anything other than a dump off to one of the backs. 

At one point, after fourth-string rookie quarterback Nate Davis connected on a pass, a fan in the stands screamed out, "Complete three in a row and the [starting] job is yours!"

It was interesting to observe however that while both he and Hill struggled equally, that the fans seemed to focus their venom almost exclusively on Smith, booing him after virtually every misfire.

When Smith did complete a pass, he was often greeted with a sarcastic Bronx cheer, as was tight end Vernon Davis whenever he caught a ball.

It's a good thing for Smith that the fans don't have a vote on who will be starting because from the sound of the stands, the competition is over before it started.

For his part Singletary cautioned that it's normal for defenses to be far ahead of offenses when NFL training camps start and also made a point of telling the press that there were so many elements of the offense that were executing poorly that it would be impossible right now to assess the play of the quarterbacks.

To put it another way: I'll worry about who's throwing the ball after I make sure the blockers are blocking and the receivers are running the right routes.

We'll see if the afternoon practice is any crisper. Singletary stopped the drills three separate times in the morning to gather the troops around and let them know he wasn't particularly pleased with what he was seeing and one gets the sense that at that pace he'll run out of material—and patience—before long.

An Afternoon Taking In "The Nutcracker"

One new wrinkle to Camp Singletary that the holdovers from the previous regime weren't exposed to was what the coach called "The Nutcracker," a variation of the popular "Oklahoma" drill that most high school and college coaches employ.

In the Nutcracker the team breaks off into different groups, linemen versus linemen, backs versus linebackers and receivers versus defensive backs, and the guys take turns lining up across each other one-on-one about three yards apart and then slamming into one another.

Generally the guy who gets his pads lowest wins, but sometimes it's just a strength mismatch regardless of technique.

To absolutely no one's surprise, Davis was the most talkative 49er in the drill, whether he was engaged in it or cheering on teammates, and he estimated that he got the better of linebacker Parys Haralson—his usual practice field sparring partner—three out of the four times they jousted.

Talking The Part

Speaking of soundbites, the best one of Day One went to Hill, who told the media during his press conference, "I keep hearing 'it's your job to lose, it's your job to lose.' My approach is, "It's mine to take."

He didn't do a whole lot to take it in the first practice, but Smith didn't exactly gain on him either.

A Point That's Hard To Refute

One wag, who'll go unnamed, playfully chastised another for "Tweeting" between press conferences, saying, "Now knock that off. How long does it take to type, 'Nothing happened?'"

Notes

Haralson had to leave practice with a right hip-flexor strain and will be further evaluated.

Fullback Moran Norris missed the practice for "personal reasons" and was excused by Singletary. Running back Michael Robinson got the first team reps in his place over the other fullbacks on the roster, Zak Keasey and Brit Miller.

Rookie defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois, a 7th round pick out of LSU, was diagnosed by the team's doctors with a staph infection that he contracted while home in Miami and is day-to-day while he's being treated.

There is "nothing new" according to Singletary on the contract negotiations with their unsigned first round pick, wide receiver Michael Crabtree.