With the richly deserved death of the false quarterback controversy narrative around the 49ers, we can all move on to the fun part of the week. And no, it's not worrying about the Miami Dolphins. Losing to the Philadelphia Eagles is just OOTT (one of those things) in the NFL, and you deal with it and move on to Cincinnati, as the saying goes.
The fun part of the week, though, is Oakland's to own, as the Athletics fail to host the Houston Astros in the second round of the American League playoffs. There will be no fans allowed in Dodger Stadium, where the series will be held, which means that if you intend to do the requisite boo-the-Astros thing, you'll have to do it yourself, without prompting from other people, and at the risk of feeling both self-conscious and a bit of a twerp.
But the choice will be yours. Entirely, embarrassingly yours.
More likely, you'll watch in relative silence, or with a rogue spouse or child. The baseball will be weird because all of the baseball's been weird — in fact, the Astros' series with Minnesota was among the most normal given that the Twins never win anything once the regular season stops, while the A's burned through pitchers like drunks do scotch at a open bar wedding in surviving the White Sox. They'll probably do so again.
Plus, for you locals, it'll be a bit of a hoot to watch Bob Melvin and Dusty Baker manage against each other, with Baker as the oldest manager and Melvin as the longest serving one in the same spot and backdrop being Dodger Stadium.
In short, this goes back to one of the truest truths in all of sports, which is that playoff games are better than anything else, and you can rank your playoff games by sport according to nothing more than your own taste. In other words, you can take Game 4 of the NBA Finals as most sensible people would, or you can watch baseball from noon to midnight. Either way, it beats the hell out of a tedious re-examination of Eagles-49ers. Frankly, you'd have a lot more fun wallowing in the Lions' sixth consecutive loss after building a double-digit lead. I mean, I know I would, but I'll be watching the baseball.