The question of whether the proximity of an electrical substation to the 49ers’ practice facility continues to drive conversation. Because 49ers players continue to give the conspiracy theory oxygen.
49ers tight end George Kittle recently boiled it all down to one simple request: Let’s make sure it’s not an issue.
Kittle gave extensive comments about the situation in an interview with Jordan Rose of Complex.
“One of my teammates put it really good, Kyle Juszczyk, our fullback,” Kittle said. “And he said, ‘As a professional athlete, you’re always trying to get one percent better.’ Like, ‘Is this ice tub, is this rehab-recovery thing, is this red-light therapy, does it make me one-percent better?’ Because then you can stack all those up and you’re like, ‘Hey, you’re three-percent better than the next guy because you’re doing all this stuff.’ If something’s affecting like negatively 0.25 percent, you’d want to know about it. Like whether it’s this type of cleat is hurting me, this type of shoulder pads is, like, increas[ing] my risk to get hurt. You’d probably change that.
“So I think all we’re saying is, as players, it’s like, we would just like to look into it to make sure it’s not something. That’s what I would just appreciate. Like, ‘Hey, this isn’t gonna affect you guys.’ And then if they come out and they do some research, like, ‘No, you guys are good,’ then I don’t think we’ll think about it.”
That’s a fair and reasonable request and the 49ers have said they’ll look into it. Unfortunatey, we live in a post-truth dystopia in which self-serving opinion trumps fact.
Thus, regardless of what the research shows, someone won’t believe it. And Kittle has something that could justify someone/anyone to reject the research as unreliable.
“Now, one thing that messes me up with it — this is tough,” Kittle said. “My rookie season, there used to be trees in between the electrical substation and our practice facility, and there’s a fence there, too. And above the fence, all the trees had no leaves on them, year-round. . . . All dead. There’s a couple bunches of leaves every once in a while, and it was like that — no one notices it until you point it out to people. Like, I didn’t point it out to coach [Kyle] Shanahan until like 2021.
“Like, that was pointed out to me my rookie season, I was like, ‘That’s kind of weird, yeah. It is what it is.’ But then this year the NFL came in and cut them all down. So they’re not there anymore, so no one can see them. So it’s only us vets that know that that was the truth. I don’t think anyone’s talking about that yet, but that one messed me up. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s no leaves on these trees. Why?’”
Kittle then tried to make light of the situation, after lighting the fuse on the dead-tree theory.
“My argument for it is this,” Kittle said. “Like, Fred Warner, he practices there and trains there year-round, and he’s had one injury his entire career. So it’s like — now, did he just evolve and he absorbed the radiation? I don’t know. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But it’s just like, let’s just figure out if it’s actually harming the players or not, and hopefully it’s not. It’s easy.”
It’s easy, as long as the outcome of the team’s examination of the issue is accepted. No matter what the 49ers conclude, someone will dispute it. And someone who has an offer to join the team in free agency will choose to take the same offer from a team with a practice facility that presents no risk whatsoever, credible or not, from the proximity of an electrical substation.
When the NFL announced last week that the Rams will host the 49ers next season in Melbourne, it was disclosed that the game likely will happen in September or October. John Ourand of Puck has a more specific time for the game.
Week 1.
Ourand made the disclosure in connection with his reporting that the NFL “has been taking meetings with streamers” regarding the rights to broadcast that game, along with four other international games that have reverted to the NFL as part of the recently-completed NFL Network/ESPN merger.
Here’s where it gets interesting. As shared by Michael David Smith, the Melbourne representative at the NFL’s Super Bowl media center said the game will be played on a Sunday afternoon, U.S. time. With a 16-hour fight from L.A. and San Francisco (14.5 hours back) and a 19-hour time difference, playing the game on the Sunday of Week 1 would put both teams in a bind, when it comes to preparing for their Week 2 games.
Unless both teams will be getting a very early bye, it makes far more sense to start Week 1 on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. That would give both teams ample time to travel home and get ready for Week 2, which for them would be two weeks later.
Currently, only one college game is scheduled for the Sunday of Labor Day weekend: Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. If that’s a night game, Sunday afternoon will be wide open for 49ers-Rams.
It would also become a useful trial balloon for the NFL, in the event that the inevitable 18-game season comes with two byes per team. Under that formula, the NFL would have to shift Week 1 back to Labor Day weekend in order to land the Super Bowl plane on President’s Day weekend.
The league ditched Labor Day weekend in 2001. The concern was that fewer people watch games those days, since they’re out and about for one last dose of summer. Now that everyone is carrying a TV in their pockets, that should no longer be a concern.
What better way to test that out than to stage 49ers-Rams on Sunday, September 6?
That’s our prediction. Feel free to go make the corresponding bet on Kalshi or Polymarket.
More details are emerging regarding the Monday shooting of 49ers defensive lineman Keion White. And those details involve Grammy-winning rapper Lil Baby.
Via Jonah Owen Lamb of the San Francisco Standard, the incident occurred at Dahlia’s, a bar and nightclub on Mission Street in San Francisco. White had a private party in the downstairs area of the facility.
Per the police report, Lil Baby (whose real name is Dominique Jones) and his entourage tried to enter White’s private event. At that point, White and Lil Baby got into an argument.
A witness told police that he went upstairs to get assistance from management in an effort to defuse the situation. At that point, the witness heard two gunshots. When he returned to the downstairs event, White had been shot in the left leg.
Police found a 9mm shell casing and a .45-caliber shell casing near the scene of the shooting.
White reportedly was uncooperative when asked who had shot him. No suspect has been named.
Initial reports inidicated that White was not believed to be involved in the altercation that resulted in the shooting. That obviously conflicts with the contents of the police report.
And then there’s this memorable quote from the officer who prepared the police report: “As I entered, I saw numerous scantily clad females picking up dollar bills that were strewn all over the floor. Some of the females were topless and appeared to have been adult entertainers.”
Whether an arrest is made remains to be seen. If White, who presumably knows something about the shooting, refuses to talk, it becomes more difficult to crack the case.
White was shot in the ankle and underwent successful surgery on Monday. The 49ers have not commented on his timetable for returning to practice. The offseason program opens in April.
49ers defensive lineman Keion White underwent successful surgery after suffering a gunshot wound to the ankle.
Via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, the 49ers made that announcement on Monday night. Maiocco adds that the team has not put a timetable on White’s return.
White was shot early Monday on Mission Street in San Francisco.
A third-round pick of the Patriots in 2023, White was traded to the 49ers during the 2025 season. He’s under contract through 2026, at a salary of $1.812 million.
He appeared in nine games with two starts for the 49ers, and he played in both postseason games.
49ers defensive lineman Keion White was shot early Monday.
“Keion White was a victim of a shooting and sustained a bullet wound to his ankle this morning in San Francisco,” the 49ers said, via Matt Barrows of TheAthletic.com. “He is currently undergoing surgery at a local hospital. We will provide further updates when appropriate.”
Barrows reports that the shooting happened during an altercation on Mission Street in San Francisco. He is not believed to have been part of the incident.
The extent of the injury is not currently known.
White was a second-round pick of the Patriots in 2023. He was traded to the 49ers during the 2025 regular season.
In August 2024, 49ers receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in San Francisco’s Union Square during a robbery attempt.
