I post this comment with trepidation because I know how much this guy -- currently my favorite Bay Area athlete -- is despised. But here it is.

I like Kwame Harris. I really like Kwame Harris.

In the past I've had other favorite Bay Area athletes. Dusty Baker was one. Dusty is a known great guy. Steve Young is another. They make my all-time list of favorite Bay Area athletes along with Jeffrey Leonard and Kevin Mitchell and Keith Fahnhorst and Chris Mullin and Dave Stewart and Johnnie LeMaster.

(Of course there's a list of my all-time least favorite athletes. Quickly and off the top of my head -- Jose Canseco, Joe Morgan, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Mike LaCoss, Barry Bonds, Ted Hendricks.)

But back to Kwame. I am not asserting he is a great or even good left tackle. Lately he hasn't even been adequate. He knows that. Interim Cable correctly considered benching Kwame but the backup was even worse, so Kwame holds onto his job by default. And remember, left tackle is vital. He protects the blind side of the quarterback and Kwame has not been protecting very well. He's OK on run plays but on pass plays he often false starts and that ruins plays, or he gets beat by the pass rusher -- maybe Kwame has poor balance or reacts slowly. I'm not an expert. But I sit in the press box and watch him with my binoculars and see him get beat. So, I'm not defending his play although in the interest of full disclosure I root for him to improve.

I like each guy I named because they are nice guys and highly interesting guys -- every one of them. They also treat me like a human being although I admit I am part of an inferior species called Sportswritercus Americanus.

Kwame fits into the nice/interesting guy category. I wrote a profile of him during training camp -- it didn't sugarcoat things, explained this may be his last chance. But I also told how he's a serious piano player and was an English major at Stanford, etc. The next time I was around the Raiders Kwame sought me out and thanked me for the article. He even shook my hand. That was the first time a professional athlete ever thanked me for something I wrote. But, hey, I've only been doing this job 30 years so I'm a mere beginner.

After Raiders games, usually losses, Kwame chats as long as I want even if he stunk out the joint. Sometimes we talk about the game -- "How did we look from up there?" he once asked sheepishly. "Not very good," I said.

Sometimes we talk about books we're reading or what we thought of California when we arrived from back East -- he's from Delaware. "The first time I drove on 280, it blew me away. It was so beautiful," he said. He is charming and polite and warm and heartbreakingly sincere and he actually looks me in the eye and asks questions about me as if I really am a person.

So, you bet I like Kwame and pull for Kwame. If you knew him you would too.