THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Things that make you go Hmmm...

During these uncertain times which are sometimes shocking, sometimes frustrating and sometimes just plain maddening, there are certain things that might make you alternately stop and think, or make you shake your head, or make you want to smash something.

Like ...

... Sitting at the same stoplight through more than one cycle...

... Trying to decipher lyrics to Bee Gees songs during their disco days...

And, if you're team is not in the Super Bowl this year, wondering if you have the right quarterback to get your team to the "Big Game."

IF YOU'RE a fan of Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes, you're neither shocked nor frustrated nor mad.

With Brady, it seems like you either love him for his longevity and sustained excellence.

Or you hate him because he wins all the damn time.

And/or, you wish he was on your team.

Same with Mahomes, who is cute and cuddly right now, but if he keeps on winning Super Bowls ...

A little closer to home, the Seahawks have an elite quarterback, but can’t seem to decide how to use him to get the best of his abilities. Or are just too stubborn to.

“Hmm, lets see, let’s take our dynamic dual-threat quarterback, like Mahomes but older, and make him hand off and stay in the pocket.”

Great idea, the rest of the league says. Thanks!

... Wondering how we went from no fans allowed, to just a few fans allowed, to now, near-normal-sized crowds at high school sporting events in just a few weeks during a global pandemic...

A little south of there, the San Francisco/Santa Clara/Glendale 49ers have been linked to everybody from Brady to Deshaun Watson to Kirk Cousins to Aaron Rodgers to Matthew Stafford to Stafford underwear...

OK, maybe not underwear.

Anyway, it's all because their current QB, Jimmy G, did everything except deliver them a Super Bowl title last year. One more completion in the fourth quarter of that game, or one more running play that gained a first down late, and the narrative might be, "When is that Mahomes fellow from the State Farm commercials finally going to win the big one?"

...Wondering why some TV networks turn the fake crowd noise WAY up on their telecasts, when the crowd wouldn't make that kind of noise even if a crowd was there...

THE WEIRD thing is, most of those guys the 49ers have been linked to acquiring, they could have already had years earlier, through the draft.

The 49ers took Alex Smith at No. 1 in 2005. Rodgers dropped to the Packers with the 24th pick.

Everybody passed on Brady in the 2000 draft, until New England took a chance on him in the sixth round, with the 199th overall pick.

The 49ers kicked the tires on Brady during the last offseason, when he opened up his recruitment after leaving New England, before deciding to stick with the guy that used to back up Brady with the Patriots.

Though with our depleted receiving corps and shaky offensive line, Brady likely wouldn't have had the same success in SF/SC/GD that he's had throwing to the guys available in Tampa.

But we'll never know.

The 49ers did take a QB in that 2000 draft -- Giovanni Carmazzi, in the third round from Hofstra. He did not throw a pass in his NFL career. Brady has thrown more than 10,000.

And Mahomes and Watson were both available in the 2017 draft, when the Niners took defensive lineman Solomon Thomas with the No. 3 pick. Mahomes went at No. 10 to the Chiefs, Watson at 12 to the Texans.

Sure, it's easy to look back and say "Well, you should have picked so-and-so." It's just ironic how many of those guys the 49ers are interested in now, when they weren't as interested in them then -- as opposed to not even being in a position to draft them.

Anyway ...

...By the way, what is that line the Bee Gees are singing — twice — right before they sing, "You should be dancin', yeah"?

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.