Thoughts on new stadium: 49ers take it easy on scoreboard Except for scoring, what more could you want in a new place?

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Notes from the historical first 49ers game at Levi's:

-- Broncos 34, 49ers 0. The home-team side of the big Levi's Stadium scoreboard still has that new-car smell.

-- In two practice games, it's Opponents 57, 49ers 3. Who's got it worse than we do?

-- Jim Harbaugh says, "We gotta tighten this down, fast. It's definitely off, in little, correctable ways." So here's what you do, Coach: Bring in the people who solved the traffic-flow problems, have them work with you and your staff.

-- Harbaugh assured us that his team will work hard in practice and get better. But what if the other teams do that, too?

-- I had smooth sailing getting into the stadium. It turned out to be a smart idea, stowing away in the back of a Bud Light delivery truck.

-- A big question, seriously: Will the stadium have the same loud crowd energy as Candlestick? So far: no. Reports from the sideline were that it was pretty quiet down there.

-- One phenomenon, especially late in games, especially when it's hot like it was Sunday: The 9,000 club seats, closest to the benches, empty early as the rich folks flee to the cool comfort of their private clubs under the grandstands. They're still cheering as they sip their martinis, but nobody can see 'em or hear 'em.

-- Peyton Manning is always a treat to watch. I believe his signature shout at the line of scrimmage Sunday was, "Livermore! Livermore!"

Colin Kaepernick and Peyton Manning chat after their very different performances. Colin Kaepernick and Peyton Manning chat after their very different performances. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Thoughts on new stadium: 49ers take it easy on scoreboard 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

-- Great press-box food, but I worry because the kale-and-string-bean salad was grown in the Levi's rooftop garden, where veggies are grown using water recycled from the 49ers' locker room.

-- Colin Kaepernick, breaking it all down for us on what went wrong: "One thing here, one thing there."

-- Original stadium plans called for the 49ers to have the bench on the east side of the field, opposite the wall of luxury suites. But Harbaugh didn't want sun in the eyes of the players, so the 49ers switched to the west side. No big deal, except that the plan was for players of both teams to enter and exit the field directly through the super-exclusive BNB Melon Club on each side of the stadium. With the bench switch, that plan became too awkward. So the Melon Club crowd is left holding the bag.

-- I'm guessing Harbaugh wasn't super enthusiastic about his team entering the field cattle-pen style through the BNB Melon Club, anyway. Hey, Coach, nice game, can we buy you a margarita?

-- Kaepernick: "We just have to finish our drives off." I can hear Richard Sherman saying, "Exactly!"

-- The 49ers could feel better about Kaepernick's who-cares-it's-a-practice-game quarterback rating of 66.4, except that Manning rang up a 120.8.

-- Kaepernick still has his fastball and showed nice touch on a 45-yarder to Brandon Lloyd, just beyond Lloyd's fingertips. Jerry Rice wouldda had it in his back pocket, and Rice is 51 years old.

-- In the press box, they have a "cobbler station." By coincidence, that's the name of my favorite '60s folk-rock group. Your choice of peach or mixed-berry, with ice cream and caramel drizzle (the name of my favorite adult-film actress). Nice touch, but it put dozens of media folks over the calorie cap.

-- Second-half press-box problem: cobbler coma.

-- I was disappointed in the folks at the cobbler station. They said they couldn't fix my shoe.

-- Weird phenomenon: Jets taking off from the nearby San Jose airport buzz over the stadium and cast eerie shark-like shadows over the west grandstand. These shadows are now called sharknados.

-- Phil Dawson came up short on a 55-yard field-goal attempt and blew a shorter try. Dead air in Santa Clara?

-- The stadium sound people have a foghorn to punctuate touchdowns. As one person wondered on Twitter, why the foghorn? There's no fog in Santa Clara, and the 49ers don't score. In case the 49ers do score, the sound people might consider a smoghorn.

-- The 49ers gladly would trade their backup quarterbacks for the Raiders' backups and throw in a lifetime supply of cobbler.

-- Peeve Dept.: On the giant scoreboards at each end of the stadium, the score and game info disappears when ads are flashed. Can't we keep the score up there all the time, just in case the 49ers ever score?

-- On the other hand, those ads probably pay for the press-box cobbler.