SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS | SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
Feb.02.2013
When the Baltimore Ravens take on the San Francisco 49ers in this weekend’s Big Game in New Orleans, a real Hollywood-and-Vine moment will emerge. Ravens right tackle Michael Oher was the subject of the 2009 blockbuster film, The Blind Side.
The award winning film captures the story of the...
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Jan.29.2013
Barack Obama – a Red Room member, by the way – has expressed concern about the damage football causes to its participants. If the violence in the game is reduced, thus also reducing the damage to bodies and brains, then ``those of us who are fans maybe won't have to examine our consciences quite as...
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Jan.23.2013
If, as some claim, violent video games and films have contributed to the desentsitization that has led to our killing culture, then certainly football can also be blamed. We have been trained to continue to cheer the game even though we now know there is ongoing brain damage in every contest. If...
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Feb.04.2012
Sunday millions upon millions will be watching something called the Super Bowl. They might as well call it the Brain Damage Bowl. After all the cheering is done players will be leaving with their senses less intact than before the game.
The unlucky ones will suffer dementia down the line, or some...
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Dec.29.2010
Chip and I headed from Palo Alto on Sunday December 31, 1983 in my 1970 green on green Chevy Nova to the NFL playoff game between the 49ers and my Detroit Lions. I noticed his "killer weed" we smoked on the way had a funny smell. What ever was present caused me quickly to be looking...
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Dec.24.2009
The good
BIRTH OF A DYNASTY
The San Francisco 49ers victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan on January 24, 1982 at first appeared to be just another surprise world championship by a previously bad sports team. Obviously Bill Walsh was the “flavor of the day”...
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Nov.04.2009
Daddy dearest
THE GENIUS
The San Francisco 49ers of the golden 1980s were a team of superlatives. Discussions can be had to “determine” whether they were the greatest dynasty ever; whether Montana was the best of all quarterbacks, Ronnie Lott the game’s all-time greatest defensive back, Jerry...
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Nov.01.2009
Patsies
“BEAT L.A.!”
In 1980, a huge shift in Southern California sports occurred when the Rams moved to Anaheim Stadium; the suburbs.
This left the Coliseum “vacant,” in a way. USC continued to play there, but UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl, leaving the Coliseum to SC and the Raiders...
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Oct.14.2009
THE MELANCHOLY STORY OF JIM PLUNKETT
Jim Plunkett is not a 49er hero. He is, in fact, a 49er bust. There are no great stories of Jim Plunkett leading the 49ers to glory, or even much beyond marginal half-season success. But in a book called The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, Plunkett cannot be...
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Oct.07.2009
The bad
IT IS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN
Cliché time: it is darkest just before dawn. Richard Nixon: “To appreciate what it is like to be on the highest mountain top, one must tread through the lowliest valley.”
For the San Francisco 49ers, the period from 1973-80 represented the...
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