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Offseason 2003 |
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Offseason 2003 |
Last we saw the overrated ones, they had quit before halftime in an embarrassing surrender in Tampa Bay that proved the 49ers never belonged in the playoffs in the first place. So what have they been doing since?
August 12, 2003 (NHS) -- Shortly before training camp was due to start on July 25th, Jeff Garcia suffered a back injury during a private workout in Los Angeles. Concerned team doctors scrambled with every possible treatment, including epidural injections. But Garcia himself outdid all those efforts and came up with a solution truly worthy of that legendary 49er genius:
He danced in a rap video.
Yes, that's right, folks. There's no better way to shake off that bulging disc in your back than to shake yo' ass with the MTV generation.
The 33-year old Garcia apparently did just that on July 27th after practice, performing an "energetic version of the chicken dance", according to the Sacramento Bee. He then proudly queried the gathered audience, "You didn't know I had those moves, did you?"
Actually, Jeff, what we didn't know is that you're such a complete and absolute moron that you would dance a jig with a hurt back, literally hours after doctors were painstakingly injecting drugs into your spine.
So now Garcia is riding pine and there's concern that he may have to miss all of the preseason. Of course, the company line is that it's just precautionary, so for legitimate fans everywhere the episode will most likely amount to nothing more than having to suffer the excitement of the upcoming NFL football season being interrupted with yet another of the ubiquitous "sky is falling" Bandwagon soap operas. Try clicking on some news of your favorite team, and no doubt you'll also be force-fed the plaintive Bay Area warbling about when-oh-when will poor Garthia will play again. Of course, you certainly won't hear anything about that dance, the most audacious fact to the story that's being conveniently forgotten in the media.
Now, we're not trying to insinuate any cause-effect to the matter. Despite how awesome Garthia's moves were in his own humble opinion, they probably weren't responsible for aggravating his back injury. However, you can't deny the idiocy of Garcia's decision to go through with the video shoot under the circumstances, and if it had been just about any other quarterback, you'd likely be hearing jokes about it on Sportscenter. Instead, it looks like the best coverage of Garcia you can find is on MTV.
July 18, 2003 (NHS) -- Niner fans have long tried to fool themselves that the S.F. Bay Area is actually a legitimate sports haven, but recent developments within the media industry have reminded us that pretense is long gone. The Bay Area remains one of the sorriest excuses for professional sports support in the country, and the state of its media reflects it.
As we all already know, every newspaper, radio, and television station in the area has a purposeful agenda to smooch the 49ers' ass, so no 49er fan can be expected to be anything but ignorant about the truth of their team. The most popular station for sports fans is KNBR radio, which portrays itself as "the home of the 49er fan". Yet come game time, you'll have to move the dial up to KGO to actually hear the game. How many "fans" actually do this is suspect.
Then KTCT radio, "The Ticket 1050", came along, a station that claimed to be for Raiders fans. It even broadcast the Raiders games. But all it took was about five seconds of listening to realize that every personality on the station was actually a Niner-smoocher pretending to like the Raiders. In fact, KTCT was owned by the same company as KNBR, so these so-called Raiders personalities were actually employees of "the home of the 49er fan". Recently, this futile experiment in duplicitous duality came to an end. "Ticket 1050" is now referred to on the air as "KNBR 1050", as it should be, reminding Raiders fans they don't have a voice in the Bay Area media -- and never did.
KNBR has now taken things a bit further by deciding to air their hit "Razor and Mr. T" show on both KNBR and KTCT at the same time, during drive-time, every weekday -- thus ensuring all sports fans trying to find any sort of legitimate takes on their way home will instead be treated to a steady diet of pro-49er bile -- which is exactly what makes the show so popular.
As we've said about the host, Ralph Barbieri, at our smooch page, the biggest misnomer in local radio is Barbieri's nickname, "The Razor". There's nothing sharp about this guy, from his dull wit to his fleshy behind to his soft interviews that amount to nothing more than pillow talk with his current Niner du jour. He may be the most hated local broadcaster based on our e-mail. His whiny voice when combined with whining about the 49ers is an unbeatable combination.
As for Tolbert, in the beginning, he had his good moments and was telling it like it is. But now that he's become an established member of the S.F. media and partnered with Barbieri, he's sold out. Adding to the embarrassment to the situation is that KNBR has now decided that on Mondays, the most overrated TE in history, former 49er Brent Jones, will be partnered with Barbieri, creating an amazing coalescence of past and present Niner ass-kissing, and hours of really bad radio that's the only game in town for the clueless Bay Area fans.
Mornings on KNBR you can find the "John London Not Just Sports Show" -- because heaven forbid sports alone try to hold the attention of the Bay Area "faithful" -- unless the 49ers win, of course. Then you can tune into uninterrupted stroking of the 49ers. If they lose, however, expect to hear Amish lesbians kissing, or whatever else they can come up with that's "not just sports" to avoid the subject of the 49ers.
With the situation hitting rock bottom, it naturally begs the age old question everyone's always wondered about Niner fans: is the media there so terrible because of the poor quality of fans, or are the fans so worthless because of the media?
July 17, 2003 (NHS) -- One of the biggest blights to ever affect professional sports, also known as Eddie DeBartolo, is finally gone.
The bigger the problem, the bigger the payment, of course, so it took one last hurrah of $70 million to get rid of him. But with this final payoff that was wire transferred sometime early July 2003 (presumably to an offshore, casino or riverboat account), the 49ers are now fully the property of Denise and John York.
The Bandwagon, of course, will always treat the legacy of Eddie D. under the law of "yes, he's a crook, but he's our crook." As such, the DeBartolo era will always remain as the epitome of the idiotic lack of reasoning and hypocrisy that defines the slack-jawed Bay Area fans and media yokels. Even to this day you'll find them spouting how DeBartolo was great while casting Al Davis as evil (apparently cheating the salary cap, buying rings with your inherited family mob-money and placing bribes creates a better class of NFL owner). Most have no idea of DeBartolo's sexual assault and assault charges, but hey, it's cool to make fun of the Cowboys, they do drugs!
As for the NHS, we have no choice but to let the simpletons eat their cake since we have known the truth of DeBartolo all along. Some goodbye Eddie D. links:
A final warning: Dan Pompei of The Sporting News, still smarting over the loss of his favorite owner, wrote that the Yorks "won't oppose Eddie owning another team," obviously indicating his inside knowledge (or pipe dream) for Eddie to be back again some day.
June 19, 2003 (NHS) -- Considering that the 49ers have enjoyed being the most over-hyped team in professional sports for the past two decades, you gotta laugh when they have the gall to complain about their treatment in the media.
The SF49ers.com web site did just that, actually having the nerve to complain that they were left off a list at NFL.com of the teams that possess the most depth at running back. The way they whined was particularly galling and far beyond the norm, even for the Whiners. They started off by attacking the credibility of the writer, Pat Kirwan: "For those of you who don't know Kirwan let's give you some background," said SF49ers.com, "From 1989-97 he held multiple positions with the New York Jets ... Prior to joining the Jets, Pat was a scout for the Buccaneers and Cardinals as well as the offensive coordinator at Hofstra University."
Why go through the exercise of listing Kirwan's resume? Well, to the Niner fan readership, it's a very transparent indictment: since Kirwan never worked with the Niners, his not a member of the "49er family", so he obviously must have some bias against them, an East Coast bias, perhaps?
Wow, the field of sports journalism consists of thousands of people over the past 20 years, and SF49ers.com finally found the one guy that isn't either from the Bay Area or suffering some form of perverse infatuation with the Bay Area that forces him to kiss Niner ass 100% of the time. Congratulations, SF49ers.com, you found him even before the NHS did.
Seriously, it would have been hilarious to hear Kirwan's reaction to the SF49ers.com article, because the insinuation is ridiculous. All Kirwan did was omit the 49ers from the list of the deepest RB units in the NFL. And that's a crime deserving of a hate piece from the official web site of a team?
So let's see... on one hand you have Chris Berman, Al Michaels, every employee of ESPN and every other media outlet calling the 49ers "the best ever" -- and nobody complains (except the NHS) -- then on the other hand you have one guy write one article that doesn't say the 49ers suck or doesn't say they are bad -- it just fails to list them among the deepest RB units -- and it's perfectly okay to jump all over the guy?
Isn't it possible, just possible, for one lone person in the entire media in the entire world to actually believe that the 49ers' running game isn't Just That Good? Maybe the 49ers' gaudy rushing stats are due to the fact that they come against playing a schedule loaded with the worst teams in the NFL? And maybe, just maybe, Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow aren't future Hall of Famers, and the fact they just signed Rashaan Salaam, a guy who hasn't played in the NFL since last century (1999), shows that the 49ers are desperately looking for any warm body to provide some depth at RB?
No, apparently there's no room for such neutral opinions according to the 49ers, who with that article really showed how demented they are about their media coverage.
May 18, 2003 (NHS) -- Ever since that big ol' jet airliner carried Joe Montana away to Kansas City, the Bandwagon has been obsessed about finding "The Next Joe". Sure, the 49ers have won games with other "best ever" QBs since, but trying to replicate the legendary magic of Joe has always remained foremost on the minds and hearts of the fans, media, and of course, Bill Walsh.
Rick Mirer became the original "next Joe" when prior to the 1993 draft Walsh all but assured the collegiate would go on to Joe-like greatness (which is, of course, a notch above regular greatness). It made sense to the media; both went to Notre Dame, so it was perfect, and it was "The Genius" making the comparison, so who could argue? Nobody did argue, not even when it became clear that Mirer was actually dumber than a post and more interested in the Seattle grunge-rock scene than football. And certainly nobody ever blamed Walsh for being wrong.
Mirer was already long-forgotten by the time Jake Plummer came along and was anointed "next Joe" status in 1997. Plummer was exciting, athletic, and a gritty winner in college -- everything the Bandwagon likes to pretend is true for Montana. Perhaps if Plummer ended up in San Francisco instead of Arizona, maybe he could have been better than his career passer rating of 69.0, but it was not to be -- and, of course, not Walsh's fault.
Which brings us to the third swing-and-a-miss by Walsh -- the Next Joe that came the closest to actually being drafted by the 49ers. Well, okay, it wasn't really close. McNown was drafted 12th overall in 1999 -- long before the Niners were set to pick at #27 -- but with all the Bandwagon pre-draft hype, one felt it was a foregone conclusion McNown would be making Joe-like music for the 49ers after Walsh pulled his "usual magic" in the draft to move up and grab him. Unfortunately, all Walsh could manage was to move up three whole spots -- which netted the Niners the vaunted Reggie McGrew -- and McNown was thus doomed to failure in Chicago.
After three strikes, Walsh was far from out. Instead, the Bandwagon passed out blame to Seattle, Arizona and Chicago for ruining these Would-be Joes. "If only they had been in San Francisco, under Walsh," the theory went. So one-by-one after they failed miserably in these other venues, the 49ers didn't hesitate to bring the Next Joes home to the system that was their destiny.
First came Mirer in 2000. He did his part to prove the thinking true -- magically posting a career-high 86.7 passer rating for the Niners. Of course, this was in just 20 attempts, and the Bandwagon bored of him quickly after uninspiring exhibition performances. He couldn't even beat out Jeff Garcia for the starting job, so Mirer was gone.
Next McNown came to finally assume his rightful place. A shoulder injury ended his career in Chicago, but it was thought a little of the Niner luck -- er, change of scenery -- might re-ignite his career. But that injury lingered for two years, and McNown was recently cut having never thrown a pass for the 49ers.
That leaves only Plummer awaiting his chance to play for Walsh and the 49ers. He's now with Denver, which of course is the next-best thing considering that virtually all credit for Mike Shanahan's success is given to Walsh anyway. If Plummer finally shines with the Broncos, no doubt the media will morph it into a tribute to Walsh's genius. But it's more likely is that this last Next Joe will bite the dust, too.
What's the punchline to this? Well, that's up to you since there are two ways to look at it. One perspective is that Walsh is mostly hot air, he's mostly wrong, he only got lucky with Montana and anyone that's ever called him a "genius" is a clueless boob.
But consider the other perspective: that Walsh wasn't wrong. Maybe Mirer, Plummer and McNown all, in fact, could have indeed become the Next Joe. If we accept that as true, since these guys all sucked outside the "49er system" yet could have been Hall of Famers in it, maybe the same is true about Joe himself? And Young. And Garcia. And so on. Maybe Joe's legendary "greatness" is no more than that he was just perfectly suited to the cheesiest 2-yard dink pass offense ever created?
The third option, of course, is the one that can't logically be true yet happily swallowed by the Bandwagon: both Walsh and Joe are "the best ever", end of story. Should you choose to be more discriminating in your opinion, you have plenty of time -- Walsh's ego is sure to stamp his curse on many more can't-miss prospects of the future.
May 15, 2003 (NHS) -- D'Marco Farr's comeback attempt didn't last too long with the 49ers. The former defensive tackle of the Super Bowl Rams called it quits after just two days of minicamp, and his abrupt departure left only the residue of the 49ers' desperation for any sort of depth whatsoever on their defensive line.
The fact that the 49ers even invited Farr -- a guy who hasn't played since 2000 -- says enough about the state of their defensive line. At tackle, the 49ers have Bryant Young -- who was once a Pro Bowl-caliber talent but is now average at best -- and, unbelievably, it gets worse from there.
To man the other DT spot, the Niners will have to choose from the inexperienced Josh Shaw, a 5th round pick last year, journeyman Jim Flanigan, free-agents Travis Kirschke from Detroit and Ross Kolodziej from the Giants, or 2nd-round draft choice Anthony Adams.
Heck, the situation at DT is so bad the 49ers probably even miss Dana Stubblefield by now. Stubby, of course, is laughing it up from across the bay in Oakland, where he promptly signed with the Raiders for minimum wage after the 49ers cut him. In fact, he's laughing all the way to the bank considering the 49ers are still reportedly paying him $1.5 million this year leftover from his contract.
At defensive end, the situation is barely better. Chike Okeafor -- an average DE who was already starting to see some of the typical Niner hype -- seemed destined for a comfy, overrated 49ers career. Instead, Okeafor bolted in free agency, guaranteeing himself a career of anonymity.
That leaves at one end the overrated Andre Carter, who should be remembered mostly for being the first round draft choice the 49ers deserved to lose for cheating the salary cap. At the other end is John Engelberger, who you will recall was the fat catcher from the movie "Bad News Bears". Backups include more journeymen (Sean Moran) and rookies (Andrew Williams).
While it's easy to enjoy a chuckle at the 49ers' expense as a result of this mess, one can't help feeling bad for Farr, who should have had at least several more great years playing with the Rams if not for his bad luck of a knee injury. Of course, while Niner fans think it's normal to have guys like Young and Stubby play 10-15 years, for most other teams that's the way the luck goes. And, yes, by now, were sure the 49ers have called up Charles Haley to check if he's available for another comeback.
May 15, 2003 (NHS) -- For those Niner-haters optimistic that the York-Erickson regime can possibly bring about meaningful change in terms of the 49er Problem, here's another nugget of hope for you.
Derrick Deese spent the early part of this offseason whining that the 49ers were going to cut him after the cap-friendly June 1st date. This despite the opinion of "experts" (read: himself) that he is coming off his best season. After 11 years as a 49er, Deese felt he "shouldn't have to worry about whether my team is going to ambush me."
The 49ers? Ambush one of their veterans? Impossible!
Yes, Deese's complete ignorance of the 49ers' history of player relations is hilarious, but the real import to Niner-haters is exactly why the 49ers were considering cutting him. According to an S.F. Chronicle report, Deese "was told only his postseason performance was relevant to his future with the team."
"How can they say that when I played well all year and helped them get to the playoffs?" Deese blubbered in response.
Well, let's see, Derrick. This is a foreign concept to overrated 49ers like you, but could it possibly be because of the fact that your regular-season performance was filled with playing a bunch of crappy teams on your NFC Worst schedule, and when it came down to playing actual decent, winning teams in the playoffs -- a legitimate measure of talent -- your performance wasn't as good?
Heaven forbid the 49ers new coaching staff actually hold the view that performance should be measured against meaningful adversity!
Seriously, if Dennis Erickson is, in fact, holding Deese and other 49ers to this standard, it would represent a completely fundamental change from what we've seen from the Mariucci/Seifert/Walsh eras of the last two decades. Those coaches never once had a problem with basing success on beating the losing teams on their perennially pathetic schedule; in fact, they embraced it. They were instrumental in perverting those meaningless wins into all the hype that went into overrating the talent of the individual 49ers of the past (need we remind you of all the times that Steve Young, for example, was a "hero" in comeback wins against the Bungles?)
So you can't blame Deese for being blind-sided by a new standard after all his years of hearing how great he's been from Mariucci, Walsh, and their media sycophants. After all, just three or four years ago all we would have heard about Deese would have been a soundbyte from Mooch along the lines of, "he's a heckuva guy who gave a heckuva 110% for the team, by dadgum golly!", and some nonsense about him deserving to make the Pro Bowl from ESPN.com.
For Niner-haters, it will be a nice change if we start hearing from the York-Erickson regime that meaning is only going to be found against good teams, because considering how often they actually play good teams and how they measure up, we won't be hearing much at all.
Unfortunately, GM Terry Donahue just announced that Deese will not be cut come June, so it's already looking like the coaching staff doesn't have the cajones to stick to the truth and will bow to the Bandwagon mentality.
May 8, 2003 (NHS) -- Many a 49er has enjoyed a career of hype over substance due to the 49er Problem, and when such overrated stiffs end up bitter about getting unceremoniously cut by the Niners, it can't be helped if smiles come over the faces of Niner-haters.
Once upon a time, Dana Stubblefield was the Prince of The 49er Problem. He actually became the de facto most overrated defensive player in the NFL when he won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1997, thanks in whole to the 49ers usually disgusting easy schedule and even more disgusting usual hype.
Sure, Stubby had 15 sacks that year -- which the Bandwagon went on and on about in validating the award for such a great guy -- but only the NHS mentioned the little fact that in the only four games the 49ers played against winning teams, Stubby had ZERO sacks. We also reminded folks of his "good character" in his drunk driving arrest and 1995 domestic violence arrest.
Nevertheless, the NFL bought the Bandwagon spin, he got his award, and the lovable Stubby repaid the 49ers by promptly skipping town to Washington as a free agent in one of the fattest contracts of its time. Of course, it didn't take long for the Skins to realize they had been duped, but they had to suffer three years of Stubby sucking their payroll dry before they could cut his overrated ass, which they promptly did when his contract was up in 2001.
But before anyone could feel sorry for poor Stubby, he returned to the awaiting arms of his beloved 49ers. The Bandwagon toasted his return alongside Bryant Young and raised the chorus of "the greatest defensive tackle tandem ever is back!" And much to Stubby's glee, once again the 49ers only played four winning teams on their schedule, as if nothing had ever changed.
So it is with great pleasure that in 2003, this large (literally) offender in the annals of the 49er Problem left the 49ers again, this time for good -- and not just unceremoniously.
The 49ers are known for their ill treatment of their veterans in slashing them without fanfare once they've sucked all the playing life out of them, but GM Terry Donahue went beyond even this low standard in the case of Stubby. Instead of just leaning on the usual "salary cap casualty" excuse, Donahue went out of his way to tell the media that the cause of Stubby's release was because he got so fat last year he was ineffective down the stretch.
As if this wasn't delicious enough, Stubby's reaction was equally as crass. He first sobbed to the media, "I really wanted to retire as a 49er," then -- after he signed with Oakland -- he took the biggest pot-shot imaginable at his former team: he praised the hated Raiders while simultaneously calling into question the heart of some 49ers players. "You don't need to light a spark on their tails to get them going," he said of the Raiders' veterans. "Over there at the 49ers, you've got to light fires under guys for some games."
And with that, the Prince of the 49er Problem has been deposed, and even though all he could get was a near-minimum wage job with Oakland, he's still getting $1.5 million from the 49ers, which can buy plenty of Krispy Kremes.
The 49ers' other big whacking this offseason involved just as bad of a pretender albeit with a much lower profile: Dave Fiore.
His story begins in 1998, when after three (3) whole games started in his career, the Bandwagon media anointed Fiore god-like status. After those three games, Fiore had missed several weeks due to injury, and when the time for his return to the lineup approached, headline after headline trumpeted him as a virtual messiah, such as the Chronicle's: "Fiore's Return Puts Hope Back on the Line for 49ers".
Remember, at this point, Fiore's star power was backed by a total of three (3) career games started, so to say he was the epitome of the 49er Bandwagon mindset of hype over substance is an understatement. The Bandwagon's mentality was exemplified once again by the Chronicle: "In September, Dave Fiore was the 49ers' starting left tackle for three consecutive 500-yard games -- the hottest start for any team in NFL history ... The streak ended after Fiore seriously injured his right knee."
Ergo, using Bandwagon logic, since the 49ers were "the best ever" for three games with Fiore, he must be "The Best Tackle Ever", and his returned guaranteed yet another 49ers Super Bowl run.
Well, that run fizzled like the others, and Fiore's star predictably and properly never quite rose outside of the Bay Area (not counting ESPN, of course). So when Fiore was cut, at long last the undrafted shmoe out of football powerhouse Hofstra finally ended up where he should have been all along: out of football.
Instead of being done for good, Washington, of all teams, signed Fiore, thus proving the idiocy of NFL teams that never learn from their mistakes in taking 49er rejects -- even mistakes as disastrous as the Redskins' afore-mentioned experience with Stubblefield. Perhaps after Fiore fizzles Washington will come to understand that common saying that includes, "Fool me twice, shame on me."
Finally, no story would be complete without examining the media's role. When Stubby and Fiore were cut, Bay Area headlines screamed their usual mantra of excuses surrounding every 49er cut in the last decade: "Stubblefield and Fiore victims of salary cap". This even despite Donahue's comment that Stubby was in fact cut because of his fat ass, and the 49ers turned around and tendered $3.2 million to five other players, including $1.3 million to the overrated Tai Streets.
Casualties of the cap? No. The new 49ers' leadership just decided these guys are chumps, for which we give them the credit the media won't.
Meanwhile, ESPN's Len Ninerelli -- er, Pasquarelli -- was busy bolstering the facade of Stubby by claiming "He is not the often-dominating force he was as a younger player but is still a very productive defender."
Mmm-hmm. We'll see if that sort of optimistic scouting report continues from ESPN now that he's wearing a Raiders jersey.
The only sane voice surprisingly came from NFL.com: "Stubblefield was awful last season, according to some league scouts. He and fellow tackle Bryant Young had bad years for the 49ers. Stubblefield, in fact, hasn't been the same since the Redskins doled out big money to sign him in 1999."
Pretty good, but if they can admit the truth that Bryant Young had a bad year now, how come they didn't say anything when he was laughably named to the Pro Bowl? And maybe if NFL.com just took the last step and admitted Stubby never amounted to his hype -- pre-1999 or ever -- we could finally let the ugly chapter of Dana Stubblefield rest in peace.
April 20, 2003 (NHS) -- "Monday was Groundhog Day at Al Davis' house, which means he came out the front door, saw a court date and a lawyer, and thereby signaled the beginning of spring," guffawed once-realistic-now-turned-complete-Niner-ass-kissing-dork, Ray Ratto, at ESPN.com.
Spring is apparently also the signal of open season for the media to take potshots at Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. Such "clever" jokes are often seen from Bay Area reporters like Ratto, who have long ago trashed their journalistic integrity to pander to their Niner fan audience whose brains have been ingrained with years of the media labeling everything done by the 49ers as "classy", and Davis responsible for everything bad about professional sports.
But somehow lost amid all the mirth and snickers at Al's expense by the holier-than-thou media nobility is the small fact that one of the media's own cherished prophets -- the Almighty Genius, the #1 49er legend himself, Bill Walsh -- was first in line to take the chair in support of Evil Al.
Yes, that's right: Walsh -- He Who Represents All That Is Niner And Enlightened In Football -- was the first witness called by Davis' lawyers in support of the Raiders' civil suit against the City of Oakland.
Apparently, the team's lawyers hoped Walsh's presence would boost their stature with the star-struck, pro-49er Sacramento jury members, so they trucked in senile Bill to drone on and on about revenues, profits and the most boring and arcane points in football (the useless stuff that makes him such a "genius" in the eyes of the swooning media, of course).
But before the jury was completely put to sleep, the first point Walsh made in his testimony, under sworn oath mind you, was how he "learned more football in one year with the Raiders than I did my entire football career."
Walsh then called Al Davis a "visionary".
Which begs the question: if Walsh thinks Al is such a football guru and visionary, is Walsh still a genius in the eyes of Ratto and the rest of the Niner Empire? Does Chris Berman still find Walsh so "enlightened"?
The media and Niner fans must be eating some serious crow right about now. Is there a bigger slap in the face than Walsh appearing in court, under penalty of perjury, praising the character and intellect of Al Davis?
Put simply, anyone that has ever made fun of Al while clinging to the "Walsh is a Genius" lie is nothing more than a big, fat hypocrite. Or do Niner fans still really think it's perfectly fine to make fun of Al Davis from one corner of your mouth and praise Walsh from the other?
Somehow, we don't think that's going to be the subject of Ratto's next "clever" column at ESPN.com.
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created: May 28, 2003
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