2022: Kickoff Premium Edition

Kickoff

Home Sweet Santa Clara

Niners finally start to stake their advantage at Levi’s Stadium

STORY BY CAM INMAN ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID DORAN

Levi’s Stadium became the 49ers’ friendly confines just in time last season. The 49ers won their final four home games to make a push into the playoffs.

Would you believe that’s their longest win streak in their eight seasons since moving to Santa Clara?

Perhaps making that stretch even more remarkable: The 49ers did not win at home for more than a year (393 days), until they beat the Rams last Nov. 15 in a Monday night breakthrough.

“That’s how we expect to play here, and it’s been long overdue,” coach Kyle Shanahan said afterward.

It probably felt like an eternity for fans who remembered the good times the 49ers enjoyed at their previous home, the wind tunnel known as Candlestick Park. The 49ers won nearly 70 percent of the games they ever played there. They once won 19

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel, left, and linebacker Marcell Harris, jump into the crowd after winning the NFC championship at Levi’s Stadium in 2020. RANDY VAZQUEZ/STAFF ARCHIVES

straight regular season home games at the ’Stick, a streak that began in December 1996 and didn’t end until October 1999, a span of ... 1,029 days.

“The Faithful has stayed faithful through ups and downs, and I’m happy that we got this one,” linebacker Fred Warner said after last season’s breakthrough.

Many of the Faithful probably remember that victories didn’t start piling up at Candlestick overnight, either. And Kezar Stadium, the 49ers’ original home, had its share of challenges.

After winning their home finale last season against Houston, the 49ers prevailed on the road in three elimination games — the regular-season finale at the Los Angeles Rams, then playoff triumphs at Dallas and Green Bay — before an NFC Championship Game loss back in L.A. at SoFi Stadium.

Two years earlier, the 49ers won the NFC Championship Game at home.

All of which raises the question: Is home-field advantage taking root at Levi’s Stadium, which is entering its ninth season as the Niners’ home? Late-season momentum suggests that, but what about overall?

Here’s a look at the 49ers’ home record since Levi’s Stadium opened:

2014: 4-4

2015: 4-4

2016: 1-7

2017: 3-5

2018: 4-4

2019: 6-2 (plus 2-0 in playoffs)

2020: 1-4 (0-3 in the final three home games that were played in Arizona because of Santa Clara County’s COVID-related health ordinance.)

2021: 4-4

Overall: 27-34 in regular-season games, 2-0 in the playoffs.

How does that compare to the 49ers’ previous homes?

From 1946-1970 at Kezar Stadium, the 49ers’ regular season record was 95-61-1, and they were 1-2 in playoff games.

From 1971-2013 at Candlestick Park, the 49ers went 205-124-2 in the regular season, with a playoff record of 20-7.

After the 49ers lost their first four home games last season, Levi’s ranked 73rd out of 76 stadiums in all-time home-field advantage since 1970. Then came the four-game home winning streak to end the regular season that propelled the team into the playoffs for the second time in three years. As the 49ers reversed course, they were touting their

home-field experience by season’s end, including fans’ approval.

“We saw our highest fan survey scores that we’ve ever seen here at Levi’s Stadium, and that’s a testament to all of you (fans) helping us work through the kinks as we opened this building back up,” 49ers president Al Guido said at the state-of-the-franchise talk in June before VIPs inside the team’s museum.

Big moments and wins will help build Levi’s reputation, but so will time.

Kezar Stadium, built on the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park in the 1920s, was largely known for its cold weather, awful sight lines, rowdy fans, undersized (but splinter-filled)

Above: Y.A. Tittle, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers throughout the 1950s, reportedly called Kezar Stadium “a beautiful place to play.”

PHOTO BY HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Above: San Francisco 49ers running back Gary Lewis rushes against the Detroit Lions at Kezar Stadium on November 24, 1966, in San Francisco.

PRENTICE BROOKS/STAFF ARCHIVES

Right: San Francisco 49ers fans celebrate with Mike Rumph and Ahmed Plummer, after Plummer returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 2003.

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San Francisco

49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark makes “The Catch,” a pass from Joe Montana that tied the game late in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Jan. 10, 1982. The extra point gave the 49ers a 28-27 win and a berth in the Super Bowl.

seats and a serious lack of parking around the 59,000 seat stadium, where Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall infamously made his “wrong way run” to his own end zone against the 49ers in 1964.

But it was home.

“On Sundays, driving through Golden Gate Park, you’d see thousands of people walking to the stadium,” the 49ers Museum quotes late 49ers quarterback Y.A. Tittle “You could feel the energy. The surroundings were nice. The fans could be rough sometimes, and the seagulls could get annoying, but it was a beautiful place to play.”

Candlestick wasn’t much better in terms of the weather.

“There weren’t a whole lot of places that were worse,” Joe Montana once said.

It also became the home field for five Super Bowl championship teams, 80 Pro Bowl players and 22 Hall of Famers. The 49ers won 19 division titles there, and the ’Stick hosted eight NFC championship games. And, of course, it will always be known to 49ers fans as the place where Dwight Clark made “The Catch” against the Cowboys that sent the team to its first Super Bowl.

And even before Levi’s opened, 49ers greats understood the porch light had been passed to the franchise’s new home.

“I hate that 49ers won’t be playing on that field where all the Super Bowls were won, but I totally understand it,” Clark, who died in 2018, said in the final days of the 49ers’ run at Candlestick. “The new place is going to be awesome, and they’ll be able to make great new historic moments there.”

The signature moment at Levi’s was, initially, when Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson ate turkey after a 2014 Thanksgiving win by the rival Seahawks, but then came the 2019 season’s NFC Championship Game celebration, so it’s as if the stadium is still awaiting its marquee play. Those come in the playoffs, and Levi’s has hosted only two postseason games (January 2020 wins over

PHIL HUBER/ ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

the Vikings and the Packers). So maybe that ultimate thrill comes this January. Or maybe Trey Lance throws an 80-yard touchdown in the home opener against the Seahawks, now Wilson/Sherman-less.

Next up? Technology updates around the stadium, new sponsors and more grand visions.

“We’re really starting to think about Levi’s 2.0 and what that means,” Guido said. “There can be

renovations down the road in the stadium that can enhance the fan experience.”

Looking ahead to Levi’s Stadium’s second decade of existence, business will be booming, regardless of how well the 49ers (and new quarterback Trey Lance) fare, and beyond the annual blare of concerts plus the 2026 World Cup.

Construction is hot and heavy on a massive mixed-use development north of Levi’s Stadium.

A 240-acre project will feature 9 million square feet, with nearly a half-million square feet devoted to restaurants and entertainment venues, amid 1,680 residential units, 700 hotel rooms, office buildings (5.4 million square feet), park space and more.

One patch of grass means the most to the 49ers: the 8-year-old field where Super Bowl dreams will be rekindled this fall, starting with a Week 2 home opener

against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 18.

Other home dates: Oct. 3 (vs. Rams), Oct. 23 (vs. Chiefs), Nov. 13 (vs. Chargers), Nov. 27 (vs. Saints), Dec. 4 (vs. Dolphins), Dec. 11 (vs. Bucs), Dec. 24 (vs. Commanders) and Jan. 8 (vs. Cardinals).

“We’ve got to take care of home field,” Guido added. “… I fully expect and hope you’re there when we open our home schedule, and you’re there the rest of the time.”

San Francisco 49ers’ Deebo Samuel leaves the field following the team’s 31-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in 2021.

NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF ARCHIVES

Nick Bosa, eyeing the season ahead, is happy taking it ‘one day at a time’

BY CAM INMAN

Fresh out of the cold tub after a training camp practice, Nick Bosa took a seat on a couch and settled in for a rare, one-onone interview.

Bosa’s fourth season with the 49ers is upon him. He is, undeniably, one of the NFL’s best defensive ends. Yet he’s still somewhat of a mystery.

He is not a brash loudmouth or a clever-dancing sack artist. His dry sense of humor can catch you by surprise, as can an occasional postgame soundbite reflecting unabashed confidence in himself, his defense and his team.

In the following question-and-answer session, Bosa did not hesitate to say this season’s team could win the Super Bowl, thus ending the franchise’s 27-year quest for a sixth Lombardi Trophy:

QBefore we dive into 2022, let’s reflect quickly on last season.

The Green Bay playoff game, you get a couple of sacks on Aaron Rodgers and win in the snow. Most gratifying win or performance you’ve had?

AI didn’t love how I played in the second half. But after the game is one of the most excited times I’ve been, for sure, after a win.

QWhat are your expectations for this season?

AObviously, there’s a lot of uncertainty with a new quarterback. You never know how good they’re going to be, because you haven’t seen them play. But I like

what I saw from him last year, and I know that our team is good enough to win the Super Bowl.

The first few games will say a lot about how our offense is going to operate. But as a team, we’re in the best position we’ve been in, including ’19. Our secondary is going to allow the D-line to really become the top unit in the league, which I’m super excited about.

We have tons of weapons. Obviously, we have Deebo, and I think the O-line will come together. But we’ve got to see what Trey can do, for sure.

QYou bring up 2019, and you came into a team with contender abilities, and now Trey does, too. A lot of players drafted that high don’t get to do that.

AYeah, I know. I definitely got lucky. I could have been elsewhere. I’m just happy because this organization is so great. They give you all the resources you need. They listen to my input. Obviously, you have to get some respect in the building before you can give input, but I have a great relationship with Kyle and John, so it’s all good.

QDid last season surprise you how much you got out of your body coming off the knee (reconstruction)?

AIf you told me when I showed up here (in 2021) that I was going to have that year, it would a little bit surprise me, because there were still some things with my knee that were annoying me. I was managing it but standing out at walk-through at practice, I was always thinking about it, and I had a sleeve on it all the time. It was annoying. But once I got going, I felt fine.

QHow would you describe the ideal pass rush?

AReally good get-off and finish with a sack. Knocking the ball out would be ideal.

QIn today’s NFL, is finesse more important than a power rush?

AI think power is more important, to be honest. Guys are so athletic and so good with their hands that if you don’t have power …. Like, you could get away with just being a power rusher and being productive in the NFL. But you can’t get away with just being a finesse rusher, unless you’re crazy. Even Von Miller, who’s thought of a fast rusher, he’s also one of the better power rushers.

QDo you have a signature move?

AI think the swipe. Inside swipe or outside swipe. I’m more of a power rusher, honestly, when it comes down to it.

QThat’s different from Joey? (His older brother, Joey, plays for the Los Angeles Chargers)

AI’d say so. As his career’s gone on, he’s become more finesse, but he’s got the power, too.

QWith his background, do you guys feel you’re carrying on his legacy and raising it to new heights? (Their father, John Bosa, was the Miami Dolphins’ 1987 first-round pick who played three seasons as a defensive end before knee injuries cut short his career.)

AYeah, you think about that sometimes. But he’d be the first to tell you he hopes for our careers to make his not even a thought. He had a rough NFL career. He had an amazing college career. But he was a first-round pick. As a kid from Keene, New Hampshire, that’s pretty cool.

QHe had knee injuries. You had a bad knee injury, too, but with medical advancements, it’s a different game, huh?

AYeah, completely. He’s great now and is still exercising a ton. His knees feel good, and I’m glad.

QYou spend your offseasons in Fort Lauderdale. Do you have a boat? How big is it?

AThirty feet.

QHave a protein-shake blender on the boat?

A No. There’s a fridge on there, though.

Defensive end Nick Bosa says of the 49ers organization, ‘I’m just happy because this organization is so great. They give you all the resources you need.’

NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF

QOut here in California, you came here three years ago, but essentially have only lived here about a year — six months in 2019, six months last year. Favorite spots?

AI don’t do anything here. I live right down the street. Once I move somewhere — which I might do sometime — I’ll start checking more spots out. But I don’t have a girlfriend, so I don’t really go out to eat with anybody. I might go over to George’s place or occasionally have a D-line hangout.

Q When you see a guy like Deebo get signed, George (Kittle) and Fred (Warner), what does that tell you about how this franchise takes care of homegrown guys and your faith in that?

AI have a lot of faith that when the time comes, it will be smooth. I know it’s one of the hardest negotiation units up there with Paraag (Marathe, the 49ers’ chief capologist) and all those guys. But I think when they know your value …

Q

As long as you do your job, things will work out?

A Exactly. I try to take it one day at a time.

Q I’ve heard that about athletes. A Yeah, it’s a good thing for life in general.

Three Bay Area gridiron greats trekked paths that converged in Canton

Averitable who’s-who of NFL all-time greats gathered in Canton, Ohio, in early August to help welcome the Class of 2022 into the Football Hall of Fame.

The Bay Area, of course, was well-represented in star power at the annual event. But more importantly, our region played prominent parts in the back stories of many of the new inductees.

Of the eight new members to the Hall — Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, LeRoy Butler, Art McNally, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour, Dick Vermeil and Bryant Young — four have Bay Area ties.

Seymour ended his career with the Raiders, but he’s in the Hall because of his play with the New England Patriots.

Branch, Vermeil and Young, on the other hand, have some of the strongest Bay Area roots ever set down in the hallowed halls of the Football Hall of Fame.

Vermeil, who was recognized for his NFL coaching career that included a Super Bowl victory, is a Calistoga native and former San Jose State quarterback. His coaching career path started at San Jose’s Del Mar High and went through San Mateo’s Hillsdale High, the College of San Mateo, Napa Junior College and Stanford before he got his break in the NFL.

Branch, who died in 2019 at the age of 71, and Young spent their entire 14-year playing careers with the Raiders and the 49ers, respectively. They both won Super Bowls with the home teams. And they both finally received the recognition most who saw or played with them believe was long overdue.

Here’s a look at the Bay Area’s Big Three from the Football Hall of Fame class of 2022.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS; NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF ARCHIVES

HALL OF FAME

CLIFF BRANCH

Los Angeles Raiders wide receiver Cliff Branch, right, catches a pass from quarterback Jim Plunkett for a 64-yard gain during a playoff game with the Cleveland Browns in Los Angeles on Jan. 8, 1983. Branch was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2022. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

Cementing the Al Davis legacy

BY JERRY MCDONALD

Al Davis’ legacy with the Raiders will live on, even if the Hall of Fame induction of Cliff Branch this year was the last of his flock to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Unless the senior committee someday picks Lester Hayes and/or Jim Plunkett, or former CEO Amy Trask goes in as a contributor, it’s the end of the line for the remnants of the Davis-era Raiders when it comes to having a bust in Canton.

But if Branch is the finish line, it’s a fitting conclusion.

Branch, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound sprinter out of Colorado, and his speed at wide receiver represented one of the most basic principles of Davis football with the Raiders in both Oakland and Los Angeles.

“When we came out of the huddle, we weren’t looking for first downs,” Davis once said. “We didn’t want to move the chains. We wanted touchdowns. We wanted the big play, the big strike . . . It’s like having the bomb and being willing to drop it . . . I hear everyone say, ‘take what they give you.’

“I always went the other way: We’re going to take what we want.”

Finally getting Branch his due and a spot in the Hall of Fame was something those close to Davis say the fellow Hall of Famer wanted badly before he died in 2011.

For a player known for getting places in a hurry, Branch took a route to the Hall of Fame that was painfully slow. He arrived 38 years after his last game and nearly three years after his death.

Fred Biletnikoff, who teamed with Branch to form one of the greatest pass-catching tandems in NFL history and a Hall of Famer as well, wrote an emotional message to his former teammate on the team website when the Hall of Fame class of 2023 was announced in February.

Among the memories Biletnikoff shared was: “The one thing I’ll always see when I think of you is that incredible smile. To this day, it stays with me. I can still see you running down that field, ball in hand, fast as can be, with a smile as you took it to the end zone.”

Branch struck fear into the hearts of NFL defenses as Davis’ primary big-play threat from 1972 through

1985. He caught 501 passes for 8,685 yards and 67 touchdowns. The stats don’t necessarily translate into how much of a star Branch might have been in the modern NFL, where rules changes have encouraged passing at the expense of old-school smash-mouth football. Still, Branch averaged 17.5 yards per catch for his career. Only six players in NFL history with 500 or more receptions have higher averages.

In 1976, when the NFL played 14-game regular seasons, Branch caught 46 passes for 1,111 yards, 12 touchdowns and averaged 24.2 yards per catch, downfield numbers that would be unheard of today.

There was the ever-present handmade “Speed Kills #21” sign in the end zone on the 66th Avenue side of the Coliseum and the memorable words of the late John Madden:

“After the national anthem, Cliff would say, ‘Coach, I can beat my guy deep,’” Madden said, “’I’d say, ‘Cliff, we haven’t played a down yet. How do you even know who your guy is?’”

Biletnikoff, in his message to Branch, noted, “Everyone knew it was easy money when you got off the line of scrimmage and ran. When you wanted something deep to turn the game around, you threw the ball to Cliff.”

In theory and style, Branch, the 29th member of the organization to be enshrined, was a Davis

creation. There are 18 others who likely would have never seen Canton without Davis’ influence — Jim Otto, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Gene Upshaw, Biletnikoff, Art Shell, Ted Hendricks, Mike Haynes, Howie Long, Dave Casper, Marcus Allen, Madden, Ray Guy, Tim Brown, Ron Wolf, Ken Stabler, Tom Flores and Charles Woodson.

Five players enhanced their reputations in silver and black, even if they were likely Hall of Famers without having played for the Raiders –- Ronnie Lott, Bob Brown, Rod Woodson, Jerry Rice and Warren Sapp.

For four others — Ron Mix, Eric Dickerson, James Lofton and Randy Moss — the Raiders were a temporary stopover that had comparatively minimal impact.

Branch died unexpectedly in 2019 at age 71. Like Stabler, he was a posthumous selection that never got to experience the gold jacket and mingle with friends and foes. Including Davis and Branch, seven Raiders Hall of Famers have died; the others are Blanda, Willie Brown, Upshaw, Stabler and Madden.

It’s a sobering reminder of a bygone era where Davis insisted on an organization that won on its own terms with minimal regard to convention.

Branch played on all three Raiders’ Super Bowl winners and had some of his biggest moments in the postseason. There was the 72-yard reception from Stabler against Miami when the Raiders won 28-26 in the ‘Sea of Hands’ game in 1974. He had two touchdown receptions in Super Bowl XV against Philadelphia and another in Super Bowl XVIII against Washington.

The end of his career came when Davis and the Raiders began to lose their way. In Branch’s 14 seasons, the Raiders had a winning record 13 times, made the playoffs 11 times and won three Super Bowls. In the 36 years since Branch retired, the Raiders have had 10 winning seasons and made the playoffs for the ninth time in 2021.

Whether the Raiders can even approach their status as an annual NFL power in Las Vegas remains to be seen. With that in mind, the induction of Cliff Branch into the Pro Football Hall of Fame serves as both an exclamation point and a checkered flag for the Al Davis era.

Cliff Branch hugs quarterback Jim Plunkett as they line up for a team picture on Jan. 21, 1981, prior to the Raiders’ appearance in the Super Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans.

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRES FILE

DICK VERMEIL

Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil waves to the crowd Oct. 12, 1980, in East Rutherford, N.J., following his team’s 31-16 victory over the New York Giants at Giants Stadium. Vermeil was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, last month. G. PAUL BURNETT/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

Shedding tears and shredding records

BY JON BECKER

Anotoriously loquacious man who later turned that gift into a 15-year career as a football broadcaster, Dick Vermeil never met a tale he didn’t think worthy of expanding upon.

That’s why the Bay Area native and Super Bowl-winning coach was the perfect choice to be the final speaker at the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month.

“I’ve always been an emotional guy. It used to embarrass me,” Vermeil said. “When you tear up emotionally, it’s because something touches you. The valve that turns that on for me is (for) someone I really, really, really deeply care about.”

Long before Canton came calling, Vermeil already owned his own wing in a theoretical Hall of Fame for crying coaches. Over his career, he’s unapologetically delivered scores of speeches in locker rooms and during news conferences where his tears have flowed. Vermeil surprisingly remained mostly dry-eyed during his Hall of Fame-record 23-minute speech, the auto mechanic’s son from Calistoga only choking up when he mentioned his wife of 66 years, Carol. Vermeil, 85, made quite a career out of being a meticulous, unrelenting, attentive and soft-hearted head football coach over five decades.

As the induction ceremonies approached, Vermeil conceded he grew more and more consumed with the enormity of it all. But in typical fashion, he was prepared for the moment. This is, after all, the guy who took over three dysfunctional NFL franchises and turned them all into winners.

Although Vermeil hasn’t coached in the NFL in 17 years, he prepared for induction weekend as if he were facing an old rival again.

Ever since Hall of Fame Rams quarterback Kurt Warner came knocking at his old coach’s log cabin home in East Fallow, Pennsylvania, six months earlier to deliver the good news, Vermeil obsessed over what he’d say to the fans — and fellow Hall of Famers — when it was his turn to speak.

The countless hours produced scores of impeccably produced handwritten notes he condensed into a speech of a lifetime.

It was a challenge for Vermeil to whittle down his thoughts about an NFL coaching career featuring

successful stints in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Kansas City, producing division titles at each and a pair of Super Bowl appearances — one loss to the Raiders in Super Bowl XV with the Eagles and a championship with the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Vermeil can tell you how many other Hall of Famers have been inducted before him (360) and how many other coaches preceded him (27). But Vermeil might be the only one with his own winery. He and his wife, Carol, founded Vermeil Wines in 1999 in Napa.

He’s been portrayed twice on the big screen: by Dennis Quaid in “American Underdog” and by Greg Kinnear in “Invincible.”

And he’s also just the second San Jose State alum to enter the Football Hall of Fame, joining former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh.

Vermeil’s path to the Hall took some distinctive turns. Most of the early ones were in the Bay Area. After starring at Calistoga High in the early 1950s, Vermeil played quarterback at Napa Valley College — where he was known as the Calistoga Comet — and then two seasons at San Jose State.

“I was a very average to below average player, but we were a below average to average team, so I fit right in,” joked Vermeil.

That’s when his playing career ended and his Hall of Fame coaching career started, first as an assistant

coach at San Jose’s Del Mar High School, then head coach at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo. From there, he became the defensive backfield coach at the College of San Mateo, which led to the head coaching job at Napa Valley JC.

Vermeil’s big break came in 1965, when he joined John Ralston’s staff at Stanford.

That drive fueled Vermeil to a successful NFL coaching career — but it also led to burnout.

The long, sleepless nights — and 18- to 20-hour workdays — finally caught up to Vermeil after the 1982 season. At age 46, he quit as the Eagles coach after seven seasons.

“I allowed a passion to become an obsession,” he told this news organization in 2018.

A career in broadcasting followed, but he returned to the sidelines after 14 years, when he took a middling Rams team and turned them into “The Greatest Show on Turf.” After they won the Super Bowl in 2000, he briefly stepped away — but this time only for a year.

Vermeil came back to coach the Kansas City Chiefs from 2001 to 2005, and retired for good after the 2005 season.

“I never really pictured myself sitting on that stage,” Vermeil said just before the induction ceremony. “When I think about it, I tear up.”

No one would expect anything else.

Dick Vermeil reacts to the bronze bust unveiled by former Philadelphia Eagle John Sciarra, right, during the 2022 Pro Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony Aug. 6, in Canton, Ohio. NICK CAMMETT/GETTY IMAGES

BRYANT YOUNG

49ers’ Bryant Young and Tony Parrish celebrate after Young sacked Buccaneers QB Chris Simms in the fourth quarter, causing a fumble the 49ers recovered. JOHN GREEN/STAFF ARCHIVES

The unbudgeable gentle giant

BY CAM INMAN

Bryant Young was just starting his Pro Football Hall of Fame career in 1994, when his toughness and determination flared up in a most unusual way. Rather than arrive late to a team meeting, Young made the bold call to abandon his daily responsibility and not buy breakfast sandwiches for the group on his way to work.

Skipping the rookie requirement would come with consequences. His fellow defensive linemen had warned Young that they’d throw him in the team’s swimming pool, if he ever arrived empty-handed.

“So I go to the facility without breakfast, and every guy in the room, about nine of them, they tried to pick me up,” Young recalled earlier this summer. “They were successful getting me out of the room and carrying me to the (indoor) pool. But …

“I scratched. I clawed. I was pulling ankles. People were falling to the ground,” Young continued. “I was fighting nine or 10 dudes. Finally, we got to the door, about 10 yards from the pool, and I just put my hands on the door, and they couldn’t budge me.”

Offensive linemen also couldn’t budge Young much in his career, which he spent entirely with the 49ers from 1994 to 2007. He was the 1994 draft’s No. 7 overall pick, out of Notre Dame.

Fittingly, when Young received word in February that he made the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in his 10th year of eligibility, it was ex-teammate Charles Haley who told him at Young’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina.

And then Haley threw Young into the pool.

“One guy did what nine people couldn’t,” Haley joked, as Young recounted that story (and his rookie season’s pool battle) during the Dwight Clark Legacy event in Walnut Creek in June.

What Young did in his career was simply to command respect.

He did so as a first-round draft pick out of Notre Dame who enjoyed the spoils of a Super Bowl win his rookie season.

He did so while racking up 89½ sacks, including 11½ in his third season as a First Team All-Pro.

He did so by winning the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 1999, when he rebounded from a broken leg and tallied 11 sacks.

He did so wearing only one uniform, the 49ers’ No. 97, which is now worn by star defensive end Nick Bosa. Perhaps most emblematic was the time teammates awarded him the 49ers’ most cherished honor, the Len Eshmont Award, eight times for inspirational and courageous play. No other 49ers player has won it more than twice.

Young isn’t one to crow about accolades, such as his four Pro Bowl honors.

“How many guys have never said a word, and they’re in the Hall of Fame?” former 49ers quarterback Steve Young, also a Hall of Famer, said. “He never sold a thing in his life. He can’t sell anything about himself.”

Fellow 49ers’ Hall of Famer Terrell Owens added, “He’s a gentle giant. He’s quiet. But when the beast needed to come out, you saw it on the field. I’d walk

in the locker room every day, marvel at his work, his professionalism and the way he played.”

Bryant Young’s response: “For me, it was about really earning the respect of those guys. Like, ‘How can I do that best? I’m not going to go out there and talk. Those guys can talk and do the rant and raving. Let me go show you and earn the respect of my teammates.’ “

He credited his father for instilling that actionsspeak-louder-than-words approach. It helped with his transition to the NFL, where he joined a championship-driven roster.

“I was extremely grateful to play for such an iconic franchise,” Young said. “It meant so much to me just having a little knowledge of the 49ers before I got there, with what they stood for, the championships and the culture they had in place.”

He started every game that rookie season en route to the 49ers’ fifth (and last) Lombardi Trophy.

“You were a baller, man,” Haley told Young at the Dwight Clark event. “When I came back my last year (1999), I saw a lion, and you roared. I’m proud to have played with you. You taught me a lot. I’d never been around a guy that could be humble and smile and still play with such tenacity.”

After 208 regular-season games and 11 more in the playoffs, Young called it a career 14 years ago. He only reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s finalist stage in 2020 and this year.

“I know most people don’t get the opportunity to finish their career where they started,” Young said. “I was very fortunate to be around great leadership, really impactful teammates and, more important, that rich community and fanbase we had.”

Young, 50, is a native of Chicago Heights, Illinois. He is a father of six with his wife, Kristin. Six years ago, their son Colby died from brain cancer at age 15.

When Bryant Young was about that age, he had visions of becoming a fullback as he took up football. John Piazza, then Bloom High School football coach, however, convinced Young that his size belonged in the trenches. Bloom reached the state playoffs in 1988 and ’89 for the second and third times in school history.

“I remember when he came into high school, he wasn’t as tall and didn’t have the weight on him at that time, but you could tell he was going to grow,” Piazza told the Chicago Tribune. “When he left, he grew to 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds and gained more when he went to college. He had a good attitude, was a hard worker, and physically, he was above and beyond a lot of the high school kids.”

Young’s advice now to such kids and their parents: “Love well, have fun, enjoy life and create memories. We try to do that as best we can here.”

San Francisco 49ers defensive end Bryant Young is carried off the field by teammates after the team’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2007. MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

An optimistic Lynch heads into his sixth season as GM

BY CAM INMAN

John Lynch could have gone back to the broadcast booth. He could have taken Amazon’s money and run to the mic.

He didn’t.

Lynch’s loyalty remains with the 49ers. He’s back for his sixth season as general manager, and he’s compiled a title-contending roster once again. And we had questions.

QWere you able to find any downtime this offseason, considering those six months were spent with Deebo Samuel and Jimmy Garoppolo in limbo?

AIt was a lot of hurry up and wait this offseason. Those are two very important decisions. But in this job, everything is an important decision. One thing that helps is we have good relationships with all these guys, and when you have that, it’s a lot easier to find resolution. And I’m so grateful for Paraag (Marathe), Brian Hampton and that whole group (of 49ers capologists) for all the work they do. They did a tremendous job on Deebo’s deal.

QYou spoke with the team after the NFC Championship Game defeat. What was the gist of that message, and how did you reinforce that at camp?

AMy message as I spoke to our team was a message of pride. I said, “Look guys, both things can be true: We fell short of expectations, and I know how disappointed we all are, but I can’t tell you how proud I am of this group from where we came from,” which was 3-5 at Chicago. Right there, things started clicking, and in that game, I remember one play in particular, Deebo taking a screen, making it look like a 10-yard gain, and next thing you know, he has a (near) touchdown. I really was proud of the group, the way we came together, the way we fought through.

QThe last time the Rams won a Super Bowl was 22 years ago. The 49ers’ general manager at the time was Terry Donahue, and he was determined to find countermeasures to the Rams. You aren’t as one-opponent centric, are you?

AI say this with all the respect in the world for their organization. They’re very good, they

compete at a high level. You know, we’re rivals with that team. We didn’t sit here and focus, “How are we going to improve to keep up with the Rams?” We set about improving our team. The best way is to win our division. We have a really talented division, not only the Rams. The Seahawks have had our number since (2017). Arizona’s been really good. We were strategic and targeted in our moves.

QYour son Jake is 22. Trey Lance is the same age, and there are so many expectations on him. That’s pro sports — but all this is on a 22-year-old …

AObviously, when you’re making a decision, not only are you looking for the requisite talent to play quarterback in this league, you’re also looking for that makeup, that capacity, those intangibles. We felt Trey had so many of those. It’s not too big for him. We have a lot of belief in Trey and what he can do in this offense. Yes, he’s going to make plays, he’s going to learn. The only way you really go through it is to go through it. We believe he’s equipped to have a lot of success, and we love what we’ve put around him.

Q When you’re watching practice on the field deep behind the safeties, are you watching how your defenders are playing or, as a former safety, are you following the quarterback and the ball?

AI’m watching it all. I stand there because that’s where I tend to see everything, where my eyes see the game best. Then you pick it up on film. It’s fun to watch a defense whose standards are incredibly high. They make it really hard on our offense, but that’ll do nothing but make our offense better.

QHow did it feel — the weight, the honor — to be inducted into the Hall of Fame last year?

AIt’s hard to describe. When you play this game, you’re so focused on what’s next. What can I do today to become a better player and help my team? You don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on all the success you’ve had and all the people responsible for it. This really gave me an opportunity to think about everyone from my parents to my coaches to my teammates to my wife to my family to everybody who played a part.

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch looks over to his team during a game against the Atlanta Falcons.

BRANDON VALLANCE/ STAFF ARCHIVES

Get ready to tackle the football trivia challenge

BY JOAN MORRIS

Football might not be quiiiite as stat-obsessed as baseball, but fans still can spend endless hours recalling the minutiae of a game played 25 years ago on an unusually cold Sunday in December.

Can you even call yourself a fan if you don’t know your gridiron trivia? Let’s line up on the 20 and get ready to play. (Find the answers on page 70.)

1. If you think American football can see some brutal hits, you should have seen it in the 1900s, when games featured phalanxes of brutish players locking arms and running full force at each other wearing only the padding their mothers gave them. Players not only were routinely injured, some were killed. After Stanford and Cal both replaced their football programs with rugby, the gentler sport, and other colleges threatened to do the same, one man stepped forward to save football, bringing college officials together and setting some stricter rules against maiming and killing opponents. Who was this man?

a) Knute Rockne

b) Vince Lombardi

c) Teddy Roosevelt

d) Harvard president Charles Eliot

2. We all know Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park was the San Francisco 49ers’ first home. The Oakland Raiders also played its first four games there. But before pro football anointed the field, high school football games were played there, including one memorable one in 1928 between cross-town rivals, San Francisco Polytechnic and Lowell. What put this game in the record books?

a) The game never officially ended. Fog swept onto the field, making it impossible for players and referees to see what was going on. After five hours, the game was suspended, but never completed.

b) It saw the highest attendance for a high school game ever, with 50,000 in the stands.

c) It was the first high school night game played under newly installed lights.

d) The game was called after 17 overtimes failed to break the 7-7 tie.

3. Speaking of Kezar, another game for the record books was played there in 1964 between the Niners and the Minnesota Vikings. What did Vikings defensive lineman James Lawrence Marshall do that immortalized him?

a) After recovering a fumble, a confused Marshall ran 66 yards the wrong way and scored a safety for the Niners.

b) He left at halftime with one of the cheerleaders and announced days later he was giving up football.

c) When a bad case of flu swept through the Vikings locker room, it was left short of available players. Marshall became the first player to play both defense and offense in the same game and kick a field goal.

d) He asked to be traded to the Niners in the middle of the game.

4. The National Football League is often referred to as the No Fun League, and there’s good reason for that. The sport has a lot of rules, and some are rather obscure. Take the one concerning the coin toss that makes it possible for a team to lose the flip if they do what?

a) Fail to call the flip — the prerogative of the visiting team — and supply the ceremonial coin.

b) Don’t line up on the field in time.

c) Argue the call.

d) Don’t show proper respect to the referees.

5. Another rule involves the fair catch. The 49ers were the next-to-the-last team to exercise this option, attempting (and failing) it in a 2013 game against the Rams. What exactly did they do?

a) The 49ers tried for a “fair catch kick,” which allows receiving teams to line up on the first play and, without a snap, attempt a field goal.

b) The 49ers faked a fair catch signal, and as the Rams walked off the field thinking the play was over, the receiver ran 78 yards for a touchdown. The play later was made illegal.

c) The 49ers declined to receive the ball and instead handed the ball back to the Rams.

d) The 49ers receiver faked a handoff after making the catch, instead concealing the ball under his jersey and walking into the end zone for a touchdown.

6. In 1946, the 49ers played their first game ever, losing to what team?

a) The Green Bay Packers, igniting a rivalry that has endured ever since

b) The Dallas Cowboys

c) The New York Yankees

d) The Chicago Bears

7. In the 49ers first-ever appearance in the NFL draft in 1950, their first pick was standout lineman Leo Nomellini, who proved to be a top-notch player. What was Nomellini’s profession during the off-season?

a) He was an actual gold miner.

b) He owned a patisserie specializing in delicate cakes and fancy desserts.

c) He was a banker.

d) Leo “The Lion” Normellini competed in the National Wrestling Alliance and was a 10-time World Tag Team Champion.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and Los Angeles Rams starting quarterback Jared Goff participate in the coin toss before their game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020.

NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF ARCHIVES

SIDELINES

Secrets of the chain gang

Pole-carrying Niners down markers

STORY BY JOHN METCALFE

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVIDE BARCO

help keep the ‘game of inches’ on the straight and narrow

All hail

the chain gang — an unsexy, underpaid and nonetheless crucial job in football.

Back in the early 1900s, football bigwigs met in New York and decided, among other things, that marking plays should be done with “two light poles or rods about 6 feet in length, connected at their lower end by a stout cord or chain 10 yards in length.”

Since then, the equipment has changed a bit — the poles are more padded, partly due to the Baltimore Colts’ Bubba Smith getting impaled on a metal one in 1972 — but the job basically remains the same. The chain crew runs along the field measuring the first down to the line to gain, while keeping tabs on the line of scrimmage, to help decide plays in this so-called “game of inches.”

Chain-gang members earn pennies compared to the coaches and players they’re surrounded by and are typically superfans with day jobs. But it’s a coveted role — members are given the leeway to hire family, passing this work through multiple generations.

So it was with Kurt Braunreiter, who followed in his dad and uncle’s footsteps working the NFL chains on the San Francisco 49ers. He spent more than 30 years on the gang — many of them while commuting from his current home near Denver to the Bay Area at his own expense — and says he’s currently listed as a reserve.

Braunreiter took the time to talk about life on the gang and his favorite memories while lounging on a Hawaiian vacation, and he

spoke rather frankly. “The 49ers can’t really do anything about it, because I’m basically retiring with this phone call,” he cracks.

(This interview was edited for brevity.)

QHow’d you get this gig with the 49ers?

AOne of the guys my dad coached with — that’s how he got on the gang — got sick, so I took his place. A lot of the guys who are doing it now, their fathers or grandfathers worked the chains (for that team). That’s kind of how you get it. People ask me, now that I’m in Denver, can I get on the Broncos? I say, “No, that’s not how it works, man.”

QWhat was your first game like?

AIt was 1988, when Bill Walsh was coaching against the Vikings, when (backup quarterback) Steve Young came in and played. I was the unofficial first down marker. And Walsh goes, “That (expletive) Steve takes his eyes off the (expletive) receiver and doesn’t (expletive) know where to go with the ball? What are we (expletive) going to do with this (expletive) guy?” He said it very Bill Walshish — didn’t scream it, just said it in a very intense voice. And two plays later, Young runs 49 yards for a touchdown. It was funny.

But I was in awe, because I was a 20-something-year-old kid, looking at Bill Walsh (expletive) swearing.

QWhat’s the attraction of the chains?

AIt’s just a joy getting together with your buddies and being able to stand on the sidelines and watch a game. If you’re a football fan at all — and of course, we all were 49ers fans — how cool was that to stand next to Joe Montana and Bill Walsh?

Back in the day at Candlestick Park, they’d just give you a credential. I’d give it to a buddy of mine and tell them, “I can get you on the sidelines. Just don’t look at anybody, don’t talk to anybody. And if anybody asks you, say you’re part of the field crew.”

I still remember my buddy telling me — he was a Cowboys fan and we beat the Cowboys in 1994 — he said that was the greatest day of

Opposite: These days, Kurt Braunreiter is more likely to be found at Infinity Park in Denver, Colorado, but he has been part of the chain gang crew at 49ers games for the past 30 years.

DANIEL BRENNER FOR BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Above: The first down marker, seen here at the New Orleans Superdome in 2013, is a key piece of equipment for the chain gang crew.

JONATHAN BACHMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

his life. He was standing next to his wife, and his wife goes, “What? What about your kids?”

QDo you need a lot of officiating experience?

ANot really. One of the guys who is still doing it right now is from Ireland, and he had no idea what American football was. I got him on the chain, because he was just such a fun dude. I was running it then, and he was just one of the good, cool people that were fun to work with. I remember his first few games, when they kicked off, you started at the 20, and that guy stood at the 20 the entire drive until they switched. And him, the idiot dunce, didn’t know football. He’d just be standing there looking at the crowd when they’d already exchanged punts. I’d have to go scream at him.

QWhat’s security like?

AEvery few years, you have to get a background check to make sure you’re not a gambler or something. They’re very concerned about gambling. But we have passes: We show up with a picture pass you wear around your neck on a lanyard and just walk in and go wherever you want. You have full access to the stadium, or at least we did before COVID.

QHave you ever gotten clobbered?

AI only got taken out the one time, and it was embarrassing. It was a Giants championship game during the Jim Harbaugh years. Near the end, there were all these old Giants guys on the sidelines — Lawrence Taylor for instance. And one guy was in a wheelchair. I landed in his lap. That was the hardest time I got hit. We used to put in 20 bucks apiece with the ball boys and the chain gang every year. You got somebody’s name, and if that person got decleated you won the pool. We were playing the Saints — it was Mike Ditka’s coaching time — and Ricky Williams came running down the sidelines. Two guys from the 49ers hit him, and he shot so fast at us, he scraped

me and his shoulder pad cut my arm. But he hit (the guy I had in the pool), who was 250 pounds and about 6’3” like me, and knocked him back — he just went flying. I couldn’t stop laughing, because I’d just won the pool.

QDecleated?

AYeah. You had to be decleated — you had to be knocked off your feet in order to win. You always got smacked a little bit, but decleated was a cool one.

QWhat do they pay you for this?

ABefore Levi’s (Stadium), you had free tickets and your parking pass. After taxes, you made about $110 a game or something. Now you still make the same, but at Levi’s, you have to buy your own tickets now. Half the time the seats were so (bad), you couldn’t give them away.

QDo you ever worry chain gangs will get replaced by technology — a chip in the football or a laser or something?

AWe wondered about that. I mean, they have the cams. But I think as long as they still have real-person referees, I don’t see that in the future. Because you need that chain. It’s a game of inches, they call it, so you actually need somebody on the field to show where the first down marker is. Third and goal, third and six. Until they make some kind of magical thing that shows up on the field, there’s no way in hell.

“If you’re a football fan at all — and of course, we all were 49ers fans — how cool was that to stand next to Joe Montana and Bill Walsh?”

— Kurt Braunreiter

The chain gang watches play during a preseason game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks in 2010.

PAUL BATTAGLIA/ ASSOCIATED PRESS

Game-time grazing

There is some luscious munching in the food lineup at Levi’s this fall

BY LINDA ZAVORAL

The Faithful are also foodies, so Levi’s Stadium and its hospitality partner, Levy, make a concerted effort every year to offer craveable culinary experiences for those devoted Niner fans. For the 2022-23 season, the offerings include a cherished family recipe for lumpia, award-winning pizza and a type of burger rarely seen in the Bay Area, plus dishes from other locally owned enterprises. And there will be more when the stadium’s in-house executive chef unveils his new menu this month. Here’s just a sampling:

Santa Clara’s Hula Truck restaurant will serve Poke Nachos, above, and Pork Lumpia at 49ers games this season.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEVI’S STADIUM

New dishes, returning favorites

Sandi’s Food for the Soul: Santa Clara chef-caterer Sandra Dailey and her team will make her Cajun specialties, Seafood Jambalaya and Seafood Gumbo, both with chicken andouille sausage, and Four-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese, with or without bacon. Dessert time — that comes when the Niners first score, right? — calls for her signature Peach Cobbler Cups with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

Konjoe Burger Bar: Joey Camacho’s local enterprise, a Santa Clara favorite with a location at the Monticello complex across town, will be back with an expanded lineup this season. The breakout star is likely to be the Bodega Burger, a New York-style “chopped cheese” sandwich rarely seen in the Bay Area. Besides the burgers, which are made with grass-fed beef, you’ll find Hot Chicken Tenders and Savory Fries.

ChurWaffle: The Burgess Brothers of Sacramento are branching out this season with a BBQ Hot Link Sandwich, Crispy Chicken Fritters tossed in their housemade barbecue sauce and Loaded French Fries topped with pulled pork and cheddar cheese. They’ll be serving their signature item, the cornbread waffle, as a Strawberry Shortcake ChurWaffle and Peach Cobbler ChurWaffle.

Tony G’s Slice House: The Bay Area’s global pizza champion, Tony Gemignani, and his Slice House will expand to six stands at Levi’s. And he’s created a new themed pizza with a wild array of toppings. Called the Gold Rush, this pepperoni and applewood-smoked bacon pizza will be finished with ... take a breath ... gold and red peppadew peppers, hot honey, ricotta, green onions, oregano, garlic oil AND grated romano.

Hula Truck: The Gorospe family’s Santa Clara-based business has been expanding to Bay Area venues with a Pacific Island/NorCal fusion lineup. Think Poke Nachos, gluten-free Poke Rice Bowls and the popular, secret-recipe

My Mama’s Lumpia, filled with ground pork, shrimp and water chestnuts. Finish off the meal with Dole Whip or Spiked Dole Whip, as in Malibu rum.

The Shop by Chef Baca: This San Jose chef, a comfort-food specialist, will make two easy-toeat-at-your-seat sandwiches, both on sourdough rolls. The Asiago Meatball Sub features San Marzano tomato sauce, caramelized onions, cashew pesto sauce and provolone cheese, and The Italian drizzles housemade dressing atop the layers of salami, mortadella, capicola, provolone and pepperoncini.

Smoking Pig: Paul Reddick and his restaurant team — they’ve

been one of the South Bay’s biggest barbecue draws for the last decade — will fire up the pits early and head to the stadium to prepare brisket, pulled pork and chicken sandwiches. New this season will be the Superb Nachos, piled with your choice of those smoked meats.

Super Duper: This San Francisco-born chain will be back at Levi’s with its Super Burgers and Mini Burgers made with vegetarian-fed beef from family-owned ranches. For the non-meat-eaters in the crowd, there’s a Veggie Burger with an unusual topping, hummus, plus cucumber and Super Sauce. Garlic Fries are studded with fresh garlic and aged cheddar.

Starbird: These folks helped launch the local fried chicken mania back in 2014 in Sunnyvale, then expanded throughout the Bay Area. This season, they’ll be serving Crispy Chicken Tenders, which are cooked in non-GMO rice bran oil and accompanied by housemade sauce (Star Sauce, Greek Yogurt Ranch, Honey Mustard or Honey Chipotle BBQ), and squeezing fresh lemonade.

The Chairman: Curtis Lam’s popular Asian street food truck, based in San Francisco, will offer its signature bao stuffed with miso-glazed pork belly and pickled daikon, along with buns stuffed with karaage chicken, spicy chicken and miso-cured tofu.

Coming soon

Levy chefs at Levi’s: The menu isn’t quite ready for primetime, but the stadium’s executive chef, Jon Severson, and his Levy staff have spent the summer creating new dishes starring farm-fresh produce and herbs from the Faithful Farm on the stadium’s roof.

Above: At chef Rodney Baca’s stand, find an Asiago Meatball Sub and The Italian, above, with layered salumi, provolone, pepperoncini and more, drizzled with a housemade vinaigrette.

COURTESY OF THE SHOP BY CHEF BACA

Left: Joey Camacho’s Konjoe Burger Bar will create a Bodega Burger, based on Brooklyn’s cheesy sensation, this season at Levi’s Stadium.

WINSON DUONG FOR KONJOE BURGER BAR

It’s the bao scoring the points with the fans in the stands

BY LINDA ZAVORAL

They’re scrumptious, they’re easy to eat in the stands — and they’re even shaped like little footballs.

We’re talking about bao, the pillowy steamed buns folded over savory fillings. Chef-owner Curtis Lam and his San Francisco-based food truck called The Chairman have been serving their beloved-by-foodies, award-winning bao to 49ers fans for going on five seasons.

While the pigskin is soaring around the Levi’s Stadium field below, Lam and his crew are making Pork Belly Bao, with pork slices glazed in red miso, the richness cut by turmeric pickled daikon and green shiso. They’re topping marinated, fried Chicken Karaage strips with zesty sauces and piling cola-braised pork on their Loaded Fries.

Before the official season gets underway, we nabbed Lam for a chat about life in the vendor lane in Santa Clara:

QAre you a football fan? A

The Chairman bleeds red and gold! Most of our team members are San Francisco natives, and we run an annual fantasy “footbao” league. Q

Does any other NFL team have a bao vendor? A

I’m not sure if we are the first to sell bao at NFL games, but

I hope we’re setting a trend! Bao makes for a tasty game-day snack, and I think our fans at Levi’s stadium would agree.

QDo 49ers fans have different bao preferences from regular Chairman devotees?

AOur Pork Belly Bao is still a fan favorite, but the Chicken Karaage Bun — Japanese-style fried chicken — is an item found only at our brick-and-mortar location in San Francisco and the main concession stand in Levi’s stadium.

QWhat’s your top seller at the games?

A

Our best seller at Levi’s Stadium has got to be our Loaded

Fries — crispy coated fries, topped with cola-braised pork and our popular spicy mayo and garlic aioli — only available at Levi’s Stadium.

tion is, does Trey Lance know what’s up with bao? We’d sure like to work a couple of them into his pre-game meal.

QDo you typically sell out?

ARarely do we sell out, but we have been tested. Loaded Fries were flying out of the kitchen last season.

QDo you work the booth at games? Is it a long, grueling day?

A You will often find me in the trenches during games, working with our all-star team. A typical game day is about 10 hours, including our travel time from San Francisco.

QWhich stands do you eat at during the games?

Q

When is the bao rush? Do fans load up just before kickoff or wait until halftime?

AI enjoy a refreshing Dole Whip at the Hula Truck stand on hot game days and a burrito from Iguanas always hits the spot.

A

We typically see our rush during the 30 minutes leading up to kickoff and at halftime. But our team moves fast like Deebo after the catch, so just get in line!

QAre the concessionaires competitive or all buddies?

Q

Do they drown their Jimmy G sorrows with the pork belly bao or the karaage chicken?

A Jimmy G will be missed, but it’s time to celebrate the Trey era with a pork belly bao! Ques-

AIt’s a friendly environment within the concessionaires. We’re all in the trenches together, trying to pump out delicious food for all the hungry fans out there. You’ll find us exchanging fist bumps at the end of service and a little bit of food trading whenever possible.

Curtis Lam (left) serves up his signature bao filled with pork belly, spicy chicken or CocaCola-braised pork from his popular food truck, as well as at his Levi’s Stadium stall.

NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF

Q&A

Meet the woman who decked the halls of Levi’s Stadium with celebratory sports art

BY JIM HARRINGTON

Wander the halls of Levi’s Stadium, and you’ll encounter all the expected sights: branded swag at the team store, peach cobblers and poke nachos at the concession booths, a fleeting glimpse of Sourdough Sam, perhaps — and paintings.

Joe Montana passes to Jerry Rice in full canvas glory — painted by Bart Forbes — in one corridor. Three fans cheer from the bed of a pickup truck in a triptych by artist Ben Alexy. And down by the luxury suites, you’ll find a stunning final flyby over Candlestick Park by Tom Mosser.

That intersection of football and fine arts comes courtesy of Sports and the Arts founder Tracie Speca-Ventura, who first saw the possibilities as a teenager, walking into a Southern California art gallery for the first time.

“It was a sports/arts gallery — only one of its kind and something in me just clicked,” she says.

It was the winter of 1989, and the student athlete at Cal State Northridge had just landed her first arts-related job at the gallery in Sherman Oaks.

“I was organizing my first art opening with the L.A. Kings a couple months later and having the time of my life,” says Speca-Ventura, who played tennis at CSUN. “I was 19 years old.”

Three years later, she launched her own company, Sports and the Arts (SATA), on the Central Coast. The San Luis Obispo-based company designs, curates and implements large-scale art collections at sports ven-

Above: San Francisco 49ers executive Jacob Fill shows off a painting titled “Running Back” by the artist Jenny Kompolt, one of the pieces from the “Sports and Arts” collection hanging at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. KARL MONDON/STAFF

Right: Tracie Speca-Ventura, founder and president of Sports and the Arts, has filled her own San Luis Obispo home with eclectic art, including a Bigfoot poster. STEPHANIE SECREST

ues across the country, from the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field. SATA has worked with the New York Yankees, the Miami Marlins, the Minnesota Vikings and recently, the Golden State Warriors, who wanted to liven up Chase Center in San Francisco.

But with more than 200 original works by 23 artists, the art collection at Levi’s Stadium is something special. Naturally, we had questions.

QHow did you become interested in art?

AI grew up around sports with a very sports-centric family. I always have been visual. And when I walked into the gallery, I instantly understood the visual impact of storytelling and art. A way to create powerful moments celebrating sport and the athlete. Capturing the moments of ecstasy, agony and celebration through movement and energy.

QHow did you get that first gallery job?

AWhen I first walked into the gallery, I told the owner, “I don’t know a lot about art, but I know a ton about sports, and I can sell anything.” Confidence of a 19-year-old. And I jumped right in.

Back then, I loved the job so much, I would have done it for free. Meeting and working with both the artists and athletes, it was exciting and so interesting. They all came from different environments and had great backgrounds and history. The common thread was how passionate and

dedicated the artists and athletes were to the pursuit of their crafts.

QCan you tell me what Sports and the Arts does in a nutshell?

ASATA works with our clients to create a customized collection of works — art, photography, graphics, sculpture, etc. — that bring their walls to life. We include the local area and people from all walks of life, as well as the sport/athletes themselves, in installations that captivate with storytelling and powerful content.

QHow comprehensive is one of these projects?

AOur research and development can take a couple years for each specific project to unearth stories, unique visuals and allow the time to build robust environments throughout the buildings. We cull through thousands of images and styles before making final selections and

finding the voice of the area.

QHow do you decide which themes and works to pursue? Does it change from team to team?

ATeam involvement is key, and we partner with each client to set tone, style and concepts from day one. Many of our creative presentations unlock new ideas and paths to explore. The artwork portion of each building project becomes a celebratory experience (that) represents the team, area and artists in a positive and powerful manner.

QHow does the particular city or region factor into the design?

AEngaging the local elements is paramount in our storytelling. Celebrating the history with music, regional environmental aspects, stories of the past and, of course, sports is a way to bring the community together.

Above: “A Final Flyby at Candlestick.” a painting by artist Tom Mosser in the “Sports & Arts” collection, hangs in the luxury suites hallway at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

Katrina Lamoureux, an intern with the San Francisco 49ers, looks at a painting of Joe Montana by Bart Forbes, another piece from the collection.

KARL MONDON/STAFF

QPaintings and arenas are an unexpected combination. Why does a sports venue need art?

AWith huge walls and space available in these venues — blank canvases — it is a privilege to lay the template for the audience. We use the word “storytelling” a great deal, as it describes the moments, installations and ability to walk throughout the corridors and engage the viewer in a dynamic way.

Sure, you could hang a bunch of jerseys up, but it would be stale, get old. Our interest is to create a museum-level experience throughout the venue and have the fans always seeing or catching something new when they walk the building — layering elements and ideas, so the fan wants to come back for more.

QWhat kind of feedback do the teams get from the public — the sports fans — once a project is finished?

AHow do you engage the superfan? Give them images, stories and ideas they have forgotten or did not know exist. The public embraces inclusion of community works, local people and ideas and has been so complimentary of our installations.

We’ve had people find older photos of family members, areas and moments that touch the heart strings and make the venue much more personal — all by coincidence and discovery.

QHow did the relationship with the Niners unfold?

San Francisco 49ers executive Jacob Fill takes in a painting titled “Surge” by the artist John Roberston.

KARL MONDON/STAFF

AWe were thrilled to team with the Niners and Levi’s Stadium. With the move to the Santa Clara venue (in 2014), the Niners wanted to embrace the Northern California environment and really celebrate the region. Engaging local artists and photographers to celebrate the team and history was an exciting project. We brought in elements from the 1800s to the present day.

QWe’re all obsessed with the Niners of the 1980s Niners — Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott. Did you have to work hard to limit the amount of ‘80s memorabilia?

ACelebrating the rich history of the team with not just specific players but also moments in time is visually impactful. (We were) focusing

Fill admires the three-part painting titled “Song & Prayer” by artist Ben Alexy. Both works are part of the “Sports and Arts” collection at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

on certain players and their success, obviously, but also featuring old program artwork from the early days, celebrating the bygone era. It is a tapestry of decades and moments.

QWe’ve talked about football, of course, but you’ve worked at Chase Center, too. Can you tell us about that?

AChase Center was a great project to work on with the contemporary feel of the building and the inclusion of music, culture and team. We included many local artists — and the Warriors championship teams were a pleasure to showcase.

Fan girl on the ground floor

49ers Museum curator was a starry-eyed intern at its beginnings

BY JIM HARRINGTON

Beth Atlas has cheered for the Red and Gold all her life. So the San Jose native was beyond excited when she began working on a museum project for Levi’s Stadium, which was still under construction at the time. Atlas, who got her master’s degree from San Jose State, began her career with that internship in 2013. Today, she’s the senior manager and curator for the 49ers Museum, which opened in 2014.

QWhat led you to this career path?

AI got my master’s of library and information science in 2013, and that’s what kind of gave me the skills to be in this role I am in now. I always enjoyed history. I have always been a 49ers fan. I have always loved sports.

QAnd it sounds like your father, Ted Atlas, was also a big sports history buff ...

AHe wrote a book about Candlestick Park — a pictorial history of the stadium where the 49ers were for decades. Ownership knew that they wanted to put a museum in the new stadium — a physical home for the Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.

49ers Hall of Fame. They talked with (my father) about Candlestick Park and what points to honor the 49ers’ previous home as they moved into the new venue. At the time, I was just starting my master’s degree. The museum development team needed interns to come on and start working on the project, and that’s kind of how I got involved.

QThe museum had yet to open — or even be built, really — when you first came into the project. That’s a very different experience than signing on with a pre-existing venue. Was it exciting — or, perhaps, intimidating — to create something brand new?

AIt’s definitely both. There were a lot of people working

on the museum. We had a design firm, CambridgeSeven, who had done the Patriots Hall of Fame when they opened Gillette (Stadium). A lot of it was them helping us through, but there are still so many things to do to build a place from scratch.

ARIC CRABB/STAFF

It was the opportunity of a lifetime to help build a museum.

QWhat were the elements you felt were really important to include in the museum?

Beth Atlas is the curator of the 49ers Museum at Levi’s Stadium.

AI’d say, telling the full story of the team, since everyone — 49ers fans, football fans — knows the times in the ’80s and all the Super Bowls won. Obviously, they were going to be easily covered. But I wanted to make sure that we went back to the 1940s, when

the team started. How did it get started? Who were the big names back then? Who was the Joe Montana of the 1940s? It was Frankie Albert.

The 49ers didn’t make the biggest name for themselves until the ’80s. But when you look at how

many Pro Football Hall of Famers we have inducted who played for the team in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s — it was important to tell their stories and their teammates.

QI bet the Niner alum really love this place, coming in and

reading about themselves and their former teammates.

AIt was a really important time for them in their lives. So, the fact that they are able to relive it and share it with their loved ones is pretty special.

QOne of the coolest things in the building is the Hall of Fame. I love seeing the statues of Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott and all the other greats. The one of Dwight Clark making “The Catch” is just awesome.

AThe idea behind the Hall of Fame was showing our inductees in their signature pose, so that when someone walks into the Hall of Fame, they are going to know who is standing in front of them without having to look down at their ID plaque. So, obviously, there was no discussion around Dwight: He has to be in that catch from that famous Sports Illustrated photo.

IF YOU GO

The 49ers Museum at Levi’s Stadium is open during football season on weekends and for three hours before kickoff on home game days. Tickets, $10-$15, are available in the museum lobby, but if you’re coming on a game day, you’ll need a game ticket, too. Find more details and take a virtual tour at levisstadium.com/museum.

Ted Atlas’ book, “Candlestick Park,” is available from Arcadia Press.

Left: A helmet from 1946 is displayed in the Heritage Gallery of the 49ers Museum.

ARIC CRABB/STAFF

GAMING

CURSES!

Football stars on the Madden NFL cover got foiled again and again

STORY BY LAURENCE MIEDEMA

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVIDE BARCO

There was a parade

through Chicago when the Cubs finally kicked their Billy Goat Curse. All of Red Sox nation celebrated when Boston reversed the Curse of the Bambino.

Is it possible the Madden Curse — not nearly as old as its baseball counterparts but perhaps more entrenched in pop culture — also has ended, and we never even realized it?

Or is more heartbreak lurking, just another bad break and a season or two away?

The Madden NFL video game franchise is one of the most successful in the world. Redwood City-based EA Sports has sold around 150 million copies of a game credited with teaching legions of fans — and many current NFL players and coaches — the nuances of football because of its realistic style of play.

Being selected for the cover of the game is a prestigious honor, typically going to the player who was the biggest star in the NFL the previous season.

But at what cost? Often, it’s been the decades-long enigma known as the Madden Curse. Not familiar? Simply put, it’s the explanation often suggested for the terrible injuries or abrupt declines in performance that have followed an inordinate number of players who have graced the cover of the Madden NFL game over the past 25 years.

The instances have become less frequent in recent years, largely because Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, the

cover players for

Right: Former NFL coach John Madden gives advice at UC Berkeley on July 26, 1980.

ROBERT STINNETT / STAFF ARCHIVES

three of the past five editions, appear to be curse resistant. And there will be no curse this season: John Madden, the former Raiders head coach, legendary broadcaster and driving force for the video game, is back on the cover for the first time since 1998, a tribute after his death in December at the age of 85.

But historically, trouble has soon followed for the Madden cover boys.

Debates rage about which players actually have been cursed, but an argument can be made that 16 of the 24 players who have been featured on the cover got hurt, saw their performance drop off dramatically or suffered some sort of massive in-season or playoff letdown that season. That doesn’t even account for Barry Sanders, who made the cover in 1999 and shortly before that season even began, stunned the NFL by retiring while still in his prime and never played again.

Technically, the Madden Curse isn’t a curse in the fairytale — or horror movie — sense. But a lot of fans believe something is, or was, going on. When game producers opened up the cover slot to a fan vote, fans didn’t vote for their own team’s stars, they voted for their rivals, hoping for a foe’s downfall by the curse.

Players have publicly put on a brave face, with mixed results.

Brady tempted fate when he was named the cover player for Madden 18, filming a tonguein-cheek commercial where he walked under a ladder and broke a mirror. Brady not only avoided injury, but was the league MVP that cover season. His Patriots, however, were upset by the Eagles in the 2018 Super Bowl.

Former Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander, asked about the Madden Curse when he was picked for the front of the ’07 game, replied, “Do you want to be hurt and on the cover or just hurt?” Alexander broke his foot weeks after his cover debuted and was out of the league two years later at age 31.

Publicly, only one player has declined a cover opportunity — then-Chargers running back

Rob Gronkowski, 2017

Tom Brady, 2018

Antonio Brown, 2019

Lamar Jackson, 2021

LaDainian Tomlinson for the ’08 cover, but reportedly, that was over how much he’d be paid.

But players talk. And they’ve seen what has happened to so many of their colleagues.

Peyton Manning, one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks, who retired in 2016 after winning Super Bowl 50, devoted an episode of his ESPN+ series “Peyton’s Places” to the Madden Curse.

Manning somewhat surprisingly never made a Madden NFL cover and conceded, “I’m a little hurt that I was never asked.”

But would he have agreed?

“The answer is absolutely not,” Manning continued. “No. Freaking. Chance.”

With that, Manning and Garrison Hearst, the episode guest who posed the question, burst out laughing on the set.

Hearst, the former 49ers star running back, knows a little about the topic. To many, he was patient zero of the Madden Curse.

During the 1998 season, Hearst became the first player ever featured on a Madden NFL cover, but broke his ankle shortly after the game was released and missed the next two seasons.

Hearst developed avascular necrosis, the same condition that ended the career of Bo Jackson, who was the biggest name in professional sports — and virtually unstoppable as the star of a rival

football video game — when he got hurt. But as Manning noted to Hearst, there’s no such thing as a Tecmo Bowl Curse.

Only Madden.

It wasn’t until several years following Hearst’s injury — after cover stars Eddie George, Daunte Culpepper, Marshall Faulk and Michael Vick were struck down in succession in the early 2000s — that the legend of the Madden Curse began to really take hold. The concept didn’t even have a name until Alyssa Roenigk coined the phrase in a 2002 ESPN The Magazine article.

By 2012, after Donovan McNabb, Alexander, Vince Young, Troy Polamalu and even Brett Favre and Drew Brees (to some extent) also suffered misfortunes after making the cover, the Madden Curse was part of NFL lore.

So, does Hearst believe in a Madden Curse?

“I don’t want to, because that means I’m the first one to start it,” Hearst told Manning. “But something’s going on. Look where I am, on ESPN+ (talking about it).”

Of course, not everyone buys into the curse talk, including the guy whose name has been on the box of every Madden NFL game ever sold and whose likeness was splashed across the first eight editions of the game.

“I was on the cover for several years, and I never once even

BY CAM INMAN

It’s hard to imagine any Madden EA Sports video game cover as adored as this year’s version will be.

The cover boy: John Madden, as he was for the game’s debut in 1988.

Such a tribute drew acclaim from throughout the sports world for the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and award-winning broadcaster, who passed away last December at age 85.

A void will be felt throughout the NFL world this season, and the long-running video game bearing his name honored him by putting vintage photos of him on its cover.

Of course, in years past, some cringed at who would get picked for that display. Sure, they would be the NFL’s hottest name, but often, they’d get hurt that ensuing season.

The Madden Curse, they called it. Madden himself dismissed such a notion. After all, football is an inherently hazardous sport that can endanger anyone. Yes, the 49ers’ Garrison Hearst got hurt in the 1998 season, but Patrick Mahomes led the 2019 Chiefs to a Super Bowl win (against the 49ers) in their “Madden” cover seasons.

In dedicating this year’s cover to him, EA Sports added the appropriate words “Thanks, Coach.” That touch was appreciated by Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera, who was mentored by Madden.

“His legacy, as far as the game is concerned, was he simplified it for the fans,” Rivera said on the

Commanders’ Twitter handle. “He brought it to life, that it wasn’t just about X’s and O’s. It was how X’s and O’s worked. And he added colorful language to it, like ‘Pow’ and ‘Bam.’ It inspired a whole new style of fans.”

Madden’s connection with the video game began decades ago, when EA Sports founder Trip Hawkins asked him to help design it. Madden didn’t realize how transcendent it would become nor how it has linked future generations to the sport he adored.

“Kids, they used to learn playing out in the street, playing in the park,” Madden once told this news organization. “They don’t play in the street or park anymore. They learn on video games.”

In a way, that was fine. Madden saw “Madden” as an educational tool.

“That was the start of it,” Madden recalled. “We had to get all 22 players on the screen, and that took five years. They didn’t want linemen. Most games then, it was just like a passing league with quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.”

Although he’s known for coaching the Raiders to their first Super Bowl win, and he became ingrained in American pop culture as a broadcaster and advertising pitchman, Madden was a teacher at heart.

The late, great Madden is a cover boy again

In a scene out of Madden ’20, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs strive for virtual dominance.

pulled a hamstring,” Madden once said. “It’s a violent sport. Injuries are going to happen.”

EA Sports’ public stance was if the players didn’t think there was a curse, neither did they. But in 2010, the company reportedly began developing a comedy film based around a former star player who abruptly comes out of retirement at the same time he is on the cover of a popular video game and has to endure a series of setbacks — not unlike how Favre’s 2008 season unfolded.

In 2007, as the Madden Curse was really picking up steam, former EA Sports marketing director Christopher Erb conceded to Time Magazine, “I haven’t told this to people, but I’ve got a bottle of Champagne in my office that we’re ready to pop once someone breaks the curse.”

That bottle remained on ice for a few more years until former Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson started to reverse the curse in 2012, when, as the Madden NFL cover player, he had a career year, catching 122 passes for nearly 2,000 yards.

Brady and Mahomes have also helped tamp down curse talk in recent years. Perhaps not surprisingly, the pair of star quarterbacks are the only players to appear twice on the Madden NFL cover, including together on last year’s edition.

Mahomes gave many people reason to believe the curse was finally over after the 2019 season, when the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback not only became the first active Madden cover player to play in and win the Super Bowl, but he was the MVP in beating the 49ers.

“What Curse?” EA Sports triumphantly tweeted shortly after the game.

Only time will tell if we’ve seen the last of the Madden curse.

John Madden chats on-air during a KCBS broadcast from his Pleasantonbased audio and video production company, Goal Line Productions, on Dec. 30, 1998.

RAY CHAVEZ/STAFF ARCHIVES

49ERS

Schedule at a glance

BY CAM INMAN

Oct. 9 | 1:05 p.m. on CBS

CAROLINA PANTHERS

Sept. 11 | 10 a.m. (PT) on FOX

CHICAGO BEARS

If Trey Lance makes his first seasonopening start, he’ll oppose fellow 2021 draft pick Justin Fields, who lost as a rookie last season against the 49ers and Jimmy Garoppolo (two touchdown runs). Bears coach Matt Eberflus makes his debut.

Sept. 18 | 1:05 p.m. on FOX

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Since Levi’s Stadium opened in 2014, the Seahawks have won in every visit except a 2018 overtime affair. But they don’t have Russell Wilson at quarterback this trip.

Sept. 25 | 5:20 p.m. on NBC

DENVER BRONCOS

The aforementioned Wilson went 17-4 against the 49ers for Seattle the past decade. Now he’s the new quarterback for a franchise with a new coach (Nathaniel Hackett) and new ownership (Rob Walton and the Penner family).

Oct. 3 | 5:15 p.m. on ESPN

LOS ANGELES RAMS

“Monday Night Football” offers this Week 4 rematch of last season’s NFC Championship Game, where the Rams snapped a six-game losing streak to the 49ers and went on to win the Super Bowl at home.

Nick Bosa relished his two sacks in 2019 against Baker Mayfield and now gets a chance for more, thanks to the Cleveland Browns trading Mayfield to the Panthers in July.

Oct. 16 | 10 a.m. on FOX

ATLANTA FALCONS

The 49ers look to win for a third straight season after practicing at The Greenbrier Resort between East Coast road games. They won at the New York Giants in 2020 and at the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 after previous layovers in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Oct. 23 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

This marks the 49ers’ first meeting with the Chiefs since Patrick Mahomes engineered a fourth-quarter comeback in the 2019 season’s Super Bowl. To help defend against Mahomes, the 49ers poached cornerback Charvarius Ward from the Chiefs in free agency this spring.

Oct. 30 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX

LOS ANGELES RAMS

A 27-24 overtime win at SoFi Stadium in last year’s regular-season finale secured the 49ers’ wild-card berth. Their ensuing playoff run ended on that same field three weeks later, when they couldn’t protect a 10-point lead nor stop Matthew Stafford en route to a 20-17 loss in the NFC Championship Game.

AWAY HOME BYE

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance chats with coach Kyle Shanahan during warmups before the game against the Houston Texans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Jan. 2. NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF

Nov. 6 BYE

A midseason recess comes with only three remaining road games.

Nov. 13 | 5:20 p.m. on NBC

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

NBC surely won’t flex this game for anything more attractive, not when the defenses are led by a Bosa (Nick’s 49ers vs. big brother Joey’s Chargers). Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert won the Pac12 Conference championship at Levi’s Stadium in 2019 for Oregon vs. Utah.

Nov. 21 | 5 p.m. on ESPN

ARIZONA CARDINALS

The 49ers’ first international game since 2013 (London) will pit them against the host Cardinals in Mexico City, where they also met in 2005 before an NFL-record regular-season crowd of 103,467 fans.

Nov. 27 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Former Raiders coach Dennis Allen took over the Saints after Sean Payton resigned in January. New Orleans routed the 49ers on the Saints’ only previous trip to Levi’s Stadium in 2016, their first Bay Area appearance since the Saints fell in an epic playoff visit to the 49ers at Candlestick Park in the 2011 season’s divisional round.

Dec. 4 | 1:05 p.m. on FOX

MIAMI DOLPHINS

After working in the 49ers’ coaches booth as Kyle Shanahan’s most trusted assistant, Mike McDaniel was hired as the Dolphins’ head coach. He’ll be returning to Levi’s Stadium for this game with the NFL’s fastest wide receiver in Tyreek Hill, whom the Chiefs traded to Miami in March.

Dec. 11 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Back in his native Bay Area is Tom Brady, a Serra High-San Mateo alum who opted out of retirement this season to play at age 45 and vie for an eighth Super Bowl ring.

Dec. 15 | 5:15 p.m. on Prime Video

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

The 49ers may be only 5-16 all-time in Seattle’s downtown stadium, but they’ll surely be excited for this trip, since Russell Wilson isn’t there to further torment them.

Dec. 24 | 1:05 p.m. on CBS

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

Rather than trade for Jimmy Garoppolo, Washington brought in Carson Wentz. But the bigger offseason drama had to do with Congress getting Commanders owner Daniel Snyder’s testimony about alleged workplace misconduct.

Jan. 1 | 1:05 p.m. on FOX

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS

The 49ers ring in 2023 with their first trip to Las Vegas. Their former Bay Area neighbors, the Raiders, paired quarterback Derek Carr this offseason with Davante Adams, whose Packers’ career ended with a loss to the 49ers.

Who will stand atop the NFC West?

1. 49ERS: last season: 10-7, third place

If any team can dethrone the Rams, it’ll be a 49ers team that came mere minutes from ending their Super Bowl run last season. The 49ers can take that next step (or recoil) with a new quarterback (Trey Lance) playing behind a new offensive line amid a still-sturdy defense and revamped coaching staff under Kyle Shanahan.

2. LOS ANGELES RAMS: 12-5, first place

No franchise has repeated as Super Bowl champs since Tom Brady’s 200304 Patriots. The Rams certainly have the potential with defensive maestro Aaron Donald and a potent passing punch in Matthew Stafford-to-Cooper Kupp.

Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp was the 2021 Offensive Player of the Year and was Super Bowl MVP.

Jan. 8 | TBD

ARIZONA CARDINALS

The Cardinals notoriously limp to the finish line. If they lose their fifth straight regularseason finale, that could bode well for the 49ers’ playoff hopes.

3. ARIZONA CARDINALS: 11-6, second place

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will miss the first six games serving a suspension for a performance-enhancing drug violation. Trading for Marquise Brown could help cover for that. The coach-quarterback combo of Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray didn’t inspire confidence as last season concluded.

4. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: 7-10, last place

Parting with quarterback Russell Wilson (Broncos) and linebacker Bobby Wagner (Rams) has Seattle poised for a big-time rebuild, after missing the playoffs for only the third time in coach Pete Carroll’s 11 seasons.

QUARTERBACKS

Sizing up the opposition

BY CAM INMAN

Trey Lance, the 49ers’ expected successor to Jimmy Garoppolo, will start new rivalries with counterparts this coming season as the underdog or the up-and-comer, almost every week.

Once he reaches the playoffs next January or in future years, that is where an arch-nemesis will emerge, a la Brady vs. Manning. Or in 49ers’ parlance, Young vs. Aikman and Montana vs. Simms. Which quarterback stands between the 49ers and their elusive sixth Lombardi Trophy?

This season’s schedule offers a mix of proven superstars, middle-ofthe-pack QBs and second-chance journeymen. Here is who presents the toughest matchup per category, not necessarily for Lance but for the 49ers’ defense:

SUPER BOWL WINNERS

Category criteria: Those who’ve won a Lombardi Trophy — or seven — and are legitimate threats to add another.

Tom Brady (Bucs, Week 14)

San Mateo’s native son came out of a short-lived retirement to play at age 45. His 23rd NFL season will be in its fifth-to-last game when he arrives at Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 11. That’ll be no time for anyone to get sentimental. Brady has won 80 percent of his December starts.

Russell Wilson (Broncos, Week 3)

Nothing like their ol’ NFC West rival to humble things. The 49ers should be 2-0 (at Chicago, vs. Seattle) before visiting Wilson’s new team in Denver for “Sunday Night Football” on Sept. 25. Wilson was 17-4 with Seattle against the 49ers, including the NFC Championship Game after the 2013 season en route to his only Super Bowl win.

Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs, Week 7)

Mahomes and Lance won championships

in the 2019 season — Mahomes vs. the 49ers in Super Bowl XLIV, and Lance a month earlier vs. James Madison in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision title game. If the 49ers lead this game and Mahomes faces third-and-15, he won’t be able to target Tyreek Hill (traded to Miami).

Matthew Stafford (Rams, Weeks 4/8)

He and the Super Bowl champion Rams dispatched the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, but only after a fourth-quarter comeback was kept alive by Jaquiski Tartt’s dropped interception. Stafford had two passes intercepted in both regular-season losses to the 49ers.

WINLESS WONDERS

Category criteria: Highly regarded quarterbacks who’ve yet to win a playoff start.

Derek Carr (Raiders, Week 17)

The 49ers’ first visit to Vegas comes in the season’s penultimate week, so a nonconference matchup may not impact the playoff races. Carr throttled the 49ers as

a 2014 rookie, then got walloped by Nick Mullens on a 2018 Thursday night, and now he has college teammate and star wideout Davante Adams.

Justin Herbert (Chargers, Week 10)

The 49ers will be coming off their bye, while Herbert and the perpetually overhyped Chargers are coming off a crosscountry game at Atlanta. Herbert won the Pac-12 Conference Championship at Levi’s Stadium as an Oregon senior in 2019. His return will be the undercard to the Bosa brothers storyline in this game.

Carson Wentz (Commanders, Week 16)

He’s 3-0 against the Shanahan-coached 49ers; now he’ll try beating them for the third straight season for as many different franchises (Eagles, Colts, Commanders). Yes, Wentz won a Super Bowl, but he was on injured reserve in the 2017 Eagles’ playoff run.

MOBILE MEN

Category criteria: Dual-threat quarterbacks whose ability to escape trouble could prove tough to sack, as has been troublesome for past 49ers’ defenses.

Kyler Murray (Cardinals, Weeks 11/18)

A Pro Bowler in two of three seasons, he’s 2-3 against the 49ers. He’s bucking for a new contract after skipping the voluntary off-season program. His Cardinals “host” the 49ers in Mexico City on Nov. 21, then the rematch is in Week 18 at Levi’s.

Justin Fields (Bears, Week 1)

The 49ers bypassed him in the draft, then beat him Oct. 30 with the help of two Garoppolo touchdown runs. This season’s

Opposite (from top left): Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford, Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady, Las Vegas Raiders’ Derek Carr, Denver Broncos’ Russell Wilson, Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields, Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.

opener in Soldier Field could offer a more dynamic Fields under new coach Matt Eberflus.

Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins, Week 13)

New coach Mike McDaniel, formerly Kyle Shanahan’s top assistant, should know by this Dec. 5 visit how to maximize (or minimize) Tagovailoa, who’s looking more explosive after his 2019 hip injury. Through two seasons, he had only 237 rushing yards, along with 20 sacks each season (23 games). He’ll need to be on the move more against the 49ers’ front.

SECOND-CHANCE CLUB

Category criteria: Journeymen who may or may not be starting once the 49ers come on their schedule.

Marcus Mariota (Falcons, Week 6)

Will the Falcons have switched to rookie Desmond Ridder when they host the 49ers, after visiting Brady and the Bucs?

Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield (Panthers, Week 5)

Will it be the New York Jets’ castoff or the Cleveland Browns’ castoff ... or will the Panthers have traded for Jimmy Garoppolo?

Jameis Winston (Saints, Week 12)

An ACL tear scuttled his 5-2 start last season as the heir to Drew Brees’ throne. The Saints’ backups: Andy Dalton and Ian Book.

Geno Smith (Seahawks, Weeks 2/15)

Smith is the favorite after two years in Seattle behind Wilson, but ex-Broncos starter Drew Lock will vie for the job, one in which Garoppolo could thrive if released this summer.

Screen pass

Here’s your ticket to some great gridiron entertainment, Hollywood style

BY CHUCK BARNEY

There’s nothing like a gripping football-themed movie or TV show to provoke a big adrenaline rush.

After all, where else can you find uplifting beat-the-odds stories and blood, sweat and tearsoaked life lessons about teamwork, dedication and discipline?

And where else can you see a fiery Denzel Washington spit out silly lines like, “You look like a bunch of sissies after a cat fight!”

Thankfully, film and television have blessed us with a dizzying array of narratives that not only appeal to gridiron geeks, but to non-fans who might not know a nickel defense from a penny loafer.

Here are a few standouts that deserve to be in your lineup:

Silver screen touchdowns

BRIAN’S SONG (1971)

Some films can turn even the manliest men into blubbering babies. (See: “Saving Private Ryan,” “Old Yeller,” etc.) But this made-for-ABC production holds a special place in the cinematic waterworks hall of fame.

Adapted from Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers’ autobiography, it recalls how he and his white teammate, Brian Piccolo (James Caan), formed an unlikely bromance after starting off as rivals. The story turns tragic when Piccolo is stricken with cancer. Break out the industrial-strength tissues.

Winner of five Emmys, “Brian’s Song” figures to earn some newfound attention in the wake of Caan’s death in July.

Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu.

THE LONGEST YARD (1974)

Journey back in time to when Burt Reynolds was nearing the pinnacle of his hunky-man, king-of-the-box-office powers. Here he plays Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, a disgraced NFL quarterback turned prison convict assigned to organize a team of inmates to scrimmage against the prison guards.

Dubbed the “Mean Machine,” his posse features more freaks, psychos and miscreants than those fabled Oakland Raiders squads of old. And laughs are plentiful as they struggle to mesh while prepping for the big showdown.

If the 1974 classic feels too old-school, check out the 2005 remake starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock.

Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes, Paramount+, Vudu.

In the 2005 remake of “The Longest Yard,” former pro quarterback Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler, right) calls upon coach Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds, center) and Caretaker (Chris Rock, left) to help him field a football team of inmates to take on the guards. AP PHOTO/PARAMOUNT PICTURES/TRACY BENNETT

RUDY (1993)

Behold the ultimate underdog saga — a film Roger Ebert described as “a small but powerful illustration of the human spirit.”

Sean Astin portrays Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger Jr., whose steadfast dream is to play football for Notre Dame. Just one problem: Rudy, as someone observes, stands “5-foot-nothing,” weighs “100 and nothing” and has “hardly a speck of athletic ability.”

No matter. Astin tears into the role like a man possessed, and the film hits all the right feel-good notes without wallowing in mush. If you can’t stand up and cheer for Rudy, you probably have a hole in your soul.

Where to watch: Starz, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999)

Director Oliver Stone, of all people, delivers a raw, turbo-charged, smash-mouth glimpse into the behind-the-scenes turmoil of a struggling pro football team.

And check out this roster of allstars: Al Pacino, with his usual intensity, plays an aging head coach. Jamie Foxx is a cocky quarterback. LL Cool J is a fame-seeking running back. Cameron Diaz plays the team’s zero-tolerance owner. Also appearing: Dennis Quaid, James Woods, Matthew Modine, Lauren Holly, Ann-Margret and several real-life NFL greats.

The accuracy of “Any Given Sunday” might be up for debate, but there’s no denying it makes for a crazy good time.

Where to watch: Hulu, Peacock, Amazon, iTunes.

DRAFT DAY (2014)

Kevin Costner, who shined in baseball films (“Bull Durham,”

“Field of Dreams”), embraces another sport in this savvy flick about the pressure-cooker that is the NFL Draft. He plays beleaguered Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver, who could lose his job if he doesn’t nail his player assessments. Elevating his stress level is a host of personal issues. Meanwhile, a talented prospect (Chadwick Boseman) waits to see if his NFL dreams will come true.

“Draft Day” mainly focuses on backroom wheeling and dealing, so it features minimal on-field action. But the film succeeds in capturing the high-stakes anxiety pegged to decisions that can make or break a team.

Where to watch: Peacock, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play.

REMEMBER THE TITANS (2000)

Who better to deliver rousing, fire-up-the-team speeches than Denzel Washington? In this moving parable about race relations — based on the true story of Herman Boone — he plays a coach determined to integrate a formerly all-white Virginia high school team in the early 1970s. For his players to succeed on the field, he must coax them to change their mindsets and bond off it.

Denzel clearly has game, and

Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday” stars Cameron Diaz and Al Pacino.

COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

he gets stellar support from a cast that includes Will Patton, along with a young Ryan Gosling, Donald Faison and Ryan Hurst. The film’s soundtrack — with songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and more — is equally impressive.

Where to watch: Disney+, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu.

HONORABLE MENTION

Bay Area prep sports lovers may also want to catch “When the Game Stands Tall” (2014), a true-life film about coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel) and De La Salle High School’s record 151game winning streak.

Television on the 50-yard line

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2006–2011)

H.G. Bissinger’s captivating book about high school football in Texas was first adapted into a 2004 movie starring Billy Bob Thornton. But it really found its pop cultural groove as a beloved NBC series.

The deeply affecting drama examines the trials and triumphs of the Dillon Panthers through the eyes of coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), his wife Tami (Connie Britton) and his players, all of whom inhabit a hardscrabble town where football is the object of near-religious fervor.

Appealing to both sports fans and teen-soap devotees, “Friday Night Lights” is blessed with superb writing, exceptional acting and nuanced stories that routinely deliver lump-in-the-throat moments. Watch it with clear eyes and a full heart, and you just can’t lose.

Where to watch: Netflix, Peacock, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes.

ALL AMERICAN (2018–PRESENT)

Loosely based on the life of former pro football player Spencer Paysinger, this compelling drama series focuses on Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), a gridiron standout from the turbulent Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles, who is recruited by a coach (Taye Diggs) to come play in swanky Beverly Hills. Various culture clashes and teen-centric complications ensue.

With a strong cast and scripts that delve into hot-button social issues, “All American” distinguishes itself from TV’s typical fish-outof-water fare. The series, which eventually follows Spencer into college, became popular enough to spawn a spin-off — “All American: Homecoming.”

Where to watch: The CW, Netflix, Google Play. New season begins Oct. 10 on The CW.

LAST CHANCE U (2016–2020)

It’s all about redemption in this gritty, coming-of-age documentary series. The storylines focus on community college football programs where many players grapple with adverse circumstances (academic woes, family issues, run-ins with the law, etc.) that have prevented them from playing major Division 1 football.

Watch them endure plenty of hard knocks — and brutal reality checks — as they strive to rejuvenate their careers under the watchful eyes of demanding mentors dishing out lots of sage advice and tough love.

The final season of “Last Chance U,” considered by some critics to be the show’s best, spotlights Oakland’s Laney College and its legendary coach John Beam.

Where to watch: Netflix.

Above: Oakland’s Laney College Eagles are featured in the docuseries “Last Chance U.”

NETFLIX

Left: The TV show Friday Night Lights followed the on- and off-the-field lives of high school football players in west Texas.

NBC PHOTO: BILL RECORDS

The science of the sport emerges in riveting detail in ‘Newton’s Football’

BY BRITTANY DELAY

Aself-described science evangelist, Ainissa Ramirez is on a mission to make science less intimidating and more accessible by revealing how ingrained it is in our everyday lives, whether you’re a math lover or a football fan.

The New York-based scientist and Stanford alum — Ramirez earned both her master’s and Ph.D in materials science and engineering there — worked for Bell Laboratories and spent a decade on the Yale University faculty. Today, she’s an award-winning writer, podcaster and keynote speaker, whose TED talk on science education inspired her first book, “Save Our Science.”

It was the gridiron that inspired her second, “Newton’s Football.” The book, co-authored with journalist Allen St. John, offers readers a different perspective on a timeless American tradition, explaining everything from the complexities of chaos theory to the physical evolution of the game.

Rather than bogging readers down with physics-heavy material, Ramirez brings the book to life with fascinating anecdotes — about Vince Lombardi and Isaac Newton, Teddy Roosevelt, “Shrek” and why a coach’s reluctance to go for it on fourth-down is essentially a case of monkey-brain.

QIn “Newton’s Football,” you talk a lot about chaos theory and the role it plays in the game. Can you boil that down for us?

AChaos theory is really about how if you change how something starts, even with just a small modification, you can drastically change the outcome. When I was writing “Newton’s Football,” I met a coach who figured out that if he trained his players so they didn’t need to rest between plays, they could start the next play right away, while the other team is still trying to catch their breath. That birthed the no-huddle offense. By changing those initial conditions,

he’s giving himself an advantage, which is essentially chaos theory in a nutshell.

QYou’ve said that Vince Lombardi and his background in physics and probability defined his coaching style. Are there other coaches out there right now fol-

lowing that legacy?

AI don’t know how many of them have the same background, but I think a lot have that STEM mindset. Football is all about gaining the advantage, which may be through an analysis of the rules or by just using sci-

ence better, which often involves talking to mathematicians and scientists. That’s actually how the West Coast offense came about. They thought, OK, how do I get something down the field? Use the Pythagorean theorem! They might not have been scientists themselves, but they knew to

ask questions, and that’s a very common practice in pretty much every discipline. It happens in science, and it happens on the football field.

QIf you were a football coach, what’s the first thing you would teach your players? Spend

less time on the field and more in the classroom?

AWell, what did Vince Lombardi do? Study the game and learn about physics. Learn about the body, so you can apply those lessons to your own body and improve your conditioning. It’s not just about the classroom, though. A lot of people don’t think that football players have good brains, but they do. They’re smart like everyone else, and they are also smart in ways that most people are not. When I spoke to Jerry Rice and Bob Shuler, those were heavy conversations where I could not keep up; they were such experts in their field, and they really understood the strategy involved. Whether it’s something that’s innate or something that’s trained, I don’t know, but there’s definitely an athletic intelligence component to it.

QOne of your chapters, which delves into the distinctive shape of the football, is titled “The Divinely Random Bounce of the Prolate Spheroid” ...

AThe original football actually started off a bit flatter and more roundish than the football we have today, but as football evolved towards more of a throwing game, the pigskin developed a kind of nozzle at the end, so it could cut through the air more easily. However, this means it doesn’t typically behave well when it bounces on the ground. When that happens, you see these confident athletes suddenly look like silly kindergartners, jumping on the ball to try and stop it, because there really is no way to determine where that ball is going to bounce. If you took a football, dipped it in paint and bounced it 100 times the same way, by the end, the field would look like an abstract painting, because it’s just so chaotic and completely random.

MORE...

“Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game” (Ballantine Books, $26) is available at local independent bookstores, as is Ramirez’s newest book, “The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transform One Another” (MIT, $18), which focuses on eight simple and often overlooked inventions that uniquely and significantly shaped human experience. If you’d like to know why the invention of the light bulb means we’re taller than our ancestors were, give it a read. Check www.indiebound.org for the book shop nearest you.

QWere you surprised by anything during your research for “Newton’s Football”?

AI learned a ton! I’m a scientist. I did not start off writing this book as a football fan, but I live with my brother, who is, and I’d say things like “Hey, I talked to this guy Jerry Rice today, is he a big deal?” I knew who Jerry Rice was — I was just messing with him — but there’s a lot I didn’t know about the sport going into this. Writing “Newton’s Football” was just as much part of my own education as it was my work.

QWhat’s a science evangelist?

AI feel like a lot of people get turned off by science, and so I’m trying to re-engage them. That’s the reason I wrote “Newton’s Football.” I wanted to show people who didn’t think science was for them how they actually use science everyday. That’s my schtick. I like to show people the science they already employ, so it doesn’t seem so foreign to them.

“Newton’s Football” coauthor Ainissa Ramirez considers herself a science evangelist.

YALE UNIVERSITY

Gay and fervently faithful

Niners follower heralds the team that first welcomed LGBTQ fans

BY MARTHA ROSS

Cisco Mejia may be one of the few people who can truly say he’s living his dream.

Mejia, an out, proud San Francisco 49ers superfan, has loved the team since he was 6 years old, and he’s thrilled to represent 49ers Pride, the team’s LGBTQ fan community. The 49ers made NFL history in 2019 when they became the first team in the league to officially launch an LGBTQ fan club.

“I’m living my dream,” he says, standing outside Splash, the iconic gay bar in downtown San Jose that he manages and that often hosts 49ers watch parties. A DJ, too, the 40-year-old uses his gleaming new Ford pickup — painted a bright 49ers red, of course — to haul music equipment for 49ers parties and events.

Some of his gay friends don’t understand his love for a sport associated with an aggressive-

ly masculine ideal. And Meija recognizes that NFL culture has famously silenced players who were anything but heterosexual. It wasn’t that long ago that players felt free to openly express hostility to having gay teammates.

But he believes that the culture of professional football is changing for the better, led — not surprisingly — by the 49ers and the LGBTQ-friendly Bay Area. Now Mejia, who lives in Vallejo’s Glen Cove with his husband, two cats and a tarantula, explains what this culture shift means for the LGBTQ fans who love the sport.

QHave you always been a football fan?

AI grew up in San Jose, and football just became a thing when I was 6 or 7 years old. My grandmother made me a 49ers blanket that I still have and still use today. My family went to games at Candlestick Park. I had a little gold chain when I was 9 years old. It was the coolest thing in the world.

QDid you do sports as a teen?

AAt Del Mar High School in the late 1990s, I wasn’t really out. I played football, hockey and baseball, but not for school. I just knew I was a little different. My high school football coach tried to recruit me. He saw me play and knew I loved the sport, but I still wasn’t comfortable. I was really shy, and there were a lot of bullies.

QHow did you become a DJ?

ABack when MTV was around, I thought, I want to be a DJ. In 2004, there was a (now-closed) club in Santa Clara called Tinker’s Damn. I went to meet the DJ in the booth, and she’s this 60-yearold lady rocking out. I asked if she’d be willing to train me. I guess I had this sad puppy face, so she took me on.

QIs that around the time you came out?

AI came out when I was a manager at the former Century 21 theater in San Jose. That was back in the day, when people would camp out before the latest “Star Wars” or “Jurassic Park” movie. I was more outed than anything else. Most everyone accepted it (but) I lost some friends. My dad wasn’t very accepting of it, and we stopped talking.

Fast forward to last year — he got cancer. I ended up contacting him. We talked and everything. Today, he’s cancer free. We have a great relationship.

QDid you and dad bond over football?

down!” People refer to football as operating like military strategy. You’re, like, going into battle with each other. With football, it also doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight or any gender, religion or sex. You’re all bonded together and really getting into it. That’s the thing I love about football.

Q Do you have gay friends who wonder how you can like such a brutal sport?

be himself. Then you have the 49ers representing the pride part. If that was happening when I was in high school, I probably would have come out sooner.

QWhat does having a 49ers LGBTQ community mean to fans personally?

ANot everyone’s out. But if they’re football fans and going to games and wearing Pride attire, it’s much more easy and comfortable for them to come out. Just today, I got an invitation to a 49ers Pride Day at training camp. That was a nice thing to see on my phone.

QHave you met any players?

AI’ve met (tight end) George Kittle. He’s my No. 1 favorite. He’s exactly how he is on the TV and on the field. He’s quite a character. I also met (quarterback) Nick Mullens, who’s no longer with the team. When he first started with the 49ers, he played against the Raiders. I thought, this guy’s great. He’s going to do great things.

A

Definitely. I get customers in Splash who ask why — but they’re also getting into stereotyping. On the other side, when the 49ers announced they were doing 49ers Pride, you knew there were people who wouldn’t like the idea — but it was more positive than negative.

QKittle also taped the video on the 49ers website announcing 49ers Pride, saying, “We want to celebrate the passion of all the Faithful. If your team is red and gold, you belong in the 49ers family.”

A

My dad was always a workaholic, so it was more my mom and my grandmother, and my brother actually played football.

Q What is it about the game that you like?

A

Everything. Just the nonstop excitement. You have the physical contact, the interceptions. Everybody getting out of their seats and yelling “Touch-

QWhen former Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player to publicly come out as gay, it was amazing to see his team, the NFL and other major players tweeting out statements about how proud they were of him ...

AThat was super awesome. You have someone who is this huge, manly, masculine figure talking about Pride. That feels very welcoming for myself and the fans as well.

QWith the 49ers leading on inclusivity for LGBTQ fans, what else should the NFL be doing on this issue?

A

It was a big moment. You have an active player in the NFL who is out and feels he can

AI like how the NFL is becoming more open, especially with Carl Nassib and the Raiders. I just wish other teams were doing what the 49ers are doing.

DJ Cisco Mejia dons a 49ers Pride shirt at Splash bar in downtown San Jose. He is a leader in 49ers Pride, the 49ers LGBTQ fan community.

NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF

FANTASY

Gaming the game

Fans building fantasy teams have fueled a new football frenzy

BY ALEX SIMON

Following the NFL has never been easier. But for all the live streaming and real-time updates, the modern age of football fandom sure can test your loyalties. And impact your wallet.

For years, typical 49ers fans could count on following the same ritual every Sunday during the fall: put on their red and gold, camp out in front of the TV (or head over to the stadium) and spend the next three to four hours rooting for only good things to happen for the 49ers and their players.

Now? It’s not so simple — even for the most Faithful.

What if Kyler Murray is the quarterback on your fantasy team? Do you root for the Arizona Cardinals star to have a big day against the 49ers? Even big enough to pin the Niners with a loss?

Or how about taking the Cowboys in your office pool? Do you eschew a lifetime of animosity toward the 49ers’ biggest rivals to make a few extra bucks? Or take a bigger risk and wager for bigger bucks at Las Vegas Sportsbook?

“I’m (more) happy for my guy (having a big game) than disappointed for the 49ers, because that means more wins for my fantasy team,” said longtime 49ers fan and avid fantasy football player Chris Calegari of San Leandro.

“If you play in multiple leagues like I do, you’re so interested in every single game that goes on, because you probably have a player in each of them.”

Not all gamers can compartmentalize their rooting interests so easily.

“I’m a terrible fantasy football player, because I play with my heart instead of my brain,” concedes Terri MacFarlane, a Miami

ARIC CRABB/STAFF

Fantasy football trumps everything for Chris Calegari, who turned a room in his San Leandro home into a command center for game play.

Dolphins fan from Fremont. “I always make sure I have Dolphins on my team, and they stink.”

The NFL has never been more popular, and a large part of that is because fans have never been more involved. An estimated 40 million people of all ages play fantasy football, helped along by the game-changing arrival of daily fantasy wagering. And more traditional betting on games is getting so much easier, too. Depending on how voters respond in November, it could soon be legal in California.

“It turned the NFL from the No Fun League to the OK, maybe it’s a little bit fun league,” said oddsmaker Raphael Esparza of Doc’s Sports Service of the gaming/gambling boom. “Between the draft and combine and trades and arrests, it’s on the minds of sports gamblers 365 days a year.”

Sports betting has existed since the ancient Olympics. But in the United States, it’s mostly been illegal (with animal racing as an exception) outside Nevada, which legalized sports betting in 1949. Those looking to get some extra action on a game without traveling had to do so underground, needing to “know a guy” in order to place bets. It added to the illicit nature.

But fantasy football added a way for even diehard fans to follow other teams. And maybe make some money.

The idea was hatched in Oakland in 1962 by businessman and Raiders limited owner Bill Winkenbach. He and then-Oakland Tribune writer Scotty Stirling created the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League and held their first draft in 1963. They used the same scoring method that would remain as fantasy football gained widespread popularity in the 1980s.

These days, players have countless online leagues they can join with friends — or perfect strangers to fill their “roster” with real NFL players. Draft parties, put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, have returned, although many players leave it to “auto-draft” and have their teams picked for them based on preseason rankings. Then pick your best lineup and “earn” points for things your players do on the

Right: Draftstreet co-founders

Mark Nerenberg, Jeremy Elbaum, Michael Klbort, Brian Schwartz, second-place winner Matt Sidla and thirdplace winner Matt Renkwick speak during the $1,000,000 Draftstreet Fantasy Football Championship 2013 at Legasse’s Stadium at The Palazzo Las Vegas on December 15, 2013, in Las Vegas.

real football field.

In the pre-internet days, fans couldn’t follow how most of their team’s players were doing on Sundays. Instead, fantasy footballers had to wait until the Tuesday newspaper — you needed Monday Night Football to be done, after all — to tally up the final results from the weekend’s games and figure out who won and lost, a feat often done by hand by the league commissioner.

Once the World Wide Web started to become more accessible in the 1990s, the world of fantasy football began to move there — and exponentially grow. In 1999, Yahoo! launched the first freeto-play fantasy football platform online, setting a standard for the industry that is followed still today. Online, game results roll out in real time, allowing every statistic imaginable to be easily used and tracked.

Bottom right: Members of the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin

Prognosticators League held their annual fantasy football draft at Francesco's restaurant in Oakland in 2015. The original fantasy football league is still being played to this day.

“I don’t play golf. I don’t have any other hobbies. I don’t go fishing. Basically, it’s all I do,” Calegari said. “I’ve told my two exwives and now my girlfriend that when it comes September, I’m not really going to be available. I’m going to be on my phone or on my computer, trying to see scores and everything else about football.”

MacFarlane said, “The only reason I have Yahoo! Sports on my phone is for the fantasy app.”

Fantasy football has been around for years, but participation has nearly doubled in the past decade, in large part because of how easy it is to get started. And the financial implications are very real. It’s estimated that the entire fantasy football industry generates about $70 billion annually. Much of that is the cost of advertising and operating game sites. According to Forbes.com, fans spend about $15 billion on football gaming league entry fees, website prize fees and draft guide publications and web offerings. That’s more money than the NFL generates in revenue each season from ticket sales, merchandise sales and TV rights deals combined.

And it’s not just the money spent. Recent studies suggest fans spend about seven hours each week curating their fanta-

BRYAN STEFFY/ GETTY IMAGES FOR DRAFTSTREET

ANDA CHU/ STAFF ARCHIVES

sy teams: making roster moves, checking injury statuses and plotting trades.

But don’t think that because the fantasy players aren’t actually on the field they aren’t sweating every Sunday. Every reception or rushing yard matters, no matter if it’s money or pride on the line.

Remember when the Reds’ Tommy Pham slapped the Giants’ Joc Pederson in the face during batting practice in June? It was over a rules dispute from their fantasy football league the previous winter. Pham was suspended and never apologized, saying Pederson deserved what he got for stashing players on the injured list. He even dragged another player from their league, Mike Trout, into the public fray, jokingly calling the Angels superstar the worst commissioner in fantasy sports for failing to intervene. Why the big deal? Well, follow the money. Pham told The Athletic that the league’s buy-in was $10,000, quite a bit more than the typical $50$100 league fees most fans pay.

Even television has adapted to meet the fantasy football player’s desires, with the NFL creating its RedZone channel to whip around to every game, and host Scott Hanson committing to showing “every touchdown from every game.” The NFL’s out-of-market partner, DirecTV, also has a Red Zone channel of its own — one that allows you to watch a game with your fantasy team’s stats on the screen at the same time, too.

“Turn on the TV on Sunday,” Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, told the Sports Business Journal. “Any time you’re looking at the bottom of your screen, we’re dedicating 15 percent of our screen to placating fantasy players.”

Fantasy football mainly was a season-long operation for the better part of its first three mainstream decades. But starting in the mid-2010s, a new version of the game exploded in popularity — and blurred the lines between gaming and gambling.

“There’s a huge connection,” Esparza said. “I’ve seen too many times people at the (betting) window saying, ‘Oh, I’m gonna bet Tampa Bay because Tampa

Tom (Brady) is my quarterback in fantasy, and I need him to have a good game, so I’ll lay the minus-7 at home.

Made popular by DraftKings and FanDuel, daily fantasy takes the season-long format and condenses it to shorter windows — one weekend, one day or even one single game.

Some states moved to ban these operations, saying they weren’t games of luck but rather skill. That would make them gambling, which was illegal under U.S. law … until recently.

In 2018, after a six-year legal fight, the Supreme Court ruled sports gambling free to legalize for any state that wanted to do so. Currently, 35 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized sports betting, and California could be next, depending on the outcome of Proposition 27 on the ballot in November. The financial stakes are high, and commercials for and against Prop 27 are everywhere.

But come November, the vote will put an end to the commercials. Given its ancient history, the same can’t be said for sports betting — whether it is legal or not.

Staff writers Jon Becker, Michael Nowels and Laurence Miedema contributed to this report.

“I’ve told my two ex-wives and now my girlfriend that when it comes September, I’m not really going to be available. I’m going to be on my phone or on my computer, trying to see scores and everything else about football.”

— Fantasy football player Chris Calegari

Brian Sherman, left, records moves in his team’s fantasy football draft in Cincinnati in 2010. From 2007 to 2017, the number of people playing fantasy football more than tripled, from 13.8 million to 42.7 million, according to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association. AL

WHAT TO WATCH

Do not adjust your set

Some of the biggest changes for NFL season 2022 are in the broadcast booth

BY KERRY CROWLEY

Shortly after announcing his return to the NFL from a brief retirement this spring, San Mateo native and 45-year-old Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady signed the richest contract in league history.

Brady’s reported 10-year, $375 million deal won’t be paid by the Buccaneers, the Patriots or any other NFL franchise hoping to have the seven-time Super Bowl champion under center.

He’ll instead earn the money broadcasting for FOX after his playing career ends.

In a league that has introduced dramatic shifts in extra points, overtime and the schedule itself (Hello, 17-game regular season), perhaps the greatest change has taken place in the broadcast booth, where exorbitant media rights deals and broadcasting contracts have altered the fan experience and made the rich even richer.

When teams take the field this fall, here are some of the changes you can expect.

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Two of the most notable offseason acquisitions in the NFL this year belong to ESPN, which signed former FOX partners Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to serve as the play-by-play voice and color commentators on Monday Night Football.

For the second straight year, the NFL will have one wild-card round playoff matchup take place on Monday Night Football.

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

After airing on FOX and Amazon Prime Video from 2018-2021, Thursday Night Football will now be exclusive to Amazon’s streaming platform. The service went on a massive hiring spree this spring, luring Al Michaels away from NBC and Sunday Night Football to work alongside former ESPN college football color commentator Kirk Herbstreit in the booth.

Amazon has also hired former NFL stars such as Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman, Ryan Fitzpatrick and others to work on studio shows and live productions.

SUNDAYS ON FOX

With Buck and Aikman headed to ESPN, FOX elevated Kevin Burkhardt and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen to its top play-by-play and color commentator positions. Burkhardt and Olsen will be joined by sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi on FOX’s biggest game each week.

Olsen’s time in FOX’s No. 1 booth could be shortlived, and he knows it. Brady is already paid nearly twice as much as the next highest-earning analyst in football (Tony Romo), and FOX isn’t going to relegate him to the bench when his time comes.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

After Michaels departed for Amazon, NBC named Mike Tirico as the play-by-play voice of Sunday Night

Football. Tirico will work alongside Michaels’ former partner, Cris Collinsworth, and new sideline reporter Melissa Stark, who replaces Michele Tafoya after Tafoya changed careers to become a political advisor and commentator.

OVERTIME

Following one of the most thrilling overtime finishes in NFL postseason history, the league amended playoff overtime rules to allow both teams an opportunity to possess the football.

After the Chiefs scored a touchdown on the first possession of their AFC Divisional Round matchup to cap off a 42-36 win over the Bills in January, the Colts and Eagles proposed a rule change that was adopted that requires both teams to possess the ball.

If the score is tied after each team has one possession, the next team to score wins the game. If the score remains tied at the end of an initial 15-minute overtime period, play will resume following a two-minute intermission, and teams will continue playing until a winner is determined.

NFL EXPANDS THE ROONEY RULE

In March, the NFL announced changes to the Rooney Rule which now requires all teams to interview at least two women and/or persons of color when filling prominent positions in an organization.

All teams must also have at least one woman or person of color on staff as an offensive assistant, which is designed to expand the head coaching pipeline in a league in which head coaches now predominantly come from an offensive background.

The changes announced earlier this year follow updates made to the Rooney Rule last October that ask teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for all general manager or executive of football operations positions and all offensive, defensive and special teams coordinator positions.

PRACTICE SQUADS GROW

NFL teams were permitted to carry 12 players on their practice squads in 2020 and 2021, but that number is increasing to 16 players in 2022. A team is now allowed to elevate a player from the practice squad to the active roster three times per season before needing to place a player on waivers, which should help teams such as the 49ers that often look to fill the back-end of their depth charts with players who have been practicing in their system throughout the regular season.

Of the 16 players on the practice squad, a maximum of six can be veterans with any number of years of experience in the NFL.

INJURED RESERVE RULES CHANGE

In each of the last two years, a player could be placed on the injured reserve list and had to remain inactive for three weeks before returning to the active roster. Entering 2022, the NFL has tightened restrictions on injured reserve lists, as players must spend a minimum of four weeks on the IR while teams are also limited in the number of players they can activate from IR over the course of a season.

Last year, the number of players allowed to return after spending their three weeks on IR was unlimited. Going forward, teams will be permitted to reactivate only eight from the list.

Al Michaels, top, moves from NBC’s Sunday Night Football to Amazon Prime Video for Thursday Night Football, where he will be joined by Kirk Herbstreit, center, formerly of ESPN. Tom Brady will be on-camera talent, but he has at least one more season at quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’ll have a seat waiting for him in the FOX booth as soon as he calls it quits on his playing career (again).

A look around an NFL where Brady is back, Wilson’s a Bronco … and could this finally be the year for the Buffalo Bills?

BY JERRY MCDONALD

Super Bowl winner

Buffalo Bills. The fifth time’s a charm for the Bills, who had a shot last season at winning their elusive first NFL championship, had they not collapsed on defense against the Chiefs in playoffs. Marv Levy and Jim Kelly, this one’s for you.

MVP

Josh Allen, Buffalo. If Allen, heading into his fifth season, just cuts those interceptions from a career-high 15 last season to below 10, he’ll beat out Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers

Offensive player of the year

Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati. The guy has got to be steamed about his 87 Madden rating — players really care about that stuff — after a dominating rookie season that saw him rack up 1,455 receiving yards (fourth in the NFL) and 13 touchdowns (third). The former LSU star already has great chemistry with quarterback Joe Burrow.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen takes the field at training camp in Pittsford, N.Y., last month. Allen could be a contender for this season’s Most Valuable Player. Could the team’s fifth Super Bowl appearance finally be the one the Bills win it all?

Defensive player of the year

Nick Bosa, 49ers. Line up other NFL defensive stars T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Joey Bosa, Chandler Jones, Maxx Crosby, and I’d take Nick (not Joey) Bosa every time. He’s already played in two Pro Bowls (he was injured most of 2020) in his first three NFL seasons and doesn’t turn 25 until October.

Offensive rookie of the year

Jalen Tolbert, Dallas. The former South Alabama star was only a third-round draft pick, but the door is open for him to slide right in at wide receiver alongside CeeDee Lamb and pick up where Amari Cooper left off. He’s a big-play guy who has proved doubters wrong before. Tolbert was lightly recruited out of high school (he was considered a two-star recruit), but last season was fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 1,474 receiving yards on 82 receptions, and he was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.

Defensive rookie of the year

Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit. The second overall pick out of Michigan nearly joined Charles Woodson as a defensive player, winning the Heisman Trophy after collecting a school-record 14 sacks. He finished second, but the 6-foot-7, 264-pound defensive lineman will lead all rookies in sacks.

Coach of the year

Mike McDaniel, Miami. I don’t think Dolphins can win the division, but the talent cupboard wasn’t bare under his predecessor, Brian Flores. McDaniel, who moves to South Beach after six highly successful seasons as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator, should guide the Miami offense to 10-plus wins and a playoff berth.

Fearless 49ers forecast

The 49ers will get at least 11 wins and maybe more, with Kyle Shanahan crafting a system to the specifications of Trey Lance at quarterback.

First coach fired

Ron Rivera, Washington. Not because the former Cal star deserves it, but because of the organization for which he is employed and because Carson Wentz is his quarterback. If Dallas has a slow start, Mike McCarthy could be Jerry Jones’ fall guy.

Game of the year

Strictly the provincial pick here. The 49ers at Las Vegas Raiders in Week 17, with both teams still in the running for playoff berths in the season’s penultimate weekend.

Offseason move that will mean the most

Russell Wilson makes Denver a playoff contender while at the same time crippling Seattle. Huge impact on two franchises.

Is this it for Tom Brady?

His “retirement” and curious return following the 2021 season, serves as a dress rehearsal for one final season with a more stable head coach in Todd Bowles. Then it will be retirement for real.

Division winners

NFC West: L.A. Rams. Sean McVay still has stars Matt Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Jalen Ramsey and will get the last good football out of former Seahawk linebacker Bobby Wagner. The talented Rams could win a dozen games in their sleep, barring injuries.

Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had a dominant rookie season, racking up 1,455 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. He could be on track for an offensive player of the year season.

NFC North: Green Bay. How much will it hurt Aaron Rodgers to lose Davante Adams? Not nearly as much as you think. He’ll still be one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the position — in the regular season.

NFC South: Tampa Bay. The guess here is that after managing “just” 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns at age 44, Tom Brady begins to show the signs of age and barely breaks 5,000 yards with 38 touchdowns.

NFC East: Dallas. There’s every chance Mike McCarthy can screw this up, but the Cowboys still have offensive firepower and a defensive game-changer in Micah Parsons.

Wild cards: 49ers, Arizona, Minnesota. Trey Lance will do it differently than Jimmy Garoppolo but win just as much for the 49ers; No more excuses for Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury with the Cardinals; Kirk Cousins will finally get the Vikings a playoff berth but is one and done.

AFC West: Kansas City. Yes, the division has four very good quarterbacks — Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Justin Herbert and Derek Carr. But the Chiefs have the best one.

AFC North: Baltimore. There was significant concern over Lamar Jackson’s falloff in terms of pocket passing a year ago. No problem. Just don’t ask him to pass from the pocket as much.

AFC South: Indianapolis. Atlanta showing interest in Deshaun Watson helped free up Matt Ryan for a lifeboat that will bring the Colts a division title.

AFC East: Buffalo. It’s hard to remember, but Buffalo’s defense was quite good before the collapse against Kansas City. And they’ve added Von Miller.

Wild cards: Cincinnati, L.A. Chargers, Miami. The Bengals upgraded their offensive line to help stave off the hangover of their Super Bowl loss; Justin Herbert’s next step with the Chargers is double-digit wins; Tua Tagovailoa will play the role of Jimmy G with the Dolphins — successful short passer.

RONALD MARTINEZ/ GETTY IMAGES

TRIVIA

Check your score in our football quiz

BY JOAN MORRIS

Did you make the first string or are you a bench warmer?

Here are the answers to the fabulous football trivia quiz on pages 22-23.

1. c) Teddy Roosevelt, above, saved football, for which we are all grateful. Roosevelt appreciated the intensity of the game, but when 19 players died and 137 were injured in 1905, colleges began dropping the sport, including Stanford and Cal, deciding rugby was less violent. Harvard president Charles Eliot warned that Harvard could be next, prompting Roosevelt to step in, promising in a letter to a friend that he hoped to “minimize the danger” without making it “too ladylike.”

2. b) The 1928 game between San Francisco Polytechnic and Lowell saw the highest attendance for a high school game ever, with 50,000 in attendance.

3. a) After recovering a fumble, a confused Vikings’ defensive end James Lawrence Marshall ran 66 yards the wrong way and scored a safety for the Niners.

4. b) Failing to have players line up at midfield for the coin flip to start the game or for overtime can cause the team to lose the coin toss.

5. a) In a 2013 game, the 49ers tried for a “fair catch kick,” which allows receiving teams to line up on the first play and try a field goal. It was one of John Madden’s favorite plays, although it’s rarely used and is pretty much a desperate ploy. The 49ers tried it with four seconds left at the end of the first half, with kicker Phil Dawson attempting a 71-yard field goal. Interestingly, the choice to decline to receive the fair catch and

The stands were nearly full at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco Dec. 31, 1965, just prior to the start of the annual Shrine East-West game. It was the 41st game played for the benefit of the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children

turn the ball over to the opponent is an option in the rule book, but that’s not what the 49ers did.

6. c) In the 49ers’ first-ever game, they played the New York Yankees, but not those New York Yankees. The Niners were part of the All-American Football Conference, and the Yankees, which shared both its name and a stadium with the baseball Yankees, played only three seasons before becoming defunct.

7. d) Leo Nomellini, the 49ers first draft pick in 1950, wrestled in the offseason under the moniker The Lion.

SCORING

0-1 You have heard of football, haven’t you?

2-3 Second string with potential

4-5 All you need is a good agent.

6-7 Pack your bags for the Pro Bowl.

ROBERT H. HOUSTON/ ASSOCIATED PRESS