A BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PREMIUM EDITION Kickoff Bay Area News Group $4.95
3BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF SECTION EDITOR Laurence Miedema Jackie Burrell DESIGN David Jack Browning Chris Gotsill PHOTO EDITING Laura Oda Doug Duran Anda Chu COPY EDITING Sue Gilmore MARIGNANEBYILLUSTRATIONCOVERALOIS A FAN GUIDE TO THE SEASON’S ACTION, ON AND OFF THE FIELD Kickoff A Hall of Fame trio PAGE 12 The Chairman churns out ‘footbao’ PAGE 32 Museum meets stadium PAGE 34 The Madden Curse PAGE 42 Fantasy explosionfootball’s PAGE 62 Home field advantage? Secrets of the chain gang PAGE 4 Nick crystalBosa’sball PAGE 10 PAGE 24 Credits Opposite: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance takes part in practice on July 27 in Santa Clara. ARIC CRABB/STAFF
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49ERS
Niners finally start to stake their advantage at Levi’s Stadium
“That’s how we expect to play here, and it’s been long overdue,” coach Kyle Shanahan said afterward.Itprobably 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
Home Sweet Santa Clara
STORY BY CAM INMAN ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID DORAN
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evi’s Stadium became the 49ers’ friendly con fines just in time last season. The 49ers won their final four home games to make a push into the Wouldplayoffs.youbelieve 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.
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
From 1946-1970 at Kezar Sta dium, the 49ers’ regular season record was 95-61-1, and they were 1-2 in playoff games.
2016: 1-7
2015: 4-4
museum.Bigmoments and wins will help build Levi’s reputation, but so will Kezartime.Stadium, built on the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park in the 1920s, was large ly known for its cold weather, awful sight lines, rowdy fans, undersized (but splinter-filled)
From 1971-2013 at Candlestick Park, the 49ers went 205-124-2 in the regular season, with a playoff record of 20-7.
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.
All of which raises the ques tion: 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?
“The Faithful has stayed faith ful through ups and downs, and I’m happy that we got this one,” linebacker Fred Warner said after last season’s breakthrough.
2021: 4-4
2018: 4-4
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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.)
2017: 3-5
Here’s a look at the 49ers’ home record since Levi’s Stadium opened:
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.
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
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 tri umphs at Dallas and Green Bay — before an NFC Championship Game loss back in L.A. at SoFi Stadium.Twoyears earlier, the 49ers won the NFC Championship Game at home.
How does that compare to the 49ers’ previous homes?
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
“We saw our highest fan survey scores that we’ve ever seen here at Levi’s Stadium, and that’s a testa ment 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
2014: 4-4
Overall: 27-34 in regular-season games, 2-0 in the playoffs.
home-field experience by season’s end, including fans’ approval.
NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF ARCHIVES
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.
“There weren’t a whole lot of places that were worse,” Joe Mon tana 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.
8 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP San Bowl.inwintheextraJan.inCandlestickchampionshipinDallasagainstfourthlatetiedMontanapass“TheClarkreceiver49ersFranciscowideDwightmakesCatch,”afromJoethatthegameinthequartertheCowboystheNFCatParkSanFrancisco,10,1982.Thepointgave49ersa28-27andaberththeSuper PHIL ASSOCIATEDHUBER/PRESS FILE
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 annoy ing, but it was a beautiful place to Candlestickplay.” wasn’t much better in terms of the weather.
“I hate that 49ers won’t be play ing on that field where all the Su per 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.”
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.
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
And even before Levi’s opened, 49ers greats understood the porch light had been passed to the fran chise’s new home.
“We’ve got to take care of home field,” Guido added. “… I fully ex pect and hope you’re there when we open our home schedule, and you’re there the rest of the time.”
NHAT V. ARCHIVESMEYER/STAFF
against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept.
9BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF the Vikings and the Packers). So maybe that ultimate thrill comes this January. Or maybe Trey Lance throws an 80-yard touch down in the home opener against the Seahawks, now Wilson/Sher man-less.Nextup? Technology updates around the stadium, new spon sors and more grand visions.
Construction is hot and heavy on a massive mixed-use devel opment north of Levi’s Stadium.
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
Other18.
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.
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’re really starting to think about Levi’s 2.0 and what that means,” Guido said. “There can be
San 2021.inLevi’sAngeleswinthetheSamuel49ers’FranciscoDeeboleavesfieldfollowingteam’s31-10overtheLosRamsatStadiumSantaClarain
renovations down the road in the stadium that can enhance the fan experience.”Lookingahead to Levi’s Stadi um’s second decade of existence, business will be booming, regard less of how well the 49ers (and new quarterback Trey Lance) fare, and beyond the annual blare of concerts plus the 2026 World Cup.
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BY CAM INMAN
What are your expectations for this season?
We have tons of weapons. Obvi ously, we have Deebo, and I think the O-line will come together. But we’ve got to see what Trey can do, for sure.
resh 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-ononeBosa’sinterview.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.
I 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.
F
Q
Obviously, there’s a lot of un certainty with a new quarter back. 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.
Nick Bosa, eyeing the season ahead, is happy taking it ‘one day at a time’
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 occa sional postgame soundbite reflecting unabashed confidence in himself, his defense and his team.
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.
Before 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 perfor mance you’ve had?
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Q&A
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You 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.
Q
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 fran chise’s 27-year quest for a sixth Lombardi Trophy:
Q
He had knee injuries. You had a bad knee injury, too, but with medical advancements, it’s a different game, huh?
NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF
When you see a guy like Dee bo get signed, George (Kittle) and Fred (Warner), what does that tell you about how this fran chise takes care of homegrown guys and your faith in that?
A
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Q
Have a protein-shake blender on the boat?
Really good get-off and finish with a sack. Knocking the ball out would be ideal.
I’ve heard that about athletes.
Yeah, completely. He’s great now and is still exercising a ton. His knees feel good, and I’m glad.
Yeah, 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.
Thirty feet.
Out 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. Favor ite spots?
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I think power is more im portant, 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.
Q
I 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.
A
A
Q
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As long as you do your job, things will work out?
A Exactly. I try to take it one day at a time.
Yeah, 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.
In today’s NFL, is finesse more important than a power rush?
A
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How would you describe the ideal pass rush?
I’d say so. As his career’s gone on, he’s become more finesse, but he’s got the power, too.
A
No. There’s a fridge on there, though.
Did last season surprise you how much you got out of your body coming off the knee (reconstruction)?
Do you have a signature move?
A
Q
A
Q
Q
Q
Q
You spend your offseasons in Fort Lauderdale. Do you have a boat? How big is it?
A
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I think the swipe. Inside swipe or outside swipe. I’m more of a power rusher, honestly, when it comes down to it.
That’s different from Joey? (His older brother, Joey, plays for the Los Angeles Chargers)
I 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
If 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.
Q
Q
A Yeah, it’s a good thing for life in general.
With 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.)
Q
Defensive end Nick Bosa says of the need.’resourcesgivesoorganizationbecause‘I’morganization,49ersjusthappythisisgreat.Theyyoualltheyou
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CLIFF BRANCH DICK VERMEIL
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to help welcome the Class of 2022 into the Football Hall of TheFame.Bay Area, of course, was well-represented in star power at the annual event. But more importantly, our re gion played prominent parts in the back stories of many of the new inductees.
HALL OF FAME
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.
Of the eight new members to the Hall — Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, LeRoy Butler, Art McNally, Sam Mills, Rich ard 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.
inconvergedpathstrekkedgreatsgridironBayThreeAreathatCantonARCHIVESMEYER/STAFFV.NHATPHOTOS;PRESSASSOCIATED BRYANT YOUNG
Vermeil, who was recog nized for his NFL coaching career that included a Super Bowl victory, is a Calistoga native and former San Jose State quarterback. His coach ing career path started at San Jose’s Del Mar High and went through San Mateo’s Hills dale High, the College of San Mateo, Napa Junior College and Stanford before he got his break in the NFL.
who’s-whoveritable of NFL earlyton,eredgreatsall-timegathinCanOhio,inAugust
CLIFF BRANCH
FILE
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
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Fred Biletnikoff, who teamed with Branch to form one of the greatest pass-catching tandems in NFL his tory 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 AmongFebruary.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.”
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.
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, down field numbers that would be unheard of today.
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, Wil lie Brown, Upshaw, Stabler and Madden.
For four others — Ron Mix, Eric Dickerson, James Lofton and Randy Moss — the Raiders were a tempo rary stopover that had comparatively minimal impact.
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.
Branch struck fear into the hearts of NFL defenses as Davis’ primary big-play threat from 1972 through
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.
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.
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.
BY JERRY MCDONALD
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.
Five players enhanced their reputations in silver and black, even if they were likely Hall of Famers with out having played for the Raiders –- Ronnie Lott, Bob Brown, Rod Woodson, Jerry Rice and Warren Sapp.
“I always went the other way: We’re going to take what we Finallywant.”getting Branch his due and a spot in the Hall of Fame was something those close to Davis say the fel low Hall of Famer wanted badly before he died in 2011.
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.
“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 every one say, ‘take what they give you.’
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
In theory and style, Branch, the 29th member of the organization to be enshrined, was a Davis
But if Branch is the finish line, it’s a fitting conclu sion.Branch, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound sprinter out of Colo rado, 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.
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 Sta bler 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.
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.
Cementing the Al Davis legacy
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.”
PRES FILE
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“AfterMadden:thenational 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?’”
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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
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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 came back to coach the Kansas City Chiefs from 2001 to 2005, and retired for good after the 2005 season.“Inever really pictured myself sitting on that stage,” Vermeil said just before the induction ceremony. “When I think about it, I tear up.”
Shedding tears and shredding records
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.
Vermeil, 85, made quite a career out of being a me ticulous, unrelenting, attentive and soft-hearted head football coach over five decades.
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BY JON BECKER
“I’ve always been an emotional guy. It used to embarrass me,” Vermeil said. “When you tear up emo tionally, it’s because something touches you. The valve that turns that on for me is (for) someone I really, really, really deeply care about.”
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
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’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.
He’s been portrayed twice on the big screen: by Dennis Quaid in “American Underdog” and by Greg Kinnear in “Invincible.”
“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.
Vermeil’s big break came in 1965, when he joined John Ralston’s staff at Stanford.
That’s when his playing career ended and his Hall of Fame coaching career started, first as an assistant
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.
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.
A career in broadcasting followed, but he returned to the sidelines after 14 years, when he took a mid dling 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.
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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.
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.
notoriously 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.
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 unapologetical ly delivered scores of speeches in locker rooms and during news conferences where his tears have flowed.
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.
No one would expect anything else.
The countless hours produced scores of impecca bly produced handwritten notes he condensed into a speech of a lifetime.
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.
It was a challenge for Vermeil to whittle down his thoughts about an NFL coaching career featuring
“I allowed a passion to become an obsession,” he told this news organization in 2018.
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 induc tion ceremony last month.
JOHN GREEN/STAFF ARCHIVES
49ers’ Bryant Young and Tony Parrish celebrate after Young sacked Buccaneers QB Chris Simms in the fourth quarter, causing a fumble the 49ers recovered.
BRYANT YOUNG
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The gentleunbudgeablegiant
“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.”
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.”
He did so wearing only one uniform, the 49ers’ No. 97, which is now worn by star defensive end Nick Bosa.
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.
“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.”
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.
He credited his father for instilling that actionsspeak-louder-than-words approach. It helped with his transition to the NFL, where he joined a champion ship-driven roster.
What Young did in his career was simply to com mand respect.
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, NorthAndCarolina.thenHaley threw Young into the pool.
ryant 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.
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
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.
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 team mates.’ “
in the locker room every day, marvel at his work, his professionalism and the way he played.”
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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 over all pick, out of Notre Dame.
“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.”
He did so while racking up 89½ sacks, including 11½ in his third season as a First Team All-Pro.
“How many guys have never said a word, and they’re in the Hall of Fame?” former 49ers quarter back Steve Young, also a Hall of Famer, said. “He never sold a thing in his life. He can’t sell anything aboutFellowhimself.”49ers’
“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.
“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.”
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.
“They were successful getting me out of the room and carrying me to the (indoor) pool. But …
19BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
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.
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.
MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE
BY CAM INMAN
He started every game that rookie season en route to the 49ers’ fifth (and last) Lombardi Trophy.
“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,” Pi azza 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.”
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.
“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.
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 Skippingwork.therookie 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.
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 strate gic and targeted in our moves.
BRANDON VALLANCE/ STAFF ARCHIVES
Q
BY CAM INMAN
The 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 counter measures to the Rams. You aren’t as one-opponent centric, are you?
An optimistic Lynch heads into his sixth season as GM
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San AtlantaagainstduringoverLynchmanager49ersFranciscogeneralJohnlookstohisteamagametheFalcons.
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Obviously, 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 suc cess, and we love what we’ve put around him.
How did it feel — the weight, the honor — to be inducted into the Hall of Fame last year?
He Lynch’sdidn’t.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.
21BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
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John Lynch could have gone back to the broadcast booth. He could have taken Amazon’s money and run to the mic.
It was a lot of hurry up and wait this offseason. Those are two very important deci sions. 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.
You 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?
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Were you able to find any downtime this offseason, con sidering those six months were spent with Deebo Samuel and Jimmy Garoppolo in limbo?
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A My 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 expec tations, and I know how disap pointed 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.
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Your 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 …
I say this with all the respect in the world for their orga nization. They’re very good, they
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I’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.
When you’re watching prac tice 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?
It’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.
Get ready to tackle the football trivia challenge
TRIVIA
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?
b) Don’t line up on the field in time.
d) He asked to be traded to the Niners in the middle of the game.
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?
c)illegal.The 49ers declined to receive the ball and instead handed the ball back to the
a) He was an actual gold miner. b) He owned a patisserie specializing in delicate cakes and fancy desserts. c) He was a banker.
ILLUSTRATIONSTAFFANDIMAGESGETTY
ootball 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.)
b) Vince Lombardi
b) He left at halftime with one of the cheerleaders and announced days later he was giving up football.
23BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
d) Leo “The Lion” competedNormellini in the TeamWorldwasAllianceWrestlingNationalanda10-timeTagChampion.
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Find the answers on page 70.
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.
a) Knute Rockne
d) The Chicago Bears
Leo Nomellini, Minnesota tackle, Nov. 22, 1948.
didHowyoudo?
c) Teddy Roosevelt
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?
d) The game was called after 17 overtimes failed to break the 7-7 tie.
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?
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.
c) Argue the call.
d)Rams.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?
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) 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.
BY JOAN MORRIS
a) After recovering a fumble, a confused Marshall ran 66 yards the wrong way and scored a safety for the Niners.
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 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.
d) Harvard president Charles Eliot
d) Don’t show proper respect to the referees.
b) It saw the highest attendance for a high school game ever, with 50,000 in the c)stands.Itwas the first high school night game played under newly installed lights.
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
c) The New York Yankees
a) Fail to call the flip — the prerogative of the visiting team — and supply the ceremonial coin.
a) The Green Bay Packers, igniting a rivalry that has endured ever since b) The Dallas Cowboys
SIDELINES
STORY BY JOHN METCALFE ILLUSTRATION BY DAVIDE BARCO
the ‘game
on the straight and Secretsnarrowof
Pole-carrying Niners down markers help keep of inches’ the chain gang
26 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
So it was with Kurt Braunreit er, 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.
All hail
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.”
the chain gang — an unsexy, underpaid and nonetheless crucial job in football.
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.
Braunreiter took the time to talk about life on the gang and his favorite memories while lounging on a Hawaiian vacation, and he
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.”
What’s the attraction of the chains?
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What was your first game like?
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spoke rather frankly. “The 49ers can’t really do anything about it, because I’m basically retiring with this phone call,” he cracks.
How’d you get this gig with the 49ers?
One 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 fa thers 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.”
(This interview was edited for brevity.)
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It’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?
It was 1988, when Bill Walsh was coaching against the Vi kings, 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.
27BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
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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
JONATHAN BACHMAN/ASSOCIATED
But I was in awe, because I was a 20-something-year-old kid, looking at Bill Walsh (expletive) swearing.
PRESS
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.
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Back in the day at Candle stick 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
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his life. He was standing next to his wife, and his wife goes, “What? What about your kids?”
What’s security like?
Every few years, you have to get a background check to make sure you’re not a gam bler 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.
Have you ever gotten clob bered?
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I 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.
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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
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Do you need a lot of officiat ing experience?
28 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
Not 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 run ning 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.
A We 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.
Q Do you ever worry chain gangs will get replaced by technology — a chip in the foot ball or a laser or something?
Before 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.
Q Decleated?
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Q What do they pay you for this?
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Yeah. You had to be decleat ed — 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.
“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
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.
29BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
The inSeattleVikingsthegameaplaygangchainwatchesduringpreseasonbetweenMinnesotaandtheSeahawks2010.
PAUL ASSOCIATEDBATTAGLIA/PRESS
he 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:
PHOTO COURTESY OF LEVI’S STADIUM
There is some luscious munching in the food lineup at Levi’s this fall
FOOD
Game-time grazing
BY LINDA ZAVORAL
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30 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
Santa Clara’s Hula gamesLumpiaabove,serverestaurantTruckwillPokeNachos,andPorkat49ersthisseason.
Left: Joey Camacho’s Konjoe Burger Bar will create a Bodega Burger, based on Brooklyn’s cheesy sensation, this season at Levi’s Stadium.
DUONG FOR KONJOE BURGER BAR
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.
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 Mar zano 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 pepper oncini.
New dishes, returning favorites
ChurWaffle: The Burgess Broth ers of Sacramento are branching out this season with a BBQ Hot Link Sandwich, Crispy Chicken Fritters tossed in their house made 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 Straw berry Shortcake ChurWaffle and Peach Cobbler ChurWaffle.
Smoking Pig: Paul Reddick and his restaurant team — they’ve
WINSON
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 Cob bler Cups with whipped cream and caramel sauce.
Super Duper: This San Fran cisco-born chain will be back at Levi’s with its Super Burgers and Mini Burgers made with vegetar ian-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 stud ded with fresh garlic and aged cheddar.
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 Faith ful Farm on the stadium’s roof.
Hula Truck: The Gorospe fam ily’s Santa Clara-based business has been expanding to Bay Area venues with a Pacific Island/Nor Cal fusion lineup. Think Poke Na chos, gluten-free Poke Rice Bowls and the popular, secret-recipe
The Chairman: Curtis Lam’s popular Asian street food truck, based in San Francisco, will offer its signature bao stuffed with mi so-glazed pork belly and pickled daikon, along with buns stuffed with karaage chicken, spicy chick en and miso-cured tofu.
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 apple wood-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.
Coming soon
31BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
Konjoe Burger Bar: Joey Cama cho’s local enterprise, a Santa Clara favorite with a location at the Monticello complex across town, will be back with an ex panded 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.
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 Mus tard or Honey Chipotle BBQ), and squeezing fresh lemonade.
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.
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.
COURTESY OF THE SHOP BY CHEF BACA
Do 49ers fans have different bao preferences from regular Chairman devotees?
I enjoy a refreshing Dole Whip at the Hula Truck stand on hot game days and a burrito from Iguanas always hits the spot.
BY LINDA ZAVORAL
Are you a football fan?
33BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
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It’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.
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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!
Curtis Lam (left) serves up his Stadiumastruck,popularporkCola-braisedchickenporkbaosignaturefilledwithbelly,spicyorCoca-fromhisfoodaswellathisLevi’sstall.
What’s your top seller at the games?
When is the bao rush? Do fans load up just before kick off or wait until halftime?
Do you typically sell out?
Our best seller at Levi’s Stadi um has got to be our Loaded
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.
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I’m not sure if we are the first to sell bao at NFL games, but
Our 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.
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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.
NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF
Jimmy G will be missed, but it’s time to celebrate the Trey era with a pork belly bao! Ques
Which stands do you eat at during the games?
Before the official season gets underway, we nabbed Lam for a chat about life in the vendor lane in Santa Clara:
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Do you work the booth at games? Is it a long, grueling day?
The Chairman bleeds red and gold! Most of our team mem bers are San Francisco natives, and we run an annual fantasy “footbao” league.
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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.
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Are the concessionaires com petitive or all buddies?
It’s the bao scoring the points with the fans in the stands
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They’re scrumptious, they’re easy to eat in the stands — and they’re even shaped like little footballs.We’retalking 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 be loved-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.
Do they drown their Jimmy G sorrows with the pork belly bao or the karaage chicken?
Does any other NFL team have a bao vendor?
Fries — crispy coated fries, topped with cola-braised pork and our popular spicy mayo and garlic aioli — only available at Levi’s Stadium.
A Rarely do we sell out, but we have been tested. Loaded Fries were flying out of the kitch en last season.
“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.”
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.
34 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
“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.
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
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
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
Meet the woman who decked the halls of Levi’s Stadium with celebratory sports art
That intersection of football and fine arts comes courtesy of Sports and the Arts founder Tracie Spe ca-Ventura, who first saw the possibilities as a teenag er, walking into a Southern California art gallery for the first time.
Q&A
BY JIM HARRINGTON
Joe Montana passes to Jerry Rice in full canvas glo ry — 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.
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.
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When 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 back grounds and history. The common thread was how passionate and
Q
35BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
How did you become inter ested in art?
A
I 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.
A
But with more than 200 original works by 23 artists, the art collection at Levi’s Stadium is something special. Naturally, we had questions.
How did you get that first gallery job?
Can you tell me what Sports and the Arts does in a nut shell?
Q
A
Q
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.
Engaging the local elements is paramount in our storytell ing. Celebrating the history with music, regional environmental aspects, stories of the past and, of course, sports is a way to bring the community together.
Our research and devel opment can take a couple years for each specific project to unearth stories, unique visu als and allow the time to build robust environments throughout the buildings. We cull through thousands of images and styles before making final selections and
How comprehensive is one of these projects?
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Katrina Lamoureux, an intern with the San Francisco 49ers, looks at a painting of Joe Montana by Bart Forbes, another piece from the collection.
Q
A
finding the voice of the area.
How do you decide which themes and works to pur sue? Does it change from team to team?
Q
A
Team 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 pow erful manner.
SATA works with our clients to create a customized collec tion 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.
dedicated the artists and athletes were to the pursuit of their crafts.
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How does the particular city or region factor into the design?
KARL MONDON/STAFF
How 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.
A
Q
How did the relationship with the Niners unfold?
San Roberston.thetitledinJacob49ersFranciscoexecutiveFilltakesapainting“Surge”byartistJohn
What kind of feedback do the teams get from the public — the sports fans — once a project is finished?
Paintings and arenas are an unexpected combination. Why does a sports venue need art?
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A
KARL MONDON/STAFF
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.
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.
With huge walls and space available in these venues — blank canvas es — 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.
Q
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A
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.
Celebrating 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 SantaLevi’sArts”theworksAlexy.by“Songpaintingthree-parttitled&Prayer”artistBenBotharepartof“SportsandcollectionatStadiuminClara.
A
Q
We’ve talked about football, of course, but you’ve worked at Chase Center, too. Can you tell us about that?
We’re all obsessed with the Niners of the 1980s Niners — Joe Mon tana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott. Did you have to work hard to limit the amount of ‘80s memorabilia?
A
Chase 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.
Q
We 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 re gion. 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.
And it sounds like your fa ther, Ted Atlas, was also a big sports history buff ...
Q
A
It’s definitely both. There were a lot of people working
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B
He wrote a book about Can dlestick 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.
It was the opportunity of a life time to help build a museum.
ARIC CRABB/STAFF
What led you to this career path?
What were the elements you felt were really important to include in the museum?
49ers Museum curator was a starry-eyed intern at its beginnings
Fan girl on the ground floor
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.
I 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 histo ry. I have always been a 49ers fan. I have always loved sports.
Q
Q&A
on the museum. We had a design firm, CambridgeSeven, who had done the Patriots Hall of Fame when they opened Gillette (Stadi um). A lot of it was them helping us through, but there are still so many things to do to build a place from scratch.
BY JIM HARRINGTON
Q
Beth Atlas is the curator of the 49ers Museum at Levi’s Stadium.
A
The 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?
49ers Hall of Fame. They talked with (my father) about Candle stick Park and what points to honor the 49ers’ previous home as they moved into the new venue.
eth 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.
Q
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IF YOU GO
I bet the Niner alum really love this place, coming in and
A
ARIC CRABB/STAFF
One 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.
It 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.
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The 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 dis cussion around Dwight: He has to be in that catch from that famous Sports Illustrated photo.
Q
reading about themselves and their former teammates.
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.
the team started. How did it get started? Who were the big names back then? Who was the Joe Mon tana of the 1940s? It was Frankie Albert.The 49ers didn’t make the big gest name for themselves until the ’80s. But when you look at how
A
I’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
Tedlevisstadium.com/museum.Atlas’book,“Candlestick Park,” is available from Arcadia Press.
Left: A helmet from 1946 is displayed in the Heritage Gallery of the Museum.49ers
A
Q
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
STORY BY LAURENCE MIEDEMA ILLUSTRATION BY DAVIDE BARCO GAMING
Football stars on the Madden NFL cover got foiled again and again
CURSES!
44 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
STINNETT / STAFF ARCHIVES
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?
Right: Former NFL coach John Madden gives advice at UC Berkeley on July 26, 1980.
ROBERT
through Chicago when the Cubs finally kicked their Billy Goat Curse. All of Red Sox nation cele brated when Boston reversed the Curse of the Bambino.
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.
The instances have become less frequent in recent years, largely because Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, the cover players for
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 le gions of fans — and many current NFL players and coaches — the nuances of football because of its realistic style of play.
There was a parade
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.
Rob Gronkowski, 2017
rage about which play ers 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 retir ing while still in his prime and never played
Publicly, only one player has declined a cover opportunity — then-Chargers running back
Lamar Jackson, 2021
45BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
Tom Brady, 2018
Players have publicly put on a brave face, with mixed results.
Antonio Brown, 2019
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.
But historically, trouble has soon followed for the Madden cover
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 broadcast er 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.
Debatesboys.
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.
Technically,again.theMadden 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.
In a way, that was fine. Madden saw “Madden” as an educational tool.“That was the start of it,” Mad den 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 runningAlthoughbacks.”he’s known for coach ing the Raiders to their first Super Bowl win, and he became in grained in American pop culture as a broadcaster and advertising pitchman, Madden was a teacher at heart.
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, 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.
During the 1998 season, Hearst became the first player ever fea tured on a Madden NFL cover, but broke his ankle shortly after the game was released and missed the next two Hearstseasons.developed avascular necrosis, the same condition that ended the career of Bo Jackson, who was the biggest name in pro fessional sports — and virtually unstoppable as the star of a rival
But players talk. And they’ve seen what has happened to so many of their colleagues.
The late, great Madden is a cover boy again
Manning somewhat surpris ingly never made a Madden NFL cover and conceded, “I’m a little hurt that I was never asked.”
WithChance.”that, Manning and Gar rison Hearst, the episode guest who posed the question, burst out laughing on the set.
So, does Hearst believe in a Madden Curse?
Peyton Manning, one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks, who retired in 2016 after winning Su per Bowl 50, devoted an episode of his ESPN+ series “Peyton’s Places” to the Madden Curse.
46 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
The Madden Curse, they called it. Madden himself dismissed such a notion. After all, football is an in herently 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 appro priate words “Thanks, Coach.” That touch was appreciated by Washing ton 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
BY CAM INMAN
In a scene out of Madden ’20, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs strive for virtual dominance.
But would he have agreed?
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.
“Kids, they used to learn play ing out in the street, playing in the park,” Madden once told this news organization. “They don’t play in the street or park any more. They learn on video games.”
“The answer is absolutely not,” Manning continued. “No. Freak ing.
LaDainian Tomlinson for the ’08 cover, but reportedly, that was over how much he’d be paid.
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.
“I don’t want to, because that means I’m the first one to start it,” Hearst told Manning. “But some thing’s going on. Look where I am, on ESPN+ (talking about it).”
“I was on the cover for sever al years, and I never once even
EA SPORTS
By 2012, after Donovan Mc Nabb, Alexander, Vince Young, Troy Polamalu and even Brett Favre and Drew Brees (to some extent) also suffered misfortunes after making the cover, the Mad den Curse was part of NFL lore.
football video game — when he got hurt. But as Manning noted to Hearst, there’s no such thing as a Tecmo Bowl Curse.
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.
Only Madden.
Hearst, the former 49ers star running back, knows a little about the topic. To many, he was patient zero of the Madden Curse.
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 Madden’sfans.”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 genera tions to the sport he adored.
RAY CHAVEZ/STAFF ARCHIVES
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 retire ment 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 di rector 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.”
47BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
EA Sports tri umphantly tweeted shortly after theOnlygame.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.
That bottle remained on ice for a few more years until former Lions wide receiver Calvin John son started to reverse the curse in 2012, when, as the Madden NFL cover player, he had a career year, catching 122 passes for nearly 2,000Bradyyards.and Mahomes have also helped tamp down curse talk in recent years. Perhaps not surpris ingly, 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 quar terback 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“What49ers.Curse?”
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.
AWAY HOME BYE
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. 23 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Schedule at a glance
LOS RAMSANGELES
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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.
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.
Oct. 30 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX LOS RAMSANGELES
PANTHERSCAROLINA
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.
Sept. 25 | 5:20 p.m. on NBC
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.
BEARSCHICAGO
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.
FALCONSATLANTA
Oct. 16 | 10 a.m. on FOX
“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.
2. NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF
Sept. 11 | 10 a.m. (PT) on FOX
SEAHAWKSSEATTLE
49ERS
Sept. 18 | 1:05 p.m. on FOX
Oct. 3 | 5:15 p.m. on ESPN
BY CAM INMAN
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.
BRONCOSDENVER
Oct. 9 | 1:05 p.m. on CBS
Jan. 8 | TBD
1. 49ERS: last season: 10-7, third 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.
CARDINALSARIZONA
Dec. 11 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX TAMPA BUCCANEERSBAY
SEAHAWKSSEATTLE
Dec. 24 | 1:05 p.m. on CBS COMMANDERSWASHINGTON
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.
3. ARIZONA CARDINALS: 11-6, second place
A midseason recess comes with only three remaining road games.
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.
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.
Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp was the 2021 Offensive Player of the Year and was Super Bowl MVP.
4. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: 7-10, last place
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.
Jan. 1 | 1:05 p.m. on FOX LAS RAIDERSVEGAS
Nov. 13 | 5:20 p.m. on NBC LOS CHARGERSANGELES
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.
Nov. 21 | 5 p.m. on ESPN
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.
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.
2. LOS ANGELES RAMS: 12-5, first place
Dec. 4 | 1:05 p.m. on FOX DOLPHINSMIAMI
Nov. 27 | 1:25 p.m. on FOX NEW SAINTSORLEANS
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. 15 | 5:15 p.m. on Prime Video
ANDY LYONS/GETTY IMAGES
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.
Nov. 6 BYE
Who will stand atop the NFC West?
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.
49BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
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.
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.
CARDINALSARIZONA
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Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins, Week 13)
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.
Category criteria: Dual-threat quarterbacks whose ability to escape trouble could prove tough to sack, as has been troublesome for past 49ers’ defenses.
Mahomes and Lance won championships
Will the Falcons have switched to rookie Desmond Ridder when they host the 49ers, after visiting Brady and the Bucs?
Category criteria: Those who’ve won a Lombardi Trophy — or sev en — and are legitimate threats to add another.
Opposite (from top left): Los Angeles
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.
Matthew Stafford (Rams, Weeks 4/8)
Jameis Winston (Saints, Week 12)
AND
Justin Herbert (Chargers, Week 10)
Justin Fields (Bears, Week 1)
Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield (Panthers, Week 5)
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.
Category criteria: Journeymen who may or may not be starting once the 49ers come on their schedule.
SECOND-CHANCE CLUB
rey 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 everyOnceweek.hereaches the playoffs next January or in future years, that is where an arch-nemesis will emerge, a la Brady vs. Man ning. Or in 49ers’ parlance, Young vs. Aikman and Montana vs. Simms. Which quarterback stands between the 49ers and their elusive sixth Lombardi Trophy?
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.
Category criteria: Highly regarded quarterbacks who’ve yet to win a playoff start.
The 49ers bypassed him in the draft, then beat him Oct. 30 with the help of two Garoppolo touchdown runs. This season’s
Geno Smith (Seahawks, Weeks 2/15)
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.
IMAGES
BY CAM INMAN
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
51BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
SUPER BOWL WINNERS
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).
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.
Marcus Mariota (Falcons, Week 6)
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.
WINLESS WONDERS
T
Will it be the New York Jets’ castoff or the Cleveland Browns’ castoff ... or will the Panthers have traded for Jimmy Garoppolo?
Tom Brady (Bucs, Week 14)
Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs, Week 7)
Derek Carr (Raiders, Week 17)
Sizing up the opposition
Carson Wentz (Commanders, Week 16)
MOBILE MEN
opener in Soldier Field could offer a more dynamic Fields under new coach Matt Eberflus.
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.
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.
Mahomes.Chiefs’KansasJustinChicagoRussellDenverDerekVegasTomBayStafford,MatthewRams’TampaBuccaneers’Brady,LasRaiders’Carr,Broncos’Wilson,Bears’Fields,CityPatrick
ASSOCIATED PRESS GETTY
Stafford had two passes intercepted in both regular-season losses to the 49ers.
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.
Kyler Murray (Cardinals, Weeks 11/18)
QUARTERBACKS
Russell Wilson (Broncos, Week 3)
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:
52 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Screen pass Here’s your ticket to some great gridiron entertainment, Hollywood style ENTERTAINMENT
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.
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.
BY CHUCK BARNEY
After all, where else can you find uplifting beat-the-odds stories and blood, sweat and tearsoaked life lessons about team work, dedication and discipline?
Where to watch: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu.
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:
THE LONGEST YARD (1974)
here’s nothing like a gripping ball-themedfootmovie or TV show to provoke a big adrenaline rush.
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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 quarter back turned prison convict assigned to organize a team of inmates to scrimmage against the prisonDubbedguards.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.
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
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!”
BRIAN’S SONG (1971)
Silver screen touchdowns
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 cine matic waterworks hall of fame.
Winner of five Emmys, “Brian’s Song” figures to earn some newfound attention in the wake of Caan’s death in July.
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The accuracy of “Any Given Sunday” might be up for debate, but there’s no denying it makes for a crazy good time.
DRAFT DAY (2014)
Kevin Costner, who shined in baseball films (“Bull Durham,”
Where to watch: Hulu, Peacock, Amazon, iTunes.
Director Oliver Stone, of all people, delivers a raw, tur bo-charged, smash-mouth glimpse into the behind-the-scenes tur moil of a struggling pro football team.And check out this roster of allstars: Al Pacino, with his usual in tensity, plays an aging head coach. Jamie Foxx is a cocky quarter back. 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.
Sean Astin portrays Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger Jr., whose steadfast dream is to play football for Notre Dame. Just one prob lem: Rudy, as someone observes, stands “5-foot-nothing,” weighs “100 and nothing” and has “hard ly a speck of athletic ability.”
Behold the ultimate under dog saga — a film Roger Ebert described as “a small but powerful illustration of the human spirit.”
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.
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ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999)
RUDY (1993)
“Drafttrue.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.
“Field of Dreams”), embraces another sport in this savvy flick about the pressure-cooker that is the NFL Draft. He plays belea guered 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 person al issues. Meanwhile, a talented prospect (Chadwick Boseman) waits to see if his NFL dreams will come
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REMEMBER THE TITANS (2000)
Where to watch: Peacock, Ama zon, iTunes, Google Play.
Denzel clearly has game, and
Oliver Stone’s “Any andCameronSunday”GivenstarsDiazAlPacino.
COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.
Who better to deliver rousing, fire-up-the-team speeches than Denzel Washington? In this mov ing parable about race relations — based on the true story of Her man Boone — he plays a coach de termined 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.
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.
Where to watch: Disney+, Ama zon, iTunes, Vudu.
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.
HONORABLE MENTION
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2006–2011)
Appealing to both sports fans and teen-soap devotees, “Friday Night Lights” is blessed with superb writing, exceptional acting and nuanced stories that rou tinely deliver lump-in-the-throat moments. Watch it with clear eyes and a full heart, and you just can’t lose.
Television on the 50-yard line
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 NBCTheseries.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.
Where to watch: Netflix, Pea cock, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes.
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Left: The TV show Friday Night Lights followed the on- and off-the-field lives of high school football players in west Texas.
Where to watch: The CW, Netflix, Google Play. New season begins Oct. 10 on The CW.
Where to watch: Netflix.
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 complica tionsWithensue.astrong cast and scripts that delve into hot-button social issues, “All American” distinguish es 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 Ameri can: Homecoming.”
It’s all about redemption in this gritty, coming-of-age documen tary series. The storylines focus on community college football programs where many players grapple with adverse circumstanc es (academic woes, family issues, run-ins with the law, etc.) that have prevented them from playing major Division 1 football.
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ALL (2018–PRESENT)AMERICAN
LAST CHANCE U (2016–2020)
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.
NBC PHOTO: BILL RECORDS
The final season of “Last Chance U,” considered by some critics to be the show’s best, spot lights Oakland’s Laney College and its legendary coach John Beam.
Above: Oakland’s Laney College Eagles are featured in the docuseries “Last Chance U.”
NETFLIX
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You’ve said that Vince Lom bardi and his background in physics and probability defined his coaching style. Are there other coaches out there right now fol lowing that legacy?
Chaos theory is really about how if you change how some thing 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.
BY BRITTANY DELAY
‘Newton’s Football’
In “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?
It was the gridiron that inspired her second, “Newton’s Football.” The book, co-authored with journalist Allen St. John, offers readers a different per spective on a timeless American tradition, explaining everything from the complexities of chaos theory to the physical evolution of theRathergame. than bogging readers down with physics-heavy mate rial, 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.
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The science of the sport emerges in riveting detail in
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self-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 every day lives, whether you’re a math lover or a football fan.
I don’t know how many of them have the same back ground, 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
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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 Laborato ries 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.”
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YALE UNIVERSITY
The 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.
“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.
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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
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I 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.
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What’s a science evangelist?
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Were you surprised by anything during your research for “Newton’s Football”?
I 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.
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Q If you were a football coach, what’s the first thing you would teach your players? Spend evangelist.herselfconsidersRamirezauthorFootball”“Newton’sco-Ainissaascience
One of your chapters, which delves into the distinctive shape of the football, is titled “The Divinely Random Bounce of the Prolate Spheroid” ...
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Well, what did Vince Lom bardi 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.
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.
less time on the field and more in the classroom?
Q&A
BY MARTHA ROSS
isco Mejia may be one of the few people who can truly say he’s living his Mejia,dream.anout, proud San Fran cisco 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 offi cially 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 equip ment for 49ers parties and events. Some of his gay friends don’t understand his love for a sport associated with an aggressive
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Niners follower heralds the team that first welcomed LGBTQ fans Gay ferventlyandfaithful
What is it about the game that you like?
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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.
Everything. Just the nonstop excitement. You have the physical contact, the intercep tions. Everybody getting out of their seats and yelling “Touch
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It was a big moment. You have an active player in the NFL who is out and feels he can
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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.
Definitely. I get customers in Splash who ask why — but they’re also getting into stereotyp ing. 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.
Did you do sports as a teen?
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With the 49ers leading on inclusivity for LGBTQ fans, what else should the NFL be doing on this issue?
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Not 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.
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.
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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.
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I like how the NFL is becom ing more open, especially with Carl Nassib and the Raiders. I just wish other teams were do ing what the 49ers are doing.
But he believes that the culture of professional football is chang ing for the better, led — not sur prisingly — 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.
Have you always been a foot ball fan?
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At 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.
How did you become a DJ?
Back 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.
I came out when I was a man ager 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.
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My dad was always a worka holic, so it was more my mom and my grandmother, and my brother actually played football.
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What does having a 49ers LGBTQ community mean to fans personally?
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Do you have gay friends who wonder how you can like such a brutal sport?
Have you met any players?
Kittle 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.”
When former Las Vegas Raid ers 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 ...
Is that around the time you came out?
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NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF
I’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 char acter. 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.
That 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.
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Did you and dad bond over football?
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I 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.
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theGaminggame Fans building fantasy teams have fueled a new football frenzy FANTASY
ollowing 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.
What if Kyler Murray is the quarterback on your fantasy team? Do you root for the Arizona Cardi nals star to have a big day against the 49ers? Even big enough to pin the Niners with a loss?
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Or how about taking the Cow boys 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?
BY ALEX SIMON
“I’m (more) happy for my guy (having a big game) than disap pointed for the 49ers, because that means more wins for my fantasy team,” said longtime 49ers fan and avid fantasy football play er Chris Calegari of San Leandro.
Not all gamers can compart mentalize their rooting interests so
Now? It’s not so simple — even for the most Faithful.
“I’measily.a terrible fantasy football player, because I play with my heart instead of my brain,” con cedes Terri MacFarlane, a Miami
Fantasy football trumps everything for Chris Calegari, who turned a room in his San Leandro home into a command center for game play.
ARIC CRABB/STAFF
“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 play er in each of them.”
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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.
MacFarlane said, “The only rea son I have Yahoo! Sports on my phone is for the fantasy app.”
BRYAN STEFFY/ GETTY IMAGES FOR DRAFTSTREET
Fantasy football has been around for years, but participa tion 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 indus try 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 com bined.And it’s not just the money spent. Recent studies suggest fans spend about seven hours each week curating their fanta
real football field.
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.
Right: Vegas.2013,DecemberLasTheStadium2013ChampionshipFantasyDraftstreetthespeakMattplaceSidlawinnersecond-placeBrianMichaelJeremyMarkco-foundersDraftstreetNerenberg,Elbaum,Klbort,Schwartz,Mattandthird-winnerRenkwickduring$1,000,000FootballatLegasse’satPalazzoVegason15,inLas
In the pre-internet days, fans couldn’t follow how most of their team’s players were doing on Sundays. Instead, fantasy footbal lers 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 com missioner.Oncethe 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.
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.
ANDA STAFFCHU/ARCHIVES
Dolphins fan from Fremont. “I always make sure I have Dolphins on my team, and they stink.”
“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 gam ing/gambling boom. “Between the draft and combine and trades and arrests, it’s on the minds of sports gamblers 365 days a year.”
Bottom thisbeingleaguefantasyTheOaklandrestaurantatfootballannualLeaguePrognosticatorsPigskinProfessionalGreaterMembersright:oftheOaklandheldtheirfantasydraftFrancesco'sinin2015.originalfootballisstillplayedtoday.
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-Oak land Tribune writer Scotty Stirling created the Greater Oakland Pro fessional Pigskin Prognosticators League and held their first draft in 1963. They used the same scor ing method that would remain as fantasy football gained wide spread popularity in the 1980s.
“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.”
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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 tradi tional betting on games is getting so much easier, too. Depending on how voters respond in November, it could soon be legal in California.
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
“Turn on the TV on Sunday,” Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Asso ciation, 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 player Chris Calegari
sy teams: making roster moves, checking injury statuses and plotting trades.
“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.”
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 commer cials for and against Prop 27 are everywhere.Butcome November, the vote will put an end to the commer cials. Given its ancient history, the same can’t be said for sports bet ting — whether it is legal or not.
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.
Tom (Brady) is my quarterback in fantasy, and I need him to have a good game, so I’ll lay the minus-7 at Madehome.popular by DraftKings and FanDuel, daily fantasy takes the season-long format and con denses it to shorter windows — one weekend, one day or even one singleSomegame.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.
“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
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 previ ous winter. Pham was suspended and never apologized, saying Pederson deserved what he got for stashing players on the injured list. He even dragged another play er from their league, Mike Trout, into the public fray, jokingly call ing 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.
AL BEHRMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE
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.
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Staff writers Jon Becker, Michael Nowels and Laurence Miedema contributed to this report.
Fantasy football mainly was a season-long operation for the better part of its first three main stream decades. But starting in the mid-2010s, a new version of the game exploded in popularity — and blurred the lines between gaming and gambling.
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.
Do youradjustnotset
WHAT TO WATCH
Some of the biggest changes for NFL season 2022 are in the broadcast booth
He’ll instead earn the money broadcasting for FOX after his playing career ends.
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.
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 commen tator positions. Burkhardt and Olsen will be joined by sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi on FOX’s biggest game each week.
Of the 16 players on the practice squad, a maxi mum of six can be veterans with any number of years of experience in the NFL.
PRACTICE SQUADS GROW
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
If the score is tied after each team has one pos session, the next team to score wins the game. If the score remains tied at the end of an initial 15-min ute overtime period, play will resume following a two-minute intermission, and teams will continue playing until a winner is determined.
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 restric tions 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 acti vate from IR over the course of a season.
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.
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
IMAGES AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
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).
In March, the NFL announced changes to the Rooney Rule which now requires all teams to in terview at least two women and/or persons of color when filling prominent positions in an organization.
After Michaels departed for Amazon, NBC named Mike Tirico as the play-by-play voice of Sunday Night
INJURED RESERVE RULES CHANGE
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
GETTY
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.
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 exor bitant media rights deals and broadcasting contracts have altered the fan experience and made the rich evenWhenricher.teams take the field this fall, here are some of the changes you can expect.
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.
67BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
BY KERRY CROWLEY
NFL EXPANDS THE ROONEY RULE
For the second straight year, the NFL will have one wild-card round playoff matchup take place on Monday Night Football.
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.
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, defen sive and special teams coordinator positions.
SUNDAYS ON FOX
Football. Tirico will work alongside Michaels’ former partner, Cris Collinsworth, and new sideline report er Melissa Stark, who replaces Michele Tafoya after Tafoya changed careers to become a political advisor and commentator.
Two of the most notable offseason acquisitions in the NFL this year belong to ESPN, which signed for mer FOX partners Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to serve as the play-by-play voice and color commentators on Monday Night Football.
OVERTIME
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 pipe line in a league in which head coaches now predomi nantly come from an offensive background.
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.
Amazon has also hired former NFL stars such as Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman, Ryan Fitzpatrick and others to work on studio shows and live produc tions.
Following one of the most thrilling overtime fin ishes in NFL postseason history, the league amended playoff overtime rules to allow both teams an oppor tunity 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.
BY JERRY MCDONALD
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.
Offensive player of the year
68 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
MVP
Super Bowl winner
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.
FEARLESS
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?
JOSHUA BESSEX/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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
A look around an NFL where Brady is back, Wilson’s a Bronco … and could this finally be the year for the Buffalo Bills? FORECASTS
Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had a season.playerforcouldtouchdowns.yards1,455rackingrookiedominantseason,upreceivingand13Hebeontrackanoffensiveoftheyear
69BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KICKOFF
Coach of the year
Division winners
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.
Offensive rookie of the year
First coach fired
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Defensive player of the year
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Defensive rookie of the year
Game of the year
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.
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.
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.
RONALD MARTINEZ/ GETTY IMAGES
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.
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.
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.
Is this it for Tom Brady?
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.
Fearless 49ers forecast
TRIVIA
turn the ball over to the opponent is an option in the rule book, but that’s not what the 49ers did.
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.
70 KICKOFF BAY AREA NEWS GROUP
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.
Check your score in our football quiz
BY JOAN MORRIS
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.”
You have heard of football, haven’t you?
The stands were nearly full at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco Dec. 31, 1965, just prior to the start of the annual ChildrenforShrinersthegameItEast-WestShrinegame.wasthe41stplayedforbenefitoftheHospitalCrippled
6-7 Pack your bags for the Pro Bowl.
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.
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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
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.
0-1SCORING
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.
2-3 Second string with potential 4-5 All you need is a good agent.
7. d) Leo Nomellini, the 49ers first draft pick in 1950, wrestled in the offseason under the moniker The Lion.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE
ARCHIVESGENSHEIMER/STAFFJIMFAJARDO,CARLOSJOSE
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