Bill Walsh

Coming from the Bay Area in the 80's, I heard about the genius of Bill Walsh for half my life. And the indomitable spirit of Joe Montana. And the "Catch" by Dwight Clark. I heard so much about it I really didn't care much for the 49ers. It didn't help they had so many fair weather fans, when I first started paying attention to football they were 2-14 and had four fans that I knew: My next door neighbor, his son (worshipped Paul Hofer-no, thought he WAS Paul Hofer), a guy named Joe in the 8th grade and my Dad.

My Dad took me to a 49er game in 1982. It was cold, it was long (I never realized every radio and tv commercial resulted in a time out) and the lady behind me got excited that Steve Deberg dropped back for a pass and spilled her entire beer on me. What's colder than Candlestick Park in winter? Candlestick Park in winter doused in overpriced beer that you're too young to drink anyway.

Despite these things, I did enjoy going to the game with my Dad. It was really cool to see a live football game played by professional players. That part is a nice childhood memory, a father/son thing that I would recommend to any, um, father and son. Thanks Dad! And my Dad was a real fan, he wasn't obnoxious about it and he always followed what the team did and discussed what their strategy was. He watched their games regardless of their win/loss record for as far back as I can remember.

But the game reinforced my aversion to all things 49er. They were something like 3-2 after losing the game we went to, still good enough to get the local population excited. They started having more fans who would then give you crap for not being a fan (I liked the Atlanta Falcons, they threw bombs and blitzed constantly. Plus the Quarterback's name was Steve Bartkowski. Say it. Bartkowski. Sounds like Power!), then the bottom fell out and they ended at 6-10 for the year. Their fan base receded back to the four people I knew before the season started.

The rest of the 80's saw the 49ers grow into a dynasty and their fan base grew immensely. Suddenly, they had more than four fans, everyone was a fan and had been a fan since way back when they were 2 -14. I could not stand the 49ers at that point, though looking back I guess it had more to do with their fans than the team itself. They would talk so much trash, the same people who put them down when they were losing were now loyal fans "forever". It was so annoying.

But Bill Walsh, I had respect for him. He took a nothing team and built it into a World Champion franchise through shrewd strategy and drive. How do you defeat a 1980's zone defense? Throw a whole lotta screen and short yard passes. It was ingenius, Dwight Clark and even running back Earl Cooper would lead the league in receiving with less than a thousand yards receiving because they were catching three yard passes. Walsh was willing to buck the macho ethic that every play had to have a big yardage pay off. He understood there was only one statistic that really mattered, the win/loss column.

So, ironically I had respect for the person chiefly responsible for giving those fair weather fans something to get excited about. I stopped following sports about the mid-1980's, but you would had to have been blind and deaf to not know how the 49ers won Super Bowl after Super Bowl the rest of the decade. Like the fancy talking guy in The Matrix, Bill Walsh was the Architect. He was, ergo, they won.

I was saddened to hear of his passing, he had been discussed so much by friends and family for years that he seemed like someone I knew. Like a famous Uncle you never met. I guess I just want to say, thanks for the memories Bill Walsh.