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Sports Watch
WITH former 49er greats - Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Dave Wilcox and Jesse Sapolu - all in town recently, San Francisco fans must have been watching the Pro Bowl wistfully despite its entertaining 51-31 score. DeBartolo gave 49ers
winning edgeAfter all, there was only one 49er player in the 2000 Pro Bowl - safety Lance Schulters.
No Steve Young, no Jerry Rice, no Ken Norton. Where have all the 49ers gone?
That's what happens when you go 4-12, as the 49ers did the past year in suffering their first losing season in 18 years.
The injury to Young proved the costliest blow to the 49ers, burdened by massive $62.2 salary commitments. After chopping like mad the past few days, they're still $14 million over the salary cap, which they must reduce by March 1.
For most NFL franchises, the key word is rebuilding or reloading. For the 49ers, it's restructuring.
Right now, they're going through contortions trying to get to the cap limit. Watching the 49er transactions this week is like reading the obituaries of departing friends.
Most likely to go next is safety Tim McDonald, who would be a major cap casualty.
LEIGH Steinberg, Young's agent, has said he and the 49ers are working toward a restructured deal for the veteran quarterback, who's getting married here next month.
Interestingly, the 49ers got into this salary pickle because of the lavish spending ways of exiled owner Eddie DeBartolo.
Who can forget his salary bonuses, elaborate Super Bowl ring presentations - including one at the then Westin Kauai - and stays at resort hotels?
One of the primary reasons why the salary cap was imposed in 1993 was to curb DeBartolo's "Do You Want to Be a Millionaire" policy of rewarding his players.
The owners were also gleeful when Eddie had to go because of legal problems in connection with a Louisiana gambling fraud and extortion case.
He was suspended for one year and fined a $1 million by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
Not that DeBartolo, whose 49ers won five Super Bowls during his 20-year reign, will be back anytime soon. But his former players still hold him in high regard.
MONTANA, for one, wants DeBartolo to be the presenter at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, July 29.
"He was one who helped not only me but the whole team," Montana said when asked why he wanted DeBartolo to do the honors.
"That's what I thought was so special about him. Here's a guy that wanted to be a part of the team as much as he possibly could be. He did everything he could for me, Ronnie, to be the best that we could possibly be. That says a lot.
"As Ronnie said, there would be players giving up money to come and play for the 49ers."
Added Montana, "I would like to see him back. I know he has a love of the game."
It was Lott who, unsolicited, first brought up DeBartolo's name at a press conference during Pro Bowl week.
In explaining the 49ers' fall from glory the past season, Lott said that they didn't have a "one-ness" like the teams had when he and Montana played.
DeBartolo's personal interest had a lot to do with engendering that team unity, according to Lott.
"He extended himself way beyond what any NFL owner would do," Lott said. "Hopefully, he will be inducted. This is a place where he should be."
"He was the heart and soul of the 49ers," said Sapolu. "He trusted the people who ran the 49ers for him. That trust is no longer there."