DEAR EDITOR:
The last time Steve Mariucci was in this situation he stood
hands clasped to assistants trying to wish the kick through, only
to see it blocked and the Raiders go on to win.
DEAR EDITOR:
The last time Steve Mariucci was in this situation he stood hands clasped to assistants trying to wish the kick through, only to see it blocked and the Raiders go on to win.
This time he stood solitary and stone-faced as Jose Cortez shanked it badly left. The 49ers and Jeff Garcia had worked the team into this seconds-left gimme only to see it go awry. The phantom’s finger pointed clearly in my mind to the specter of Jerry Rice wide-smiling explaining how even though the 49ers dominated statistically, that it is the final score that counts; Tim Brown catching an overdue long-gainer to set up the score; Steve Mariucci sitting at the podium head bowed with the pain touching his very soul describing how Jeff Garcia had played a great game, but the team just could not get it done.
The dream had been good, the dream had been sweet but it was time for the conflicted ending that leaves you awakened in a puzzle. But the dream continued with the malcontent exhorting his team on, the coin flip going the Niners way, Garcia making first downs by inches. But now it was really time for the dream to end. I wanted to jog myself awake and leave because I did not want to share this pain. Head coaches are paid for it I am not, I told myself. Cortez stood ready. Only he could answer the question posed by Scrooge in Dicken’s great tale, “… Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that may be, only?”
Would it be the shank, the push to the right, the ball hitting the upright, the mishandled snap, the defensive lineman’s hand on the ball, the defensive player running free through a gap for the block, the low kick bounding off the back of a Niner helmet?
I was ready, I was braced. Snap … good. kick … good.
After the game Mariucci seemed to be in stunned awe as he described the team’s and Jeff Garcia’s great performance: “… it was gritty, it was courageous, it was off the charts.”
In the post-game show the venerable Ronnie Lott, the heart and soul of the 49er glory years proclaimed Jeff Garcia the best quarterback in football. Even in the sweetest of dreams, to borrow Mariucci’s statement, this one was off the charts.
John G. Filice, Gilroy
Submitted Wednesday, Nov. 6 to ed****@ga****.com
