Winning is not York’s strong suit
SANTA CLARA
– (AP) The deal to reunite former San Francisco 49ers owner
Eddie DeBartolo Jr. with his former football team is official. This
morning it was announced that DeBartolo Jr., the owner during the
team’s most successful years when it won five Super Bowl
Championship in the 1980s and 1990s has agreed
to buyout his sister Denise DeBartolo-York’s interest in the
club for an undisclosed sum.
DeBartolo’s first move was to fire his sister and her husband,
John York, while hiring Ronnie Lott as the team’s new defensive
coordinator and Steve Young as the offensive coordinator. Joe
Montana will coach the team.
April Fools!
Winning is not York’s strong suit
SANTA CLARA – (AP) The deal to reunite former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. with his former football team is official. This morning it was announced that DeBartolo Jr., the owner during the team’s most successful years when it won five Super Bowl Championship in the 1980s and 1990s has agreed to buyout his sister Denise DeBartolo-York’s interest in the club for an undisclosed sum.
DeBartolo’s first move was to fire his sister and her husband, John York, while hiring Ronnie Lott as the team’s new defensive coordinator and Steve Young as the offensive coordinator. Joe Montana will coach the team.
April Fools!
It’s paragraphs like that that makes you wish April Fool’s Day wasn’t a joke. Instead, we have to deal with the joke of the York’s running the NFL’s most-storied franchise for another year, and many years to come.
So get ready to keep talking in the past tense, 49er fans, because things aren’t going to be much better this season.
Last year the 49ers went 4-12. Three of the best players from that team were Julian Peterson, Andre Carter and Brandon Lloyd.
So instead of keeping two of the top young defensive players in the league and a receiver who made acrobatic catches the norm, and building a team around them, they let all three players go.
It was vintage York at its best. Just as it was signing a mediocre, overrated rookie quarterback a year ago for $50 million.
If Eddie D that same $50 million to spend, it’s a guarantee that the playoffs would have been part of the equation. Instead, our big thrill each year is wondering how high we’ll pick in the draft?
Peterson had 21.5 sacks and five interceptions in his six seasons with the Niners and was one of the fastest linebackers in the league, and could play end. Carter, a defensive end with 32 sacks in five seasons with the Niners, signed a six-year deal with the Redskins and Lloyd went to the Skins too.
In the off season the Redskins have proved how serious they are about winning it all by acquiring Adam Archuleta from St. Louis and Antwaan Randle El from Pittsburgh.
I wish the Niners were that serious.
Instead, it appears as though they are only serious about finishing behind Arizona, which now has Edgerrin James in the backfield, and Seattle.
Remember the days when there was a win-it-all or bust mentality with the 49ers front office?
It used to be win it all or heads would roll, and every top veteran free agent available would be a 49er the following year.
In all fairness to the Yorks, being a perennial powerhouse in the salary cap era is not as easy as it was when Eddie D was running the show.
Then again, the 49ers were annual Super Bowl contenders when Mr. Ed was at the helm long after the cap had been established.
But instead of making the perennial bonehead moves that the York’s make, DeBartolo had great people like Bill Walsh and Carmen Policy behind him to ensure that he didn’t.
In the eight seasons that the York’s have been at the helm the 49ers have posted a 57-71 record – not exactly what Eddie and the 49er Faithful had in mind.
In the eight seasons prior to the York’s takeover, the 49ers went 83-29, not including playoffs, and won a Super Bowl in 1994.
About the only recent smart move was the signing of NFL strongman Larry Allen, which will give the 49ers’ offensive line a huge boost, swagger and instant recognition from opposing coaches looking to game plan against them.
While getting the 10-time Pro Bowler from Dallas to sign a two-year deal was a smart move, it doesn’t make amends for the loss of Peterson, Lloyd and Carter.
If Eddie D was still at the helm there might have been a few off season riverboat gambling deals, the same way that Pete Rose made a few side bets, but there would have been a winning product on the football field each season.
If Eddie D were at the helm the big story out of Santa Clara this year wouldn’t only be about Larry Allen, it would have been about the resigning of Terrell Owens and the acquisition of Drew Brees or Brett Favre to boot.
Boom! Instant Super Bowl contenders!
Alex Smith would be playing for the team’s NFL Europe squad and every player in the league would wish they were wearing a red and gold uniform.
The deals and draft picks of the 49ers used to make front-page news the same way that the championship titles did. Everybody wanted to know the secret to the team’s successes, how to incorporate the West Coast Offense, etc, etc.
Today it’s the exact opposite. Sorry, no April Fools.
