From: gary@isis.cgd.ucar.edu (Gary Strand)
Subject: Re: It wasn't Pretty (49ers WON)
Organization: Climate and Global Dynamics Division/NCAR, Boulder, CO
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 06:54:07 GMT

cw> Chris Waters
gs> Gary Strand

gs> [L]ast year's whining by Niner fans set an r.s.f.p. record,

cw> Can you document this fact?

  Ask Ed Lor. He's the one who's saved posts since day one. No, I can't "docu-
  ment it", but I could easily fake doing so. What's the point?

cw> Or is it merely your opinion?  

  There's opinion, and there's opinion. For example, one could be of the opin-
  ion that Babe Laufeberg was the greatest QB to ever play the game. Another
  could be of the opinion that Joe Montana is/was the greatest QB ever. Both
  are opinions, how do we differentiate between the two?

cw> [W]hat happened to the Niners last year was one of the greatest collapses 
    of expectations the league has seen in years?  

  Puhleeze. Win SB XXIII & XXIV, then lose in NFC Championship game, then miss
  playoffs the following season? It's more typical to miss the playoffs just
  one season *after* winning an SB. Indeed, it's happened 8 times already:
  '68 Packers, '70 Chiefs, '80 Steelers, '81 Raiders, '82 49ers, '87 Giants,
  '88 Redskins, and '91 Giants. All won SBs the previous season, didn't make
  playoffs the following season. As we've seen this year, the 'Skins may not
  make it, and if they do, it'll be just barely.

cw> And thus, a record amount of whining was almost inevitable. 

  It wasn't just the playoffs, of course, either.

cw> Name another team in recent history that has: won their division for near-
    ly a decade straight, won two out of the three most recent SBs, and then
    collapsed completely and not even gone to the playoffs.

  (Clearly "recent" and "decade" don't go together.)

cw> I'm not talking about up & down teams like Cincy, or some of the NFC East
    teams, who seem to have a habit of collapsing completely after a year of
    great success.  I'm talking about a team that had made a habit of being
    consistently good year in and year out.

  Well, when you *define* the question such that the 49ers are about the only
  team that qualify, that isn't much progress, is it? Why not toss in "have
  red and gold as their team colors" too?

  Why not the great Steelers teams of the 70s? They won the AFC Central 7 out
  of the ten years 1970-1979, including the '78 season and '79 season SBs,
  then failed to make the playoffs in 1980.

cw> I did suggest that the Niners were probably the best team to miss the
    playoffs, 

  Why not the Eagles too? There weren't near as many Eagle whiners.

cw> and that they were probably better than many teams that did make the play-
    offs. 

  Whining. Unless the NFL tosses the conference/division system, 8-8 teams will
  make the playoffs when 10-6 or 11-5 teams don't. At least SF got nailed at
  the very first level of tiebreaking, ie, their two losses to Atlanta (one of
  which was the cause of the infamous "Hail Mary" whining record). Other teams
  have lost tiebreakers two or three levels down.


cw> If you consider that whining, then so be it, but then, by that criteria, 
    most media analysts were also "niner.whiners".

  Puhleeze. Are these the same media boneheads that are regularly criticized
  here on r.s.f.p. each and every week? 

cw> If my attitude were as shallow as yours, I would judge that all Bills fans
    (or whatever team it is that you're a fan of) are shallow, petty, grudge-
    carrying jerks.

  I'm not a Bills fan, in fact, I don't care for them really. I'm a Broncos
  fan, and no, I don't still seethe from the 55-10 drubbing the Broncos got
  at the hands of the 49ers back in SB XXIV. After 3 SB losses (2 of the 3
  previous to XXIV, remember) it didn't really bother me. SF was a god-like
  team that year, and Denver was cannon fodder.

cw> As it is, my opinion at the moment is that you are shallow

  Actually, I've been told by a number of people that I'm reasonably object-
  ive about NFL teams. I've never been a "woofer". I support the Broncos, win
  or lose, and I'm fully capable of recognizing their weaknesses, and well
  as recognizing other teams' strengths.

gs> Indeed, one stupid post from [jpg] negates the positive effect of several 
    good well-reasoned 49er fan posts.

cw> You really think this way, eh?  I find this frightening.  

  Hello! Hello! Get a grip. This ain't brain surgery, or delicate foreign pol-
  icy here. Just relax and breath deeply.

cw> Just how old are you?

  Just "celebrated" 10th anniversary of signing up for the draft.

cw> Stop passing judgement on fans,

  Why not? I'll judge any fan as I please. Certainly, JPG is one of the more
  obnoxious, stupid, and brain-dead fans on r.s.f.p. At least Ed Lor has some
  brain matter and semi-intelligent ideas between his ears. JPG is a mere
  simpleton who can't even flame. Telling me I have bad breath? Puhleeze.


--
Gary Strand                      Opinions stated herein are mine alone and are
strandwg@ncar.ucar.edu            not representative of NCAR, UCAR, or the NSF