It’s Playoff Time.

I’m not a sportswriter… and it’s a far cry from politics to the gridiron… but yesterday witnessed the re-emergence of one of the truly preeminent football franchises in the history of the sport.

The San Francisco 49ers, Alex Smith and their no-nonsense head coach Jim Harbaugh, pulled off what may be the most remarkable finish to win a division playoff game in recent memory… possibly since 1981. Then, it was Joe Montana to Dwight Clark in what came to be known as ‘The Catch’.



This football franchise has seen its share of remarkable moments. The image of Terrell Owens at the goal line, snagging a last minute pass from Steve Young in the last three seconds of the 1999 NFC wild-card playoff game against the Packers at ‘The Stick’, is still fresh in the 49er faithfuls’ minds as the ‘The Catch 2′.

There can be no greater indication of the ‘new’ 49ers resurgence than the fans in Candlestick Park. The old place really rocked… you could hear the roar from miles away on the wind. The 49ers are back… and that ‘old’ stadium which has seen so many great 49ers teams over the years has, at least temporarily, a new lease on life.

It’s the ‘Niners’ at ‘The Stick’, and nothing can be better. Gone, for the moment, is the conflict over San Francisco losing the Niners to a monstrously politically-motivated boondoggle down in Santa Clara. The citizens of Santa Clara are about to be fleeced for well over a billion dollars they don’t have and can’t make up, no matter what the pols or the ‘experts’ say.

I love the San Francisco Forty Niners as only a native can, but that new stadium deal stinks to high heaven. It’s ‘new’ green technology is strongly reminiscent of another liberal boondoggle nearby; anyone remember Solyndra? Apparently, the EPA has its long nose in the mix here as well. That cannot bode well for the citizens of Santa Clara county. Wherever the EPA goes, economic conditions go with them… downhill.

I can’t blame the Forty Niners organization. They are, after all, a business and their owners reasonably expect to show a profit (oh no!… not the awful profit word). But there’s a much bigger story here.

There’s a double-edged sword and it’s called jobs. Santa Clara is home to some of the most dynamic and profitable businesses here in the erstwhile Golden State. It’s also home to the exodus of many of the state’s most wealthy and successful citizens. Governor Jerry ‘Moonbeam’ Brown’s malgovernance has caught up with him… his backdoor regulation, taxation and ‘proposed’ tax increases on the ‘wealthiest’ Californians have really opened the flood gates to people voting with their feet, and incidentally taking their money, their companies and their ‘brain trust’ with them, to business friendly states where fiscal sanity rules and ‘profit’ is not an evil word.

San Francisco is, if anything, in far worse shape than California as a whole. Liberal governance has that effect no matter where it is practiced. But, for all its kinky quirkiness, the City by the Bay can unite and agree on one thing… the San Francisco Forty Niners are the real deal, and we’ll see you next Sunday at ‘The Stick’.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2012