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theathletic.com/
The day before, we went to the stadium to do walk-through, and for some reason they wouldn’t let us on the field,” Brown said in a phone interview. “Just the disrespect, everyone was so upset. The Cowboys just had that swag. Maybe we were trying to find our swag again, because at that time the team had broken up. Ronnie, Joe, Roger Craig, Kevin Fagan — all those guys were gone.”
The cocksure Cowboys smoked the 49ers, 38-21.
WAS IT AN “INADVERTENT” KNEE?
The contest was never close, even after Aikman was knocked out with a concussion in the third quarter after taking an inadvertent knee to the head from Brown. Aikman says that his only memory of that NFC title is the pregame skirmish. He was able to return a week later for Super Bowl XXVIII, where the Cowboys beat the Bills again to repeat as world champions. Dallas smoked both Buffalo and the 49ers by the same wide margin, 17 points.
“They were maulers,” Brown said of the Cowboys’ front. “They would just forklift you and drive you down the field.
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| Sergio Romo is the first pitcher in MLB Postseason history to walk in the go-ahead run in the 9th inning stathead.com/tin | |||
| 9/29/20, 2:43 PM | |||
They were seven outs away from beating the Astros on Tuesday, for their first postseason win since the heyday of Lew Ford. So … what could possibly have gone wrong?
Aw, you don’t want to know. This is just life in the Twin Cities in the postseason.
• A game-tying rally after there were two outs and nobody on. That went wrong.
• A crushing ninth-inning error by a team that only made 20 errors all season. That went wrong.
• A bases-loaded walk, to force in the go-ahead run, by Sergio Romo, a reliever who had never walked in a go-ahead run in his entire 13-year career. That went wrong.
In other words, you know that same stuff that always goes wrong for the Twins this time of year? It. Happened. Again. So really, you only have to know this:
The Twins have now lost 17 postseason games in a row, dating back to Game 2 of the ALDS in 2004. That’s the longest postseason losing streak in any of the four North American major professional sports. Stan Mikita’s 1975-79 Chicago Black Hawks (16 in a row) are now officially off the hook. They’re probably icing the puck in celebration as we speak.
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| One more #Titans player learned early this morning he tested positive in Tuesday’s round of COVID-19 testing, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo | |||
| 9/30/20, 6:29 AM |
| Dianna Russini |
| @diannaESPN |
Sunday’s game between the Steelers and Titans is being postponed per multiple sources. They are considering all options to reschedule, Monday night as one of them. This will all be based on test results. 9/30/20, 8:06 AM
1. Patrick Mahomes, #KCChiefs, 2,810
2. Andrew Luck, #Colts, 2,631
3. Nick Mullens, #49ers, 2,620 9/30/20, 7:48 AM
The NFL Players Association finally earned unrestricted free agency in 1993. That allowed cataclysmic moves, like White’s exodus from Philadelphia to Green Bay, to happen outside the realm of a trade. It also allowed the 49ers to load up. But that’d be a delicate task since the NFL also implemented its inaugural salary cap in 1994.
During this time, Policy studied the new salary cap’s rules to find ways the cash-strapped 49ers could go on a shopping spree.
It’s common NFL practice now, but Policy was the first to master the art of the signing bonus and its amortized charges as a cap management tool. In late 1993, the 49ers began restructuring the contracts of 17 key veterans in the team’s long-term plans, converting money that could potentially be earned in the future into signing bonuses that’d instead be paid out immediately.
To complete the process in a timely fashion, the 49ers pulled chosen players off the practice field to sign their reworked deals. They’d show up in the front office in full uniform, leaving mud and grass inside.
“It was hilarious,” said Jones, who restructured his deal. “It was during the playoffs. It was literally a free-for-all. It was funny. It was exciting to be one of those guys, but certainly not how business has ever been done prior or since. But it was a unique time where they had this aha moment of, ‘This is how we’re gonna work the cap.’ And I got to miss a whole 20 minutes of practice to run inside and sign my contract.”
Paying out several concurrent signing bonuses was pricey and unprecedented business in an NFL that generally hadn’t awarded guaranteed money up to that point. And the expenditures came at an inopportune time, since the DeBartolo Corporation was enduring lean years. Policy and DeBartolo Jr. had to ask the owner’s father, Eddie DeBartolo Sr., for about $10 million of his personal savings to fund the 49ers’ financial gymnastics.
“I was on the line because I was the one who came up with the idea,” Policy said. “If we didn’t win, I was in double trouble.”
At one point in the 1994 offseason, the 49ers had only $432 in cap space with several players still unsigned. Yet more trimming, cutting and restructuring enabled the 49ers to go from there to signing the most decorated free-agent class of all time.
Linebackers Norton (a former Cowboys All-Pro), Gary Plummer and Rickey Jackson (a future Hall of Famer) signed with the 49ers. So did defensive linemen Richard Dent (also a future Hall of Famer) and Pro Bowler Charles Mann, receiver Ed McCaffrey and Pro Bowl center Bart Oates, who took a huge pay cut to play with Young — his former college teammate at BYU — instead of the New York Giants.
The crown jewel of the 49ers’ class was superstar cornerback Deion Sanders, previously with the Falcons. Sanders, who was also playing pro baseball at the time, signed on for only $1.2 million.
“New Orleans really was offended that he turned down more money from them,” Policy said of Sanders. “But they just didn’t get it. The guy wanted the big contract, to go where he wanted to go and decide whether he was gonna continue to play baseball and football. It didn’t work for him to sign and simply become a lock, stock and barrel part of (Saints owner) Tom Benson’s team.”
Said Sanders on the NFL Films documentary linked above: “I’m like every man in America. I love a challenge. The challenge was to go to San Francisco and beat Dallas.”
Policy said the 49ers were able to scrounge up enough money to pay their 1994 draft class only because they traded linebacker Bill Romanowski to Philadelphia that offseason. Their rookie crop included defensive tackle Bryant Young, fullback William Floyd and linebacker Lee Woodall. All would become immediate contributors in the fight against the Cowboys.
“That’s what it was all about in ’93 and ’94,” Policy said. “We were literally dancing through raindrops.”
Fox outbid CBS to broadcast NFL games in 1994, pushing the inaugural salary cap from $32 million to $34.6 million. With every single dollar at a premium, $2.6 million of outside help was an absolute godsend for the 49ers as they scavenged for space to complete their superteam.
The Cowboys and 49ers squared off twice on Fox’s airwaves in the 1994 season, once in Week 11 and then again in the monumental NFC title game that was the climax of a Herculean rivalry.
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis said Tuesday that the team is looking into why several players were not wearing masks while attending a charity event held by teammate Darren Waller that broke Nevada rules for the coronavirus pandemic and might have violated NFL regulations, Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com reports.
The Darren Waller Foundation held a fundraising event Monday at the DragonRidge Country Club in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. Players were seen on video without masks at the indoor event while talking and mingling with guests, who also weren't wearing masks.
"Guys have to be more stringent in fighting the virus," Davis told ESPN. "It's still our toughest opponent."
Among the players in attendance were quarterbacks Derek Carr and Nathan Peterman, tight ends Jason Witten, Foster Moreau and Derek Carrier, receivers Zay Jones and Hunter Renfrow, and cornerback Nevin Lawson, as well as tight end Waller. In one photo that was posted to the Darren Waller Foundation Instagram page and later deleted, an unmasked Carr posed with another maskless guest who had won his jersey in an auction.
The city of Henderson fined the DragonRidge Country Club $2,000 on Tuesday for four violations of the Nevada governor's COVID-19 emergency directives, including people not wearing masks and having more than 50 people at the event. The club has 30 days to pay or dispute the fine.
Davis, who attended the event virtually, said he was disappointed that the story overshadowed the purpose of the night, which was to raise money to help young people overcome drug and alcohol addiction.
Rules from the NFL and NFLPA limit what players are allowed to do away from team facilities this season to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Players are banned from attending any event that "violates local and state restrictions."
Davis said the team would look into the matter, referencing general manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden, who is scheduled to speak to the media on a Zoom call Wednesday along with Carr.
| The Crossover |
| @TheCrossover |
LeBron James has one of the most impressive resumes in NBA history, but would a Lakers' title be his most impressive accomplishment? buff.ly/2SeaVaNpic.twitter.com/
| New York Post Sports |
| @nypostsports |
No Zion Williamson, no Ja Morant, no clue. The Timberwolves have reportedly been trying to trade the top selection in the 2020 NBA Draft and one Western Conference executive told Bleacher Reportthat Minnesota is “confused” as to what to do.
The executive added that the Timberwolves feel they are under increased scrutiny after “messing up last year by trading for Jarrett Culver.”
However, the site’s sources claim that if no worthy offer presents itself, Minnesota is leaning toward taking LaMelo Ball with the first pick on Nov. 18. Ball is the draft’s most intriguing prospect, given his unusual basketball upbringing with father LaVar dubiously pulling the strings.
| Page Six |
| @PageSix |
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| In 1989, Forbes listed Pablo Escobar as one of the richest men in the world with a net worth of $3 billion. His son said they were 'not even close' to his true fortune. (It's estimated that Escobar made at least $60 million a day during his peak in the 1980s) | |||||
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| Sperm donor with 150 children worldwide who's had unprotected sex with scores of women says COVID-19 hasn't slowed him down trib.al/u8Txfut | |||||
| 9/30/20, 7:26 AM | |||||
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