Yes, the infamous 1972 30-28 playoff loss vs Dallas. Yes, we all know the details. I hadn’t even sat down when Vic Washington returned the opening kickoff 95 yards. Roger Staubach, replacing an ineffective Craig Morton. directed a 17 point 4th quarter comeback. He who shall not be named. Brodie’s comback from injury the week before. We were sitting in the south end zone, which just happened to be where the two Dallas 4th quarter TDs happened. Which also happened to be where John Brodie the week before threw 2 TD passes in the 4th quarter to beat the Vikings to get the Niners into the playoffs. The pisser? After the last TD by Dallas, the Niners got the ball on the Dallas 14 yard line. Brodie hit Gene Washington pass down the left sideline for a 45 yard gain. However, the play was nullified by a holding penalty, and they Niners couldn’t move the ball after that. That was Brodie’s last gasp at greatness, and I think that if he got to the Super Bowl in any of those 3 years, he’d be in the Hall of Fame.

So, with those 3 playoff losses, and the subsequent playoff losses in the 90’s, it’s pretty hard not to hate the Cowboys with a passion. Which is why it was equally as sweet when I went to the NFC Championship game in 1994 where the Niners stomped pistol packin’ Barry Switzer and the Troy Aikman led Cowboys to go on and win Super Bowl XXIX. Gonna have to find those pictures that day. I almost buried the ticket stub on the field, but no, I still have it, with about 699 other ticket stubs from the thousands of Giant and Niner games I’ve been to. I pulled a piece of the field up (the back right corner of the north end zone of course), and planted it in a planter box. That little piece of turf lasted about 3 years. The red paint eventually grew out . . . .

So, enough woolgathering. I sincerely hope that this time around, the Niners make a big fat statement and beat the shit out of the Cowboys. When the Niners did that to them in the 45-14 beat-down in the 1981 regular season, it was the beginning of the end for the Cowboys. After that year, they went into their own tailspin for 8 years. here’s to starting the downward spiral . . .