The year was 1990. The 49ers were coming off a 14-2 regular season and trying for a 3-peat. They had one game left before the Super Bowl. The game was the NFC championship, the place was Candlestick Park, the team they would have to face was the N.Y. Giants.
For those of you who can't remember the game or never saw it, the 49ers were well on there way to their 3rd straight Super Bowl. After a 6-6 halftime score John Taylor did this in the 4th quarter; http://youtu.be/11JKieCb0v4?t=7m35s first the punt return, then the catch and run. I was elated watching my team take charge as they had all my life in big games like this, I had come to expect these heroics. Not long after that Leonard Marshall would change all that elation, something new to me happened, a feeling I never felt before as a kid and fan of the 49ers, dread.
Marshall sacked Joe Montana from behind, knocking him out of the game. I remember as a child watching my boy hood hero unable to get up from the ground, the replay's showed a wicked whiplash as the ball came flying out; http://youtu.be/FAABWqhNvtg (it's odd that now days they'd have to go to replay to determine if it was a forward pass or fumble). Young came out to help. The Candlestick crowd got quiet. My dread turned to fear.
The 49ers were able to hold the Giants to 4th&1 and were ready to receive the ball and run out the clock. I could feel the blood coming back and my fear starting to dissipate, then this happened; http://youtu.be/IthfQ9qFZ_8 later I remember reading that the 49ers only had 10 men on the field on that play, it was one of the reasons it worked for the Giants.
The 49ers got the ball back. They still had the lead. They didn't have Montana. I was treading in no man's land for the first time as a fan. Can my beloved 49ers actually lose this game? I calmed myself knowing that despite not having Montana all we needed to do was run the clock out. I started taking short breaths of relief not able to un-glue my eyes from the TV. The game is won, just finish it out. And then this; http://youtu.be/ZQeQCdqTS78 NOOOOO! My heart sank. I remember thinking that there was no way the ball had come out, Craig must have been down!! The reply showed the poetry in motion as Lawrence Taylor snagged the ball from mid air as if it was meant to happen.
I prayed for defense. I hoped for a miracle. This is what I got; http://youtu.be/M12S1-TEJ9c I cried that day. I remember going to the mall and seeing a forty niner t-shirt and bursting into tears. My Dad, not quite the fan I was, tried to convince me by saying "shrug it off, it's no big deal, they'll get'em next time."
The miracle's of the1990 playoffs belonged to the N.Y. Giants. First an improbable come back in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter against the 9ers, then this in the Super Bowl just 2 weeks later; http://youtu.be/BCHZFwDCNyA
I was hurt a couple more times as a child by other teams when the 49ers were picked to win to go all the way but were ousted by lesser teams including the Vikings, Cowboys, and Packers. But the first was the Giants. You never forget the first. And now I want revenge for that one, like my Dad told me "we'll get'em' next time."
It's the NFC championship, it's Candlestick Park, it's 49ers vs Giants... this is "next time."
GO NINERS!!!
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