O.J. in S.F.

[7DnBrnc53]

After winning Super Bowl XVI, I never expected the 49ers to become the team of the decade. At the time, they looked to me like a fluke; usually when a team comes out of nowhere they usually go back from whence they came pretty quickly. When a team comes on the scene to stay, like the Dolphins or Steelers in the 70's, there is a visible building process which takes 5 years or so and they get into the playoffs a couple times before they finally win it all. The 49ers cut that process to two years, and were the first team since the 1968 Jets to win the Super Bowl with no previous postseason experience.

That's a good point. They remind me of the 2001 Patriots, another team that seemed to me like it would be a one-hit wonder. Both teams really weren't that talented, although 81 Montana seemed to me to have a better future than 01 Brady, a guy who I wasn't that high on. I actually thought that Bledsoe should have started SB 36. If Tom didn't get them to the playoffs, I don't think he is the man in 2002. They had just signed Drew to a 10-year deal.

[Ronfitch]

After winning Super Bowl XVI, I never expected the 49ers to become the team of the decade. At the time, they looked to me like a fluke; usually when a team comes out of nowhere they usually go back from whence they came pretty quickly. When a team comes on the scene to stay, like the Dolphins or Steelers in the 70's, there is a visible building process which takes 5 years or so and they get into the playoffs a couple times before they finally win it all. The 49ers cut that process to two years, and were the first team since the 1968 Jets to win the Super Bowl with no previous postseason experience.

That's a good point. They remind me of the 2001 Patriots, another team that seemed to me like it would be a one-hit wonder. Both teams really weren't that talented, although 81 Montana seemed to me to have a better future than 01 Brady, a guy who I wasn't that high on. I actually thought that Bledsoe should have started SB 36. If Tom didn't get them to the playoffs, I don't think he is the man in 2002. They had just signed Drew to a 10-year deal.

Just a very weird year for Bledsoe.

[rhickok1109]

After winning Super Bowl XVI, I never expected the 49ers to become the team of the decade. At the time, they looked to me like a fluke; usually when a team comes out of nowhere they usually go back from whence they came pretty quickly. When a team comes on the scene to stay, like the Dolphins or Steelers in the 70's, there is a visible building process which takes 5 years or so and they get into the playoffs a couple times before they finally win it all. The 49ers cut that process to two years, and were the first team since the 1968 Jets to win the Super Bowl with no previous postseason experience.

That's a good point. They remind me of the 2001 Patriots, another team that seemed to me like it would be a one-hit wonder. Both teams really weren't that talented, although 81 Montana seemed to me to have a better future than 01 Brady, a guy who I wasn't that high on. I actually thought that Bledsoe should have started SB 36. If Tom didn't get them to the playoffs, I don't think he is the man in 2002. They had just signed Drew to a 10-year deal.

Well, Kraft signed Bledsoe to a 10-year deal. Bledsoe was like Kraft's adopted son for a little while there, but Belichick, Weis, and Rehbein were never totally sold on him because of his slow release and the problems he had making quick reads and finding secondary receivers.

Starting 18 games under Belichick and Weis, Bledsoe went 5-13 and the Patriots averaged about 16 points a game. Under Brady in 2001, they went 11-3 and averaged more than 26 points a game. If you watched the Patriots every week, as I did, it was pretty obvious that Brady was much better than Bledsoe, at least in Weis's offense.

[BD Sullivan]

I remember that in OJ's final year in Buffalo, there was a joke about an OJ doll: You wind it up and it falls down. Some people got angry when hearing this joke because, "After all OJ did for the Buffalo Bills."

Things have sure changed since then.

A few months ago, I happened to see an episode of "Good Times" (circa 1974) where the younger son is debating about who he should write about as the man he admires most. Jimmie Walker's character champions none other than O.J. Simpson.

[SixtiesFan]

I remember that in OJ's final year in Buffalo, there was a joke about an OJ doll: You wind it up and it falls down. Some people got angry when hearing this joke because, "After all OJ did for the Buffalo Bills."

Things have sure changed since then.

Yes, in 1977 O.J. was running "softer" than he did from 1972-76, and then he tore up a knee. When the Bills won a game after O.J.'s injury, Bills players were quoted "The running back blocked today." I recall reading this in Pro Football Weekly by the Buffalo beat writer.

One of the forgotten incidents from the Simpson story is O.J. trying to force a trade in the summer of 1976. O.J. wanted to go to LA and even called the Rams "We" while meeting with Carroll Rosenbloom and showed up at the Rams training camp. The Raiders were also interested, maybe more than the Rams. Oakland had surplus defensive players, which was what the Bills needed.

Lou Saban contacted Al Davis and asked for three or four of eight names. Davis might have given Horace Jones, Skip Thomas (or Neal Colzie), and Phil Villapiano for O.J. Simpson. In other words, three quality defensive starters for a 29-year old RB.

Bills owner Ralph Wilson (channeling Bob Irsay) would have none of it, took over the negotiations, didn't make a deal, and gave O.J. a whopping contract which alienated the rest of the team, who were ready for the end of the O.J. era. The Bills proceeded to go 2-12.

Would the Rams have made the Super Bowl in 1976 with O.J.? Would the Raiders have still won it with him?

[rhickok1109]

O.J. had done some acting on and off since his college days and, like Jim Brown, he was eyeing Hollywood as a way to make a good living after football. That was a big reason for his wanting to get back to California. Of course, he would have preferred LA, but San Francisco wasn't a bad second choice.

[bachslunch]

I remember that in OJ's final year in Buffalo, there was a joke about an OJ doll: You wind it up and it falls down. Some people got angry when hearing this joke because, "After all OJ did for the Buffalo Bills."

Things have sure changed since then.

A few months ago, I happened to see an episode of "Good Times" (circa 1974) where the younger son is debating about who he should write about as the man he admires most. Jimmie Walker's character champions none other than O.J. Simpson.

I have the first "Book of Lists" published in 1977. One of the entries was a poll asking who girls and boys of that time admired most, and yes indeed, O.J. Simpson topped both lists.

[BD Sullivan]

O.J. had done some acting on and off since his college days and, like Jim Brown, he was eyeing Hollywood as a way to make a good living after football. That was a big reason for his wanting to get back to California. Of course, he would have preferred LA, but San Francisco wasn't a bad second choice.

He makes an unspoken appearance in an October 1968 episode of Dragnet--ironically as a potential candidate to join the L.A. police force.