Taking Care of Business

Happy Frank = 49ers Victory

Yesterday's 19-11 victory over the Redskins in Washington went about as expected yesterday (that's a good thing). The 49ers avoided any of the traps or letdowns associated with road trips to the east coast in a workmanlike performance over another outmanned opponent.

It's also encouraging to see Niner fans appearing outside the Bay Area again. A friend of mine sent me a photo of an entire family wearing Frank Gore jerseys this past weekend - in San Diego. And then, there's this passage from Gwen Knapp's column this morning:

"...looking over the crowd Sunday in Washington, one could see a huge contingent of San Francisco fans. The team took over the place, raiding the fridge, grabbing the remote, turning up the thermostat until the regular occupants could barely breathe."

That's good stuff right there.

So here are the 49ers, with the second-best record in the league while sitting atop the NFC West with an unprecedented 5-game lead. Not much to complain about, other than the questionable officiating yesterday and a lack of delivering the death knell to the Browns and Redskins in the 3rd quarter when the Niners had a chance to do so during the past couple of weeks. Even Lil' Jed has learned to keep his mouth shut after the fan violence during the preseason debacle against the Raiders.

But there's one thing that's probably irritating all Niner fans right now: a presumed lack of national respect.

Yes, Jim Harbaugh has received plenty of attention and accolades for instantly turning the 49ers into a major contender in the NFC. But when given the chance to be "flexed" onto the Sunday Night Football schedule this week against the Giants, NBC decided to roll with (yet another) AFC matchup featuring the Patriots and Jets (again). So instead of showcasing one of the league's better stories this year in a marquee game against a New York team, we'll see fat, loudmouthed Rex Ryan and the punk-ass Jets square off against Tom Brady and the defenseless Patriots. How exciting it will be to listen to another pregame interview with Darrelle Revis while anticipating what color hooded sweatshirt Bill Belichick will wear! It's really a shame these two teams don't get the exposure they deserve, isn't it?

This was the one legit chance the 49ers had of being on Sunday Night Football this year (the Steelers and Ravens games are Monday and Thursday night contests and the rest of San Francisco's schedule is against the dregs of the NFC West), and instead of giving them a chance to be showcased, NBC is going with the same old tired formula with two teams that we see almost every week.

But there's a positive side to being snubbed by Sunday Night Football, too. Jim Harbaugh has already proven himself to be a master motivator, and this perceived lack of national respect will certainly come in handy the next time he has to fire up his troops, a tactic that Bill Walsh often used as he molded the 49ers of the 80s into one of the league's premier dynasties.

Maybe history is repeating itself, after all.