Where Will San Francisco Leave Its Heart? : The City’s Older Fans Figure to Root for Joe Montana on Sunday, While the Young Cheer Steve Young

The argument begins as they all do--with a memory and a sigh.

“Been watching Joe Montana all my life,” Riko Waters says, pointing a weathered finger. “He can do things nobody else can do.”

“Not anymore,” Scott Davis says, his boyish face brightening. “Steve Young can do it all now.”

“All but win a Super Bowl,” Waters says.

“The 49ers did Montana dirty.” Waters says.

“It was Young’s turn,” Davis says.

“Montana should have been given a fair shot,” Waters says.

“Young was better,” Davis says

“Your opinion,” Waters says.

“Darn right,” Davis says.

The argument quietly ends. But it never really ends.

Not in this city, anyway. And certainly not at Matagrano, Inc., a giant beer distributor where Waters and Davis work as truck drivers.

After spending the day

listening to the voice of San Francisco from wherever beer is sold, Matagrano’s drivers and salesmen return to the urban warehouse with pallets full of gossip and rhetoric.

When the town’s talk turns to sports, they say, it is often about the 49ers’ Super Bowl chances. But this week, something different is happening.

Something about Joe, and Steve, and the tugging of a community’s heart.

Montana is an old flame, the quarterback who led the 49ers to four Super Bowl championships before being unceremoniously put out to a pasture in Kansas City.

Young is a new love, with three consecutive passing championships that have slowly convinced old-timers that maybe, just maybe, he is worthy.

On Sunday, the 49ers visit the Chiefs. Which means these two men will be competing on the same field for the first time since they played together.

“Not just a game,” said Jerry Rice, 49er wide receiver. “The ultimate game.”

And look what has happened. Just when the rivalry was dying and change had been accepted, the mended seams of a population are in danger of splitting everywhere.

“You didn’t hear much for a while because the 49ers look so good,” said Bill Mummert, Matagrano sales representative. “Then four or five people I saw around town were arguing about Steve and Joe just today. All of a sudden, these die-hard 49ers fans can’t figure out who to root for.”

As the week has progressed, barroom talk has grown louder. Co-workers have dredged up old differences. Father and son are bickering again.

“My dad, who had season tickets for more than 20 years, is talking about rooting for Joe, hoping the 49ers lose,” Mummert said. “It’s sick.”

Said Gina Tuvo, a Matagrano office processor, “My mom and I used to yell at each other while sitting in the stands at every game. Now I agree with her. I’m cheering for Joe. Which means this Sunday, I will be fighting with other people in the family.”

Forget about unbeaten records or first place. It is this passion for which the quarterbacks will be competing.

Even though Young realizes he must win a Super Bowl to gain full respect of his neighbors, a convincing victory here could put the comparisons to rest until then.

“He needs that one win against Joe,” admitted 49er tackle Steve Wallace earlier this summer. “He needs that one win to put him over the edge, to get rid of the ghost. If not, everybody will be bugging him about it until he wins a Super Bowl.

“Everybody here knows it. Everybody here wants it for him.”

Montana would be thrilled just to make people miss him again.

“If I know Joe, he is preparing for this game more than any other game besides a playoff,” said Dwight Clark, Montana’s longtime favorite receiver and current 49er football operations coordinator. “Joe has always motivated himself with negative things, and that is what is happening here.

“For him, this game is like, ‘I’ve got something to prove. I’ve got to prove the 49ers should have kept me.’ ”

Neither Young nor Montana admitted to having these feelings.

“This really is just another game,” Young said.

“It will be a fun and interesting experience,,” Montana said.

But then, Young has a law degree, and Montana is the kind of player who tells jokes in the huddle during the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl game.

*

We know what you’re wondering.

The answer is simple, because the whispers are clear.

Steve Young does not like Joe Montana.

And vice versa.

Young thinks Montana is an embittered old player whose ego did not allow him to help Young during Montana’s final two injury-ridden years with the 49ers.

Montana thinks Young is a pampered upstart who tried to buy his way into the starting lineup and stabbed Montana in the process.

“I think you could say their relationship was rather rocky,” Clark said. “It has to to with the competitive nature of both guys. Joe wanted to be No. 1. So did Steve.”

While Young actually praised Montana as a positive career influence earlier this week--sure, like Reggie White or the Dallas Cowboys--Montana admitted to some rough edges.

“Yeah, there was a little tension there,” Montana said. “Anytime somebody has what you want, there is tension. If there wasn’t tension, you would be on the second team the rest of your life.”

In an era when the main qualification for a backup quarterback is that he is breathing, it is sometimes hard to imagine that Young and Montana once played on the same team.

Montana had led the 49ers to two Super Bowl championships when Young joined the team from the now-defunct United States Football League in 1987.

In Young’s first four years, while Montana was leading them to two more Super Bowl titles, Young started 10 games.

But Montana suffered a broken finger and bruised breastbone in the fourth quarter of the NFC championship game loss to the New York Giants after the 1990 season.

And the rivalry began.

Montana, five years older than Young, missed the 1991 season after undergoing elbow surgery. Young, who missed five games that season because of a knee injury, nonetheless led the league with a 101.8 quarterback rating.

But for the first time in 10 years, not counting strike seasons, the 49ers missed the playoffs.

And the rivalry continued.

Montana nursed his sore elbow throughout most of 1992 while Young, named the NFL’s MVP, led the league again with a 107 quarterback rating. But Montana was sound enough to throw for two touchdowns in the second half of the season finale against the Detroit Lions.

Montana remained on the bench during the playoffs as the Young-led 49ers suffered an NFC championship game loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

And the rivalry continued.

In the spring of 1993, with Montana sound, the 49ers faced a dilemma. They thought Young had earned the starting position and the control of their future. But Montana thought his accomplishments had earned him the job. Whichever quarterback the 49ers picked, it was going to be the wrong one.

After several days of shenanigans, which included the naming of Montana as a designated starter by owner and close friend Eddie De Bartolo Jr., Montana was traded to the Chiefs on April 20.

Since then, their careers have been nearly identical.

Last season each led his team to the conference championship game before losing. Then last week each had a splendid opening game, Montana throwing for more than 300 yards for the first time since 1990, Young passing for four touchdowns.

This Sunday, the rivalry will breathe again, untouched by injury, sharpened by time.

“I never imagined I would play for another team,” Montana said. “All I really wanted and asked for was a chance to compete. But they weren’t going to open it for competition, period. You look back and you always wonder, why?”

Montana always did have a thing for competition.

There are stories of Montana, during his final years, ignoring Young on the bench late in important games, when Montana’s advice would have been invaluable.

There is even a story of Montana diverting the attention of close friend Rice on the bench during the championship game with the Cowboys after the 1992 season. When Young needed to discuss a coming series with Rice, he couldn’t find him.

Montana maintains these stories are false.

“I wasn’t even around the team very much during those last years,” he said.

Montana supporters counter with stories about Young complaining to team President Carmen Policy about not playing enough, even asking for a contractual clause that guaranteed playing time.

Leigh Steinberg, Young’s agent, maintains these stories are false.

“Yeah, like we’re going to force a team to play him? Like any general manager would actually agree to that sort of contract?” Steinberg said, laughing.

Montana says he and Young have not spoken since the trade.

Young says that, on the contrary, they spoke at quarterback Steve Bono’s going-away party last year after he left the 49ers for the Chiefs.

Must have been some party.

*

Dan Bunz, former 49er linebacker, owns a popular sports bar and restaurant about 90 minutes northeast of San Francisco in Roseville.

Last year, he couldn’t stock enough bumper stickers proclaiming the glory of lost son Joe Montana, particularly the one that read, “Kansas City, Montana.”

This year, he has stopped printing Montana paraphernalia and is selling “Young Country” stickers.

“I’ve realized, like a lot of people around here have realized, that he’s our guy,” Bunz said.

Except, of course, Sunday.

“Well, I got to tell you, my allegiance will be with Joe,” Bunz admitted. “What better thing than for a quarterback to come back and beat a team that was phasing him out? For one Sunday, the people in his town will be very split.”

Observers say the older fans will cheer for Montana, even if it means their beloved 49ers will lose.

“Joe brought us there, Joe gave us our first championship, and that is something we will never forget,” said Noah Griffin, lifelong San Francisco resident and spokesman for Mayor Frank Jordan. “A lot of people who remember the bad days around here hope that, for this one game, Joe can show everybody how he’s come back.”

The younger fans are considerably less sentimental.

“All these people saying they wish Joe was here,” scoffed Butler, 35. “I say, ‘Hey man, that’s not going to happen.’ My loyalty is with the team.”

And the team’s loyalty? Only eight of 22 starters were playing for the 49ers when Montana started his last game with them.

Only two of those starters are on defense, which means if Montana is not sacked, it isn’t because they aren’t trying.

Not that the 49er veterans won’t be watching Montana closely. And, dare we say, cheering for him?

“After the game, Joe and I will still be great buddies,” said Rice, who has never warmed to Young.

Rice smiled. “It would be awesome if he threw me a ball during warm-ups. I wonder how the crowd would react.”

Not half as loud as when Steve Young tackles him.