Don’t Forget What Chargers Did to Steelers

Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle on the 49ers’ 38-28 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship game Sunday:

“The 49ers have Michael Jordan’d the game of football and they may have to retire from the NFL en masse and look for another challenge, maybe become a 22-man luge team.

“Yes, technically the 49ers will be required to participate in the Poulon Weedeater Bowl in Miami two weeks hence, and yes, there is a chance the 49ers could lose to the San Diego Chargers, but please don’t bet the flood insurance money on the Chargers.”

Hey, Scott, the Pittsburgh Steelers were saying the same thing.

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Trivia time: Which was the last AFC team to win the Super Bowl?

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Not so fast: Headline in the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette over Bob Smizik’s column Dec. 20:

“Steelers Seem to be a Cinch to Reach Super Bowl.”

An excerpt:

“There’s not a team in the AFC able to handle the Steelers. The Super Bowl in Miami looks like a lock.”

Yeah, a lock for the Chargers, who won Sunday, 17-13.

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Add Steelers: And this pregame comment from Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who acknowledged that the Chargers got a break in the almost balmy weather--for Pittsburgh--in January:

“Everything the Chargers can do, the Steelers can do. Only better.”

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Tribute: How excited was San Diego about the Chargers’ upset victory over the Steelers? Well, Sea World placed a lightning bolt atop its tower.

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Alphabet maze: ESPN announcers will have a daunting task in describing the field for the 3,000-meter run in the Sunkist indoor meet Feb. 11 at the Sports Arena.

Entrants include Kenya’s Eliud Barngetuny, Tanzania’s Wilhelm Gidabuday of Riverside City College and Mebrahtom Keflezighi, a UCLA freshman from Ethiopia.

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Get rich quick: Phil Anastasia of the Camden, N.J., Courier-Post on the new owner of the Philadelphia Eagles:

“Jeff Lurie made his money the old-fashioned way. He inherited it.”

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Off the bench: Norman Chad in the San Jose Mercury News commenting before Sunday’s San Francisco 49er-Dallas Cowboy game:

“The game has prompted so much national interest, Judge Lance Ito volunteered to officiate.”

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River Rats 6, IceCats 3: Fine, but who are they?

Why, American Hockey League teams, of course. The River Rats of Albany, N.Y., beat the IceCats of Worcester, Mass., Saturday night.

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Looking back: On this day in 1971, Jim O’Brien kicked a 32-yard field goal to give the Baltimore Colts a 16-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.

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Trivia answer: The Raiders beat the Washington Redskins, 38-9, in 1984.

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Quotebook: Bob Hope on cheating in golf: “Isn’t it fun to go out on the course and lie in the sun?”