Super Bowl Buzz Kill: 49ers

Your team isn't going to the Super Bowl, so why have any optimism? The Hater Nation brings you back to reality with the Super Bowl Buzz Kill. Why your team won't win the Super Bowl:

The San Francisco 49ers

How come sports teams can't be properly motivated unless somebody from the organization has died? Like players are hanging around the locker room or club house, listless, until they hear the news that some former coach, who they didn't play for, has died. Now they go out and dedicate the season to him and everybody has a feel-good story they can relentlessly beat into the ground.

Except of course for the family of the coach who has passed away. A 49ers preseason victory won't do much for a coach who, you know, won a couple of Super Bowls. And not that it motivated the 49ers much, either, on Monday night. The 49ers christened the new Bill Walsh Field by doing something the old coach never really did, and that's lose.

Again, you don't want to get too worked up about preseason because the 49ers did score on their first two opening possessions, but still, how about a little more effort, eh? And then it kind of hits you. How much does Mike Nolan really care about the legacy of Bill Walsh? Not that Nolan would say anything about it in public, but it probably cheeses him off a little bit, with all of the attention Walsh gets.

Nolan's dad, Dick, also was a coach for the 49ers, though not quite as successful, hovering around the .500 mark. Part of the reason Walsh eventually got the job in San Francisco was because Dick couldn't get the 49ers to the Super Bowl, so there still has to be a little family resentment. Even quarterback Alex Smith bought into this a little bit. When talking about the great 49ers quarterback tradition that includes Joe Montana and the Mormon guy, he also mentioned John Brodie -- his dad's quarterback. (He also could have mentioned one of Dick's other quarterbacks, Steve Spurrier.)

So it seems like there might be a little rift in the 49ers house, where Walsh was the good son, winning Super Bowl titles and looking dapper in a sweater, while Dick was the near do well in the bad suits.

So don't look for any of that Bill Walsh magic to come back and help the 49ers this year.