R.I.P. Bill Walsh

Just wanted to say good-bye to Coach Walsh and to thank him for not only restoring the great 49er franchise to its former glory, but winning its first three Super Bowls and setting it up nicely to win its next two. Not only did he take one of worse teams in the NFL and turn it around the fastest to win a Super Bowl, but he beat our arch-nemesis, the Dallas Cowboys in doing it. As a fan of the 49ers during the frustrating years the Cowboys beat us out, that was almost as satisfying as winning the Super Bowl and, of course, the Catch will live in history (I still have a Dwight Clark signed poster somewhere, plus one of his model girlfriend at the time).

Thank you for all that you had done to add to, and made infinitely better, the illustrious history of the 49ers, and for giving us all those thrills, and yes, heartbreaks, for you have to take the bad with the good. Thank you for giving my Uncle Mike, a diehard 49er fan, the World Championships he deserves for he has been a great uncle. Ironically, the season the 49ers only lost one game, guess which game my uncle took me too? Yep, the Steelers won that day, but I had no regrets (well now :^) given how the season ended for the 49ers: Super Bowl victors.

My memory is getting bad, but with all the achievements Coach Walsh did as 49er coach, I think his most amazing achievement he ever did was in the draft, either 1984 or 1985 (as I said, memory getting bad), when he picked up starters - and not just average starters but there were a lot of good players found later in the rounds - seemingly with every pick he had that year. I'm no football expert, but I'm pretty sure that no other team has ever come close to matching that achievement.

Good bye Coach Walsh, I wish you all the best.