Often people say hate may be a bit too strong of a word, but in this case, it’s not strong enough. I’m not going into all the X’s AND o’s today; I will instead talk about my feelings towards the 49ers. We must go back to 1982; I was around seven years old and already making a name for myself in the local arcades as a Pac-Man and pinball wiz.

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My dad taught me everything about football and was so happy he let me watch the games with the rest of the men. Believe or not, that wasn’t very common back then so most kids would have to tag along with their mom to Cloth World or some other hellish store. But not me. I sat right in front of the TV and was always ready to get my dad or my uncles a beer from the fridge.

My dad would always ask my opinion about games in front of my uncles, and I was so proud to be part of “the circle” as my late uncle Paul would call it. It was the N.F.C. Championship game, and our Cowboys were on the road playing some guy named Joe Montana. It was a tough game, lots of back and forth and when Dallas did well, my dad would jump up and hit the ceiling with his palms flat on it, he was and still is a giant to me. I always prayed I would be tall like my dad, sadly I’m more on the Danny DeVito side of height. Going into the fourth quarter we had the lead, and I was feeling full of myself, heck, we all were. Then it started happening; Montana was driving, but I still had faith. They were in the red zone, and it looked like Ed “too tall” Jones and Randy White were going to sack Joe, but instead, one of the luckiest plays in history occurred. I will never stop believing Montana was throwing the ball away when Dwight Clark disproved white men can’t jump and made “THE CATCH”! No more jumping up and down, my dad was pissed!

And, I have to say that made me love that man even more than I thought possible. On the kickoff, Drew Person nearly took it to the house, but Dallas fell short, and the rest is history.  We would have to wait until 1992 to get revenge. That day Dallas was the underdog and the young team that all the experts were saying were still maybe a year or two away from winning it all. They were wrong! Steve Young was their QB that day and Montana was his backup due to earlier injuries. Of course, Dallas won and proved the so-called experts wrong. I took great joy in seeing Montana on the sideline watching his team taking the big L. After the game me and my dad looked at each other didn’t even have to say word, we were both thinking the same thing and just hugged each other tight. So, this game Sunday is not just another wild card game it’s personal. Let’s go Cowboys!!