In retrospect, it seems like such a simple and logical move.
The San Francisco 49ers' decision a year ago to ship out a quarterback who's now 38 and go with a quarterback who's now 33 was a sound football move.
After all, the 33-year-old quarterback was just named Player of the Month and may be on the way to MVP honors.
The 38-year-old quarterback is sidelined with a foot injury and is angrily denying rumors he's going to retire at the end of the season.
What made the decision difficult, though, was the fact that the two quarterbacks were Steve Young and Joe Montana.
It was tough for the 49ers to trade Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs. At the last minute, they even offered to give him the starting job back, even though he basically had been sidelined for two years.
Even Montana realized, though, that it would be an awkward situation with him and Young on the same team.
He decided to move on.
Nobody can debate that the 49ers are better off with Young. After Young threw four touchdown passes against the New Orleans Saints on Monday night, running back Ricky Watters said, "MVP? Oh, no question. Steve's got the hot hand right now, he's right on time. He's playing cool. He's getting everything done."
But he still hasn't won over all the 49ers fans. Some will never forgive him for replacing Montana.
Even if he wins the Super Bowl, he'll be three behind Montana.
But time is running out for Montana, who labeled as "ridiculous" a report that he has decided to retire. He probably hasn't made a final decision to retire, but he surely must know he's nearing the end.
He may have been annoyed by the report because he doesn't want to think about retiring until he's forced to. Nobody ever wants to walk away -- particularly the great ones.
Bad calls
The Canadian Football League apparently has reached parity with the NFL in one area: officiating.
Super Bowls generally haven't been the subject of the controversy the way the Grey Cup was last week, mainly because most of them have been blowouts.
But the subject of officiating and what to do about it remains the NFL's hottest topic of conversation.
Jerry Seeman, the director of officiating, says the officials are doing a good job, but he's having a hard time selling that idea.
In Atlanta last week, fans sent two cakes to the officials at the Georgia Dome as a peace offering after the Falcons were victimized by bad calls for two straight games. The officials refused to touch the cakes.
Meanwhile, all sorts of proposals are being made to improve officiating, ranging from the silly (a penalty box for players making illegal hits) to the sound (bringing back instant replay on an appeal basis, the way the U.S. Football League did it).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Sam Wyche has proposed having all the officials meet every four weeks to explain their bad calls. He thinks the peer pressure might help.
"These guys are good people," Wyche said. "They have a lot of pride in what they do. They'd have more pride in it if they had to account to their peers every month."
But don't expect the league to take much action -- unless the rash of bad calls continues in the playoffs.
When no means no
The Carolina Panthers finally had to take no for an answer from Joe Gibbs last week when he told them they couldn't change his mind, that he won't be the team's first coach. Gibbs decided months ago he didn't want to come back because both of his sons will be working with him on his NASCAR racing team this year.
But Gibbs' decision was a setback because Carolina officials figured his name would help sell tickets. The franchise still has 10,000 unsold premium seat licenses starting at $2,500 each. The unsold seats -- worth $30 million -- were guaranteed by NationsBank and other North Carolina banks, which would prefer that fans buy the seats.
Carolina also has two high-profile college coaches, Dennis Erickson and Steve Spurrier, on its list. Both might help sell tickets, but Erickson reportedly will pass because he would have to answer to two bosses in the front office -- president Mike McCormack and general manager Bill Polian -- plus two owners,
Jerry Richardson and his son, Mark.
Delay of game
It was no surprise when St. Louis officials pushed back the informal Dec. 1 deadline they had set to make a deal for the Los Angeles Rams.
Rams president John Shaw likes the negotiating game and isn't likely to make a deal before the end of the regular season -- and maybe not before the end of the playoffs.
Although St. Louis officials are getting frustrated, Shaw likely figures that the longer he waits, the sweeter the St. Louis deal will get.
The question now is whether the Bucs will be sold before or after the Rams make a decision on their future. The Bucs' trustees are still separating pretenders from contenders, but seem to want to make a decision soon after the end of the season.
Cards' complaint
Guess who's unhappy with his stadium?
Would you believe Bill Bidwill, owner of the Arizona Cardinals?
Six years after moving from St. Louis, Bidwill has decided he wants a new stadium instead of sharing Sun Devil Stadium with Arizona State. He's unhappy that Phoenix is offering to build a baseball-only, domed stadium to attract a team.
"People are being accustomed to a lot of new facilities. You just can't compare it [Sun Devil Stadium] to Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami or the Georgia Dome," Bidwill said.
Bidwill should have gotten the guarantee of a new stadium from Phoenix before he moved.
When Bidwill was planning his move in 1988, one city offered him a new, fully-funded, football-only stadium, but Bidwill passed it up. But, then, passing up Baltimore has become a habit for the NFL.