The Ghosts of Candlestick

There they were, the gray icons of yesteryear -- Joe Montana, Steve Young, Charles Haley, Jerry Rice (always looking spry and fit). They came out with the 49er Faithful to see one more playoff battle with the hated Dallas Cowboys. And we won! Barely, after a hard-fought defensive battle. The Disney-like magic continues. (I'm channeling SF Chronicle sports columnist Scott Ostler here. The newspaper actually roused itself from its usual slumber to cover yesterday's big game, in a style reminiscent of the Sporting Green's old glory.)

Tight end George Kittle finally spurred the 49ers to victory with his magical third-quarter catch (and vivid acting after he was fouled on the same drive). "I was just trying to be dramatic," the gloriously ebullient Kittle said after the game. "It was all for TV. I was just trying to get ratings up. That's all we're here for."

But Kittle also commented that football is "a kid's game. Goodness gracious, if you have fun, it's so much easier."

Kittle tries to get his whole team to play with his loose abandon. And it's been so easy to fall in love with them -- Kittle, "The Kid" (aka rookie sensation Brock Purdy), running back Christian McCaffrey, receiver Deebo Samuel, defensive stars Fred Warner and Nick Bosa and all the rest.

So yes, let's celebrate the 49ers victory -- and the kid's game. But let's also remember the ghosts of Candlestick. The ones who couldn't be there yesterday. Like Dwight Clark -- who made the legendary Catch thrown like a prayer by an off-balance Joe Montana, the miraculous reception that turned around the team's fortunes in the 1980s. Clark died in 2018 after a long battle with ALS, the victim of too many hits to the head during his football career.

Dwight Clark fought for glory -- his own, his team's, the football fans of Northern California. The 49ers are still fighting.

The miraculous Kittle Catch