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Author: BrentWarnken | Total views: 34 Comments: 0
Word Count: 792 Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 8:45 PM

San Francisco 49ers Tickets - How Are The 49ers Like The Dawn Of The Roman Empire? Part I

The 49ers are 4-8 right now, just barely holding onto a glimmer of hope that they might be able to overtake the Phoenix Cardinals for the division title and a chance at selling San Francisco 49ers tickets to the playoffs.

It has certainly not been an easy season for this embattled bunch, with many changes in the hierarchy, many different leaders emerging and retreating, subterfuge and power plays behind the scenes that would make an episode of the West Wing seem like an episode of Blue's Clues. As we enter the 13th week of the NFL season, the 49ers are starting to look more and more like the dawn of the Roman Empire. Here's how:

The Old QB Dynasties of Montana/Walsh, Young/Seifert are Greece and the Early Roman Republic, Respectively

The problem with Ancient Rome was that it was always trying to live up to, as well as model its society after, the Ancient Greeks. In much the same way, we can equate the current 49ers situation with that of the beginning of Imperial Rome, after the Ancient Greek and Roman Republic have had their heyday and disappeared into history. Joe Montana/Bill Walsh's 1980s success is on the same par as Ancient Greece, and Steve Young/George Seifert's success in the early 1990s corresponds to the rise of the Roman Republic.

The last thread of the Republic, Bryant Young, who helped win a Super Bowl with the 49ers in 1994, retired before the 2008 season, forever snapping the link between these glorious days of yore and the current turmoil in San Francisco. The current 49ers would like to emulate the success of their wonderful history, but doing so has not been easy. The sequel is hardly ever as good as the original in cinema, and the same holds true for civilization and 49ers eras.

Mike Nolan is Julius Caesar
Here we're going to embody the transition from powerful quarterback/receiver combos to power running game with the succession from George Seifert to Mike Nolan, although you could also throw Steve Mariucci in there as well, if you'd like. Here we will keep with Nolan for simplicity's sake.

The throwing-running switch is, in essence, the same kind of radical switch that Caesar performed when he declared himself dictator of Rome, an emperor, when Rome used to be a Republic with no singular king. This is not a perfect analogy, but here me out. The switch from passing offense to running offense is like the switch from republic to dictatorship.

Also, there are character similarities between Mike Nolan and Julius Caesar. Mike Nolan comes from a strong line of coaches, a successful coaching tree and a very famous coat of arms (the suit), so, like Caesar, he's the football version of a Roman Patrician, an elite, ruling class noble.

However, he's also a man of the people, generally well liked by your average Joe and a capable military commander (well, we're going to stretch this part a bit). So, Mike Nolan, with a hand in both football nobility and a populist favorite, mirrors two of the most important attributes of Julius Caesar.

Mike Martz is Brutus
Nolan was fired midway through this season, unceremoniously dropped for poor performance. The abruptness of this firing is similar in style to the assassination of Caesar, and although Mike Martz did not hold the pink slip/knife like Brutus did, in my depiction of things I see Martz and Nolan not getting along very well leading up to the deed. Martz' insistence on starting quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan over both Alex Smith and Shaun Hill is suspicious, as was the season-ending injury to Smith right as the season began.

Can we blame this all on Martz? No, but his behind-the-scenes dealings are sure a catalyst for conspiracy theories. Is it possible that, in our little analogy, Martz represents the old guard, himself from a noble coaching tree, a man who wanted to do things like they had always been done in San Francisco- through the air? In fact, Nolan is known as a pass-first kind of coach. Is it possible that Nolan, wanting to win rather than appease tradition, insisted on making Frank Gore and the running game the focus of the offense? Is it possible that this clash- between the old and the new, the air and the ground, the Democracy and the Dictatorship- led Martz to oust Nolan, just as Senator Brutus led the assassination of Julius Caesar?
For the fan who likes San Francisco 49ers tickets, as well as ridiculous historical connection-making, there's more like this in Part II.

About the Author

StubHub has sponsored this article, which was written by Brent Warnken. StubHub.com is one of the leaders in the business of selling San Francisco 49ers tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets, or even special events tickets.