How ’bout them Niners, eh? Remember back when nobody gave a damn about them? Like, for much of my lifetime? Well, things have changed, my friend. San Francisco has a team once again, with a coach that’s been more on fire than Bill Clinton’s days in in NBA Jam. How ’bout them dumplings? Niners fever has swept across the state in recent weeks, which led me to 49er HQ in Santa Clara on Wednesday. Wanna see something cool? Check this out:

Yeah, that’s FIVE Super Bowl trophies, just hanging out in the lobby. I had never seen one Super Bowl trophy before (just a lame ol’ World Series trophy), but golly, that is impressive.

Of course, those were all from days past… could they do it again? Big Jim, the angriest looking coach in professional sports, certainly seemed hopeful.

Even when he’s happy, he seems pissed. What’s the deal?

But it’s hard to deny that the man has worked some wonders over the past season, and in his first year as head coach, no less. I’ve never had any love for the man (ever since I witnessed his Stanford team beat my Ducks a few years ago), but you must give credit where credit is due, and considering that Stanford lost to UC Davis not all that long ago… it seems clear that the man knows how to turn a team around.

Just look at player of the moment Vernon Davis… a disaster a year or two ago, now the king of the day. And QB Alex Smith certainly didn’t have much to brag about lately… but my, how quickly things change.

“Winning as a quarterback this time of year speaks for itself. That’s how I do my talking.” That’s how Smith responded to a question about his former critics. Pretty badass, eh? Really, it looks better in print than it sounded in person at the press conference, because it seemed more like he was dodging the question when you hear it played out. But hey, he did say it, so let’s quote it up!

In the end, I only got to shoot a few minutes of practice before we were kicked out, but it was still pretty sweet to check out the behind-the-scenes action going on during playoffs. Being from the Bay Area, I get to enjoy the glory of claiming them as one of my hometown teams… and while I’ve never been much of a hardcore NFL fan (college is really more my cup of gravy), I’ve been to plenty of games in my younger days and can at least declare that I’m proud they’ve come this far.