San Francisco 49ers vs. Oakland Raiders: The End of the Battle of the Bay

The idea of California football always appealed to me. Its dusty 50-yard line and sun-baked bleachers were the antithesis of traditionalist football—winter winds, heavy snow, frozen tundras.

The latter was harsh and messy, evoking icy crunches and cracks. They were bruising affairs that mired Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic teams in muddy trench warfare. The Californian game, by contrast, was brighter, more dazzling. Its football soared and its players blazed. Touchdowns were plentiful.

The type of blue horizon backdrops and sweet lemonade-infused days I'm referring to are San Francisco 49ers games of the '80s. Football was never more...

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