The Year of the 49ers? Why not?

Here is the most important thing I've learned from watching at least a little bit of every NFL team every week (thanks in large part to a great channel called NFL Red Zone): No NFL team is great.

Never mind the hype you hear each week about Peyton Manning & his Broncos, Tom Brady & his Patriots, RG III & his (pardon the offense) Redskins. Not one of those teams is special.

Neither are my beloved San Francisco 49ers, as much as I would like them to be.

The NFL in 2012 is far more mediocre than majestic. But somebody has to win the Super Bowl in February. It's a league rule. So it might as well be my maddeningly inconsistent 49ers.

I've seen the 49ers' "A" game. It's as good as any other team's "A" game, and better than most.

Problem is, the 49ers have not produced that "A" game often enough to make them a safe bet to win it all.

There are no safe bets in this NFL season. Only sucker bets.

I've been strapped into an emotional rollercoaster with my 49ers from Week 1 of the regular season, when they looked super in beating the Packers by two touchdowns at venerable Lambeau Field, to Week 16, when they were thoroughly humiliated by the Seahawks 42-13 on a typically rainy night in Seattle.

My 49ers dominated the same Seahawks team 13-6 on a Thursday night in San Francisco in October.

That's the point here: No NFL team is great from week to week.

Some teams, like the 13-2 Falcons and 12-3 Texans, have great records.

But those teams couldn't carry the helmets of the 12-3 49ers of the 1980s or the 12-3 Cowboys of the early 1990s.

Today's NFL has been watered down, largely because of salary cap rules that prevent any team from holding onto great players for more than a few years.

The salary cap destroyed the 49ers of Montana, Rice, Craig & Lott and dismantled the Cowboys of Aikman, Smith, Irvin and Norton.

Those teams were the last true dynasties in the NFL.

Although the Patriots have won four Super Bowls with Brady at quarterback and Coach Bill Belichick on the sideline, but the core of each of those championship teams has been markedly different.

It should surprise no one that the Giants will likely fail to make the playoffs this year after winning the Super Bowl last year.

And it should surprise no one if the team that hoists the Vince Lombardi Trophy as the NFL's best playoff team in February fails to make the playoffs in 2013.

Just get into the 12-team postseason tournament this season, and you've got a chance to win it all. It doesn't matter if you're the No. 1 seed in your conference or the No. 6 seed. Just get in, baby.

Fans of each playoff team will have high hopes--not because of that team's relative strength but rather because of the other teams' weaknesses.

Conventional wisdom says the 49ers have a great defense. But I watch them every week. That's my team. The 49ers have below-average cornerbacks. They can be thrown on. They can be burned deep.

My 49ers have an inexperienced starting quarterback in the heavily tattooed Colin Kaepernick. At times, he looks brilliant. At other times, he looks hopelessly overmatched against opposing defenses.

If the latter Kaepernick shows up in the playoffs, the 49ers will lose. If the former Kaepernick shows up, then he will be reading David Letterman's "Top Ten" list sometime after the Super Bowl.

Do I know which Kaepernick will show up? Of course not.

Do I know if the 49ers will bring to the playoffs the "A" game they used to beat the Packers, Bears, Saints, Patriots and Seahawks (in October)? Nobody knows.

Some people like this sort of uncertainty. Clearly, the NFL does.

But I miss the dynasties. I know they're not coming back under the current system. Still, I miss the symphonic beauty of Montana to Rice year after year after year.

Now, I can only hope to see Kaepernick to Crabtree for six points, and Gore up the middle, and Akers with the field goal, and Smith and Willis combining on the tackle for victories in January and February.

Why not the 49ers? Somebody has to do it.

Letterman's Ironically Funny Take on LeBron James

Now it should be clear why LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to, in his words, “take his talents to South Beach” and join the Miami Heat:

He wanted to be more than just another great basketball player whose team fails annually to win an NBA championship.

And he wanted to transcend basketball and become a hot topic of general conversation.

While it remains to be seen if James will achieve the former, there’s no doubt he has accomplished the latter.

Broadcasting legends David Letterman and Marv Albert had a spirited debate last night on Letterman’s “Late Show” about James’s decision.

“If LeBron had announced that he’s staying in Cleveland for three more years, he would be the most beloved athlete in sports today,” Letterman opined, although he failed to get Albert (or me) to agree with his take.

“As a free agent, LeBron had a right to leave,” retorted Albert, the indisputable voice of the NBA. “He spent seven years in Cleveland, and he no longer believed he could win a championship there.”

But Midwestern states like Ohio are hurting, Letterman argued, and James would have given a boost to Cleveland’s economy by staying with the Cavaliers. By turning his back on the Rust Belt in favor of the fun and sun of Miami, James had unwittingly become the most vilified athlete in sports.

At that point, Albert served up a facial, comparing James’s decision to leave Cleveland to Letterman’s decision to leave NBC’s 12:30 am time slot in 1992 for CBS’s 11:30 pm slot and a head-to-head battle against Jay Leno.

Remember that game?

When “Tonight Show” icon Johnny Carson retired, NBC executives bypassed Carson’s choice Letterman and gave the coveted gig to the less edgy, more generic Leno.

“NBC didn’t want me,” Letterman told Albert as his studio audience applauded.

Actually, NBC still wanted Letterman, just not at 11:30. Letterman did not have to leave NBC. He chose to leave, because his ego had been hurt.

James chose to leave Cleveland, because of management’s failure to surround him with the kind of complementary talent Michael Jordan played with in Chicago and Kobe Bryant plays with in Los Angeles.

Letterman’s take, then, is at once ironic and funny. His decision to shun The Peacock for The Eye stemmed from a desire to better himself while sticking it to his former boss. Just like James’s.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear Letterman and James discuss how much they have in common on a future “Late Show”?

As Albert would say, Yesss!

Late Show with Meb Keflezighi

On the day after the New York City Marathon, I always watch "Late Show with David Letterman" and wait for the moment when that year’s marathon champions jog onto the stage during Letterman’s monologue and, without saying a word, run down the steps, up the aisle and out of the theater as the audience applauds.

Letterman always tells us who the runners are, but we never hear from them. Often, that’s because the winners are Africans who aren’t fluent in English.

That’s not the case with this year’s men’s champion: Meb Keflezighi (Kef-LEHZ-gee).

He was born in the African nation of Eritrea, in a village without electricity. He’s also a U.S. citizen, a San Diego resident and a UCLA graduate with a compelling story.

He deserves more than the usual token jog on "Letterman."

Meb’s parents moved his family of 11 children out of Eritrea when a war against Ethiopia would have forced a boy his age into the military.

The Keflezighis lived briefly in Italy, as a safe haven. But the family’s intention was always to come to the USA and live its version of the American Dream.

Meb became a U.S. citizen in 1998, and became a four-time NCAA champion in middle-distance running. He still holds the U.S. record at 10,000 meters (27 minutes, 13.98 seconds set in 2001).

Meb then turned to the marathon and became one of the world’s best, winning the Olympic silver medal in 2004 and, less than two months later, finishing second in the New York City Marathon.

But Meb’s career was thought to be over two years ago when, at age 32, he suffered a stress fracture in his hip during the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in New York. The pain was so intense he had to literally crawl to the bathroom.

The self-appointed experts in distance running wrote Meb off. He had never actually won a marathon.

Meb was too old, they said. Broken down. Washed up.

Ryan Hall, a fair-haired Californian and Meb’s close friend, was America’s great marathon hope, they said.

But Meb refused to quit.

He had already proven an American could compete well against the best marathon runners in the world. On Sunday, he proved an American could beat the best.

Pulling away from a strong field in the 24th mile, Meb won the race in a personal-best time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

He is the first African-American champion in the 40-year history of the race, and the first American to win in New York since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

And because the New York City Marathon and USA Men’s Marathon Championship were held concurrently, Meb won his first two marathon titles on the same day.

"You visualize it and visualize it and when reality hits, it’s pretty sweet," said Meb, who defeated runner-up Robert K. Cheruiyot of Kenya, a four-time Boston Marathon champion, by 41 seconds.

Meb wore a USA jersey to which he pointed with pride as he had ran alone to the finish line. He pocketed $200,000--$130,000 for the New York City Marathon title, $40,000 for the USA Men’s Marathon crown and a $30,000 time bonus for finishing in under 2:10.

Meb, a married father of two, now has a "platform." Now, he’s a "name." And that's why he got a well-deserved speaking role on "Letterman."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Letterman intoned, "here is tonight’s Top 10 List delivered by your 2009 New York City Marathon champion, Meb Keflezighi!"

It was a moment worth staying up for.

Late Show with Meb Keflezighi

On the day after the New York City Marathon, I always watch “Late Show with David Letterman” and wait for the moment when that year’s marathon champions jog onto the stage during Dave's monologue, jog down the steps, up the aisle and out of the theatre as the audience applauds.

Letterman always tells us who the runners are, but we never hear from them. Often, that is because the winners are Africans who are not fluent in English.

That’s not the case with this year’s men’s champion: Meb Keflezighi (Kef-LEHZ-gee).

He was born in the African nation of Eritrea, in a village without electricity. He’s also a U.S. citizen, a San Diego resident and a UCLA graduate with a compelling story.

He deserves more than the usual token jog on “Letterman.”

Meb’s parents moved his family of 11 children out of Eritrea when a war against Ethiopia would have forced a boy his age into the military.

The Keflezighis lived briefly in Italy, as a safe haven. But the family’s intention was always to come to the USA and live its version of the American Dream.

Meb became a U.S. citizen in 1998, and became a four-time NCAA champion in middle-distance running. He still holds the U.S. record at 10,000 meters (27 minutes, 13.98 seconds set in 2001).

Meb then turned to the marathon and became one of the world’s best, winning the Olympic silver medal in 2004 and, less than two months later, finishing second in the New York City Marathon.

But Meb’s career was thought to be over two years ago when, at age 32, he suffered a stress fracture in his hip during the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in New York. The pain was so intense he had to literally crawl to the bathroom.

The self-appointed experts in distance running wrote Meb off. He had never actually won a marathon.

Meb was too old, they said. Broken down. Washed up.

Ryan Hall, a fair-haired Californian and Meb’s close friend, was America’s great marathon hope, they said.

But Meb refused to quit.

He had already proven an American could compete well against the best marathon runners in the world. On Sunday, he proved an American could beat the best.

Pulling away from a strong field in the 24th mile, Meb won the race in a personal-best time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

He’s the first African-American champion in the 40-year history of the race, and the first American to win in New York since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

And because the New York City Marathon and USA Men’s Marathon Championship were held concurrently, Meb won his first two marathon titles on the same day.

“You visualize it and visualize it and when reality hits, it’s pretty sweet,” said Meb, who defeated runner-up Robert K. Cheruiyot of Kenya, a four-time Boston Marathon champion, by 41 seconds.

Meb wore a USA jersey to which he pointed with pride as he had ran alone to the finish line. He pocketed $200,000--$130,000 for the New York City Marathon title, $40,000 for the USA Men’s Marathon crown and a $30,000 time bonus for finishing in under 2:10.

Meb, a married father of two, now has a “platform.” Now, he’s a “name.” Now, he deserves a speaking role on “Letterman.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, here is tonight’s Top 10 list delivered by your 2009 New York City Marathon champion, Meb Keflezighi!”

That would be worth staying up for.

Note: Hours after this posting came the announcement that Meb Keflezighi would read the Top 10 list on the November 2, 2009 "Late Show with David Letterman."