[AnotherUnixGeek]

I was especially interested to hear that Bill Walsh may have paid bounties as well.

Except he didn't - the accusation was put forth by Dexter Manley. Both former 49ers players and coaches stated that the play Manley was referring to was a crack-back block by Russ Francis on a running play that the team had practiced all week. Francis was specifically assigned to nail Manley on that play and he did it with a clean, legal block that knocked Dexter off his feet. The only payment Francis got for that block was his salary and the cheers of team-mates, which apparently resulted in a decades-long case of sour-grapes by Manley.

As the 49ers noted, if Walsh had paid players for hard hits, Ronnie Lott would currently have his own island in the Caribbean. Manley was a buffoon during his playing days and now he's lying about a dead Hall of Fame coach.

[skeeter]

Ronnie Lott attends my church, so I'd hate to think of him getting payola for taking other players out.

But given what we know about the 49ers under Walsh in hindsight; the salary cap issues, DeBartolo's grasp of ethics and comments made by Walsh's contemporaries like Bill Parcells there seems to be alot of smoke there.