The word is dismal with a big "D"

This year's NFL season began with all sorts of promise for me, as many preseason prognosticators favored my San Francisco 49ers to emerge as the top of the class of the NFL West. Sure, grading would be done on a curve since it is the weakest division in the NFC, but we who bleed red-and-gold were still optimistic.

Then the Niners actually took the field.

If it's not bad enough that the Mike Singletary-led Niners stood at 2-6 heading into the weekend and were gasping for life in the division's basement, things are made much worse by the fervent fans of Raider Nation being able to stick their 5-4 record in our faces.

But at least the hardcore 49er fans who remember the titanic battles of the '80s can revel in one thing - at least we're not Dallas. Since a man simply revered as "Joe" hooked up with Dwight Clark on a play simply known as "The Catch," we 49ers fanatics have lived by the credo - "Our favorite team is the 49ers, and whoever is playing the Cowboys."

For those who have not tuned in to any of the soap opera that is this year's version of the self-professed "America's team," let me catch you up. The team that plays in a crisp new $1.15 BILLION stadium that houses a 30 x 53-foot video board is 1-7.

After sitting through any of the Niners' what-can-we-do-to-lose-it-this-week exhibitions, we can at least find comfort and evil enjoyment in the knowledge that the Cowboys are even worse than we are.

At least they're making changes, having dumped coach Wade Phillips after a particularly brutal 45-7 prime time embarrassment by the Green Bay Packers, and given the "hand's on" approach of team owner Jerry Jones, more heads are sure to roll.

Have I mentioned the Cowboys are 1-7?

I'm old enough to have suffered through the consecutive 2-14 seasons of '78-'79, and being brought up in the Midwest and force-fed Packers and Bears, I triumphantly blew my horn as the Niners ascended to greatness.

Unfortunately, this year the trumpeting sounds more like the noise emanated by a wounded kazoo.

I'm still wearing my 49er jackets on the sidelines, partially because I don't own any others, but mostly because I will never be branded a "fair-weather" fan. So to any of the fans of the football team from "Big D" who may read this or view it online, I have one thing to say - "How 'bout them Cowboys?"

Contact Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.