[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.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

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

Well, since no one has ever claimed that he did I don't think this warrants much concern.

But given what we know about the 49ers under Walsh in hindsight; the salary cap issues

The salary cap had nothing to do with Walsh - he retired from his NFL career before the salary cap was even implemented.

DeBartolo's grasp of ethics and comments made by Walsh's contemporaries like Bill Parcells there seems to be alot of smoke there.

Most of the fire behind that smoke was the 49ers' success, which stirred up quite a bit of envy and resentment around the league.

DeBartolo was dumb enough to make in illegal payment to a corrupt Louisiana governor in a non-NFL venture and ended up losing his team because of it. The 49ers reported themselves to the NFL for improperly structuring Brent Jones' contract in 1997 to make room for first-round bust Jim Druckenmiller under the salary cap. That's pretty much it.