Bay's NFL pride

Oakland Tribune, Aug 22, 2006 by Column by John Horgan

AS football takes center stage this month along the verdant Peninsula, it might be an appropriate moment to point out something that, perhaps, local followers of the sport take for granted.

You can make the argument -- and Foster City's Fred Baer often does -- that there are few colleges in the nation, four-year institutions or otherwise, which have produced as many NFL Super Bowl champion coaches as the College of San Mateo.

CSM, a two-year school, numbers Bill Walsh, Dick Vermeil, Steve Shafer and John Madden among its celebrated list of exalted mentors.

All have Super Bowl rings. Walsh and Madden played for the Bulldogs back in the early 1950s. Vermeil and Shafer coached at the Peninsula college.

Former CSM players Neal Dahlen and Bill Ring have Super Bowl rings as well. In fact, the former has a grand total of seven, five as a 49ers' administrative assistant and two as a Denver Broncos' personnel honcho.

At this rate, the CSM trophy case in the gymnasium staircase will need significant expansion.

STEROIDS ALERT -- Mark Fainura-Wada, co-author of "Game of Shadows," an in-depth examination of the ongoing steroid scandal enveloping the American sporting scene, with a particular emphasis on Barry Bonds, was the guest speaker at a San Mateo Rotary Club meeting last week.

Also on the agenda was a female impersonator masquerading as a hirsute version of Marilyn Monroe. "She" was part of a birthday celebration for the club's president, Margaret Taylor.

As the faux Monroe stumbled and fumbled about, cheap wig askew and makeup failing badly, it became readily apparent: The grotesque specter was the late blonde bombshell on steroids. How unappealingly fitting.

CELEBRITY WATCH -- Since the First Watch eateries in San Mateo and Burlingame switched to what is now known as Bay Watch, the obvious question became: What about Pam Anderson? Or, for that matter, David Hasselhoff? We can report that neither of those Baywatch stars is a frequent diner at those establishments. Bay Watch, however, continues to serve nifty breakfasts and lunches, with or without the involvement of celebs from the TV series of the same name.

ROARING TWENTIES -- One of our loyal readers points out that he spotted a mistaken reference to the Depression Era "in the 1920s" in this newspaper not long ago. He makes the valid point that the calamitous worldwide economic collapse didn't start until 1929. Actually, the post-World War I decade has been referred to as the "Roaring Twenties." Thanks for the clarification.

DAN COOK -- Best wishes and a hearty get-well-soon go out to Dan Cook, a former editor here at The Times and at what has become, through corporate merger, our new sister publication, the Daily News. Dan's been under the weather for awhile. Because of that, he missed participating in the annual running of the bulls in Spain.

Got a hot local tip or a Peninsula vignette that cries out for sharing? Don't dawdle. By all means, send it along to John Horgan by telephone at (650) 348-4334, by fax at (650) 348-4446 or by traditional snail mail at 1080 S. Amphlett Blvd., San Mateo, CA 94402.