No. Of course not. Back then we were spoiled. A bad season meant losing to Dallas in the championship game. An unthinkable season meant getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Not making the playoffs for SEVEN SEASONS?? Never entered anyone’s mind back then.

This anniversary is a special day for me.

I was at that Super Bowl. No big deal normally – right? After all, I had covered the team for six years. But the difference with that season was that I was pregnant through it, giving birth to my daughter on Dec. 29th. I was on my couch, infant in arms, when Steve Young beat Dallas and did his victory lap around Candlestick. Within hours, my phone rang and my editor was asking if I thought I could make it to the Super Bowl.

Sure, I said. It’ll take some maneuvering but I’m game.

I bought a ticket to the game. I got an extra press pass from the NFL offices. Those two pathways of entry meant that my husband could bring my baby to me in the press box. My in-laws watched our son, and off we went to Miami: Mom, Dad and infant.  We even made it to Leigh Steinberg’s big pre-Super Bowl party.

At the game, my hubby and baby sat in the stands (even infants need a ticket or a pass to get into any NFL game). At halftime, they came to the press box to get me and I went out to the luxury suite area to nurse the baby (having to fight our way past Tom Arnold at one point). Since this wasn’t normal sportswriter behavior – then or now- word circulated in the press box and my unusual halftime activity even made the early notebooks of some East Coast papers.

In the final minutes of the game, Mike Silver and I somehow ended up on the field (strictly forbidden) and watched Steve Young and Jerry Rice film their Disneyland commercial and celebrate like crazy.  Later on, when I was walking through the 49ers locker room, I ran into George Seifert. He was still soaked with champagne and looking blissful – after all this was the biggest moment of his career. This was really HIS Super Bowl, not Bill’s. I said “Congratulations George!” He looked at me with a big smile and said, “Congratulations to you! How’s your baby?”

That’s what normal people do in real life. But I must point out that this is definitely NOT what NFL coaches do in the aftermath of the biggest moment of their career. Seifert confirmed then that he was the most down to earth NFL coach around. Nothing I’ve seen since has changed my opinion.

In the wee hours of the morning, I made it back to the hotel room where Dad and baby were fast asleep. My little measuring stick of 49ers futility is now a freshman in high school and can’t remember the 49ers as a Super Bowl champion.

I asked Mike Singletary if he has any concerns about the message that would be sent to the rest of the locker room – you know to the guys who sweated through two-a-days and nutcracker drills – by immediately inserting Crabtree into the starting lineup.

Singetary’s response?

“ The most important message is that we want to win,” Singletary said. ”

Singletary indicated that anyone getting a look at Crabtree on the field the past two weeks would be able to see the potential.

“He hasn’t been sitting around on his couch watching TV,” Singletary said. “You don’t have to be a Phi Beta Kappa to see it…

“I could be stubborn. I could be a knucklehead and say, ‘You know what, he wasn’t here, Josh is going to start or this guy is going to start and that’s the way it’s going to be.’ You know what? I think I want to be fair to the team. The team comes first, and the team wants to win. And we’re going to do all that we can to get the best 11 players on the field to give us a chance to win.”

Don’t know what Crabtree thinks about all this because the media was informed by a PR staffer that he “isn’t talking today, he’ll talk Thursday,” while Michael was standing in front of his locker and while every other player in the room was available to talk. That’s the kind of treatment Jerry Rice used to get – though he achieved quite a bit more before he had that kind of locker room interview editing.

Maybe the 49rs saw how nervous Crabtree was when he first signed, how he stuck to his script, and just want to protect him. Who knows? But the 49ers need to make sure they don’t give Crabtree the prima donna treatment before he earns it. Rushing him into the starting lineup, protecting him from the media.

The 49ers are creating a situation where the pressue is on Crabtree to produce. Something even the great Rice struggled with in his first NFL season. And he went through traning camp.

*That the flu – both my own and my daughter’s – puts a real dent in tweeting and blogging. Suddenly lying flat and watching “Across the Universe” becomes much more important.

*That when Eddie D. shows up the party really gets rolling. Still. The event on Saturday night at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco was reminiscent of the high-rolling 49ers of the past – and you have to credit the Yorks for doing it up in style.

The place was packed with superstars and there was a true familial feeling. Even a lowly reporter like me was made to feel that I had been a part of something truly special – and it was. Covering those glory years was a blast, especially compared to the awful football I’ve witnessed in recent years.  I only stayed a short time – had a high school reunion to attend – but needed to pay respects to the Godfather, DeBartolo. Also a chance to see my favorite football coach of all time: George Seifert. Other big names: Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Steve Mariucci, Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Charles Haley, John McVay, Roger Craig, Geri Walsh – whose husband Bill was sorely missed. Here is a column I wrote about the night for csnbayarea.com.

* That Cal is a contender for the Rose Bowl and that Jahvid Best is a legitimate contender for the Heisman. I wrote about Best last week for SI.com, and he made me look smart with a five-touchdown Saturday. But I never dreamed that USC would lose to Washington, a team that went winless last year. That changes the whole picture for Cal (pipe down, Cal fans, who have since said to me that they wished they had been the ones to deflower the Trojans. Take what you can).

* That people have a lot of strong feelings about Serena Williams. My column for SI.com generated reams of interesting, well-thought out emails (which were split about 50-50 between, “Thank you, I agree with you,” and “You are a complete moron.”)

* That what Mike Singletary started last year wasn’t a fluke.  When he took over the 49ers midseason, the energy and change was immediate and obvious. That’s why I thought he deserved the job and why I didn’t mind the 49ers hastily handing it to him on the last day of the season.  The vibe and sensibility and accountability he instilled in the second half of last season seems to only have grown.  The 49ers right now are – dare I say it? – fun to watch.

- That JaMarcus Russell is running out time on the “he’s just learning the system” excuse.

- That the Giants are done. Tuesday night’s outing in Colorado was miserable. They’re out of steam and we’re left wondering what’s wrong with Matt Cain, who has only won one game since late July. But it was a fun run while is lasted.