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| Authored by Andrew Perna - 2nd June, 2005 - 9:42 pm
 San Francisco 49ers? public relations director, Kirk Reynolds had a brilliant idea. He?ll prepare a video tape to help teach the players how to deal with the diverse San Francisco media. It was the perfect plan. The 49ers would learn to deal with all walks of life, understand the cultural differences within the city, and come off as educated and professional human beings.
It was a brilliant idea until Reynolds decided to include topless women, pornographic scenes and racist jokes. It?s a mystery as to why Reynolds felt including those kind of things in his 15-minute video would have a positive effect on the team. Recently, the video become a huge controversy when it somehow got into the hands of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Apparently, the video was shown to players last summer during training camp as part of a workshop on diversity. Since that time, the video made its way through the 49er organization and eventually, into the hands of the Chronicle. Upon seeing the video, many of the 49er brass were very upset ? former GM Terry Donahue was fired just days after showing the video to owner John York.
Reynolds, who impersonates San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom throughout the video, is on his way out of the organization.
We may never know what exactly Reynolds was thinking when he decided to record the tape for the 49er team to see. Although, we know he wasn?t thinking too clearly. He offended the mayor of San Francisco, countless ethnic communities, the gay rights movement, and the upper management within the 49ers. It would be interesting to see some of the reactions the players had when they saw the tape.
Did Reynolds really believe his mockery of the mayor and of San Francisco citizens was going to help team chemistry? I think not. The 49ers were one of the NFL elite teams not too long ago. However, along with losing Steve Young, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, they have also lost their good reputation and their winning ways.
This latest public relations disaster is just one of many in recent years for the franchise that once represented all that was right with football. Everyone remembers the Jeff Garcia-Terrell Owens media battle. Again, the gay community was offended when Owens made remarks hinting that he felt his QB Garcia was gay. Shortly after the incident Owens bolted, as did Garcia.
Meanwhile, over the past two seasons the 49ers have gone 9-23, including a 2-14 season last year. They earned the number one pick in this years NFL draft and selected QB Alex Smith. They are hoping with their new QB, their new head coach, and their new management they can weather this storm and return to prominence. |
