49ers’ Playbook Has at Least One Observer Stunned

John Crumpacker in the San Francisco Examiner: “The 49ers apparently have a ‘concussion play’ in their playbook. This, from Leigh Steinberg, Steve Young’s agent:

“ ‘Steve told me that in the course of a normal season, he has many, many concussions. He describes it as being foggy and out of it for a certain number of plays.

“ ‘He doesn’t come off the field. He told me they have a couple of favorite plays in the playbook for when everybody knows he’s a little groggy.’ ”

Such as what, punt?

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Trivia time: The 13th Breeders’ Cup in Toronto on Saturday will be the first held outside the United States. How many of the previous 12 were in Southern California?

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Growing boy: Brad Millard, sophomore center at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., takes up a lot of a room on the court. He stands 7 feet 2 and weight 340 pounds.

Pete Newell, former Laker general manager and California coach, who worked with Millard at his big man’s camp in Hawaii this summer, said: “I call him Big Continent,” alluding to Bryant “Big Country” Reeves of the Vancouver Grizzlies.

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Broken record: St. Louis President John Shaw on the 2-5 Rams: “Our current level of play is totally unacceptable to the organization.”

The Rams haven’t had a winning season since 1989, dating to their days in Anaheim, so Shaw should be used to it by now.

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Tiger bait? British Open champion Tom Lehman on Tiger Woods: “He’s going to make other guys play better. I need to improve if I am going to compete with him. A lot of guys out here have egos. No one likes to be yesterday’s news. Faldo, Norman, Els--they are not going to like getting beat by Tiger.”

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Revenge of the stiffs: Chris Sheridan of the Associated Press on new Seattle SuperSonic center Jim McIlvaine:

“He averaged 2.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in two seasons as a [Washington] Bullet backup, then got a mind-boggling seven-year, $33-million deal with Seattle, a contract that 7-foot-1 stiffs will be negotiating off of for years.”

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Reality check: Outgoing Portland Trail Blazer executive Wally Scales, calling the NBA a place full of millionaire businessmen out of touch with their communities and the real world, offered an example.

“Not long ago, I asked one player how much money he thought the average person made, and his guess was about $100,000 a year,” Scales said. “Maybe that’s why some of these guys, if they’re making the NBA minimum [$247,500], think they’re really slumming it.”

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Trivia answer: Four. Hollywood Park in 1984 and 1987, and Santa Anita in 1986 and 1993.

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And finally: Miami Dolphin Coach Jimmy Johnson offers $5 bills to anyone on his team who intercepts a pass or recovers a fumble.

“It’s amazing what the feel of a crisp $5 bill can do to some of these guys making millions,” he said.