The 49ers experienced something of a Public Relations spasm earlier today.
Here's what happened: Head Coach Nolan II was addressing the team's release of the trouble-is-his-middle-name wideout Antonio Bryant. Nolan was quoted by SJ Merc sportswriter Dennis Georgatos as saying "We want the same kind of guy in free agency as we're looking for in the draft. That’s first and foremost a guy that can play the game well, and secondly somebody that's got great character and fits in with what we're doing. But if you go with the second one first you’re just going to end up with a lily-white team that doesn't beat anybody."
When the transcript of Nolan's conference call was released on the 49er website, the "lily-white" reference had been removed. The Merc's John Ryan caught this excerptation in the Merc's Morning Buzz blog.
Now why would someone pull such an obviously innocuous comment?
Within the context, it is immediately obvious that Coach is referring to the reputation and character of the people that he might choose to build a team with. His statement is not uncouth.
Any reasonable person could understand how Coach was deploying that particular colloquialism.
Yet some Public Relations someone in some cubicle made the decision that it'd be better -- , perhaps -- to just smooth over that sentence.
Interesting.
Such is the state of the 49ers' Public Relations today.
On to actual issues pertaining to the franchise...
