At a forum for European NFL fans, of which there are apparently some, legendary 49ers quarterback Joe Montana broke his silence on the team's move 40 miles south to Santa Clara. While he thinks the move was a wasted opportunity to whip San Francisco into a real sports town, he's still excited about the new facilities and, as he put it, "it's not like they went to Oakland."

While we're sure Montana didn't mean that as a slight against East Bay football fans, it has got to sting a little bit now that Oakland will be losing their claim to the local NBA squad in a few short years and the A's are most likely headed south as well. The four-time Super Bowl champion had some equally harsh words for Candlestick Park, which he admitted was the worst venue he had ever played in. And that's despite the fact that it hosted one of the most impressive wins of his career.

Anyhow, Joe has plenty of reasons to cheer on the move to Santa Clara: the day before he was in London dissing Oakland, developers with his Montana Property Group unveiled the Hall of Famer's plans to turn an area around the new Levi's Stadium into a massive retail and entertainment complex including a $400 million luxury hotel.

[ESPN]
[Mercury News]