The final event at San Francisco's Candlestick Park will be held on Saturday with a Legends of Candlestick flag football game. Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Dan Marino, Tim Brown and other former NFL greats will take part.
We know you don't really care about the game, although former Giants Jim Burt and Bart Oates, who both also played for the 49ers, will participate. So will former Giants Mark Collins, Ed McCaffrey and Everson Walls.
What we really want to do is stroll down memory lane as Candlestick closes its doors. The New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers made a lot of history together when they met on that field -- some good for the Giants, some bad. Let's look back at some of the memorable moments.
This happened on Monday Dec. 1, 1986 at Candlestick:
In the 1991 NFC Conference Championship Game, the Giants defeated the 49ers, 15-13, on five Matt Bahr field goals. The Giants then defeated the Buffalo Bills to win their second Super Bowl under Bill Parcells.
There have been humiliations at Candlestick, too.
In 1994, the Giants lost a Divisional playoff game by a whopping score of 44-3.
In 2003, there was the Trey Junkin game. Not to belabor a bad memory, but that was the wild-card playoff game the Giants led 38-14 in the third quarter and ended up losing when a Junkin snap on a potential game winning field goal went awry. You probably don't want to watch this, but here is the video. Yes, I think we all know there should have been a pass interference penalty called.
There was finally some measure of payback when the Giants defeated the 49ers 20-17 in overtime at Candlestick in January of 2012, en route to a fourth Super Bowl title.
First this happened:
Then this happened:
So, goodbye Candlestick. Thanks, mostly, for the memories.
Here is a little bonus for you because I can, and because I have always been a Bruce Springsteen fan. The Giants took a wrecking ball to their own stadium a few years ago, and here is Springsteen's tribute to the old Giants Stadium.