Jerry Rice

It's easy to forget the first day of the season. The San Francisco 49ers' presence in Sunday's NFC championship game feels so natural, so preordained, it's easy to forget what was going on back then. Jerry Rice, the world's greatest wide receiver, had blown a knee. Quarterback Steve Young had suffered a concussion. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who hadn't yet established themselves as legitimate contenders, were beating up the mighty Niners. On that day, San Francisco's showdown with the Green Bay Packers, the defending Super Bowl champions, didn't seem so preordained.

God has been good to Jerry Rice, very good indeed. Good enough to make him tall and fast and graceful. Good enough to place him on a team that had the capability to wield him wisely. Good enough to make him the son of a Mississippi bricklayer with large, soft hands. "I used to help my father out in the summer," Rice said. "I'd catch the bricks. And it made me strong, catching those bricks. I wouldn't change anything about it. "That's why I'm where I am today. Really.

As historic achievements go, the 100th touchdown pass caught by Jerry Rice is not likely to be remembered long by those who witnessed it yesterday at Candlestick Park. His first-quarter TD reception, on a 22-yard pass from Steve Young, helped the Niners to a 7-0 lead and vaulted Rice into a special niche in NFL history. With Touchdown Catch No. 100, Rice achieved co-occupancy with Steve Largent, the former Seattle Seahawk, of first place on the NFL's all-time career TD-reception list.

Last week, Jerry Rice caused more than a few jaws to drop when he said he might retire after this season. If anyone was looking for a retraction last night after his 10-catch, 149- yard, three-touchdown performance in the 49ers' 49-26 victory over the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, they didn't get it. "I'm going to address that later on," Rice said after notching his third Super Bowl title. "Right now, I just want to take time to enjoy this. Football has been a part of my life for a long, long time.

A few years ago, word spread of a fantastically productive wide receiver at Mississippi Valley State University who averaged more than 10 receptions per game despite being triple- and sometimes even quadruple-covered. Those who heard the stories about Jerry Rice, but never saw him, shook their heads in disbelief. Those statistics couldn't be accurate, the skeptics said. And if they were, it was only because Rice was compiling them against inferior opposition. The skeptics were sure that, like many a small-college wunderkind before him, Rice would be in over his head when tossed into the deep waters of the NFL. It is now three years later and Rice remains as difficult to cover as he was as a senior at Mississippi Valley, when he amassed 1,845 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice is listed as probable for today's NFC divisional playoff game against Atlanta because of a slightly torn ligament in his non-surgically repaired right knee, coach Steve Mariucci said. Though Mariucci thinks Rice will start on the Georgia Dome's artificial turf, he said the 14-year veteran barely practiced this week and had fluid drained from the injured knee at least three times in recent weeks. "He got it drained right before the [season finale]

Jerry Rice, the wide receiver who is one of the biggest weapons in the 49ers' offensive arsenal, sprained his right ankle in practice yesterday and has been listed as questionable for Super Bowl XXIII. Rice was hurt while running a pass pattern and was forced to leave the field. The injury apparently is a recurrence of the ankle sprain the receiver suffered on Oct. 16 in Anaheim, Calif., in the seventh week of the season. The injury is expected to cost Rice at least two days of practice.

Jerry Rice can't say exactly when he'll be back from his left knee injury. He will say, however, that he will be back - and he intends to return later this season. "Even though I live and die on the football field, I have to be smart with an injury like this," the 49ers All-Pro receiver said yesterday, addressing reporters for the first time since he was injured in San Francisco's season-opening 13-6 loss at Tampa Bay. "But I'm really going to give it a shot because I feel it can be done.

It isn't hard to understand why Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers was named the winner yesterday of the Maxwell Football Club's 29th annual Bert Bell Award as the NFL's most outstanding player. Rice, a three-year veteran wide receiver, caught an NFL-record 22 touchdown passes this season, and he caught a total of 65 passes for 1,078 yards. A first-round draft choice from Mississippi Valley State, Rice already is fourth on the 49ers' career touchdown receiving list and sixth in career receiving yardage.

It didn't take long for Jerry Rice to tire of the Super Bowl media. The record-setting San Francisco 49ers wide receiver blew sky high at Tuesday's media session, laying into CNN sports reporter Vince Cellini and then storming out of an interview session. Rice lost his temper when Cellini tried to get him to play along with an intended humorous on-camera skit. The idea, as Cellini explained it, was to pretend that he didn't recognize Rice and then ask Rice a question about Deion Sanders.

THE TOUGHEST obstacle Villanova quarterback John Robertson faced while preparing for Monday night's 26th annual FCS Awards Banquet was finding something to wear. Since he didn't own a suit, it meant a trip to the department store. So he enlisted the help of teammate Earnest Pettway. The only problem with that was, Pettway isn't exactly known for his wardrobe. "It's actually kind of funny," Robertson said. "I took the kid who's rated like the worst dresser on the team. But he was willing to go with me. I was going to ask Kevin Monangai, who's pretty stylish, but he's been swamped with homework and stuff.

Maybe Jerry Rice should have stuck to football. The Hall of Fame receiver was disqualified from the Nationwide Tour event yesterday in Mill Spring, N.C., because his caddie used a range-finding scope to check yardages. The disqualification came a day after Rice shot a 92, the highest round ever since the BMW Charity Pro-Am began in 1992. "A rookie mistake that I made," Rice said with a smile. "So I got DQed. " Rice announced after a second-round 82 that he's done competing on golf's Triple A circuit.

The greatest receiver of all time realized he would be no better than the fourth receiver for the Denver Broncos. It was no way for Jerry Rice to end his career, so he called it quits after 20 seasons. "I never thought I'd ever see this day," Rice said yesterday during an emotional news conference at Broncos team headquarters. Rice, 42, a first-round draft pick out of tiny Mississippi Valley State in 1985, leaves the field with 38 NFL records, including the most career receptions (1,549)

The "Greatest Of All Time" wants to finish his career as a backup with the Denver Broncos. Jerry Rice, the NFL's career leading receiver, signed a 1-year deal yesterday with the Broncos, where he'll compete for a spot as a reserve. Rice, 42, will return for his 21st NFL season and add to his totals of 1,549 catches for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns - all league records. Earlier in the offseason, his agent, Jim Steiner, sent out a leaguewide e-mail notifying teams that the "GOAT" - Greatest Of All Time - was available.

Jerry Rice was the third receiver taken in the 1985 draft behind Eddie Brown and Al Toon, who have both been out of the NFL for more than a decade. Rice may finally be joining them. Rice was released by the Seattle Seahawks yesterday, perhaps signaling an end to the career of the greatest receiver in NFL history. The release was requested by Rice and announced in a short statement from the team, which acquired the 42-year-old Rice from Oakland at the trade deadline last season.

Jerry Rice got his wish last night when the Oakland Raiders traded the NFL's most prolific receiver to the Seattle Seahawks. The trade will be finalized after Rice undergoes a physical and the league gives its approval. The Raiders did not say what they received in return for Rice, but two Internet sites reported it was for a conditional seventh-round draft pick. Rice told his teammates yesterday he was headed to the Seahawks, and signed autographs for some before leaving.

Jerry Rice was scheduled to meet with Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis last night to discuss the receiver's future after he said he wants to be traded. "If there's something that can be done, it will be done," coach Norv Turner said following yesterday's practice and after a conversation with Rice. "Everything's too vague right now for me to get into any specifics. He's expressed his wishes and we'll just see what happens. " The last time Davis met with a receiver was during training camp, and Tim Brown was released the next day after refusing to accept a greatly diminished role with the Raiders.

Jerry Rice thinks he could be traded by the Oakland Raiders before the Oct. 19 deadline. Rice, who turns 42 today, told Sacramento radio station KHTK yesterday that his days with Oakland might be numbered, and that he wants to play for a team that will better utilize his talents. Speculation surfaced last week about a swap with the Lions. "When rumors get started like that, something is going on," Rice said. "I don't know how much longer I'll be wearing the silver and black.