WHEN THE San Francisco 49ers found themselves looking for help last summer, they did what everybody seems to do in America these days: They hired a lawyer.
Bart Oates - of Rivis, Graham and Curtin - answered the call, ready to handle real estate taxes, litigation, transactions and linebackers. Like most lawyers, he can push people around and intimidate them because he's backed by the law as well as Rivis, Graham and Curtin, which makes it four against one. Oates is also backed by 275 pounds on a 6-foot-4 frame that is covered with muscles and a fuzzy blond beard.Oh, and Oates can also hike a football and block noseguards, if necessary.
This is a versatile lawyer.
Dear, Rivis, Graham and Curtin; Sorry for the inconvenience, but Bart Oates could not return to work this week, as expected. He's got some personal business to attend to this week called the Super Bowl, where he'll be dealing with tackles and touchdowns instead of taxes and torts. Please, excuse his absence and add another two weeks to the sabbatical.
Oates will start at center for the 49ers in today's Super Bowl. That means he will be at the center of the action in Joe Robbie Stadium, but not the center of attention, even if he does touch the ball on all of San Francisco's offensive plays.
Ho, hum, here he is again, back in the Super Bowl. Super Bowls and championships are getting to be a habit for the counselor. He won four conference championships at BYU. He played in three league championship games with the Philadelphia Stars of the old United States Football League and won two of them. He won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. And now he's back for a third Super Bowl title with the 49ers.
To Oates, life is one big championship run. He thinks championship rings are part of the uniform, like shoulder pads and cleats.
Oates spent all week trying to convince reporters that he doesn't take Super Bowls for granted, and that he wasn't disappointed that the game had prevented him from returning to Rivis, Graham and Curtin.
Every year Oates divides his time between two distinct worlds. For half the year he's a white collar guy for Rivis, Graham and Curtin in New Jersey, pushing papers, arguing cases, wearing nice suits, billing for hours. The other half of the year he's a blue-collar guy, rooting around in the trenches of the National Football League.
For the past nine years, Oates was the starting center for the New York Giants. He expected to finish his career in New York, but the Giants slumped and started talking about a youth movement, hinting that Oates might be relegated to the bench despite his three Pro Bowl seasons. Oates, being an attorney, naturally raised an objection, but he was overruled. He shopped around for a new team.
Nowadays every free agent wants to sign with the 49ers, because they win and because their owner, Eddie DeBartolo, is the Santa Claus of the National Football League. He pays fat salaries to his players. He also has been known to send his entire team on all-expenses-paid vacations to, say, Hawaii, where he gives his employees spending money, CD players, flowers for the wives and food prepared by gourmet chefs from around the world.
The Niners were looking for another offensive lineman last summer, but they already had an All-Pro center in Jesse Sapolu. They told Sapolu he could decide; they could sign Oates, or they could sign someone else at another position. Sapolu told them to sign Oates, and he'd move to guard. Both players made the Pro Bowl this season.
Oates was a good fit for the Niners. He already had a good relationship with quarterback Steve Young, which is a good thing to have between a center and a quarterback since they work so, uh, close together. You probably can't get much closer to a guy who has his hands on your bottom every play, nor would you want to.
Young and Oates go way back, and they have more than a few things in common. During Young's first season as BYU's starting quarterback (1982), Oates was his center. Both are Mormon (both spoke at Mormon firesides this week in Miami). Both are BYU alums. Both attended law school in the off-season and both graduated, which means the Niners could start their own law firm - Young, Oates and Policy (as in team president Carmen Policy).
That's three more lawyers than most of us like to have around, but the Niners aren't complaining about the results. The San Diego Chargers are still hoping to reach an out-of-court settlement with Young, Oates and Policy before today's game, because they know it isn't going to be pretty if this thing has to go to the field.
You never want to push a lawyer that far, especially one who is tough and seasoned and has missed only five starts in 232 professional games.
After collecting another ring today, Oates will move his family from San Francisco to New Jersey and resume his law career. Rivis, Graham and Curtin are anxious for his return.
"They're happy for me that I'm in the Super Bowl, and I'm sure they're rooting for me," says Oates, "but they also want me to work."
After all, everybody's looking for a lawyer these days.