The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • D5

KPhysical Page THE FRESNO BEE FINAL 5 Time Printed 00:13 Composite Logical Page THE FRESNO TODAY VIVE ROUSSEAU The cozy and popular Rousseau, open just six months in the Tower District, has expanded, reports Jill Mulcahy in her Food for Thought column. LIFE E4 Renaissance Man Dana Stubblefield is enjoying his second tour with the 49ers. Rather than the initial disappointment he felt, emotions have givenway to accep- tance of his injury and a positive outlook for the future. going to allowmyself to get discour- aged or Dilfer said. is a test, and we face bigger tests this year.

It was a great night, the stadium was beautiful. We were clicking on offense early on, and I can build off those things. could have been a lot worse. That is reali- ty. It could have been season-ending, but it Which is Now, rehabilitation process is under way, and Matt Hasselbeck, who started 12 games last season but was replaced by Dilfer this offseason, is with the No.

1 offense. was disappointed, and coach Mike Holmgren said. you have the luxury of being disappointed for about 2 min- utes, then Matt goes in and we have to For now, the Seahawks will go with Hassel- beck. But Holmgren is considering signing an- other veteran quarterback for insurance. the same thing he did last year, when the Sea- hawks signed Dilfer to be back- up in case the Hasselbeck experiment pan out.

are looking right now, andwewill Holmgren said. of those guys free are just about as old as I Possible candidates include Jeff George, Paul Justin, Scott Mitchell, Dave Brown and Tony Banks. Hasselbeck said Dilfer told him to focus on running the offense and not be distracted by injury. Hasselbeck will need time to break old habits with his technique and deci- sion-making in order to properly guide the of- fense, but he said he believes he can reach that level. unfortunate that the reason getting more snaps right now is because Trent got hurt, and never the way you want it to Hasselbeck said.

this team needs a quarterback to come in who is ready to play, and I need to be that guy. kind of playing catch-up right now, so I really feel like going day to day. not worried about the other guys just worried about myself and getting up to Dilfer, for his part, is committed to helping his friend and teammate while he heals. will go to meetings; I will watch practice on film at Dilfer said. then, when able to go out there, I will watch it with a very close eye, and when I am asked a ques- tion, I will have an answer.

and I have gotten to know each other as good as we ever have this training camp, and I fully expect I will hold him accountable, that he performs the best he has ever per- formed. is a great opportunity for him to get reps, to improve upon his skills and help this team continue to Continued from Page D1 while juniors Therrian Fontenot and Rodney Davis alternated with the second team. A transfer fromFresnoCity Col- lege, Davis provided two memo- rable highlights. Following a nifty 21-yard scamper the play before, the 5-foot-8, 210-pound- er showed his power by slam- ming face-mask first into fresh- man cornerback Awan Diles. The collision drew hoots and hollers from both sidelines.

Rivera has been our most productive back, but Rod- ney Davis is really gaining Hill said. new to the system and got a lot to learn, but coming fast. And Therri- an Fontenot, I think, is going to be very good in Fresno State is without senior Derrick Ward, who was declared ineligible Monday. According to Hill, only the third time in his six-year tenure the Bulldogs have lost a player because of academ- ics. (Ward made the list twice.) Stewart and Denning scrim- maged with the second team and rookies, the first action in a week for both players.

Stewart wasted no timemaking his pres- ence felt, sacking freshmanquar- terback Tommy Barrington on his first play. Linebacker Sam Williams said he was glad to see the two back. me being a line- backer, I want us with as much defensive line depth as we can Williams said. better they play, the better I Hill said Stewart and Denning will make up for missed condi- tioning to get them ready for Wisconsin. Both ran wind sprints after the scrimmage.

got a lot ofwork to do to get caught Hill said. know if make the trip. We really need them, but we take them unless ready to Starting today, Wisconsin be- comes Fresno primary focus as coaches begin imple- menting the game plan. Practices alsowill begin taper- ing off. Two lighter sessions are scheduled today and a mock game Friday before the Bulldogs takeup their normal game-week schedule Saturday.

iams said. have to focus in on Wisconsin and learn our as- signments. The physical part, fight The reporter can be reached at or 441-6218. Continued from Page D1 BY KEVIN LYNCH A A I I STOCKTON Once the bruises faded and aches subsided, San Francisco 49ers defensive tackleDana Stubblefieldhit thephones. In Feb- ruary, barely a month after the season ended inGreenBaywith aplayoff loss, Stubble- field marched to the public-relations office, grabbed a phone list and start- ed dialing.

just wanted to see what was going on with Stubblefield said. Hewanted to make sure his teammates were taking care of themselves physically and mentally. He in- vited players to join him at the facility for workouts and film study. Most of the defense answered the call. Off- season mornings were spent in the weight room or on the field with conditioning coach- es Jerry Attaway and Terrell Jones.

knowwith the coaches, we all felt we had something special last year, andwe justwant- ed to capitalize on Stubblefield said. far too early to declare whether the defense, which ranked 13th last season, is significantly improved or whether Stubble- dialing-for- players had anything to do with it. But clear Stubblefield is relishing his renaissance with the 49ers after a three- year detour to Washington. A participant inmost of last defensive snaps, Stubblefield likelywill be thrown into a rotation with new acquisitions Sean Moran and Jim Flanigan on obvious passing downs. what they want to do, then we should do whatever we can help this he said.

got a lot of ways to mix in the If pass-rushing skills have di- minished, he has made up for it by recruiting some players to engage in the offsea- son program. definitely said safety Ron- nie Heard, one of the offseason regulars. can see it out here training We just have a better In team drills this summer, the of- fense has a harder time gaining yards against the defense. In exhibitions, the first-team de- fense completely shut down the Redskins in the preseason opener and settled down after allowing the Chiefs a touchdown on their opening drive Saturday. As the eldest member of the defense, Stub- blefield also functions as a big brother of sorts.

The motivation behind his offseason phone callswas to try to connect the younger players to the team, something former 49ers tight end Brent Jones once did for him. Jones mailed a congratulatory card to Stub- blefield following his first election to the Pro Bowl in 1994. kind of nicewhen a veteran such as that would take time out of his busy schedule to even bother about sending you something like Stubblefield said. have been through what some of these young guys are going Particularly Lance Schulters, the safe- ty who, this offseason, took his wares via free agency to Tennessee. Stubblefield conversed with Schulters throughout his contract negoti- ations with the 49ers and quietly urged Schulters to stay with San Francisco.

think what we had last year was a sweet deal and I wanted to keep it said Stubblefield, who might regret his decision to go to Washington in the middle of his career. I had to do it all over again, I know if do it. Especially moving all the way across the country. I probably would have given it more Once Stubblefield returned, defensive coor- dinator Jim Mora welcomed him in a big way. was the thing about Stubby last year were his sack totals like they were in 97? Mora said.

his value to this team at this time is just as pass his Somewhere in our collective mind, the rest of us felt the same. But we supported Ward, rooted for him to do well. We wanted the fairy tale, the big bold headline that said, DA Instead, it says, runs out appropriate because as Ward was running away from academic responsibility, his coaches and teammates were running out of patience. a coaching staff, you kind of feel running backs coach John Settle says. know I do because a lot of time was invested in him.

A lot of money was invested in him. He was given every opportunity to be successful and to have an opportunity to come back and Ward lost focus somewhere after spring practice. He earned and during the spring, according to Settle. Good for Ward. It showed he could do the work.

Still, he get it done when it mattered most. His biology class, taken at Clovis Community College, was Much of being successful in college and life, for that matter is showing up. I know if Ward showed up or not. And at this point, I care. Ward return phone calls.

he be with us, and everybody has accepted Bulldogs guard Fitu says. have to go forward. We wish we did it with him, but get it done without Fans should take the same attitude. was pulling for Settle says. wanted to see him make it.

Everybody wanted to see him come back. Not just from a playing standpoint, but for his own psyche. It been good for him to play one more year. feel sorry for him. I wish him well and hope that he can find it within himself to know that going to take hard work to be able to survive out there in the world.

I hope that he does come back and get his education. only six classes away It would have been five had he passed biology. Five classes is one semester. Ward could have had his degree by the time the Bulldogs played in a bowl. a cheerless football story because it was last opportunity.

Playing in the NFL was dream. If he took care of biology, the opportunity still was there. Now that opportunity is gone. a sad story of a guy who had all the ability in the Settle says. is a person I think been the second-best, if not the best running back on the West Coast Onterrio For him not to come through at the last minute is one of those stories talk about for years to If this season go well for the Bulldogs, people no doubt in years to come still will be angry with Derrick Ward.

The columnist can be reached at com or 441-6497. Continued from Page D1 Bryant: Fresno State must it done without Bulldogs: Denning, Stewart behind on their conditioning Dilfer: Hasselbeck takes over Seattle offense Football I The Rose Bowl is making an effort to attract an NFL team back to the Los Ange- les area. Maryland-based sports consultant JohnMoag, themanwidely creditedwith luring the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995, is being retained for such a pur- pose. The Los Angeles area has beenwith- out anNFL team since the Ramsmoved to St. Louis and the Raiders to Oakland be- fore the 1995 season.

Rose Bowl general manager Darryl Dunn said Moag will work on a two-year contract, but has a five-year window to bring a team to the Rose Bowl. Moag will be paid nothing if the city of Pasadena is unable to secure a 15-year commitment from an NFL franchise by Aug. 1, 2007. If Moag does secure such a commit- ment, he will be paid $2.5 million, which Dunn proposes will come from the league the relocated franchise. That fee could rise to $5 million if LLC, investsmore than 1,000 hours or incurs financial com- mitments of $1million to other parties in its efforts on behalf of the Rose Bowl.

hiring is subject to the approval of the Rose Bowl Operating Company and the Pasadena city council, but since both groups gave Dunn the go-ahead in Febru- ary to pursue a major tenant for the Rose Bowl, such approvals are likely formali- ties. Union claims collusion The NFL Players Association claims the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs may have engaged in collusion while negotiating contracts with their first-round draft picks. The union claims the teamsmight have had illegal knowledge of the signing bonus offered to a player chosen after Kansas City selected Ryan Sims with the sixth pick and Bryant McKinnie was picked seventh by Minnesota. The players association says the teams subsequently offered the players a lower amount, so the union filed a request for an investigation with the NFL Manage- ment Council, ESPN.com reported. two clubs take the same position offers to their then one player say, No.

7 signed for this or that amount, so I should get a few bucks said RichardBerthelsen, an attor- ney for the players association. Roy Williams, the No. 8 pick by Dallas, was offered the larger signing bonus, ac- cording to the union. Rob Brzezinski, vice president of foot- ball operations for the Vikings, called the accusations and Carl Peterson, president and general manager of the Chiefs, also said the claimswere baseless. He said Kansas City has never discussed contract talks with any teams.

Davis might retire Terrell Davis, the premier run- ning back of the late 1990s, is so discour- aged with the lack of progress on his in- jured knees that contemplating re- tirement. taking everything in stride, and whatever way the wind blows fine with said Davis, who has been plagued by injuries since 1998, when he became just the fourth player ever to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. re- flected on a lot of things done and things going to do, and not every- thing in life. I mean, it was fun while it lasted and if it was meant to be the end, then hey, it was meant to be the AROUND THE NFL Rose Bowl hires consultant to lure franchise BRYAN PATRICK THE SACRAMENTO BEE San Francisco defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield welcomed 49ers teammates to offseason workouts with open arms. ASSOCIATED PRESS Dana Stubblefield enjoys a break after a recent practice in Stockton with his daughter, Kayla.

THE FRESNO BEE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2002 D5.