Bill Walsh Award proposed by ... Al Davis?

If Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis (left) has one respectible quality in his shriveled old body, it's loyalty.

Davis said Wednesday that the NFL should present an award to the league's top quarterback in the name of late 49ers coach Bill Walsh, a prize similar to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award given in college football. It's actually a pretty good idea — maybe Davis' best move since helping to cause the AFL-NFL merger some 41 years ago.

Of course, everyone's favorite leisure suit hanger couldn't keep from getting some of that trademark bitterness out, bashing the media in general and the NFL Network specifically for east coast bias. Leave it to Al to turn the passing of his old friend and adversary into a chance to hop on a soapbox about something.

THERE'S A NICE article in the Lodi News-Sentinel today about Walsh from the perspective of former 49ers running back Bill Ring — for those too young to remember, Ring was the 49ers' version of Rudy, a guy who was too small and too slow but won the hearts of fans in the early 1980s with pure hard work (and some modest statistics).

The article includes something of a rarity: a Walsh anecdote we haven't heard yet. Apparently, Walsh beraded his players for pampering themselves at practice during a rainy, muddy season. He then emerged from the locker room dressed in a yellow slicker, a yellow hat and rubber boots.

It's unfortunate that side of Walsh was hidden from fans for so long. It's now become one of the man's most endearing qualities.

AND IN THE non-story of the day (it's early yet, I know), KCBS 740 AM reports that if a measure for the 49ers stadium appears on the 2008 ballot alongside the California presidential primary, it could affect the vote. Wow. What a revelation. I guess there's a reason why this article is so short. Someone realized halfway through that it simply wasn't worth writing about.