Terry Crews has become famous as an actor, but in his former life, he was a football player. Crews was an 11th round draft pick of the Los Angeles Rams, and bounced around the league through 1997. It was in 1997 when he decided to hang it up, and the San Francisco 49ers were part of the reason.
In the video above at around the 6:20 mark, Crews starts talking about his tryout with the 49ers in 1997.
“It had to be, it was 1997, I got a tryout with the 49ers. And they treated me sooo bad. They treated me like I was dirty. He was working me out like he was mad he had to be out there. It was just a psychological mess. I was a little farther away from him than I am with you. And he threw the ball at me, and I put my hand up, and BOOM, my finger was like an L. It totally went sideways — and I snapped it back and I was like, ‘Man, what the? What you doing?’ And he was like, ‘C’mon, c’mon, let’s get the workout going.’ And I was like, ‘I’m done.’ And I remember coming home to my wife, and I said, ‘Never again. Never again. I was so done.’
I can’t tell if he is talking about Steve Mariucci, who was in his first year with the 49ers, but it was not a favorable impression. Of course, given how the NFL operates, it’s not exactly shocking that a random tryout candidate would be chewed up and spit out.