Grant and Lowell Cohn: A Couple of 49ers Haters?

I would like to talk about this.

My dad, Lowell Cohn, and I get a lot tweets saying "the Cohn's" are 49ers haters, as if we're an entity. These people often write "Cohn's" with an apostrophe-s.

"The Cohn's are a couple of haters."

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"You guys love to hate on the 49ers."

I would like to talk about this. My dad and I are warm, emotional, decent people. So when people call us "haters," they really mean we're 49ers haters.

Well actually, the greatest experiences of both of our professional lives have been with the 49ers. My dad in particular has covered lots of teams, and the San Francisco Giants have been pretty special, the Golden State Warriors recently, too. But there has been nothing like the 49ers.

We don't root for the 49ers to to win. But, boy, do we feel honored and privileged to cover them.

And when we're critical of the Niners, it's not because we hate them. It's because we respect and admire them. It's because we have the same high standards for them as they have for themselves. Criticism is not negative. Criticism is positive. It shows where you've fallen short of the ideal. 

And you need critics.

Coaches are harder on themselves than we are. Bill Walsh and George Seifert had the highest standards and, if my dad were critical of the 49ers if they lost, Walsh was more critical, not less. He didn't come to my dad and say, 'How could you criticize me?' He would say, 'You know, you were right; in fact, we were worse than that.'

So if the fans think my dad and I are haters, they have to think Kyle Shanahan is a hater, too. Because believe me, behind closed doors, he's a lot more critical than we are.