Judging by the remarkable restraint shown in the greater Washington media over the weekend, Steve Spurrier's drive for the Nobel Prize in physics may be stalled.

On the other hand, those who get their news in the Bay Area now know categorically that the 49ers stink. Sort of.

	And just think that Steve Spurrier and the Redskins won with Danny Wuerffel at quarterback.

We know this based on several things:

(A) The Redskins, who beat the 49ers, 38-7, Friday in the annual Soak Some Money Out Of Our Japanese Clientele Bowl, hadn't won an exhibition game this decisively since 1976, when they beat the New York Jets by the same score.

(B) The Redskins' coach then was George Allen, who was just enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The 'Skins ended up 10-4 that year.

(C) The Jets wound up 3-11, clearly on merit.

(D) The last time the 49ers were beaten this badly in an allegedly meaningless game was two years ago against Denver. They ended up 4-12.

And (E) Denver ended up 6-10, but let's not get bogged down in details. Most of the math holds up, and that ought to be good enough for you.

It's time, you see, to start tying preseason production to real-game projections. The players, coaches and general managers have had it too easy for too long -- a few weeks of practice in searing heat, followed by four practice games (at no-kidding game prices) that everyone agrees tell us nothing at all.

Well, enough's enough. It's time to start holding some feet to some acetylene torches here. Believe not what you hear about the only way to keep score is to count the number of injuries (fewest trainer sightings wins). Let's get serious about the frivolous games.

After all, now that Spurrier is in place, anointed by pro football's leading media thinkers and ready to make Daniel Snyder the envy of all other NFL owners, we may as well speed him on his way.

And while we're at it, look at the 49ers with the proper amount of disgust and revulsion. Thirty-eight points? To a team with a first-game coach? To a team with a quarterback named Sage Rosenfels? To a team that went to the past for both its helmet design ('Skins of the mid '60s) and uniform design (USFL, pick a year)?

The solution here seems obvious. Fire some people and start again. After all, the 49ers' brass finally has come to be of one mind about their team's value as a Super Bowl contender, and the first time they get to show that they're as good as their word, they create an international lack of incident.

In short, the 49ers are done. Stick a canister of gelignite in 'em, and send for the cleaning crew. See ya next year, fellas.

But back to the Redskins. In these glorious days when the Super Bowl is given off to the historically meek (Patriots/Rams/Ravens), when a low injury total and a cheerful schedule can be enough for a playoff berth, any sign is a good one, and whipping up on a conference foe like they were a Mid-American Conference foe is, well, better yet.

And for this, we can only believe what we read and declare that it comes straight from the Promethean brow of the High Lord Sheriff Spurrier. According to the deep thinkers on board the bandwagon, he gave the Redskins immediate cred by not being Marty Schottenheimer and followed up by beating his first opponent by four scores and change.

You want to argue? Fine, but you'll be doing it without proof, which is pretty much the way all the Spurrier-ettes were doing it until now. Even when 49ers fans complain that he put back his starting offense to start the third quarter, the only response that seems to make sense is, "Oh, shut up."

Silly? Not at all. The hottest topic on an otherwise sclerotic news day was whether you'd be watching the Monday Night Football game to see the Giants, the Texans or John Madden working with Al Michaels. Has it come to this, that a game has to be hyped based on watching two men who have been in broadcasting a combined 50-something years try to get along in a less crowded and less erudite booth?

To quote the master, "Jumping Jesus, what goes on here?"

Better, it seems to us, to elevate the exhibition season to harbingers of the future. If a team wins by a lot, make them a Super Bowl contender and treat them with deserved harshness if they fail. If a team loses by a lot, call them doomed, demand some new employees and move on.

And if, as seems the current rage, a game ends in a tie because the teams ran out of players (baseball) or had to fit in a halftime show (the MLS), blame Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, the evil bastards.

Sorry, force of habit.

Ray Ratto is a columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle and a regular contributor to ESPN.com