Alex Smith is free to root for the San Francisco Giants. He just needs to be more subtle about it during his postgame media availability.
Smith recently explained that he was fined $15,000 last season for wearing a Giants cap on the postgame podium. It was a nice display of regional synergy, but it also was against NFL rules, which permits players from wearing non-NFL-sponsored gear of a competing league in the 90 minutes following a game.
The fine was later reduced to a warning by Merton Hanks, former long-necked 49ers cornerback and current NFL fine czar.
"So it's weird," Smith said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I could wear a Polo shirt after the game and they're not going to fine me."
Or no shirt at all. Smith should start treating his postgame pressers as a series of escalating dares. Let's make Merton Hanks earn that corner office.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @danhanzus.