dwight hicks, a former all-pro defensive player who helped the san francisco 49ers win two super bowlsight is starring in a new play at the berkeley rep called "xs and os: a football love story." and patrick walsh, head football coach at serra high school. he forfeited a consolation game last month rather than risk injuries to his players. gentlemen, welcome all of you. >> thank you. >> mark, let me begin with you. the nfl said this week that concussions were down 25% this week -- this year compared to last year. does that mean, do you think, that the nfl's doing a better job of protecting its players? >> well, i'll say this at the start. i think my brother and i, we did the work together at espn, you know, we did a story a couple years ago looking at the league's sort of data on concussions and their claims of reductions two years ago. and at that point i think it was almost impossible to make sense of the numbers that they were throwing out. there was such a mishmash of the way teams were reporting these injuries. there was a mishmash in the terminology. the league itself was giving

dwight hicks is book in town in a play.ught up and got this thoughts on the anniversary of the super bowl title. >> seems like a distant memory, and then when i see teammates like you it seems like yesterday. because you go back to that time. those are memories that you'll never be able to be taken away from us. it was a great time. a great time to be in the bay. a great time be part of the san francisco 49ers because we were the beginning. really, of their dynasty and their success. so, that is special. that is special. i love that. it was great being a part of that. because you and i were on the -- when i saw after our second win that season the fans storming the field, and tearing down the goalposts, went, are you kidding me? could you imagine what this city would be like if we actually won a championship? and obviously it was one of my goals to help this team win a championship, and to be able to have done it and be a part of it and have the city be part of it, and the excitement wow, i mean it just didn't get any bette

dwight hicks is book in town in a play. we caught up and got this thoughts on the anniversary of the super bowl title. >> seems like a distant memory, and then when i see teammates like you it seems like yesterday. because you go back to that time. those are memories that you'll never be able to be taken away from us. it was a great time. a great time to be in the bay. a great time be part of the san francisco 49ers because we were the beginning. really, of their dynasty and their success. so, that is special. that is special. i love that. it was great being a part of that. because you and i were on the -- when i saw after our second win that season the fans storming the field, and tearing down the goalposts, went, are you kidding me? could you imagine what this city would be like if we actually won a championship? and obviously it was one of my goals to help this team win a championship, and to be able to have done it and be a part of it and have the city be part of it, and the excitement wow, i mean it just didn't get any

. >> reporter: the play starts dwight hick who is played for the dynasty teams of the early 80s and was extreme physicality. an aspect of the game that is explored at lenght on stage. >> i think that our society is in love with football. in general we all are. and it will make you question that love. >> reporter: now unless you think this is a presentation made to make you feel guilty or somehow ashamed of your passion for the sport, that's not its intention at all. jenny mercine who's father played professional football got together with k.j. sanchez to write a script that presents as many aspects of this provocative topic. >> what we hope is the audience will leave seeing different sides of the coin and have those debates. i have an optimistic hope that the game will evolve and it will get safer and it will continue to thrive. that may be really looking through rose colored glasses though. >> the reason this works well is because it focuses on that question. will football survive. will we keep ignoring it, will the game get safer, will we ignore it. will we care. >> reporter: despite

former pro bowl safety dwight h cry ks is back in town -- hicks performing in x's and o's.f the second super bowl title. >> it seems like a disstabt -- a distant memory and then when i see teammates like you it seems like yesterday you go back to that time. those are memories that will never be able to be taken away from us. and it was a great time. it was a great time to be a part of the san francisco 49ers. we were the beginning really of their dynasty and success. so that is special. that is special. it was great being a part of that. you and i were on the team. when i saw the fans storming the field and tearing down the goalpost i went are you kidding me? can you imagine what this city would be like if we actually won a championship? and obviously it was one of my goals to help this team win a championship and to be able to have done it and be a part of it and had the city be a part of it and the excitement wow i mean it doesn't get any better than that. >> get out and see it. it is worth the visit. after losing six straight the cal men headed north to washington state.