"No-body!" was replaced with "Semper Fi!" today. The 49ers, who are staying in Arlington, Va. before Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins, were bused across the Potomac River today and practiced at the Marine Barracks in Southeast Washington, D.C. The Marine Barracks is the oldest active post in the Marine Corps.
While the 49ers went over their game plan for the Redskins, a few Marines watched from their barracks. At the end of the practice, coach Jim Harbaugh gathered his team together, and in unison, the players yelled, "Semper Fi!" in honor of their hosts.
From there it was back on the buses across the river to Arlington National Cemetery where the team toured the Tomb of the Unknowns. (According to a team spokesman, there was a man wearing a No. 52 Patrick Willis jersey at the gate as the buses pulled into the cemetery). The players and coaches were given a five-minute lesson about the cemetery's history and then listened to a talk from - and I swear I'm not making this name up - Sgt. Dontae Skywalker of the Army's Honor Guard.
On the tomb of the unknowns is the following inscription: Here rests in honored glory
an American soldier known but to God.
Harbaugh traditionally toasts victories by calling out, in the post-game locker room, "Who's got it better than us?" The players boisterously reply, "No-body!," a routine Jack Harbaugh had with his sons when they were little.
-- Matt Barrows
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