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When in doubt, blame your kid.
Kyle Shanahan did that Friday, when he joined the Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks show. After the 24-20 opening loss, Shanahan was asked if his hat change, from the unique, red hat which he wore most of last season, to a new, grey hat with the 49ers’ traditional logo, was to blame.
He denied that, saying he had a feeling there would be some blame placed on the wardrobe change, but that his wife, Mandy, had no complaints. Instead, he looked to his son, Carter, for the ole “I got you a gift… from the hotel gift shop” routine. Shanahan said Carter gave him a pen as a supposed good luck charm.
“I actually blame my son a little bit more,” Shanahan said. “Just messing with him. He always gives me good luck charms. He gave me one last year at the first game of the year, like a mini little skateboard and a little army soldier, so I always kept it in my pocket last year. And we went 8-0 with it so I just kept it going.
“This year, he brought me a pen from the Marriott that he got that morning, and tried to act like this was the new good-luck charm, and I for sure knew that he forgot it, and just tried to play it off with a pen that he saw. And I was kind of annoyed because if we win this game, I’m not carrying a pen in my pocket all year. So, he’s going to try harder this week and get me a new one. I hope he doesn’t just wing it and give it to me, and puts some thought into it.”
Listen to the rest of the interview below: