Since i was a little little girl, I have been a San Francisco 49ers fan. I really had no choice. Technically i am a 3rd generation 9er and SF Giants fan because my grandma who lived in San Francisco my whole life, for being a little old lady, was a huge local sports team fan (9ers and Giants only. There is only so much time in a year!). She would complain about how cold and windy Candlestick was which was why she never that i can remember actually went to a physical game (the fact that she had SEVERE arthritis maybe had a little bit to do with it too….) but it seemed for months at a time, we would be forced to sit in front of the TV and watch a lot of green grass move back and forth.
Initially, i LOATHED these LONG & BORING tv broadcasts. We may have only gotten 4 channels (this was before any cable, or even remote controls) but there had to be something better on to watch than this display of testosterone! But *sigh* i was out ranked and out numbered and was forced to sit with the rest of the family for what seemed to be HOURS watching 49er games and Giants games. (i liked the football games better to watch on tv, because the Giants in Candlestick was a pretty slow experience for a child to have to sit through AND the Giants were perpetually losing during this period of time… BUT i am no fair weather fan! I am just an antsy fan).
We had playoff games taped over movies on our VHS’s and my mom even broke the crystal face of her watch one year (i think it was the year that we beat the Bronco’s that year) when she jumped up to cheer with so much gusto that her jade bracelet careened into the poor watch. It was a very enthusiastic event when there was a good game in my house. It holds many memories for me as a child.
I suppose its like having to go to church as a child & that the repetitive drilling at a young age kinda implants a feeling of comfort in you. If you do the same thing when you get older, It is an old friend. Its like a hot toddy on a cold night. You may not even like hot toddys early on, but when it comes back to you at a different time, the familiarity makes it taste damn like home and quite tasty! This is the same thing for me and my childhood sports teams.
Now as an adult, i have been able to make my own decisions about wether or not i actually do like football and baseball. The consensus is for me that YES. I like our 9ers and our Giants A LOT!!
The two things that i like the best about these two teams are
- They are classy. They actually behave like role models for our youth. You never hear of poor sportsmanship or lewd behavior and they are always gracious… even when on a losing streak (and in the 70’s the 9ers and the 80’s the Giants really were).
- They are also old school SF. Now I know that the Giants came from New York in 1958 but they have been here now longer than they were there (i think!) and the 9ers are true local SF, first playing at Kezar Stadium before moving to the Stick.
Local pride runs (or now days more like ran) thick through me. Maybe it is my family link to the city through my ancestry being a descendent of Levi’s or the fact that my grandma lived here my whole life and my parents met here the first year that Perry’s restaurant opened where my dad worked, (my mom worked at the Cooperage which is now a different name a couple doors down.) in the 1960’s. I have been coming to the city to see my grandma my whole life. I then moved here as soon as i was out of High School. She died a few years later, but i have stayed and made this city my home ever since. I am very attached to this city. What can I say.
This Super bowl is a really important event for the city of San Francisco because this is the last and final year that the 49ers are actually SAN FRANCISCO 49ers. Next year they will have traded up to a more lucrative town and deal. It is an end of an era.
Not only that but it is the first time in history (and possibly only time in history) that brother vs. brother will be competing for the ultimate prize. This is going to be one serious hell of a game here on Sunday. Maybe the biggest deal of any Super Bowl yet to take place.
I hope that the game is an exciting one. I have a feeling it will be (can you imagine how exciting it must be for Jack Harbaugh?! Which son to cheer for? BOTH OF COURSE!
The Ravens will be tough to beat. They won 9 AFC Championship games since 2000 winning the Super Bowl in 2001 against the NY Giants. But we have the golden child Colin Kaepernick and the amazing Frank Gore. We have good defense and quick offense. We will just have to wait and see.
But if we are able to win the Super Bowl, then SF will have taken both the World Series AND the Super Bowl all in the same year, the last year that the 9ers are here. It would be a moment to remember forever.
Regardless it will be a moment to be remembered forever because it is the 9ers last SF game and that is something sad and yet special.
GO 49ERS!!! Do it for the city who has loved you for a VERY long time!! (and then just leave. just leave us…. Waah!! kidding… kinda.)
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