When I wear a red San Francisco hat or t-shirt or sweat-shirt or beer holster (don't laugh, I ACTUALLY have one of those) people will stop me on the street to give me a high-five or a hug or talk shop or just smile and tell me how awesome I am. Because we are bonded in our mutual love of the greatest team on the face of the planet. I mean, it does not even make sense sometimes. I could be perusing online dating profiles and if a guy says that he is a 49er fan, I sometimes don't even finish reading and just shoot him a message. He could very well have admitted that he owns 47 cats, lives with his mother and listens exclusively to heavy metal - and I would look over ALL that stuff because he is a 49er fan!
But it also makes people complete asses. For example, my dad and I were desperately trying to get tickets to the game today. Granted, we probably should not have tired to get tickets to SUCH a popular game, I get it. But what was frustrating is that the tickets sold out before they even went on sale (figure that one out). But not to loyal and dedicated fans that wanted to actually GO to the game. To greedy jerks that wanted to make a profit. Immediately after the game sold out I went to NFL ticket exchange and there were OVER 6,000 tickets for resale and the cheapest ones were close to $450 for the nosebleeds. WHAT? Come on! Aren't we all in this together? Are you the same people that stop me on the street to talk about our mutual love of Davis, Crabtree and Willis and how we need to learn to score touchdowns rather than relying on Akers kicking? Why can't you sell the ticket to me for face value just for the LOVE OF THE GAME? For our mutual love of the Niners? It only seems right. We both bleed red (I guess that's actually true…literally and metaphorically).
I had a friend that went to the game last weekend, but as a Saints fan (I know, we can't all be perfect). But apparently he and his family were treated HORRIBLY by 49er fans. There were some Saints fans that even wrote in to the San Francisco paper about it. It got so bad that there are Cops that are going undercover as Giants fans today in case fans get out of control. And they are giving Giants fans cards with information on how to contact security in case they feel threatened. What? That's out of control. We should all be able to civilly watching a football game together. I know we have our teams that we love - but there is no reason to yell out to someone's teenage daughter "your mother's a whore" and then tell him he should not bring his daughter to sporting events cause it is no place for little girls. When did football turn into this? Those 49er fans SHOULD be embarrassed - lots of fans that have lost sight of the excitement of the game should.
Football, and any sporting event for that matter, should be about the joy and excitement of the game and the community it creates. When we let it get so out of hand that it controls our emotions and drives us to threaten or belittle someone else we need to check and see if we are being a fan or just an ass that is too wrapped up in something that isn't really as big as we've made it out to be.
Watch the game. Enjoy the game. But keep it in perspective.
And Go Niners!
Editors Note: As an addition - threatening Kyle Williams life after tonight's game, is ALSO a great way to prove that you take sports TOO seriously and are a terrible terrible fan.
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