Jesse Lovejoy is a public relations seniorSend comments to: jesselovejoy@hotmail.com
Yeah, I’m a little spoiled. A Borderline brat when it comes to myfootball.
The San Francisco 49ers have always been there for me. I justturned 23, and have witnessed nothing but the finest from one of themost prestigious organizations in professional sports, let aloneprofessional football.
San Francisco has seen back-to-back hall of fame quarterbacks (JoeMontana and Steve Young), countless offensive masterminds (MikeShanahan, Mike Holmgren, etc.), and tremendous talent at the widereceiver and other skill positions (Jerry Rice, John Taylor, BrentJones); I could go on for days.
But that’s all over now.
And I’m OK with it.
I’m not jumping ship. I threw a party at my house this weekend,wore my black SF niner beanie all night, and you should have heardthe keg barnacles as I approached to refill. “Nice hat, loser,” “3-8is a pretty good record, Jes,” “say, how ’bout them Niners,” and soforth. Let’s just say it got much worse as the night went on.Everyone loves to hate a winner. Or at least a storied one.
Somewhere during the course of the evening, it hit me. There wasnothing I could say. I had no retort to their witty banter. I’venever seen this team lose.
They go for 16 or so straight seasons with 10 or more wins, havewon five Super Bowls since I was 6-years-old, have given me playerslike Young, Rice, and so many others to cheer for. Not to mention, afront office to admire (I love the mafia ties of the DeBartolo’s).They’ve done nothing but win, but now they’ve lost eight in a row.
And I have to watch Jeff Garcia hand off to Charlie Garner andmiss throws to admittedly over-the-hill Jerry Rice. I’ve got to grinand bear it as Steve Stenstrom takes the helm for three weeks andleads the team absolutely nowhere offensively (He’d be just asproductive taking a dump in his pants).
I have to wait patiently for Terrell Owens and J.J. “no game”Stokes to become the players that they both have the talent to be.Owens may be close, and fun to watch at times, but appears to lackthe drive necessary to succeed. Stokes, I think, just doesn’t care.
I think that at one point this season, the 49ers’ offense wentthree games without a touchdown. Excuse me, three games without adamn touchdown? Who are these guys? My mom even called just to bitchabout them. That’s when I know it’s bad.
The moral of my little epiphany, and it may be hard for many SanDiego Chargers and Padres fans to hear, is that it does not matterfor me how well my team does. You may say that it is easy for me tohave that stance because my team has always won, and I can’t arguewith you. They have always won. At least since I’ve been alive.
But to tell you the truth, I almost like the fact that they arelosing a little bit. That they’ll have to add some youth and replacea few coaches during the off-season to compete. That I can start overwith them. After all, I’m a Giants fan, too. So I’m part masochist.
In short, There’s no fair weather in San Francisco, or my hometownof Santa Cruz for that matter. During the late autumn the climate’spretty nice, but rest assured, there are as many San Francisco 49er’sfans residing in the Bay Area as there were when the season started.
I only wish I could say the same for the poor, fan-less Bolts.They can’t even get free tickets to kids who are supposed to receivethe city-purchased goodies. And it’s front-page The San DiegoUnion-Tribune news. Nice image. No wonder no one shows up.
I decided to write this column after attending this last Sunday’sBolts-Browns game at the Murph. Yes, the Murph, not the Q. And you’redamn right it’s still Candlestick.
That game was awful. Two boring offenses. No Junior Seau. No fans.Wait, backtrack … no Chargers fans. My friends and I sat in theparking lot and watched 14 Tim Couch jerseys heading towards thestadium before we saw one Seau jersey. No drunken guys in blue facepaint heckling once we got in.
There was even a “dawg pound” in one end zone.
In Candlestick that s-t doesn’t happen. The stadium isstill full. The fans are not going away. And, as a nor-cal boy, myresponse to my heckling Charger-fan buddies is: “There’s nothing likethe fair weather in San Diego.”
How ’bout them Gulls?
