Am I in the Twilight of my Fandom, or is it just the Off Season?

it sounds like the boredom of the offseason. im sure everything will be clear for you once the season starts. ive been there before. Yea im only 20 going on 21 soon, but ive had my time where id be in your spot as questioning my fandom, but its just the off-season boredom. There is only so much that one can do during this time. Luckily i have basketball (the bulls), hockey (the sharks), baseball (giants)..sometimes, and good ol’ Futbol (soccer, and GO MEXICO in the world cup, i hope the best for the U.S. team. and mexican, spanish, and english leagues for me) thankfully these other sports have kept me busy and not too focused on the boredom of the NFL off season. But just hang in there, because we all know teams have their ups and downs, and those that stay true and defend their teams when they go 1-15 and such are the truest of fans. and you being a fan of 33 years, myself a fan of 17 years (ive been a fan since i can rememer). just hang in there. you need some talking with, this is the best place for it. id be happy to help at any time.

I definitely hit a burnout period this offseason. I think you can see shortly after the draft I more or less stopped making comments in the stories and threads, though I continue to contribute to the main page.

Never fear, though. I’ll be back.

I think the nice thing about the offseason is that you DO actually get a chance to cool down. I get to watch the Giants play a very confusing brand of winning baseball. I get to ignore the NHL playoffs. I get to hope that neither the Lakers nor the Celtics will make the NBA Finals (LOL ME).

But the NFL hype machine makes it HARD to take a break. The NFL is a 365-day a year sport now, and that’s just how they want it to be. Man, do I ever burn out, though. I need this energy for when the season starts. So I made the decision to step away a little bit. I’ve been staying away from the hype machine. I’ve been more or less staying out of discussions. I’ve been gearing up for October by giving myself a break from May through July.

So then, if you’ll excuse me, I have a World Cup to get ready for.

NFL, I’ll see you again in August.

I too am in my 40’s and find that while my excitement for the 9ers may ebb and flow through the season, when push comes to shove I am a diehard fan. I know this because living on the east coast I still find myself searching during the season for updates on how my team is doing even though they may not be showing it here. I watch the highlights for both our wins as well as our losses just to see a few good plays again. I follow them on the offseason and try to figure out which moves I think are good and will pan out and which make me scratch my head in wonder. I too used to always talk the talk and walk the walk and wear the shirt. I think it is much the same with anything as it ages…it just gets a bit mellower.

Much like the fable of the old bull and the young bull on top of the hill looking at all the fine cows in the field below….

He’ll be bahk.

( I sure hope so ~ I enjoy Drummer’s… errr… attitude! )

That’s a direct order, soldier.

i got burnt out before. it was difficult waiting for brandon Loyd to score a td or Eric Johnson getting off the IR but I grew out of it and bounced back

I didn’t even read this post – all I saw was that it was about losing interest during the off season. For me there are several factors – I’ve been super busy at work recently because the school year is ending, I’m all wrapped up in Giants baseball, and it’s the post-draft letdown period. I’ve still checked in on Maiocco and Barber fairly regularly, but I just haven’t had the energy to read through much here at NN or contribute to the discussion much. I’ll be back with a vengeance in the fall.

The last 7 years of torture have separated out our true fans and those who only liked the Niners because we were always good. You have made it through those years to now when we are bouncing back with young stars. I say these are interesting times.

I understand what your going through. I’m a Bay Area fan living in Montana. I have a friend who I talk 49ers football with but I find my self being burned out by the problems in the organization, the distance, the constant change of players and the sheer amount of greed of all players and organizations. I’m 24 and I feel like I’m wasting my time on something that doesn’t really matter when compared to the problems around the world and here in my own town. I love the Niners. I love the A’s. But I’m tired of caring for a team that sure wouldn’t care about me if another city offered them more money to move.

… and hang in there my friend. The emotions you are feeling are normal, and actually define you as a real fan imo. I periodically lose interest and then fall in love again with my English football team (Tottenham Hotspur). It’s familiarity br
eeding contempt and if it didn’t exist as a normal emotion the divorce rate wouldn’t be so high. You spot a gorgeous girl (or Joe Montana), you start to date them (regular play-off appearances), then you marry them (five Super Bowls), then things are OK for a bit (Jeff Garcia) and then start to get a bit dull. We’ve all had young children (the tedious stadium saga) and Mike Nolan was the unsexy underwear that comes a decade into the new marriage. But the new stadium is coming now (that’s when the child grows into an adult we can take glowing pride in) and who knows, the Singletary era might be the time she starts wearing sexy underwear again.

Howie and others above mentioned the World Cup. I am working on the World Cup so about to emark on my most intense month since the Olympics two years ago. Wish me luck, and Drummer, give it a go. It will fill a month of the off-season, and if the US beat England on Saturday in this titanic game (how about an open thread?) you can come on here and abuse me!

Seriously though I feel your pain. I am a Bay Area native living in Southern California, which I feel is even worse than any other city in the country for football coverage. Not having an NFL team in LA makes the coverage very scarce. I grew up taking vacations in Rocklin during training camps. Me and my buddies would hang out outside the gates and watch for any sign of recognizable faces. I remember seeing Joe on his bike and Dexter Carter getting a ride in a Porsche from Jerry Rice. The Dairy Queen always had some 300 pounders that we could never figure out who they were. I remember getting blown off by Romanowski in his Jeep Cherokee, then as he drove away he slammed it in reverse and came back to us to sign our autographs. Even after all his difficulties I still think of this and know he is a decent person. I have to admit my attention on this site fluctuates depending on what my life dictates, but it has been the best resource for 49er related info. My wife is currently in early labor so I wont be following as closely, but thanks to all for contributing. And as the offseason dolldrums drag on just think of Coach Singletary and he would do… Spice it up and Drop your Drawers!

… alway’s women’s beach volleyball .. i’m alway’s UP for that …!!

I spent approx two years living on the East Coast in the NY metopolitan area during the 83-84 seasons, desperately seeking Niner news. As I recall, the Niners only lost one game that season before demolishing the Fins in the SB. With every successive victory, the NY establishment press would decry the 49er record by saying something like “they’re really not as good as their record…”, etc, etc. It was infuriating. Finally, when they lost that game to Pittsburgh on a disputed interference call, the press came down on them, “now the team will fall apart” and “49ers show their weakness….” Then, in the lead up to the SuperBowl, the stories were legion about how Marino and the Dolphins would crush the Niners, and at last the world would see how truly inferior this team from a weak division would be humbled! And then….well, you know the rest of the story. Unbelievable. Yes, it’s hard being a fan living in exile. HaHa!

At least you have all of us here and all of the other options available. It’s not like the old days.

I hate this time of year also, but since I became a 49er fan way back when Al left Oakland I found the other team, NO the only team to represent the bay area…. I used to watch the Raiders, but they left me for L.A. and I’ve been a 9er fan since, through the good and bad of times, I always want news of my team, when I was active duty it was darn near impossable to get any news from AFN, then I retired and lived in Guam for a while the time difference is murder sometime when you want to watch a game, but we only got what the networks would send…that sucked to, but I back in the bay area and do get alot more news then I did before, the season will make it a lot better.