I've been mulling over how to ask this, and i guess ill just use myself as example. although i grew up watching the 9ers with my dad on sundays, (he would tape the game on a vhs, and then play it to avoid commercials), i didnt follow the teams offseason moves, or passionately follow their statistics and the injury/coaching news etc that was available until much later. 

However, i went to a trip overseas, and came home truly missing football. This was the year nate clements signed with the team. I haven't looked back.

i check blogs every day, often multiple times a day, my homepage is ninersnation, and my outlook on football has changed. i used to love going to the games to party and drink and yell, honestly now i would rather watch from my couch so i can re-watch plays and deconstruct whats going (thank christ for the dvr). I'm not sure if that makes me a bad fan. im just tired of the drunk idiot yelling "we want montana back" or whatever.

my question to you guys is, when did football become more than a game to you? how much attention do you pay to the team, and was there a specific event that made you pay this much attention?