My First 49ers Game!
by 49erLou on Nov 11, 2011 5:56 PM PST
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PrintFooch's Note: I'd been meaning to get this on the front page. If you ever get a chance to write about your experiences at a 49ers game, feel free to write up a FanPost (with pictures, if possible) and we'll try and get it on the front page. 49erLou attended his first ever NFL AND 49ers game, so this is pretty cool.
On Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending the 49ers @ Redskins game at FedEx Field. It was my first NFL and 49ers game, so I thought I might share some of my experience since I'm still really pumped up about the whole thing and what better place to talk (or type?) 49ers then Niners Nation right? I know a few of you here were also at the game, so please share your experiences too, I know I'd like to hear them.
I've always wanted to do a jump, and ask you to join me after it, so please, join me after the jump to read about my experience and maybe see some pictures if I can figure out how to do that. Oh and cookies. There will definitely be cookies. Here we go!
That was fun!
Alright, so I found out Friday night that my friend had found us two tickets to the game Sunday and that I would finally get to see the 49ers play. Basically, Saturday was Christmas Eve and I was the little kid waiting to open his shiny red and gold presents Sunday morning. It's only taken me 23 years as a fan of the 49ers to see them play in person, so to say I was excited is an understatement.
I'm about 2 hours from DC, so we drove about an hour to Springfield and then hopped on the metro to the stadium. I would suggest this route for anyone coming to a game at FedEx. The metro drops you off about half a mile from the stadium and the walk is not that bad at all.
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Overall, I thought the stadium was really nice. I work for UPS, so I could do without the FedEx-iness of the place, but other then that everything was pretty nice.
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We were on the upper level but I thought the seats were pretty nice. We had a good view and we could see all the action.
I was fairly surprised by the number of 49er fans that were at the game. We out numbered Skins fans in the metro station tunnel and had a huge "Let's Go Niners" chant going, but by the time we got to the escalators in the stadium, the Skins fans had become the majority and started to serenade us with "Hail to the Redskins." It was a pretty cool moment of fans just having some good fun. It's what games should be all about in my opinion.
There was a lot of good natured trash talk and overall I was impressed/surprised by the hospitality of the Skins fans. After sitting around and listening to their conversations, I can really sympathize with them. They are a lot like we were the past few years, dealing with the QB problems, the leadership problems and just overall being frustrated with what their team is doing. The boo-birds were definitely out for Beck after Goldson's INT and when he couldn't get things going I heard a ton of "Bring Back Grossman" comments. Of course I was reminded of the famous "We Want Carr" chants so I drank some more beer to forget.
Speaking of beer....$8 for a beer! $8! The best part is that it didn't stop my friend from buying 9 of them. He may have a slight problem.
Anyway, as for the actual game, I felt like I missed so much while I was there, I went back and watched the highlights. Check them out here they are excellent.
Here are some more pics I took of the game, I know they aren't very close. Big whoop, wanna fight about it?
Here we have the kickers warming up, Andy Lee is the one hunched over looking like he's throwing up. Akers was nailing field goals and walking around like a bad (site decorum) before the game started so I knew he was going to have a good day.
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Kickoff!
The offense.
It was cool watching the holes open up and seeing Frank find and hit them. I would have liked to see VD more involved and maybe another touchdown or two, but the Niners won so I can't complain too much.
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Defense!
This defense is fun to watch. It seemed like every time the Skins started to gain a little momentum they would make a play to kill it.
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Bruce Miller's TD was awesome, I wish I would have got a picture of that but I was too busy being excited. That whole sequence of events, beginning with the Willis FF, really killed the crowd. There were a lot of drunk Skins fans ready to give up by the start of the 3rd quarter. Bunches of them started leaving by the beginning of the 4th.
Here's a picture of a bunch of them leaving after Patrick Willis forced his second fumble of the day in the 4th. That was the highlight of the game for me, Willis is my favorite so I was really happy to see him be a big factor in the game.
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Ted Ginn is fast! He was exciting to watch and even though he didn't get off a really huge run, it felt like the potential was there every time he got the ball.
They honored Chris Hanburger during halftime, I don't really know much about him other then he was a LB for the Skins at some point.
I enjoyed seeing all of the different 49ers jerseys fans were wearing. My favorite was probably the lady with a really cool Chris Culliver jersey. By the time I got the chance to talk to her my camera battery was dead, so I didn't get a picture, but it was homemade and it was very neat. I asked her why a Cully jersey and she said "because he's my boo." Good enough for me.
There was another guy wearing what looked like the actual uniform pants the team wears, a Niners jersey #44 OBAMA, and a giant Niners flag he was using as a cape. I didn't get a picture of him either but he was clearly insane. He managed to sweet talk the guards into letting him pass through the metro gates without paying because his pants had no pockets.
All in all my first NFL game experience was amazing. The whole day couldn't have gone any better and I got to see my Niners win. My next goal is to make the trip to San Francisco to see a home game, and if things work out, that may come true later this season. Maybe I'll get the chance to meet some of you!
Thanks for reading, I'm glad I could share some of my first pro game experience with you.
P.S. Apparently SBNation doesn't have an "upload cookie" feature, so no cookies like I had promised earlier. My sincere apologies. Fooch, you should tell the tech guys to get to work on adding that feature, I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of these cookies I baked!
Go Niners!!
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.
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culliver
I bet you that was his wife..when teams are on the road, they get tix for nearby family, VD got 10 tix for his family. My buddy is a bears fan and when he saw them in SD he sat next to Hester’s mom!!
Awesome to hear 1st niner experiences, the thing that got me was that i was amazed at how small the field looked
Ive never seen the niners on the road, but im planning a trip to a Seattle game, it was supposed to be this year but they play christmas eve, hopefully next year
Also planning to go to my 1st playoff game this year!!!!!!!! Go niners!!!!
by sundaysfinest on Nov 7, 2011 10:07 PM PST via iPhone app reply actions
That would have been awesome if that was Cully's wife
or even someone from his family. She was sitting in the upper levels though, so I would hope if she was in his family she would have gotten better seats lol.
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
Sweet!
I’m going to the Seattle game too!
Congrats on going to the game!
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Come on, Alex, please be good this year..
Follow @JesseReed78
thanks guys
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
Sweeeeet!
Sounds like a good time!
Alex Smith Will Win a Superbowl
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Smith-Will-Win-a-Superbowl/205058042848290
it definitely was
but I think seeing them at home would be an even better time
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
Nice Lou , great write up , sounded like good times ...!!
I'm your " Huckelberry "...it's just my game ...Jimmy Raye your no daisy ...!!
thanks Edggy
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
Between your writing and the photos
you really conveyed the game time experience well. Nice article!
Now you’ll have to come out to the Bay Area and have a blast at one of our home games :)
thanks!
I’m hoping to come out and enjoy a home playoff game this year!
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
I strongly recommend the garlic fries...
Top notch…
Awesome writeup!
Really enjoyed it!
Looks like you had a great time. I personally can’t wait until I go to a Niners game. Hopefully when I do go I’ll see you there!
thanks neder
I’ll definitely be wanting to meet up with some Niners Nation folks at the next game I go to
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
Just seen this
Great stuff. Hope you had a ball. I loved it when the Niners came to London last year. Good times. Felt like I re-lived it reading this.
thank you sir
and I am glad I could remind you of your Niner experience. I hope you don’t start having nightmares of Troy Smith now though!
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
Good write up
I was about the same height as you, but we were lucky enough to be about the 30 yard line…thoroughly enjoyed it, our section had quite a few 9er fans and a number of chants were started. I like being able to see the plays develop, you really get a better sense of how the team is playing IMO, at the same time the TV angle is so familiar and gives a different feel. Maybe it is because the season tickets I’ve had for UVa the past 15 years are about the same angle as the TV that I never really noticed the difference before?
Most of the Skins fans (including my two friends) were just as interested in making fun of their team as I was, so that was good. I did hear a few people a couple rows up mocking the 9er chants in a flamboyant sort of way, a rather unoriginal and childish act, but it went away when most ignored it.
The only real issue I had was on the way out, some random dude decided to start up a conversation with me, he basically was saying we had no shot at the SB anyway and were at least 5-6 pieces away, I asked him which 5 or 6 and I jokingly mentioned that we weren’t 17 pieces away. He wasn’t interested in a fight and was generally good-natured, just rather ignorant of football and the 9ers, unsurprisingly. I was happy and shrugging off most of his nonsense, the only thing that really perturbed me was when he decided he was going to light up a cigarette and continue our conversation, all the while blowing his smoke directly in my face. I make it a point not to wear my jersey out to bars (at least the few locations in VA that still allow smoking, just for this reason)…It was just him and I was with 3 other friends so we just dropped back and let him continue on without incident.
Overall the fans were fine, most of my experience with Skins fans the past 10 years has been this way, they are generally too upset with their own team to be worried about opposing fans.
By far one of the highlights of the trip was on the Metro back to my buddy’s place, we witnessed someone wearing a John Beck jersey…the only conclusion we could come to was that this gentleman was family or somehow related to Mr. Beck as there is no other conceivable reason to own such paraphernalia. Anyway, all in all well worth the trip and much better/shorter than my adventure to Charlotte last year (love the city, the game obviously didn’t go well). Now I really really wish I could make it up to the Baltimore game as I have plenty of friends from there, but with it being Thanksgiving it doesn’t seem possible. Plus i found out the friend I was talking about going with is going to the Bahamas for the week with his family, who does that?
thanks for sharing
it sounds like our experiences were fairly similar. I wish I was able to go to the Ravens game as well, but with Thanksgiving it’s definitely a little harder.
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
I was also hoping to attend the Baltimore game,
but I won’t be able to. [Sad Face] Ah well, I’ll be alright, so long as I can watch the game on TV.
"Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer "extortion." The "X" makes it sound cool." - Bender Bending Rodriguez
Eleanor Rigby - "Greatest Song" or "The Greatest Song"?
Dobbs is some kind of Young/Smith/Roosevelt hybrid, and will absolutely ruin the NFL experience for the other 31 teams and their few fans.
Quick question to all the writers on NN ..
Can we get a breakdown of how most of the rookies in the NFL are doing so far this season?? Thinking back to draft day, I’m pretty sure that this was one of the most hyped up classes in awhile, but so far players like Nick Fairley, Daquan Bowers and Marcell Dareus have all been fairly quite, so can we get a recap or something of how well their transitioning into the NFL right now?
"Winning means being unafraid to lose." – Fran Tarkenton
rookies
We can ask around. I don’t follow enough of the rest of the NFL to be able to intelligently comment on a lot of the rookies.
by David Fucillo on Nov 11, 2011 8:38 PM PST up reply actions
The last 49ers game I went to was Alex Smith's first start
It was against the Colts. I brought my little brother. The Niners were awful. Smith threw 4 interceptions and never completed to a receiver. The whole game was Edgerrin James and Kevan Barlow as Manning never had a need to throw so it was pretty bad. Glad you got to see the Superbowl bound version for your first time.
yikes that sounds horrible
have you seen them since then?
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
nope
I still cheer for them, but I have never been to a 49ers victory and so my experiences haven’t been very pleasurable. They have been bad for a long time and the games I went to the team gave up. Not something I’ve wanted to spend my money on. So I said to myself that I’m not giving them my money until they start earning it.
My first game was against the Skins at Candlestick
Unfortunately is the was the year Steve Young was knocked into retirement and the Redskins won to clinch the NFC East … back when Norv Turner was coach.
I worked for over a year at UPS. I knew 2 or 3 people who worked at both UPS and FedEx. They all said the working conditions at FedEx were superior (impossible not to be) but the benefits at UPS could not be matched (impossible to beat).
awesome
thanks for putting this on the front page Fooch!
Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Patrick Willis. He only has two needs: tackling people and finding people to tackle.
i was at the game as well
i was on about the 45 yard line on the 49ers side of the field, bottom level of seats but up under the balcony. the balcony didn’t block our view at all but i wouldn’t have wanted to be any further back. i live in Maine but my cousin lives in DC so me, my wife, and my uncle (he’s a skins fan) flew down for the game. it was my second game, I went to Lambeau a couple years ago (the wife is from Wisconsin). my cousin’s coworker got us a pass into the premium lot right by the stadium so we tailgated with them for a while before the game. there were only like five porta-potties for the whole lot so there was like a 20 minute wait, everybody was complaining about how cheap Dan Snyder is. there were lots of niners fans in the lot, and almost everybody around us at our seats was a niners fan. i’ve never been to a niners home game but this was about as close as it gets i guess. i went to the bathroom just before halftime to beat the crowd (missed the TD, was mad) and i yelled out “WHOSE GOT IT BETTER THAN US?” and everybody around me yelled out “NOBODY!” so that was pretty cool. oh and I’m wondering where you got $8 beer, the aluminum bottles of bud light that i was buying were $9. what a ripoff. didn’t stop me from drinking about five of them though lol. all around it was a lot of fun, i’m glad i made the trip down. my next game will be next year at Foxboro when we play the Pats. i have a feeling there will be a lot fewer niners fans. we’ll probably make the trip out to SF when the new stadium is built.
I remember my first 49er game
I was about 13 when my dad surprised me the 49er tickets, it was awesome remember it like yesterday. It was against the Atlanta @ Candlestick, unfortunately we were sitting under the only replay board at Candlestick so didnt get to see any of the replays, but watching Steve Young, Ricky Waters, Jerry Rice play was absolutely awesome. I still have the pics somewhere but most of them were of cheerleaders, but what do you expect from a 13 yr old boy.
by Nicholas Kitchman on Nov 12, 2011 8:53 PM PST reply actions
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