6 more hours until the biggest game of my NFL fan life. I was a newborn when Joe Montana led the 49ers down the field and capped of their 3rd super bowl title with an Alex Smith-esque post throw to John Taylor. I was 2 when they flat-out embarrassed John Elway the following season, winning their 4th superbowl and continuing a run that would last for 10 more years. I was 3 when Roger Craig and Matt Bahr cost the 49ers a chance to be the first team in NFL history to win 3 straight superbowls. I was 7 the last time the 49ers played on football's biggest stage, winning an unprecedented 5th straight superbowl in spectacular fashion. A superbowl that included record-setting performances both by one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, and the greatest player to ever play the game. I was much too young to remember any of these moments.
All I've known from this team is disappointment. I very vaguely remember, as a preteen, seeing highlights of the team losing to Brett Favre in the playoffs year after year. Then we had the magical moment: Brett Favre's Face. Some people call it "the catch 2", but every time I think of that game, I think of that face. Sadly, even after a moment of triumph like that, Garrison Hearst's ankle failed him and we were once again left with crushing disappointment at the end of a football season.
Then began "the fall 1". All our heroes left us. We lost Young, Hearst, and Rice in the span of months. The greatest run any NFL team had ever been on ended in spectacular fashion. Though it lasted just 2 years, it set the tone for what was to come for all of us. Oh, and the season that broke the playoff drought? Ended by...Brett Favre. Disappointment.
Then we had another magical moment. The greatest comeback victory in any NFC playoff game that's ever been played. This is where my true fandom begins. 14 years old at this point. I watched this team drag itself back from a 3 touchdown deficit in just over 20 minutes. I was hooked. But even THIS season ends with crushing disappointment. Well, as "crushing" as it could be when your team loses by 25.
And thus began "the fall 2", this one destined to last much, much longer than the first. The fall that took one of the greatest franchises in the history of professional sports and turned it into a perennial laughingstock. The timing of choosing to follow this team closely at that point was nothing other than impeccable.
But now here we are. The day of the biggest game the 49ers have played in 14 years. A magical season that has been nearly devoid of disappointment. For a fan who's only ever known disappointment, this season has been the Neuralyzer, the season that has wiped 17 years of bitter disappointment from our collective memories. We are all 2 wins away from a season that doesn't end in disappointment. Truthfully though, this season has already been a triumph for us. The team has given us more enjoyment in 17 games than we have had in the previous 128 put together.
That said, here's to not ending this season with disappointment, and giving those of us who've only ever known it a season we truly will never forget. 5 1/2 hours!
