Originally posted by BrodieToKwalick:
Greetings Lifelong Niner Fans!
This is my first post, many year lurker. I have lived my entire 53 years here in south Seattle. There were no Seehocks when I was a youngun'. My family knew the Morabitos, the old 49er owners, so I followed them as my family did. I remember sitting in`my room alone every Sunday, listening to local KVI AM...Thats right, the 9ers were our "local" team then. Lon Simmons proclaiming, as he always did the last game of the year, how the Forty Niners would win this last meaningless game and look to next season. Having the dallas cowboys (no caps form them!) ruin my Christmas in the early 70s. When our local team came to the Kingdome in 1976, I just could not make the switch. I bleed red and gold. Period.
Ah, yes, the glory days..how I gloated to my Seehock co-workers, relatives...
Then there was 2003, 04, 05...e-gad. They were going to the Super Bowl, crushing us by forty points, We the laughing stock of the NFL. I still proudly wore my Steve Young jersey everwhere, hearing the cat calls, the mocking from the Seehock fans. Hell living deep in enemy territory. Seven years ago I went on the air on our local sports radio station, KJR 950. You wanna talk about being surrounded...
I have never been prouder of my Forty NIners than today. When they were introduced at the Super Bowl, the only time I've been more emotional (18 years,man!) is when my son was born. I can not will not EVER even acknowledge the team down the street, and by the way when driving to my radio show every Saturday morning I flip off Century Dink field along I-5.
The rivalry up here, in the eyes of Seehock fans, is beyond belief annoying. The talk on our station is such homer oriented they have already won the NFC West the next five seasons. But we know better. From my oversized 49er stickers on the truck windows to my sons new CK7 jersey, belive me when I say the best @#%ing team in the NFL is about 680 miles south of my house, here in middle of out greatest enemie's territory.,
WHOS GOT IT BETTER THAN US......
Bill H.
This in a nutshell! Thanks for sharing.
I was born and raised in Seattle (moved to SD 12 years ago) and as a result,
became a Niner fan. THAT'S how poor their 12th man was. It never existed. Not until the tech-industry, Starbucks and Boeing. So now, all of these 12th man fans? Every single one of them save for 5-10% of the total population are transplants. And that 5-10% is mostly my family/friends up there. You can always tell a real native Hawk fan by how humble they are (we've seen a few on this board as well - good ppl). They know their organization is cursed. They know that no matter how close they'll get, they will never win it. Ever. Ever. Keep in mind that no professional top sports team has won anything since '79 when they were known as the Super Sonics. Even they moved from Seattle and instantly become good...the curse was lifted.
That said, the REAL 12th man fans are Sounder (soccer) fans. Soccer is and always has been huge up there. As to other sports such as football, baseball, basketball, etc. they just aren't a "sports town" and they all seem to suffer from a type of short-man's-complex - feeling like they are lost in their little corner of the galaxy. Most are very uneducated about sports in general and with no history to draw from, seem to be "blind homers" as well.
I guess, with the 12th man, you have to start somewhere...but don't confuse these transplant fans with being "real fans." 2 seconds into a conversation with a real Hawk fan and you'll know...you'll know (good peeps)!
Go Niners and thank you Seattle for my love of the Niners...what a ride it's been!
[ Edited by NCommand on Feb 25, 2013 at 9:36 AM ]