49er Fan Federation

I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of my first visit to The Stick.  Having been warned by fellow FF members Nick Anthony and Brian Bolek, and having read/heard many less than flattering reviews of the stadium, I knew I would be in for an interesting experience.  Here it is: the Great, the Good and the Ugly.

BEER- stella, anchor steam, lagunitas ipa, shock top all on tap.  awesome.  $10 for what appeared to be a 16oz beer?  not awesome.  i had an anchor steam followed by a lagunitas- delicious.  i was then feeling good enough to venture into the dark, cold waters of the Bud Light.  cheaper ($8.50) and 20oz instead of 16oz. 

FOOD- forewarned by nick anthony (our exchange on this topic was brief...me- how's the food at the stick...nick- terrible), i was nervous.  in fact, considered the start time of the game (5:20 PT), we had planned to go to a "nearby" bar 2 miles from the stadium to grab some food/drinks before the game.  more on that story later...but, katie and i did share a massive sausage (insert joke here) which tasted ok, and chicken tenders with fries that were pretty "terrible" but were made less "terrible" by the 4 beers i had at that point. 

AREA- frightening.  i live in chicago.  at my past employer, our office home healthcare service territory covered ALL of chicago, and since we served many medicaid patients, we covered mostly south side and west side patient.  the south and west side of chicago can and probably should be compared to a third world country.  i was in and out of neighborhoods/homes fairly regularly seeing patients and families.  having said that, i was intimidated by the area around the stick.  so much so that as we go close to the bar i had planned on going to, called 7 Mile House, i couldn't go through with it.  my wife's eyes were getting bigger with fear the closer we go, and so were mine. so many shady people at each passing street.  even police officers seem to know to just stay away from some of these streets.  we got out of the bus, and started to make our walk to the bar, only half a mile away.  after about 10 seconds, we turned around and went right back to the bus stop.  1 minute later we were back on another bus heading back towards The Stick.  best decision ever.  traffic getting to the stadium is notoriously miserable, so once we got within a mile or so on the bus and saw packs of niners fans, we felt safe getting out.  the walk to the stadium from this point forward was fine.  once we got close to the stadium, i was very impressed with what i saw.  tons of passionate niners fans absolutely partying their asses off- it was like being in the middle of mardi gras, spring break and a football inspired rave all at once.  people were nuts, in a good "this is intense" kind of way.  clearly people had been there all day long drinking.  sweet. 

STADIUM- old.  small.  crumbling.  AWESOME.  i have heard other fans say that the stadium sucks, and while i get that, i was in love with the stadium.  it probably helped that our seats were nearly even with the end zone in the upper deck...first row.  our row was 2 seats, nobody in front of us.  actually, they had the area roped off and wouldn't let people walk by during gameplay.  it was very cool.  akin to being in your own personal box, without the free food/drink and outdoors instead of indoors.  the views from our seats were great and i would highly recommend them to others.  UR04 row 1.  the fans were louder than i expected.  again, having heard announcers, analysts and fans express disappointment over the noise volume of the crowd in the stadium in the past, i was surprised.  having said that, it was the home opener, and sunday night football.  so i would have expected nothing less.  the jaguars at home or something like that would be an interesting case study.  compared to the seahawks, i am sure our home field advantage is nothing.  nonetheless, the crowd was really into the game and cleared frustrated stafford into multiple timeouts due to not being able to hear.  pretty sweet.  the views around the concourses of the oceans and mountains was also very cool.  my wife was especially impressed with the sunset, stealing the camera for 5 minutes to snap some extra pics from the concourse.  as i told nick earlier today, after having been to a game, i am even more disappointed in the fact that the niners are leaving candlestick for santa clara.  not having the stadium downtown is just unacceptable.  there seems to be plenty of spare near AT&T park to tear down a few old worthless/rotting piers.  it should have been done, but i think corporate interest/$'s pulled them to santa clara.  i am glad to have experienced a game at the stick, in san fran, the way it should be.  my wife made an interesting comparison of Candlestick to Wrigley Field (she's a cubs fan).  it's not a bad comparison, in my opinion.  though seemingly falling apart, i loved the classic feel of everything, including the small scoreboard.  it made the game more important, and it felt like football all the way through. 

all in all, what a great experience.  the niners took home the victory and it was a really enjoyable game.  they could have won by more, but the overall close feel of the game made every play extremely important, which was great.  i can now check Candlestick Park off my bucket list, and i can put a W in parentheses next to it. 

WHO'S GOT IT BETTER THAN US.....NOOOOOBODY!!!!!!!!!

thanks for reading

GO NINERS