Funny, the actual game will be played in Santa Clara, but who’s to quibble the details? Personally I’d have preferred the 49ers get Super Bowl IL. I mean really. The 49th Super Bowl? 49er? The ILlin’ Super Bowl? The marketing possibilities are endless. But the 50th pageant is a pretty big deal, and a quite the reward for young Jed and his tireless bribing, uh, efforts at getting the stadium built in Santa Clara. Eddie tried before him, and was successful til he went down in a cloud of his own hubris and pride. Dr. John washed his hands of the existing deal and pissed away all the good feelings around the team, and then some. This brought about the 2nd Dark Ages of 49er football.
Now, however, the future looks bright. Granted, the yuppies and look-at-me’s will show up in droves at the shiny new park, but that hooraw usually dies down and the real fans return to the action in short order. That being said, the prices will likely become astronomical although there are supposed guarantees to keep some ticket process low. This remains to be seen, but really, as historic and iconic the Stick has become, it is a shit hole. Our shit hole, but a shit hole nonetheless. The field is under sea level, and usually smells like low tide. The facilities are aged and cramped (but worlds better than Kezar), and the façade is crumbling like an ancient Greek ruim. Yes, the epic games, the Catch, Owens Owens Owens, Alex Smith’s enduring lone payoff win, Steve Young’s epic run vs the Vikes, John Taylor’s 2 punt returns for TDs on that epic Monday night game vs Washington, the recent power-failure game vs Pittsburgh, Brodie’s farewell, Rice’s farewell, Joe’s farewell. The memories are too countless to even try to catalog. Most of which I saw. I wasn’t at the Catch game, but I was at hundreds more.
The memories live on, but the Stick? Burn baby burn. Back to the mud for ya…
Hate those Greek ruims but the stick will always be full of fond memories to me. I had Niner season tickets from 80-84 and used to go to games all the time before we won anything. Funny but most of my memories are of our beloved Giants. I’ve been to 50X’s the Giant games than the Niners and was one of the lucky ones to go to the very first game at the stick. Both my mom and my dad worked for the Examiner at the time and got tickets. I am still not sure I have ever seen anything as beautiful as the first time I walked in and saw the grass just before a Giants game.
I think the Niners will flourish in their new digs and the City of Santa Clara will eventually be very glad this whole thing happened. It seems to me that most of the opposition was worried about the traffic situation because it will affect quite a few neighborhoods. I know we heard mostly about tax dollars but shit if they didn’t tax you for this they would surely tax you for that. Your money’s gonna go no matter what.
If the residents of Santa Clara think traffic will be bad on gameday, just think what it will be like during SuperBowl week. I think Jed, Baalke, and Harbaugh have totally turned this organization around and we truly have something special once again.
Winder, most of the traffic is high tech from AT&T and the other corps in the area. M-F.
237, 101, Great America Parkway, Lawrence Expressway.
Try Candlestick sometime.
Super Bowl 50 here we go!
San Tomas Expressway.
I grew up there.
I haven’t been out that way for awhile, but I don’t think the roads have changed.
SUPER BOWL 50!!!!!!
I think it’s XLIX anyway. Funny the HQ/new stadium is in the area that always reminds me of Agnew’s asylum.
RT, you’re probably too young to remember the big feed store at the Hwy 9 end of Stevens Creek and the Bonzai Nursery as a landmark. That was before Apple and HP changed the landscape forever.
NF, the Cali family owned the store. It was right across the street from school and hard to miss.
Randy was a bud who survived 8 years of Catholic School.
His family probably owns half of Monterey County now.
That’s it, RT. Cali Brothers, IIRC. Used to cruise my old BSA one-lunger in that AO usually headed to the dam and the hill climbs out that way or out Skyline. Could fill the tank twice for a buck and a half and no traffic in those ‘good ol’ days. I feel for those who missed it.
Where’s Dennis? Horizontal or vertical he always has something to say.
Don’t get worked up over scouting reports and press releases.
It’s about heart, desire, and passion.
The Mariani’s used to dry their plums outside right near foothill and steven’s creek if I remember right. I lived in Sunnyvale for a few years in the early 70’s and some memories are a little blurry.
very dry
Yeah, I remember the good old days when that stretch of 101 south of SJ wasn’t a freeway and all those orchards fronted it. It was called death alley for all the accidents with the fruit trucks.
8 years of catholic school? I survived 10.5. I missed the full 12 by getting caught as a truant(nabbed at the bowling alley) and sent off to public school. The happiest 1.5 years of primary school for me.
Can’t remember death alley but they called the road over Pacheco Pass going out to Los Banos blood alley. Better nicknames in those days, too.
Yeah no seat belts, no safety glass and hard metal dashboards. Those were the days!
No safety glass? Yeah, those roaring twenties were wild but I dare say most of us don’t remember living them. And I thought I was a VFOG.
BLEEP to school!
And especially Catholic school.
12 years, Chuck.
They wanted me to go 16.
LOL good memories.
I blame the Catholic Church for Michael Crabtree tearing his Achilles. After hearing that news if that doesn’t wanna make ya go out and molest an altar boy I don’t know what does.
That’s some F’d up stuff DMD, even as a joke. I don’t find anything funny about thousands of kids getting molested, or somehow relating that to Crabby getting hurt. Take a few more pops and reset tomorrow morning…
Stay classy, Dennis.
Well, son of a bitch. .
Sone of a bitch!
Fuck.
Damn! The guy does hate the prospect of training camp.
I guess Vernon will have to get more looks now, no matter who likes it.
The WR position must be jinxed for the Niners since JR left. We had the GOAT, so now we have to get hosed for two decades in that position…
NF, my old friend from that school has been trying to organize a reunion. I have very fond memories of those days.
I was fortunate enough to be teammates with some really great athletes.
We’re all married or divorced now and have moved on…
We’re still all friends.
Check out Rick Pooley, He’s still alive and kicking in that area.
His Mom was our Science Teacher, and his older brother our Championship coach.
He could shoot lights outs from 30 feet away. I couldn’t get him the ball enough because other teams figured that out.
He can still shoot lights out from 30 feet I bet. I haven’t asked him.
Athletics are good for you. Time for a bit of hiking I think.
Yeah, Snarkk, I was thinking the same damn thing when I heard Crabs went down. Maybe it’s the bad juju TO left behind.
I’d love to be more athletic, but I’m falling apart faster than a ’71 Pinto.
Just don’t get hit from the rear.
With Dennis behind you, Nip, that wouldn’t happen.
Hey you’re mentioning my buddy! Go Dennis!
Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell stories about him. I’m running outta ice.
It reads to me like “Eli”
Fuck him and his brother.
I hate all things “Manning”
Ha ha . . . Neither one gets another ring.