Jose Cortez kicks off as the San Franciso 49ers host the Carolina Panthers

for a Sunday night game.

Football!  Football!  Football!   I love Autumn Sundays in America.  Jet lag had me waking up at 5:00 AM.   I tuned into ESPN 2 to catch classic NFL football.  Excellent!

Then the networks started doind their preview shows.  For a gridiron geek like me, it was heaven.  Before kickoff I had to get my plans for the evening sorted.  I had my Niners ticket for the evening kickoff and 5:00PM.  I need transport to "the Stick" (I refuse to call it 3Com Park).   I went to the torism office on Powell and Market and got a public transport pass (unlimited travel on buses and cable cars for 3 days costing $10).  They told me I could catch a bus to the Stick at 3:00 PM outside the Virgin Megastore on Market.  I then picked up my copy of the San Francisco Chronicle for the sports coverage.  I headed back to the Irish pub near Union Square and settled in to watch some football and read the sports pages.

I can tell you I got some funny looks when I ordered a pint of beer.  It was around 10AM.  It was hilarious.  A couple from Pittsburgh sat down beside me to watch the Steelers game.  When they saw the pint of beer they asked "You're not Irish by any chance?".  I cracked up.

I caught the morning game and the first half of the afternoon game.  I then headed off to wait for my bus to the Stick.  Of course, the information I ws given by the tourism office was incorrect.  Apparenly the bus was leaving until much later.  A big ol' queue had formed and no bus was coming.  A private car puleld up the front seat passenger jumped out and shouted "we have room for 5 people to Candlestick for $5 each".  I jumped at it.   I wanted to be there early to see the warmups and enjoy the atmosphere of the pre-game.

I found the gate for my ticket pretty easily.   Then as they open the gate they announced "no bags allowed".  Of course, I had a shoulder bag with a coat, camera, binocualrs, food, Coke, Anthrax, etc.   I had no way of getting to get back to the city to drop off my stuff and was too late to do that anyway.  I asked security if they could search my bag and let me through.  They said OK and after a thorough search I was in.  I went straight to the merchandise stand and picked up a black 49ers sweatshirt.  I was heading to the escalator to get to my seat when I heard "Freeze".  I turned to see three huge cops approaching me.  They didn't like the fact that I was carrying a shoulder bag.  They called into their station to say what they were doing.  Then the grilling started: where are you from, what are you doing here, how did you get here, can we see your ticket, passport, etc.  They took down my ticket details and ran a check on my passport.  After they were happy that I had no priors and that I was not a suspected terrorist thay asked to check my bag.  Then they lightened up and turned out to be nice guys.

I headed up towards my seat.  I picked up a hot dog on the way (they taste better in America) and settled in my seat.  As you can see in the photo, it was a nice afternoon.  The sun was in my face and I had a great seat on the 30 yeard line behind the Carolina Panthers sideline.  This allowed me to watch the 49ers sideline with my binoculars.

The stadium slowly filled.  It was intereested to see how everybody seemed to knwo everyone else who sat around them.   These were all people who had season tickets and sat in the same place every game.   They'd probably been sitting beside each other for years.  The atmosphere was great.  Better than on TV or radio.  49ers fans have the reputatoin off being wine-drinking, cheese-eating fans who sit on their hands.  It was anything but that.   It was loudn and I joined in.

The pre-game was interesting to watch.   The Niners had only 2 qurterbacks so WR and KR Vinnie Sutherland was the emergency quarterback.  A coach and a WR were working with him a lot.  The OL and DL all practiced together.  The K and Holder practiced kicking both ways at various distances.  The DB's and LB's did pass defence dropbacks toghether ont he sideline.   At the end they all got togehter for some simple walk-throughs, both pass and run, with Jeff Garcia under center.

After the teams were announced, the National Anthem was played.  Every single person stood and sang.  Some were quite emotional because of recent events.