49ers

I could have, should have, would have written about my truly favourite sports team yesterday, however, I thought of my grandfather and didn't. You can find out more information about that team here.

So I thought I'd go with the Forty Niners today instead.

Favourite hockey teams for me have included, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Ottawa Senators. Many of those teams are fierce rivals and yet for me that didn't matter. Today? I know the Rangers goaltender. I know about five Red Wings, likely five Senators, and likely half the Leaf's roster, since I listen to the sports radio station that broadcasts out of Toronto, a station that would not exist if it were not for the Leafs...Why are they Leafs and not Leaves? Never did get that. The main reason I can't pick a team in hockey as that I am really not that big of a hockey fan. Well, I am getting bigger, but I was talking about as a fan, not girth, density and spatial exuberance.

I digress.

My favourite baseball team has always been the Expos, but since they moved to DC, I have to cheer for the Nationals. I have to, win or lose, that will not change unless the team just disappears.

Grade 7 or 8. I first discovered football. I didn't know the difference between the CFL and the NFL before then, but at that time I had the opportunity to interact with a few CFL players who traveled with a Christian ministry, Athletes in Action and came to our school. The 49ers were just reaching their peak at that time in the NFL. Bill Walsh was the coach, they had a shrewd (was it illegal?) grasp of the salary cap, Joe Montana was quarterbacking, there was Roger Craig, Jerry Rice, so many more...but most importantly, they had Ronnie Lott. Same first name as me! Of course you have to cheer for a guy with the same name as you! It also helped that Global Television carried one game a week then, middle 1980's this is, long before NFL network, etc. They usually carried the 49ers because the 49ers were a huge draw. Then the won the Super Bowl (and proceeded to do so several more times over the next ten years), and I was hooked.

Its not quite the same as my fanaticism for the Expos/Nationals. But the 49ers haven't made the playoffs in 7 years now and still, loyal to the end.

What about you? Any fan stories to relate? Who have you remained loyal to? Sporting or otherwise.