the Niners

Most people that know that I grew up in Northern New York wonder why I am a San Francisco 49ers fan. Well, my mom was raised in the Bay Area (east of San Francisco) and I lived in northern California till I was five. Everyone I knew was either a Niners or a Raiders fan and I sided with Joe Montana and crew. Every other year we would fly west to visit my grandparents, and in 1993 I convinced my grandpa to take me to Rocklin, CA to visit the Niners training camp. It was glorious… watching Joe Montana and Steve Young take snaps side by side while going over plays. Around that time I even recieved a letter from Joe Cool with the football card that I had sent him… autographed! Yes, I am one of the 49ers faithful.

The last couple of years have been rough for the red & gold. While they amassed some truly talented players they couldn’t seem to pull things together. Enter Jim Harbaugh. No one would have believed that at this point in the season the Niners would be preparing to host another NFC Championship game but they are. Alex Smith is a different quarterback. I’ll admit that I wasn’t in his corner before the season started but somebody believed in him and that somebody was Jim Harbaugh. The story goes that when Jim was hired to lead the team he went over to Alex’s house and asked him if he wanted to play football in San Francisco anymore. What a great question. Then they played catch. How cool is that? We can learn a lot from this year’s Niners team and from their rookie coach but for now I am going to enjoy the ride and hope that I can add another Super Bowl winning quarterback’s football to my collection.

… had to add this video I just watched on NFL.com… I know you’ll enjoy it.