 THE SF FIELD TRIP, BY ZOOEY (Nov 23) |
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Ah, what a day that was. It began before dawn for me as I wanted tomake sure that sanfRAM didn't have to linger at the bus stop rendezvous point. Miraculously, the traffic into the city was as clear as the sky, and I rolled into the parking garage 45 minutes before the first bus to Candlestick. I strolled over to the bus stop about ten minutes early, expecting to see big, tall sanfRAM waiting, but there were only about 25 of the 49er faithful hanging around. I was on my own. The 9er fans didn't bother me very much. I received a few taunts, to be sure, but they didn't have any bite to them. Collectively, all the niner fans I spoke to seemed to have their tail between their legs. There was no real confidence expressed that they would either win the game or be competitive in the foreseeable future. They gave me a little of the "Lambs" junk, but then they all tried to make nice because they knew I was the fan carrying the loaded weapons - a point I didn't even think I had to make clear. The trouble didn't really get started until sanfRAM showed up with a big broom and a medium-size road cone he'd stolen off the Golden Gate bridge to use as a megaphone. "First place and flaunting it," he said. "You must be Zooey." Suddenly, we were very popular. At Candlestick we met up with the wise and classy Also Ram Fan and swaggered over to the mammoth tailgate party. Always on the lookout to mix things up, I suggested that we see who could be the first to get GRITS riled up, but he was in too sunny of a mood for that. SanfRAM and I made our way inside about half hour before kickoff (and threw away $5 on a gameday program - have any of you guys looked at that waste of trees yet?). There were a couple of old codgers directly in front of us when sanfRAM and I took our seats. It took them all of about 5 seconds to grasp that we were Rams fans (I think it had something to do with what sanfRAM was shouting into that traffic cone). You could see the hair stand up on the back of their necks, and they were muttering before the anthem had even been sung. We spread our stuff out in the empty seats all around us and went down to the first row to shout at the Rams bench as they were milling about. Just as the game started, all the missing 9er fans turned up to fill in the vacant seats, and we had to relocate our crud (some derelict had stolen my bottle of water so I had to drink beer) and sanfRAM decided to put his stuff next to one of the old codgers. He even asked politely, and the old guy says,"Sure you can put it there AS LONG AS YOU GUYS KEEP THE NOISE LEVEL DOWN!" Another friend made. One last note about the codgers. At one point in the game, the 9ers did something good, and one of them turned around and faced me directly and made some kind of gloating remark. I don't even remember what he said, or how I responded. What I remember was that even though he was gloating, his eyes were PLEADING with me. Just begging for mercy. In his heart, he KNEW it was going to be his best and only gloat of the afternoon. I almost felt sorry for him. But when they split early in the third quarter, I just figured I had a place to put my feet up. We made other friends, too. I had a beer thrown at me (probably the last 1/4 inch of a cup, since it was just a few drops, and at $48 a glass, beer doesn't get thrown around like it used to) and 3 solid objects, only one of which I saw - the stub of a sandwich roll. Of course, it all came from behind me - 9er fans being just manly enough to pelt a Rams fan from BEHIND! SanfRAM was actually not very supportive or sympathetic, now that I think about it. In fact, he mostly questioned whether I was telling the truth about the remnant missile strikes. So much for brotherhood, eh? Well, alright. I better own up to something here. SanfRAM didn't really bring a broom and a traffic cone. I made that part up. He was a model citizen. He mostly sat quietly throughout the game exocising the demons of the '89 Championship game. It was like he kept expecting Ronnie Lott to streak across the field and tip away a long pass to an open receiver. But, Lott never showed up and the Rams won comfortably, if not spectacularly. And there was much rejoicing! The best part of the day for me was making our way down to the rail at the end of the game and yelling at the players. I got a handful of those defensive alignment snapshots some guy was giving out, and yelled some encouraging remarks to the Rams that I think they will take to heart for the stretch run. I like to help any way I can, you know. Then, after all the players had cleared the field, I followed sanfRAM down to the sideline and took a great snapshop of him sitting on the Rams bench. We walked up the field and out the tunnel. SanfRAM paused and looked over the field. And smiled. Carthasis complete. That was a good thing, and I'll remember that moment a long time. It was great to meet everybody - RampageY2K, ValleyRam, GRITS, Also Ram Fan [Cheers, John, and thanks!], and to see some familiar faces from Bunz. Next year? |
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