San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Joyous and undefeated: After down years, fans marvel at domination
They are starting to emerge. Out from their hiding places, those dark corners of frustration, where they have been cloaked in anger and apathy. You can see them squinting at the shocking light, the newfound brightness.
At the startling rays of hope.
Hey there, 49ers fans. It’s OK to come out.
We will see if the fans materialize in full force Sunday to see the Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium. They should. The 49ers are 60 and in first place in the NFC West. This is the third home game and probably the best opponent the team has hosted so far this season.
In recent weeks, fans have been showing up on the road, turning games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Washington’s FedEx Field into redandgold home advantage.
“I do feel more optimistic,” said Joe Arce, a seasonticket holder at Levi’s who was part of the invasion in Los Angeles. “For the first time in, like, six years or so, people are talking more about the 49ers. When I wear my jersey to the store on Sundays, for instance, more people engage in how the defense plays.”
The 49ers are picking a great time to flex their muscles. The Raiders are ceding the market to them. The Giants are in a downturn. The Warriors’ championship era seems to have been, if not ended, put on pause. The A’s can’t win a playoff game. And the Sharks still haven’t captured the general imagination.
Even when lousy and overshadowed by other teams, the 49ers are always relevant. But when they’re good — or great — they dominate Bay Area sports interest like nothing else. Even before the days of analytic measurements, sportswriters knew that truth based on emails, phone calls and oldfashioned letters.
But it’s been a hard slog for fans for the past several years.
“Honestly, I think it’s been worse than 2003 to 2010,” said Ron Molsick, who was born and raised in Connecticut and made the drive down to Washington, D.C., to see last Sunday’s game in the rain. “It seemed like the team had no direction … the coaching hires were uninspiring.
“I wanted to go a few years ago when they played the Giants, but with the product not being great and the tickets so exotic, I passed. But now that they are back on track, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them.”
There is a large, dormant 49ers fan base, not only in the Bay Area but scattered across the country. It was formed mostly in the dynasty years when fans fell in love with smart coaching, dazzling offense and stout defense. The 49er “Faithful” don’t dress up, or celebrate the renegade nature of the team, like Raiders fans. They don’t identify as Cheeseheads like Packers fans. So, when the team is bad, the 49ers fans become somewhat invisible.
Everyone, logically, knew that at some point, the dynasty of the 1980s and ’90s would end. And it did with a crash in the 2000s. But, as Molsick pointed out, the 49ers’ second bellyflop, the selfdestruction of the progress that was made after the resurgence under Jim Harbaugh, was even more difficult to swallow. Absurd coaching hires, bad personnel choices, coupled with the move to Santa Clara that simultaneously turned off, priced out and forced away many longtime loyalists, had an impact on the fan base.
The lack of filled seats at Levi’s and the lack of buzz around the Bay Area illustrated the furtive nature of the fans.
But now it’s safe to come into the light.
“It’s quite an investment to go to a game, so I’m not going to if I know I’m watching a subpar product,” said James Stark, who made the trip to D.C. from Massachusetts. “Even I struggle to remain passionate when the team is
out of the hunt by Week 5.”
“I would bet there were more Niners fans at the Coliseum (in L.A.) than have ever been at Levi’s for one game,” said Dustin Holcomb, a Sacramento transplant to Southern California.
Meghan Maiwald, a former San Jose State soccer player and now an assistant soccer coach at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., was born and raised a 49ers fan in Gilroy. Her family was out for a visit and they snapped up tickets to the game at FedEx Field.
“We were motivated to go because they are off to a hot start and they’re fun to watch again — their energy, passion and big playmaking,” Maiwald said. “Everyone is talking about the Niners. They are respected again!”
It’s a historical coincidence that the 49ers are ascending just as they are about to have the Bay Area market to themselves again. Back in the late 1970s, the Raiders were our most highprofile NFL team. They won Super Bowls in both the 1976 and 1980 seasons. But owner Al Davis was busy suing the NFL and moving the team, while the 49ers put together their first Super Bowl season in 1981. The Raiders left for Los Angeles in 1982 and many of their abandoned fans, or the next generation, switched allegiance to the 49ers. That could happen again. Because suddenly it’s safe to come out into the light.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion