San Fransisco: THE BIG GAME!

Sorry I teased you yesterday, but I took way too many pictures at the game to cram them all into one big blog.  This needs to be savored! 

So now, I'd like to share with you my most amazing football memory as of this moment in my life: this game was amazing. 

It started off with a Saints kick off, but on the third play of the 49ers drive it would appear that the center mistakenly thought they were punting.  This resulted in the 49ers losing the ball behind the end zone and a 2 point safety for the Saints. 

A safety is a rare thing.  A safety in the NFL as a result of a center losing count of the downs is even more rare.  That poor guy may never live that down. 

Next up the Saints took the field.  In a few short plays, Reggie Bush put the first of a couple of touchdowns on the board for the Saints.

Then, something happened that distracted me.  I have to stop here and tell you that I have friends that are Chargers fans, Cowboys fans, Giants fans, Texans fans, and Raiders fans.  No matter who you cheer for every week, chances are you grew up knowing the next two names:  Jerry Rice and Steve Young. 

Well, this is for you. 

Sorry that picture is sort of blurry, but you can blame it on the Bud Light. 

After Jerry Rice took the field at the end of the second quarter, I realized that this was going to be one of those moments that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.  This man is a legend, and someday I'll be able to tell someone "Hey, I was at Candlestick Park the day that they retired Jerry Rice's jersey." 

Here, the stadium put together a card trick with the number 80.  It was pretty enormous when I started to think about it. 

So then I was sitting there, enjoying my life and taking creative shots of people in 49ers gear around me when this happened:

Then he walked in front of me. 

I die. 

Alright people, Steve Young showed up to watch the 49ers retire Jerry Rice's jersey.  Tears filled my eyes.

It's really good to know that after all these years, these guys are still friends.  Or, at least friends enough to show up when their team retires a jersey. 

So after I got my stuff back together, stopped sniffling, and sipped my beer, the game started back up again.  I didn't take a lot of pictures after this, but at one moment I decided that I was going to snap a few more action shots. 

At the moment I decided to do this, Jeremy Shockey lined up on my side of the field. 

Then he took off running down the field and scooted past the 49ers defense. 

Then he caught the ball and turned around and scooted down the field even more! 

I cannot believe I caught that on camera. 

Then, this little girl stole my heart.  She loved to bop me on the head with those foam fingers, and you know what?  I told her she could keep on doing it! 

I thought she was adorable, so I asked Big Mike if we could have one like her.  His response? 

"A 49ers fan?  Sure.  We can have tons of them!" 

I was thinking of kids.  He was thinking of a footbal team.  Typical. 

Then this happened. 

You read that correctly.  The 49ers scored a 2 point conversion.  The game was tied.  There was 2 seconds on the clock. 

Big Mike put on his I'm concentrating face.

But alas, the Saints kicked a field goal and won the game.  Big Mike was heartbroken.  I couldn't even gloat.  I didn't have the heart to even say so much as "Yay."  Man, it was miserable.  Your team wins, but you can't even enjoy it. 

Then we got back on the 77X bus and headed back to our hotel before we decided we were hungry and headed off to find food.