Passing Down the Love of Football
5 minutes into a sports game; “Dad, I want to do something else!”
The words of a 3 year old echoing as I introduced my daughter to one of my passions; Football. I had been trying to get her into sports with no avail. Or any other sports for that matter. Soccer, baseball, basketball. She wouldn't watch it on TV, she got easily bored in basketball arenas, she wouldn't wear her 49ers outfit because it wasn't pink. Nothing worked. “Eh, she’ll grow into it eventually…” I kept thinking.
Early on my wife and I would take her pretty much everywhere we’d go, including sports games. This is where things started to change. Sitting among thousands of other fans, discovering food stands, high-fiving strangers after a score, roaring to encourage the home defense are not the type of things you can partake in from a TV stand. To our surprise, she really started getting into the game.
This got me thinking - What if we tried going to a football game?
We hadn’t gone to a game in a long time. Well, I mean a game that really counts. A game with real stakes on the line and in which you pour your entire soul rooting for the team you’ve been loyal to for as long as you can remember. Yes, you got it - I’m obviously talking about a 49ers home game.
A little bit of backstory
I never had the luxury of picking a football team to root for. Being a San Francisco native meant having “Rice 80” branded on the back, swearing by the perfect Super Bowl record of Joe Montana and trying to act as tough as Ronnie Lott.
Moving to Europe when I wasn’t even one yet, and growing up without cable TV or Internet meant that my only experience with (American) Football was through the tales of my father who experienced the golden era in the 80s. Thankfully, the Internet made its way to France in the late 90s and I was finally able to follow the 49ers on a more regular basis with box scores and stats sheets on ugly-looking websites. (I wonder if that’s how I started getting into data analysis?")
When my Dad finally decided to subscribe to an American sports cable channel, my brothers and I only had to sneak out of our room late at night to watch the games (due to the time difference). Between this and playing hours (and hours) of Madden, I really started to understand the game better and became an instant die-hard fan.
It wasn't until I turned 17 that I was able to attend my very first 49ers game at Candlestick. It was "only" a W1 Preseason game but it was a long overdue dream that came true and the coronation of an incredible journey of 17 years from the other side of the world. Four years later after graduating from college, I decided to book a one-way flight ticket, leaving Europe to move to San Francisco. After finding a job and settling down in the city, I was finally able to attend games on a regular basis, from the incredible playoff game against the Saints where I hugged so many strangers seating next to me after the Catch III by Vernon Davis, to the emotionally-packed Last Game at the 'Stick. My relationship with the 49ers is deeply rooted in emotions and childhood dreams.
Sparking the fandom
Needless to say, when we decided to take a trip back to San Francisco and have her attend her first 49ers game, we prepared for the worst. And on game day, we were ready.
After a quick drive to the city to show her our roots, we checked into a hotel where we could marvel at the view of the stadium across the street - She started to get excited. In 1989, my Dad bought me Joe Montana kid-size jersey which I’ve kept it ever since and it fit her like a glove, even though it wasn't pink…
Walking through the parking lot carrying my daughter on my shoulders, juking pass-catching tailgaters, stiff-arming footballs flying in the air, walking up the stairs of Levi’s Stadium and finally stumbling upon the view of our favorite players practicing… This was it! We had made it!
And she loved every minute of it!
She was able to see the game clearly from our nosebleed seats, almost every timeouts during the game were filled with entertainment she enjoyed, there wasn't a single moment that could have bored her. Our daughter remained engaged from the opening kickoff to the very end of the game with the post-game handshakes. Although usually shy and introvert, she went ALL OUT during the famous "DE-FENCE" and "Let's go Niners!" chants, screamed her lungs out on third downs. She mentioned her favorite part was “giving high-fives after we won the game”.
This was the most fun I'd ever seen her have and I was sitting right next to her to experience it.
Her passion didn’t go unnoticed either. The 49ers Stadium operations team was amazing and celebrated the arrival of a new fan by sending us a package full of gear and toys for her to fall in love with. They even invited us to a game later that season with special perks that she still cherishes to this day.
An unshakable bond
My parents were never really into sports and I feel like we missed out on several bonding opportunities. It was important to me to create this bond with my daughter. These memories will remain strong, deep and are something we’ll have in common for the rest of our lives.
Sports bring people together and there is nothing quite like celebrating a win together.
Next up? Painting!