Being There!

Much like many newspapers do after a game, I decided to breakdown my my trip to San Francisco and grade each aspect individually. If you get bored with the article, at least click the links for pictures from the game.

Game Action

Sideline Distractions

Young and Restless

TRANSPORTATION - C
As you can see from my trip out, ground transportation started a little rough when I missed my exit in Albany and had a little difficulty getting to the airport. Transportation to the game started with a cab ride from my hotel to my brother's apartment, then a bus ride to the game, which got us there midway through the first quarter, missing the first Seahawk scoring drive. This had more to do with me not being able to leave my board retreat until 11:30am though, which is why the grade is not lower. Actually, being able to get a round trip bus ride for $7 is awesome. Mental Note: next time leave earlier, and bring the damn sign!

WEATHER - A+
Mark Twain is famous for the quote "one of the coldest winters of my life was a summer I spent in San Francisco". Well Samuel Clemons, you should have been there in the Fall, because the weather was OUTSTANDING. We were out in the open so if it rained it would have sucked, but the sun was at our backs (rather than in our eyes) and it was a bright and clear day.

SEATING - B
Our seats were about 20-something rows back from the South end zone, just to the right of the goal post, giving us an unobstructed view of the action. The Cheerleaders that spent most of their time in our end were gorgeous (see later grade and pictures) and they would frequently get up on a platform for their routines, giving us better views of the scenery. The 49er fans in our section were cool, and there were Seahawk faithful peppered throughout. The one fight was close enough to see, but far enough not to be dangerous, and nobody threw beer on me. We were also able to get a good view of Steve Young and Bill Walsh as they came out prior to the halftime award ceremony. The only thing keeping this from getting an A+ was that all the action was in the other end zone. Thank god for binoculars!

FOOD AND BEVERAGE - A
Being pretty well hungover from the Board Retreat dinner outing the night before (too many double-Jacks) I didn't partake of alcoholic beverages, but the hot dog was delicious and the stadium sized Diet Pepsi in my souvenir 49er cup didn't require me to file a financial form. The vendors at the stadium were polite and chatty, and I couldn't finish the $4 back of peanuts, which means it was a bargain!

GAME ACTION - A+
While I would have been happy with a blow out, having a close game made it much more exciting, and gave plenty of opportunity to exchange smack-talk with two of my three other game mates, who were 9er fans. (my brother did not get the football gene in the family, but accompanied us out of courtesy!) The roar of the crowd when they overturned the call giving SF that late game touchdown was deafening, as was the silence that immediately followed the unsuccessful 2-point conversion.

The two best plays that were close to us were the near San Francisco touchdown that was ruled incomplete, which was in the corner of our end zone, and the Rocky Bernard sack where he just blew past the center, which was deep in our end. We also got a good view of that spectacular catch by SF near midfield, as well as D.J. Hackett's near reception that was broken up by the SF linebacker.

While I'm sure the Seahawks will be a little tight in two weeks, having the opportunity to wrap up the division, and the 49ers will be loose, see what I saw yesterday, my prediction for our rematch in the Emerald City is the blowout that this game was supposed to be.