Why should we dislike the 49ers?

[dunceface]

Why dislike the 49ers team ( their FO, players, and coaches) for the actions of their fans? You guys surely wouldn't change your opinion about your political leanings or your opinion of your favorite TV show because a 49er fan likes it. Why do it with their football team?

Why is the sky blue, and the grass green? It just is.

This is the same line of thinking that lead people to think Kings and tyrants were necessary and divine, women and certain races inferior, and just about every other socioeconomic, ideological, and cultural issue of past and present. You may not wish to make the connection and dismiss it because of the context but ignorance is still ignorance. The sky isn't blue and grass isn't green. We perceive the sky to be blue and we perceive grass to be green. Nothing involving people just is.

Because the 9rs fans, Coaches and players alike, abe a bunch of *******.
They've never given respect to ANY Seahawks players, Coaches, or owners, let alone the great 12th man or Seahawks fans.

Sherman disrespects people and he's an ******* too. He does in the media and on the field. It's a part of his game and even those who dislike this part of his personality love the guy for his play. If Sherman gets a pass, why doesn't a single member of the 49ers squad in your view?

Hey AngryBird, its sports. Its illogical to put so much emotional investment into something you have little control over so stop trying to make sense of it. Its called a double standard, get over it.
Now get off your high horse and come enjoy it with the rest of us heathens.

 

[BirdsCommaAngry]

I enjoy the "illogical emotional investment" much like many here enjoy arguing over details of this rivalry. I don't wonder why this rivalry exists (although my thread title certainly implies I do). I think it exists because its fun for the people involved and the rest is just fallacy. What I wonder is why people enjoy this part of the NFL more than other parts of life - jelly beans and books included. I don't ask to judge (might act like it though). I ask because I'm curious.

 

[dunceface]

Well then I would direct you to the portion of my comment about a violent game attracting the types of personalities that enjoy rigorous rivalries and semi confrontational experiences with friends and/or strangers by way of using double standards or skewed facts to rattle some cages.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Honestly, I have a friend who's a 9ers fan who hates the Seahawks soooooo much and talks sooooooo much trash that he drove me to hate them and their fans and everything they do. It's too late to turn back.

I have two friends just like this and they're the reason for me too. Throw in the incredible douchiness of Little Jimmy Tantrumboy and that was the final straw of hate (though I do hate the Cowpatties worse).

 

[Subzero717]

When I lived in California and Niners still sucked they were very quiet if they were fans at all. When they started winning you couldn't shut them up. Worse than Raider fans. Half of them were Raider fans when the Niners still sucked.

 

[Scottemojo]

Because their tears are delicious.

 

[Veilside]

I've heard our arguments against the 'Niners. Most of them are of an assorted but consistent variety:

"Their coach is a whiner and a prick!"
"Their fans are arrogant, band-wagoners, and/or not knowledgeable!"
"[insert SF player/coach/FO member] is overrated!"
"People think they're better than us and they're not!"
"Their our rivals. We're supposed to dislike them!"

Most of these views are supported with inarguable evidence of sorts but none offer a real answer.

If Harbaugh is indeed a whiner and a prick and these are indeed reasons to dislike someone, why should we dislike the entire organization? If Harbaugh is worth disliking, why not just dislike him and him alone? The same logic applies across the board. If their fans are arrogant or band-wagoners, why not just dislike their fans? If someone says the 49ers are the better team and you truly believe they're wrong, why not just dislike that someone? We've all heard not to throw the baby out with the bathwater but we do so gingerly.

Even the one argument that actually targets the entirety of their organization, the argument about the nature of rivalries, is flawed. Really, who is it that says we're supposed to dislike them? The media, players, coaches, and other fans do. The media has a prerogative to up-sell the sport and provide as much content as their efforts will allow. Rivalries are staple among their arsenal. Players and coaches have a similar prerogative as well as attempting to motivate one another for their upcoming games. For the professionals, rivalries aren't so much a reality as they are a tool for achievement.

Fans buy into the concept because we believe it's real. We think so from our own personal experiences with and interpretations of players, coaches, fans, statistics, and all the other nuances involved in our personal analysis. But those experiences and interpretations have produced the faulty statements I questioned above. We're merely supporting a stance with misinterpreted information which makes the stance faulty by definition. Our communicated understanding of rivalries is wrong!

There is, however, one reason we don't mention and it's probably the sole reason for the fan support of rivalries. Everything about a rivalry, whether its anticipating the highs of victory, talking up our own greatness, belittling the other guy for even the most impractical of reasons, or just simplifying the dislike of a few individuals down to the common denominator that is their team, makes us feel good. To that little part of the brain that makes us feel pleasure, saying "Forty-Whiners" might as well be a Snickers. Shouting "Fluke!" or "The refs are playing for you, huh?" after losing a game that wasn't even close might as well be a game of fetch with the dog. It's all fun and it all feels good but so much else can accomplish these same simple feats.

My question to each of you is why should we dislike the 49ers or any team for that matter over all the other alternatives for our own enjoyment? Why does this phenomenon pique your interest while others do not?

Dante: "Wow, where do you get your weed?"

Truth of the matter is, deep down, irrational hate is probably like poison to our brain but it's like trying to get people to quit eating meat and dairy....not gonna happen. Humans tend to be self-destructive because we cling to things that give us pleasure whether they are slowly destroying us or not.

I have an irrational hate for country music. Would it probably do my brain better to be open minded about country music and try and see the positives of it that other people can see? Without a doubt.....but I just don't want to. I'm only human, and right now I hate the 49ers and want to see them lose! I would expect no less from their fans about us and our team.

 

[volsunghawk]

I enjoy the "illogical emotional investment" much like many here enjoy arguing over details of this rivalry. I don't wonder why this rivalry exists (although my thread title certainly implies I do). I think it exists because its fun for the people involved and the rest is just fallacy. What I wonder is why people enjoy this part of the NFL more than other parts of life - jelly beans and books included. I don't ask to judge (might act like it though). I ask because I'm curious.

We, as fans of the Seahawks, should dislike the 49ers because that team represents the biggest immediate obstacle to seeing the team we support and in which we have an emotional investment (however illogical) attain a championship. Because the two teams share a division and because there can be only one division champion (which provides a valuable home game in the postseason), that puts games against them into a crucible of sorts, ramping up the pressure each time the teams face each other. And, again, as fans of one of those teams, we have a vested interest in seeing the other one stumble - indeed, we take joy in it.

And it's not just the 49ers. I recall more Ram hate back on this board in the 2003-2004 era, and that carried over for quite some time (primarily since none of the other division rivals were significant threats). This is how divisional rivalries grow and how the animosity between fanbases grows as well. Those repeated faceoffs against divisional opponents carry more weight than games against teams outside the division, and they happen twice a year, every year. The familiarity breeds contempt. That, plus the playoff home game, are why EVERY team says their first goal each season is to win the division. And we fans participate in that entire process. We feed off of it and feed into it.

 

[bestfightstory]

I love this thread.

 

[Anonymous]

I think it's all about back when Montana was throwing to Rice and watching a Niners game was an exercise in "it's just not fair". It got to a point (similar to Jeff Gordon in NASCAR) when the success just meant everyone rooted for the other team, myself included.

I mean, back when salary's were out of control, they had that "we treat our players like kings" thing going on. They had that luxury plane with gourmet meals being served when other teams were flying coach. They stayed in the 5-star hotels on the road. To me, the Niners organization spent all kinds of extra bucks on player comfort stuff that other teams didn't, and they flaunted it. Players around the league wanted to play for them to bask in the success too, and when they didn't get to, they looked at them as prima donnas.

The frustrating thing for guys that were on those teams was they were all about finesse and not about toughness. Talk to those players today and I bet they'd wished they would have hard a harder go of things so they could have been respected more. Sure, they had some freakin awesome players that made great plays, especially Montana, and the offense they used spread through the league like a plague, but at some point teams decided they had better ideas and even that legacy is has now been so diluted and has all but died out.

They were good on the field and it showed, but it was the excess that led to the demise of DeBartolo and the chef-prepared meals. Fast-forward to today, and the Niner nation of fans now struggle so hard for something to hang onto that they go about their fandom in a disrespectful way. It's hard to hate a team of talented players that work hard regardless of the uniform or the city. It is easy to hate fans that go out of their way to sling mud and spout crap at other team's fans.

What is that smell? Oh, it must be the Seaturds, cuz they are the sh**!

 

[themunn]

They are a division rival.

So is Arizona but they get more pity more than dislike. So did the 49ers before Harbaugh.

Because that dislike/hate only exists when they're actually relevant.
In 2003-2006 I ****ing hated the Rams. Now they're just a cute sideshow, like the Cardinals.

The Rams hate was actually made intolerable by the fact that I actually liked Torry Holt and (later) Steven Jackson. There's nobody on the 49ers I like, that makes them easy to hate.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Like most people, I have a real hard time being around a fussy, crying baby (other than my own when they were very small) and it's no coincidence that we refer to the 9-ers as the Whiners.

It is for that reason that I despise their fans AND the big douchey Hairball, who epitomizes a spoiled crybaby!!

 

[two dog]

It's not just the 'niners, I probably had more distaste for the Broncos as a division rival.
Ditto the Raiders. The closest I came to a fistfight though was with a Chargers fan. I don't
think that I, as a visiting fan, needed mustard thrown on my (seahawk) jacket. I know for sure
it's not just us.

While I somewhat appreciate your attempt to psychoanalyze us, Rival team dislike is just part of the deal.
You might better ask the question of European and South American soccer fans. Now that's dislike
taken to a level seen nowhere in this country.

Sometimes it's fun though. I remember a somewhat "manly" looking young lady in a Cleveland Browns
jacket sitting down beside me at the Kingdome. She sorta glared at me and said "I'm a dog". All I
could think to say was "'fraid you got me there".

 

[Sarlacc83]

#Firstworldproblems

 

[themunn]

It's not just the 'niners, I probably had more distaste for the Broncos as a division rival.
Ditto the Raiders. The closest I came to a fistfight though was with a Chargers fan. I don't
think that I, as a visiting fan, needed mustard thrown on my (seahawk) jacket. I know for sure
it's not just us.

While I somewhat appreciate your attempt to psychoanalyze us, Rival team dislike is just part of the deal.
You might better ask the question of European and South American soccer fans. Now that's dislike
taken to a level seen nowhere in this country.

Sometimes it's fun though. I remember a somewhat "manly" looking young lady in a Cleveland Browns
jacket sitting down beside me at the Kingdome. She sorta glared at me and said "I'm a dog". All I
could think to say was "'fraid you got me there".

In fairness those are social divisions due to religion/wealth/ethnicity and go far beyond the teams they support, they simply use the sport as a medium to take out their hatred on each other.

 

[Hawks46]

Even the link that Riley posted, that page was reported as a "page that attacks computer security" by my browser security.

Even their websites and support websites are offensive and attacking.

 

[RolandDeschain]

This is the same line of thinking that lead people to think Kings and tyrants were necessary and divine, women and certain races inferior, and just about every other socioeconomic, ideological, and cultural issue of past and present. You may not wish to make the connection and dismiss it because of the context but ignorance is still ignorance. The sky isn't blue and grass isn't green. We perceive the sky to be blue and we perceive grass to be green. Nothing involving people just is.

Dude. We're talking about sports fandom. That mindset is dangerous in some other ways, like politics in particular, but come on. Applying that to why we dislike the 49ers?

We dislike the 49ers because they are our biggest impediment to winning our division, and because their fan base is by far the most annoying in our division. Literally as far back as I can remember, most conversations with a typical 49ers fan end in "Oh yeah? Well, how many rings do YOU have?"

It breeds contempt, and rightfully so. I've used the perceive grass is green/sky is blue argument for a few things in the past, though. It's a good analogy in some cases. Not in this discussion, however.

 

[warden]

I hate the whiners because they are scum sucking bottom feeders that smell like chit

 

[NorCal]

Didn't realize this is a question people actually ponder. To me its quite obvious. We are division rivals and both teams are good right now. You could see the rivalry building over the years and may truly reach an apex this season.

And also because of forums like this and others where fans can easily talk sh*t to each other. Seahawk fans say Niner fans are the most delusional and Niner fans say Seahawk fans are the most delusional. You know, par for the course.

Plus it makes it more fun doesn't it? I am very much looking forward to the two games the teams will play next season. My guess is the NFL broadcast partners are as well.

 

[drdiags]

To me, part of Sports is assigning a good guy vs bad guy or good vs evil scenario. I also like the David vs Goliath aspect of sports. You know there has to be a loser in the game so you root for it not to be your team. It's not as exciting if you have no vested interest in who wins or loses, at least to me.

The 9ers are perceived as the roadblock to the Seahawks achieving greater glory. Deserved or not, they are an enemy you cannot see achieve any positive reinforcements to their cause. You want them at their best but you want to dominate them. Same feelings I had when the Rams were the major hurdle for the Seahawks to overcome when the team was starting to make its Superbowl push.

Same feelings when the team was in the AFCW and the Raiders, Broncos and Chiefs were the object of my disdain. The Chargers were like the Cardinals to me. They were good but I didn't have that level of dislike for them that I had with the other 3, mainly the Raiders and Broncos. Broncos because of Elway (jealousy) and Raiders (bully that took our lunch money. Felt good bashing their heads in).

Intellectually I can respect any team for their accomplishments but there is the emotional investment you usually make with your favorite team. That is the uncontrollable beast that just cannot let you be friends with those who want what you want.

Following football or any sport with no emotional investment can be rather bland. You just end up rooting for your fantasy player's production.