Saints Fan Upset With 49ers Fans After Trip to Candlestick Park
The argument can be made that Saturday’s matchup between the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers will go down as one of the most exciting games from the 2012 NFL postseason. While the game must have been memorable for just about every fan in attendance, that was unfortunately anything but the case for one Saints fan and his family.
Lois Kazakoff of the San Francisco Chronicle posted a “letter to the editor” he received from one unhappy Saints fan on Tuesday and after glancing it over–there’s no question this fan had quite the disturbing experience. It’s always risky to venture to another team’s stadium and cheer on the away team, but it sounds like some 49ers fans may have taken things a little too far.
Here’s what Don Moses, the Saints fan, wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle courtesy of Kazakoff:
I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 25 years but have remained a staunch Saints fan with close ties to New Orleans. My family still lives in New Orleans and has held our season tickets since 1967. I “get” the emotion of the game, the moment and the enthusiasm of the 49er fans.
Despite the extraordinary setting at the ’Stick, we were shocked by the hostility, vulgarity and intimidation that rained down on me and my two teenage daughters from the moment we stepped into the parking lots. Yes, we were proudly wearing our Saints colors; that’s what loyal fans do. And yes, we expected some good-natured jeering.
We had vulgarities screamed at us repeatedly in the parking lots and literally nonstop by the hooligans around us in the stands. While walking through the lots we had footballs thrown at us, guys screaming curses in our faces — my daughters asked if I had heard the guy who yelled “your mother’s a whore,” which I had, but couldn’t show a reaction for fear for my daughters’ and my own safety. We finally took to shadowing two cops that were strolling through the lots until we dashed for what we thought would be the relative sanity of the stadium.
The stadium was no better. Every other word from dozens of fans around us was an f-bomb shouted at the top of their lungs. There were seven or eight large 30- to 35-year-old guys directly behind us who cursed and threatened us the entire game. After one string of profanities I turned around to look at them and the most obnoxious and combative of the bunch yelled, “Do not turn around again! Do not ever turn around again” and punctuated it with a profanity. They used gay slurs repeatedly at the husband of a middle-aged couple in front of us, the only other Saints fan in our area, and called his wife a bitch.
One of my daughters asked me, “Why don’t you do something, Daddy?” Do what? Fight 10 guys, call/text security when all those guys behind me would know who would have fingered them?
Leave early? We almost did.
The hostility and threats of violence were a constant throughout our experience. It appeared to be ingrained in the fans’ culture, similar to the hooliganism that destroyed the reputation of English soccer. The long wait for the playoffs, the excitement of a big game? No excuse. I’ve been to big games in venues around the world and believe me, I’ve been a Saints fan my whole life so I certainly know about long playoff waits. The Vikings fans in the tailgate parties before the NFC championship game were eating crayfish and dancing along with the Saints fans — they weren’t threatened, they were having a great time.
Every 49ers fan, the team and it’s owners should be ashamed and embarrassed to wear the red and gold today. They won the game but are losers in every other way.
Obviously, this is one of those stories that you hate to hear about and unfortunately–Candlestick Park isn’t the only hostile environment where things like this happen. For instance, ask any opposing fan how their trip to Lincoln Financial Field was when their team was playing the Philadelphia Eagles and there’s a good chance they’ll respond with a similar story.
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