The San Francisco 49ers are often hailed for having some of the best fans in all of football. 2011 marked the first time in many years that called for prolonged rooting-your-hearts-out, die-hard affection, but the Bay Area fans turned up from all over and did not fail to disappoint. Particularly in the postseason, where they had Candlestick Park rocking in two consecutive weeks of playoff games. The Niners came out on the winning end against the New Orleans Saints in front of a rabid crowd, but suffered a heartbreaker of a loss on Sunday night in the 2012 NFC Championship Game against the New York Giants. The fans still turned up and never said die, even when some of them were suffering from being inadvertently pepper-sprayed.
San Francisco Chronicle pop culture critic Peter Hartlaub attended the game with his wife, Kelly. At one point in the game, some fans in their section got out of hand and stadium security had to use pepper spray to get them in line. Kelly was a bit too close to the line of fire, which led to the following tweets:
@peterhartlaub
Peter Hartlaub My wife was next to police subduing unruly fan and got pepper sprayed. Had to go to first aid. Can someone tell me the score?
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@peterhartlaub
Peter Hartlaub Pepper-sprayed wife back in seat sans contact lenses. We're explaining each play to her after the fact. #Gamer
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@peterhartlaub
Peter Hartlaub Pepper-sprayed wife on Vernon Davis TD "It's hard to tell who's on offense and defense. I can see shapes."
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Hartlaub added this wonderfully pop-culture-referencing update later in the evening:
@peterhartlaub
Peter Hartlaub @BethMansfield Kelly says thanks! Her eyesight is less like Mr. Magoo and more like Han Solo after he got out of carbon freezing chamber.
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Kelly is certainly a trouper and a testament to what a true die-hard football fan should aspire to. Although the Niners came up short, she is number one in our eyes. No pun intended.
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