September 2007

I wrote this letter following the Monday Night opener against the Cardinals - this was the year that Nolan, Smith and co. were going to take the league by storm after finishing strongly in 2006...

Long-time ticketholder here - while I enjoyed seeing the team win the other
night with a minor miracle, the stadium experience left much to be desired.

I shouldn't have to wait in line for over a half hour to get into the
stadium. Amazing that you have so many people working the concession stands
to take my money, but so few outside of the park doing security checks and
getting people into the game.

I'm also disappointed that the Walsh posters were not being handed out at
our exit (lower reserved, section 20) after the game. After all, we are the
folks who are forking over the highest ticket prices for our seats - it was
a bit discouraging to see a bunch of drunken yahoos in Jeff Garcia and
Terrell Owens jerseys waving their posters around while we were stuck in
postgame traffic.

Did I mention the traffic? We were parked in that first auxilliary lot over
by the bridge leading into the stadium. We arrived early enough to be
placed at the bottom of the hill. Imagine our surprise when we were
instructed to wait in line for the exit at the TOP of the hill. After 25
minutes of making no progress whatsoever, I flipped a U-turn and exited out
of the entrance path. Funny how that was an acceptable practice fifteen
years ago when the team was actually winning postseason games, yet now it's
unallowed. Good thing I have an old SUV that I use exclusively for
tailgating - I'll have no qualms in the future about driving through
obstacles that will prevent me from getting home before 1 am, especially
after shelling out 25 bucks for the experience of parking in a dirt lot
during another Candlestick Point windstorm.

I also find it hard to believe that I was able to navigate in and out of the
stadium with relative ease during countless Monday Night, Sunday Night and
NFC Championship games over the past 25 years, yet trying to get into my
seat for opening kickoff for a 7:15 ESPN "B" game was an unorganized hassle
that has left me wondering if a new stadium will only increase the amount of
headaches imposed on the Niner Faithful.