Here Come the Saints...and Personal Seat Licenses, Too

The good ol' days, when the Saints were two
guaranteed wins per season.

Let's get some housekeeping out of the way...

Adios, 49ers went dark for a few weeks while I was out of the country. I figured nobody was interested in my travels throughout the UK and Ireland, so I refrained from posting to the blog. By the way, did you know that in Europe, soccer is called "football?" And people actually watch it? I know, it's crazy, but you have to keep an open mind when traveling abroad.

I did manage to catch the 49ers' regular-season finale and all of the Week 17 action thanks to my iPad and Slingbox (possibly history's greatest invention) and was quite relieved when the Niners finally closed the books on the Rams to wrap up the #2 seed. And now, after eight long years, San Francisco is preparing for a playoff game.

We all know how important it was for the 49ers to earn the first-round bye and host a divisional playoff game. I'm quite certain that, if the Niners had been knocked down to the #3 seed and advanced this past weekend, they would get boat-raced in New Orleans on Saturday. But fortunately, the roles are reversed and it's the Saints who will hit the road this week to face the 49ers in Candlestick, where the Niners' strengths (defense and special teams) will be much more effective outdoors on natural turf. And, I'm fully expecting the home crowd to do their part in making the Saints feel unwelcome as the noise level is cranked up to a volume that hasn't been heard in nearly a decade.

Am I excited? Hell, yes.

How excited? I'm going to the game. For reals.

And no, I didn't give the Yorks any of my money. I said I wouldn't and I fully intend to stick to my promise (I did, however, give my money to a season ticketholder on StubHub).

I don't know what to expect when I get to the stadium on Saturday - it's been so long since the 49ers played a huge game at home. Do people still chant "DE-FENSE" every time they hear that stupid "thump-thump" drum on the PA? Are fans really doing the wave? Do they play the goddamned theme from Jaws over the loudspeakers when the opposition is in the red zone? Do the mouth-breathers in Niner Noise still exist in the south end zone?

I guess we'll find out...

By the way - how does $375 per ticket sound to you? Wait - before you can answer, you'll need to pony up $20,000 - $30,000 just for the privilege, because that's the price for a "Stadium Builders License" for the new facility in Santa Clara. Granted, this is for club level seating, but that's a huge increase over comparable seat locations in Candlestick.

I'm going to safely guess that this is out of the price range for many of the folks who are still holding on to their season tickets in the current "platinum" level at Candlestick. Should be interesting to see the plans for the other seat levels at the new stadium - I'm sure they'll require a stadium builders license as well.

In the meantime, I'll be cherry-picking the games I want to go to (hint: no preseason or divisional opponent matchups) and paying a little bit extra on StubHub (and not Lil' Jed) for the opportunity.