On Oct. 28, the San Francisco Giants won the 2012 World Series and their second World Series in three years. In the days following the impressive sweep, orange and black attire dominated fashion trends, and the school noted visible rise in absences on the day of the parade. Within the last few years, Giants fanaticism has become somewhat of an accepted phenomenon at a school not entirely known for its spirit.
There is another team in the Bay Area, though, that seemingly is not receiving the same amount of hype and has a smaller following. The San Francisco 49ers are coming off their first winning season since 2002 and their last NFC Championship game since 1997. Despite such recent success, the 49ers’ red and gold has not seen nearly as much attention at Aragon. “I don’t think that the 49ers are getting as much credit as they deserve; they’ve gone out and played a great first half of the season, but people just don’t seem to be taking a solid interest so far,” explains junior Quinn Bredl.
Still, it is true that the 49ers haven’t necessarily achieved the same amount of success as the Giants. The Giants have won two rings in the past two years while the 49ers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995. “[The 49ers] haven’t won anything big yet, like the Giants did. It is easier to like a team that wins,” says junior Connor Kenny.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the recent Game 7 of the National League Championship Series between the Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals had an average viewership of 8.1 million viewers, in contrast to the 57.6 million that the 49ers received in the NFC Championship Game last year which reflects that football fans don’t stop watching when their team’s season ends.
“I think that students just enjoy the unique personalities and the camaraderie that the Giants have. On the football field, [football players] are just a bunch of numbers with helmets running around hitting each other. They’re like robots that lack the allure and humanness that people want to relate to,” Bredl explains.
“Bandwagon fans may find the displaced feeling of not knowing who the players are outside of the game a hindrance to them becoming [close] to the game and following them really closely during the season,” explains senior Rahul Joshi.
The idea of bandwagon fans was a theme during the Giants run of success. A bandwagon fan can be thought of as a person who has never really followed a team nor cared about the sport, but decides to “jump on the bandwagon” and become an avid fan at the team’s success. The Giants are often accused of having bandwagon fans and only selling out the stadium when they are considered a top team in baseball. The 49ers though, have not really seen the same amount of “bandwagoning” as the Giants. Bredl says, “There would definitely be a lot of fans coming out of the woodwork if the Niners were to make it to the Superbowl. I don’t think that there would be as many as the Giants had a few years ago, but we’d definitely be seeing a lot more red and gold around school.”
All in all, though, it is certain that Aragon students can become great fans when the time is right. They came out for the Giants victory and have appeared in greater numbers at the football games this year. If the 49ers end up making it to the Superbowl, it will be interesting seeing which Aragonians decide to “jump on the bandwagon.”
