The San Francisco 49ers captured my heart on a frigid January afternoon. The year was 1999 and Y2K frenzy had begun in earnest (maybe Prince had something to do with that). “I’m Your Angel” by R. Kelly and Celine Dion was tearing up the charts (I have no recollection of this song) and Patch Adams, starring the late Robin Williams, was dominating the box office.

I was paying attention to none of that. Besides being completely engulfed into the world of Pokemon, this 8-year-old boy was obsessed with football. And for some reason, the red-and-gold-clad warriors from San Francisco had caught the attention of this North Carolina native. Now, we had the Carolina Panthers, but as a fledgling operation that had just started a few years prior, I don’t recall much support for them at the time. Regardless, the first time I saw Steve Young heave a rainbow of a pass to a sprinting Jerry Rice, I was hooked.

Steve Young and Jerry Rice having a ball

Enter the Green Bay Packers. In each of the previous three seasons, the 49ers had been vanquished in the playoffs by that green-and-yellow squad from Wisconsin. I hated the Green Bay Packers (and still do). Over and over again the 49ers had been steamrolling the competition in the regular season, but kept getting bounced in the playoffs by those cheese-headed imbeciles in some bizarre Groundhog Day-esque situation. And 1999 seemed to be more of the same. Once again, the two clubs met in the playoffs on a blustery January Day.

Down 27-23 with minutes to go, it looked as if they would once again fall to the hated Packers. Team legend Jerry Rice was a non-factor with zero catches on the day and budding superstar Terrell Owens had a case of the butterfingers with multiple dropped passes. Nevertheless, the Niners began driving down the field in a last ditch effort to salvage the season. Could they actually come out on top this time? Or was this last drive just a cruel experiment to get your hopes up and then have them brutally crushed?

Most of you probably know the drill. With 8 seconds remaining, needing a touchdown, Steve Young drops back to pass at the Packers’ 25 yard line. He stumbles, somehow regains his footing, and fires a pass down the middle. This is it. Careening between four Green Bay defenders, Young’s pass finds the future Hall of Famer Terrell Owens in the endzone. No more butterfingers for Owens, and no more Green Bay Packers in the 1999 playoffs.

Terrell Owens scores the final touchdown in the 1999 Wildcard Playoffs

I sat, glued to the TV, on the couch in my father’s living room. They did it! I couldn’t believe it. They finally defeated those dastardly cheese heads from Green Bay. With their nemesis behind them, they could roll right to the Super Bowl and smash the eventual AFC champion Denver Broncos. They could cement their destiny as the dynasty of the late 90s! Suck on that, Cowboys!

Naturally, the 49ers went on to lose next week to the Atlanta Falcons. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Anyways, that was the beginning of my Niners fandom and it lead me to this point. I’ll be posting anything and everything that comes to mind about the 49ers and their opponents. Welcome to Niners Talk.