I can still remember clearly the first year I was old enough, and cognizant enough to have a serious emotional investment in how the San Francisco 49ers fared.
It was 1998, and I was 9 years old.
To many, the 49ers mean 5 Super Bowl championships, watching Joe Montana to Jerry Rice, or “The Catch.”
But to my generation of 49ers fans, rooting for San Francisco means Garrison Heart breaking his ankle on the first play of the 1998 Divisional Round playoff game at Atlanta.
It means watching Steve Young’s career end at the hands of a vicious hit by the Cardinals. Or Terrell Owens when he was just beginning to demonstrate the antics that are now well known in all football circles.
It doesn’t stop there, either.
There were zero road playoff wins for almost the entirety of my lifetime (I was less than 3 months old when the Niners beat the Bears on Jan. 8, 1989) before last Sunday. The 49ers were so bad that they received the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 (Alex Smith) and the No. 6 the next year (Vernon Davis). And then there was the 0-5 start two years ago when things finally were supposed to turn around.
Which brings me back to that day in 1998. It was everything great about fandom, and everything horrible about it all wrapped into one.
Jan. 3, 1998. Packers at 49ers, NFC Wild Card Round
Call it the “OWENS-OWENS-OWENS,” game or the Catch II, but it was the last great 49ers moment until Jim Harbaugh arrived last season and changed everything.
That game was great. I had always heard about the magic of watching Montana to Rice in the 80s from my family, and it was clear that now was my turn to enjoy the ride.
The 49ers were back. Young, Rice, Owens, Hearst, nothing would stop them. My team was going all the way.
And then things changed with one play.
All the excitement of a week of anticipating the Niners-Falcons at the Dome washed away when Garrison Hearst took the hand off, scampered 7 yards and then lay in a heap — ankle broken, season broken.
The 49ers went on to lose that game 20-18, in a game in which they ran for only 46 yards.
It would take four years to win another playoff game, an insane come-from-behind victory over the Giants that was Jeff Garcia and Owens at their best. But even that game seemed unreal — added by a horrible call at the end that should have given New York another chance at a winning field goal.
San Francisco went on to get destroyed the next week, 31-6 on the road to Tampa Bay.
And then the blackout.
For my generation of 49ers fan, it hasn’t been Lombardi Trophy after MVP trophy after Hall of Famer.
It’s been what happened between 2002 and 2011.
Nothing.
Living in Missouri during a much of this time (2006-2010) was brutal. We couldn’t even beat the Rams much of the time, and I had to hear about it.
But I remained Forever Faithful. No matter how many times they let me down.
From 2003 through 2010 the 49ers never won more than eight games — which they did just once, in 2009.
2004 may have been the worst though — Recognize any of these names? Dennis Erickson, Tim Rattay, Eric Johnson, Kevan Barlow?
That’s, in order, the 49ers 2004 head coach, quarterback, leading wide receiver and running back. Dark days indeed.
Having the top pick was exciting, though, with a kid who grew up a 49ers fan and who played college at Cal available. Of course, we went with Alex Smith from Utah over Aaron Rodgers and things continued on a downward spiral.
There was absolutely no consistency with the offense, and new coach Mike Nolan and his successor Mike Singletary both proved as inept as the other.
But the dark days were soon to be over — even if we didn’t know it yet.
The date was Jan. 7, 2011. The day Jim Harbaugh signed on to be the 49ers next head coach.
He transformed Smith into something we hadn’t seen since his college days — a viable, game-winning quarterback.
As fans, we expected our team to be good in Harbaugh’s first year. But then again, we had expected to win the NFC West the year before, and proceeded to go 0-5 to start the year and missed out on the playoffs with a 6-10 record.
So when the 49ers defeated the Saints last season, we, much like Justin Smith said this week of the team, didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Niners Nation was ecstatic.
One win away from the Super Bowl.
And then Kyle Williams happened. And the weight of the previous decade came crashing down upon us.
Looking ahead to the 2012 schedule, on the road at Green Bay, Minnesota, New England and New Orleans? With Seattle, Arizona (or so we thought) and St. Louis only getting better.
Surely 2011 was an aberration. When would we ever get back?
But finally, after so many years of our team, who we stuck with through the thick and thin, being a laughing stock, my generation of 49ers fans can finally say, it’s our turn to experience the excitement.
As Patrick Willis said in his pregame speech to the defense before the Packers game, the teams in the 80s had their time, this is our time, and we’re gonna live it up!
Go Niners!
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-sound-efx/0ap2000000130334/Sound-FX-49ers-complete-comeback
Sports by Stein 
The best part of the 2011 season was how every Niner fan was holding their collective breath, wondering when the collapse was going to come. Only it never did. We just kept winning! Gotta love it.