San Francisco 49ers fans rewarded with return to glory

Michelle Thomasser will wear her Joe Montana jersey today.

The Oakdale resident, a San Francisco 49er season-ticket holder, won't attend the NFC Championship Game against the New York Giants. But she's still invested in the outcome. Not far away from her couch will be her Frank Gore jersey and perhaps even her Joe Staley autographed football.

Thomasser still has not recovered from her out-of-body experience at Candlestick Park last week. There she sat and stood, 16 rows above the south end zone where all the craziness happened as the 49ers rallied past the New Orleans Saints.

"It was way past anything I've felt before," she said. "We were screaming our heads off and hugging strangers. You're jumping up and down and crying and thinking that the dream is over, and all of a sudden Alex Smith is running for a touchdown. To go from last year to this year has just been unreal."

Yes, Thomasser and the 49er Faithful have been blindsided by this season. No one saw it coming, not even the most faithful of the Faithful.

In the NFL, next to no one leapfrogs from Mike Singletary's offense-challenged mentality to glory by just flipping the calendar. Jim Harbaugh, a rookie coach, rehabbed a physically and emotionally scarred quarterback named Alex Smith, brushed off the baggage and — poof! — the 49ers are 14-3 and one home victory away from the Super Bowl.

Sure, you predicted it. And I'm sure giraffes soon will set world records in the backstroke.

"I always thought it would take some years of work, maybe a new quarterback," Thomasser said.

Perhaps that's why the Faithful is celebrating the euphoria like it just found a C-note on the street corner. It's part happiness and outright shock.

Niner fans span many eras, some from the 1950s, and have campaigned through all the successes and failures. Thomasser first purchased her season tickets in 2004, upgraded her seat locations over time and stayed resilient through the down years. Others walked her path decades before.

Gary Gervasoni, the owner of Gervasoni's bar and restaurant on 9th Street, attended 49er games at Kezar Stadium a half-century ago. A season-ticket holder for about 20 years (from the mid-1960s through '85), he's felt all things 49er.

Gervasoni, 73, will adjourn to his boat on Pier 39 today and will view the game at Fior d'Italia, which bills itself as "America's Oldest Italian Restaurant," on North Beach.

"KNBR (radio) replayed the fourth quarter of the Saints game. I went to my room and listened to it," he said. "I can't believe it. I thought 8-8 would be a heck of a year."

Gervasoni wasn't alone. Since San Francisco's last playoff appearance in 2002, it's languished through no better than 8-8 seasons and zero playoff appearances. There were reasons, serious reasons, why nothing much was expected.

Fans like Gervasoni experienced the greatness first-hand. Excluding the strike-shortened 1982 season, the 49ers won 10 or more games each year from 1981 through '98. They won all five Super Bowl appearances and reached 10 championship games.

More than a little time, and a miserable down-cycle, has passed since that special era. Younger-generation fans such as Thomasser seek their own heroes. They loved Montana and Steve Young, but what's wrong with Frank Gore, Patrick Willis and Justin Smith?

Terri Taylor of Oakdale promises to don her Colin Kaepernick No. 7 jersey today at Candlestick, honoring the team's backup quarterback from Turlock.

"There will be two No. 7s in the house, mine and Colin's!" Taylor said. "It's not an Alex Smith-bashing thing. I'm just happy that people finally are laying off him."

Alex Smith jersies, merchandise that was fast-approaching the discount rack a year ago, are flying off the shelves at $119.99 a pop, according to Mickey Flores, the manager of the Sports Station in the mall.

"We're sold out of a lot of things. We'll be getting more hats and T-shirts tomorrow," Flores said earlier this week. "Flags and banners are flying out the door."

Not far away, Lids assistant manager Casey Evans reported a 100-percent increase on 49er cap sales.

"We had nothing but 49er fans walking around until Tuesday after the Saints game," Evans said. "A box of 49er stuff was gone in two days."

The bandwagon grows crowded during days like these, of course, but there is something different this time. The 49ers, a submarine crawling in the depths for many years, finally has surfaced to again breathe fresh air. The conventional wisdom called for more years underwater.

For the nouveau Faithful, it's all so new and out of the blue. For the veteran watchers, it's 1981 all over again, when a 6-10 team the year before blossomed into a champion. Regardless, they've all joined hands today.

"I don't know what Harbaugh has done," Thomasser said, "but it's been right."

Bee staff writer Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or (209) 578-2302.