The highs and lows of being a fan

Maybe because there were fewer NFL teams back then, and they were two teams who always seemed to be on TV on Sunday afternoons, the Rams and the 49ers were popular teams in our house growing up in Oregon.

My older brother, Steve, was a Rams fans.

I liked the 49ers.

We’re not exactly sure why it ended up that way.

As I got older, I noticed my mom rooting for the 49ers as well.

I don’t know if she was just being a nice mom, supporting the youngest of her three sons.

Or if she really was also a fan of John Brodie, Ken Willard and Gene Washington, then later Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice, among others.

I never got the chance to ask her.

OTHER THAN being teased a few years ago, there hasn’t been much for 49ers’ fans to cheer about since the five Super Bowls from the 1981 through ’94 seasons.

These days, Seahawk fans have reason to gloat — imagine the bellowing if they’d won more than one Super Bowl.

And the last two decades have been a pretty good ride for Zags fans, capped by their near-national title last month. Now that the Zags have (almost) reached the top of the mountain, how will they be received if they go a few seasons without making it back?

As for the Mariners ... well, “long-suffering Mariners fans” would be redundant.

Growing up, even when the Golden State Warriors were good, they were a very distant second-fiddle to the Lakers in the West. These days, led by the cute and cuddly Steph Curry, the Dubs are as popular as the Showtime Lakers used to be.

They also have swept their way into the Western Conference Finals at the expense of two teams I also kinda/sorta pull for, the Trail Blazers and the Jazz.

THERE SEEMS to be a pecking order, where certain teams, no matter how good or how upstart they may be, are not going to beat certain other teams.

The Blazers weren’t going to beat the Warriors, no matter how many points their two star guards scored. They might have been able to steal a game, but that would have merely prolonged the series. Maybe if LaMarcus Aldredge had stuck around ... but even he must have felt there was no chance.

Ditto for the up-and-coming Jazz, who could keep getting better if Gordon Hayward opts to stick around. If he doesn’t ...

Back in the early 1990s, it just seemed like the Blazers weren’t going to beat the Bad-Boy Pistons and the MJ-led young Bulls, no matter how good Portland was.

Ditto the Jazz, with Stockton and Malone. How cool they got to play in two NBA Finals; how cruel they had to play the MJ-led more veteran Bulls both times. Had MJ just had a little more success in baseball ...

WE DON’T always get to choose the teams we so fervently (and not so fervently) root for. Sometimes they choose us.

Either way, it still hurts when they lose. And the more you care, the more it hurts.

Though it’s still nice to have mom on your side, however that happens.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.