Niners to "Faithful": please don't hop off the Bandwagon!

Update: "Faithful" ads produce more chuckles than sales

August 1, 2005 (NHS) -- Take a trip to San Francisco and invariably you'll be met by a homeless person asking for some spare change. If you look closely, standing next to him is none other than John York, owner of the 49ers.

One is a serious social ill. The other is just friggin' hilarious.

Yes, starting with York's "open letter" to the Bandwagon in January, the team has been on a marketing blitz unseen in the last 25 years in a manner almost too embarrassing to describe. It's as if the 49ers have stooped to begging 49ers fans to please refrain from hopping off the Bandwagon. "Mister? Spare some change? Buy a seat out of pure pity?"

The 49ers themselves describe the campaign here at their website, and, wow, is it a crack up. From the horse's mouth, "the campaign unites four pillars that define the 49ers, History, Tradition, Faith and Future."

(We'll pause as you ponder the endless jokes to fill in for each category ... History? How about their gambling, felonious owner of the past? ... Tradition? Yeah, their tradition of cheating the salary cap ... Future? Two words: Jeb York ... It's all good ...)

But the most outrageous, galling, over-the-top aspect is actually having the nerve to revolve the ads around the biggest running joke in sports fandom: the "49er Faithful" facade.

Indeed, any human being with a brain -- or even dolphins and primates that can put any sort of rational deduction together -- understand that "49er Faithful" is a complete farce. Fact is, no other sports franchise or entity in the universe is more supported by a fickle, faithless bandwagon than the 49ers. And the fact that the 49ers are so arrogant and ignorant to base their marketing on it is simply too perfect to be true.

As we discussed back when dealing with the Yorks' "open letter" ruse, this whole concept of invoking the term "faithful" while at the very same time having to solicit those who so obviously are not faithful (otherwise why would they have to be won back?) is so amazing that it could only happen in Bandwagon Nation due to its superior ignorance of self. So come on down to 'Frisco, folks, and you'll see it on the sides of buses, in glossy half-page ads in the local papers, and, yes, even on the street corner: the word "faithful" being so perverted that it's a slap in the face to anyone that thought anything the 49ers ever accomplished actually meant something.

Of course, one is tempted to make "how the mighty have fallen" comments, but fact is the 49ers' attendance hasn't been about anything of might, strength or substance. It's simply been about a Bandwagon -- and this proves it.

Sad Little Letter

Yorks try "open letter" to pull Bandwagon strings

January 7, 2005 (NHS) -- Owners John York and Denise DeBartolo York made an unusual plea straight to the 49er Bandwagon: an "open letter" to fans that appeared in the SF Chronicle's editorial section on Friday, January 7th.

The subject of the letter, entitled "A letter to the 49er faithful", is what you'd expect: a spin job about how the Yorks do really care because the 49ers franchise is just oh-so-best-ever and means oh-so-much to them and the city of San Francisco.

The mere act of calling this a letter to the "49er faithful" is ridiculous -- as if there are any great numbers of truly loyal 49er fans out there. Indeed, the entire reason such a letter is necessary is to try to keep the Niner "fans" from jumping off the Bandwagon -- hardly the stuff of "faithful".

Then there's plenty of crap about the "49ers' tremendous legacy" and how the "franchise is a community jewel, an icon whose meaning and importance go way beyond the 100 yards of a football field."

It's a load of bull, yes, and the strategy is simple, isn't it? After all, it doesn't take a genius to know how easy it is to pull the strings of the dot-fans of the Bay Area. Just shovel some bogus flattery that plays to their predilection of considering themselves and 'Frisco the the jewel of the world and the haughty, arrogant Bay Area denizens eat it up. The Whiner Bandwagon really does think the whole world bows to the Almighty Niners -- even though the truth is most people couldn't care less.

Casting their worthless puffery aside, the Yorks' real motivation comes down to money, not winning. They want to keep butts in the seats and checks tendered for luxury boxes. Further, the last two paragraphs of substance are about how concerned we all should be about getting a new stadium. This is a complete disconnect from the current reality. A new stadium? How about a team that can go better than 2-14 before starting talk about a stadium? Sure, it would be a cash cow for the Yorks, but it's not relevant to what's going on.

Overall, the letter will be received by intelligent people for what it is: a desperate P.R. ploy in the wake of the bad press the Yorks have been receiving. In the larger picture, the letter says less about the Yorks and much more about the 49er Bandwagon. The letter was in essence a plea: "We suck, but please-oh-please don't jump off the Bandwagon!"

How pathetic is it that the owners have become the equivalent of the San Francisco homeless guy on the street corner begging for scraps?

What it confirms is two things we've all known for years: (1) the 49ers' so-called legacy is not the "best ever" the media likes to pretend; and (2) the 49er fan base is, in fact, mostly a bunch of worthless bandwagoners that don't care about the game of football, only the hype that comes from winning.

You would think that if the 49ers really did have that "best ever dynasty legacy" they like to pretend they did, there would be enough loyalty generated to last for years and enough fans in the Bay Area that would support them through one or two down years, at least. But no. Incredibly, there's already talk of blackouts for Niner games as soon as next season (see the San Jose Mercury's mention of it on December 29th).

What the Yorks are finding out is what the media likes to pretend is important is actually not. The only thing that matters to the most fickle group of fans is winning -- not the game, not loyalty, not fake legacies, not any of that. As long as they lose, the fans and the media will continue to jump off the Bandwagon and find a convenient scapegoat in the Yorks.

In short, the Yorks can't beat the Bandwagon, nor can they join it.

Return home.

We welcome comments.