People who hate puppies. Anyone who plays videos or takes calls in public without using headphones.
The folks who put the milk back in the refrigerator even though there’s only five drops left in the carton.
And now, the San Francisco 49ers.
Yes, the NFC’s No. 1 seed has joined the list of the universally hated this week. The 49ers’ great sin? Besides their stadium?
They happen to be playing the Detroit Lions, who’ve become America’s new favorite team after decades of futility, in the NFC championship on Sunday.
The Lions have long been the NFL’s most woebegone team, its fans the league’s most beleaguered.
Now the only thing standing in front of them and a trip to the Super Bowl is the 49ers. Which makes the Niners a team only the Bay Area can love.
“It’s harsh winters, right? Auto industry. Blue collar. Things aren’t always easy. That’s what we’re about.
You want something the city can be proud of. You can look at those guys and say, ‘I can back that guy. I can back that team.
I can resonate with this group of guys.’ They’re kind of salty. They don’t quit. They play hard,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.
These guys, they have a kinship with this city and this area. They love it.”
You don’t have to be from Detroit or Michigan to fall for this scrappy team, which only a few years ago only the most diehard Lions fans would claim.
