A bucket-list experience during peak football season.

David Schmalz here. I’ve been a San Francisco 49ers fan since I was at most 6 years old. My earliest memory of a football play was when, on Jan. 10, 1982, Joe Montana threw a pass to Dwight Clark in the back corner of the endzone with less than a minute left in the game, leading to a 49ers victory over the Dallas Cowboys. It became known in football lore simply as “The Catch.” Two weeks later, just days before I turned 7, the team would win its first of five Super Bowls. 

I’ve been to several 49ers games in my life, as both a kid and adult, but until two weeks ago—the last 49ers game of the regular season—I’d only seen one game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, and had never been to a game as an official member of the press. 

How it all came to pass was that in mid-December, Weekly photographer Daniel Dreifuss asked me, “What are you doing Jan. 7?” Not having a calendar in front of me, I asked him what day of the week that was—he said Sunday—and I instantly replied that I’d be watching football. He suggested we attend the 49ers game not just as fans, but as press. I was in.

So it was on that Sunday, Jan. 7, that Dreifuss and I went to the game as members of the press, and I felt like a kid visiting Disneyland for the first time. 

We entered the stadium through a media entrance, and within a few minutes, made our way to the field to watch the Niners finish warming up. As we stood on the sidelines, we saw 49ers General Manager John Lynch, a retired Hall of Fame safety, walk within a few feet from us to shake hands with some kids. Then I turned around and saw Paul Sciuto, general manager of Monterey One Water, standing nearby; he told me a friend who had tickets for a luxury suite invited him to the game—it was a wild coincidence. 

Once the game started, Dreifuss and I spent just about one quarter in the press box, where the two rows of seats are assigned, and there’s little to no talking, just typing. Then we wandered around the stadium for the remainder of the game exploring, and watching the game from wherever else we could. 

The most surreal moment came after the game. In the press conference room, we watched Coach Kyle Shanahan deliver his postgame remarks; when he was done, all the 49ers beat reporters beelined toward the locker room, and Dreifuss and I followed. The first thing we saw when walking in was, right in front of us, a gaggle of reporters gathered around left tackle Trent Williams, a giant of a man and shoo-in future Hall of Famer. 

It was a bucket list experience—and I hope to do it again. In the meantime I’ll be watching from home tomorrow when the 49ers play the Green Bay Packers at 5:15pm, rooting for a team I love so much it’s hard to sufficiently articulate. Go Niners.

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