1979 I got my first San Francisco top from when I stayed with my dad's cousin over in Sunnyvale for a month. When we went to the store I saw the Cowboys and Raiders tops and wanted one of them because they sounded funkier than 49ers. My dad's cousin was having none of it and said I had to have a 49ers top because the others are bad teams (bad as in horrible not poor). My folks treated me to a top (bearing the number 86, which I have since found out was Cedric Hardman DE, all-time sack leader for the club), some tube socks and a pair of 49ers trainers which I loved.
The first game I remember watching was the highlights from the '81 Superbowl which were shown on World of Sport a week afterwards. I had no idea of what the score was or how the game was played but because of my holiday when I heard it was on I had to watch. I can remember them winning because when the game broke over here I made reference to it with a mate.
It wasn't though until '83 that I took interest in the game (the second full season of C4's coverage). Washington had won the year before and I thought we were going to snatch the Championship game which would have been great because my mate was a Redskins fan (they became the first team I didn't like due to that and the championship game).
When the Superbowl came along I was routing for the Raiders and had a portable TV in my room by then (I was 11) so I could watch the game. My folks let me stay up till midnight watching it then after that I put the earphones in and turned the TV off whenever I heard movement heading upstairs and turned the TV off pretending to be asleep whenever that happened, which was once when my mum went to bed and then once again when my dad did. It meant I could stay up and watch it once my dad went to bed. It was quite thrilling lol.
After that I've seen pretty much every once live although a couple are more hazy than others (as you'll see from my descriptions lol).
My most memorable ones (most of these are the earlier ones):'83 Raiders
'84 49ers (first niners win and over the media hero, Dan Marino)
'85 Bears (incredible team and I remember how oppressive they were right from the start)
'88 49ers (my favourite and the first really close Superbowl we'd seen in the UK since coverage began. I remember looking out of my bedroom window to see if my mate was still up watching when John Taylor scored the winner)
'89 49ers (the culmination of a decade of dominance)
'90 Giants (Otis Anderson and Parcells' clock hogging offense which kept the Bills' run and shoot off the field, with Scott Norwood chipping in with the climax)
'94 49ers (Steve Young 6TDs)
'96 Packers (everyone used to have a soft spot for Green Bay and this was mine)
'97 Broncos (Elway finally getting one)
'99 Rams (can't remember anything other than the finish because I was drunk lol)
'01 Patriots (tight game, an upset and I used to have a soft spot for the Pats because I couldn't stand the Dolphins)
'07 Giants (the only other game that comes close to '88 for me, terrific game)
'09 Saints (after years of not even getting a winning record it was good to see them win after Katrina)
In terms of dislike the Cowboys remain at the forefront and then after that it's down to current relevance e.g. Packers. I didn't like the Giants because of the rivalry we had between us and although that mellowed a bit when the Gaints when back to being crap I'm glad that rivalry is back. Similarly, I still don't really like the Redskins because it's in the blood. Division rivalries have really only come to the fore in the past decade because prior to that we used to win the division pretty much every year
For a couple of years Jim Mora's Saints troubled us as did the Falcons but it wasn't until Kurt Warner arrived that this sort of thing got serious.
