I wish I could root for these 49ers

I’ve been a San Francisco 49ers fan my entire life. I’m not old enough to remember the glory days of Joe Montana, though I’ve seen the highlights and heard the stories, but I remember watching Steve Young remove the monkey from his back. I loved the days of Jeff Garcia and Steve Mariucci. I even had some hope that Mike Singletary would implement a hard-nose linebacker’s edge to the team.

I desperately want to celebrate these wins, but I just can’t. I know a lot of 49ers fans are excited by their 3-1 start to the 2011 season. But I’m not one of them. I just can’t root for a team led by Alex Smith.

Typically, I’m one to forgive and forget. I give people second chances. But I can’t overlook all the misery Smith has caused me, and 49ers fans, over the last five years. Entering this season, he’s never had a winning record in any season, never thrown for 3,000 yards and most importantly, never gotten the 49ers close to the playoffs. I don’t know about everyone else, but I expect better from the #1 overall pick. He’s had five seasons to figure it out, which is two too many in my eyes.

These 49ers, Alex Smith’s 49ers, have a very good chance to make the playoffs. Heck, just by looking at the records of their division foes, they might clinch by early November.

But I wont be a bandwagon fan even though I’ve rooted for this team for 20 years. I haven’t rooted for Alex Smith and I wont now just because the team has a winning record through the first weekend of October.