Will you be rooting for the 49ers with Jennifer Garner and Robin Williams or cheering for the Ravens with Michael Phelps and Stacy Keibler?
Back when she was on Alias, Jennifer Garner shot a Monday Night Football promo for a game featuring her beloved San Francisco 49ers. (It explains why she’s so fond of wide receiver Terrell Owens in the spot.) But Garner has another major reason to root for the Niners in Sunday’s Super Bowl—the Baltimore Ravens knocked off her husband’s favorite team, the New England Patriots. And Ben Affleck says he may not even watch the game. “The wound is too fresh,” the Argo director told E! “I just hated that loss, hated it. So I'm probably not going to watch it. I'm going to boycott.”
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When Baltimore won the AFC Championship this year, rabid Ravens fan Michael Phelps was a big part of the locker-room celebration. “It’s a very emotional thing for me to watch these guys really come together and play amazing,” the former Olympian and Baltimore native said. And Phelps’s presence is also a payback of sorts for retiring Ravens star Ray Lewis. “For me, just having Ray being such an inspiration to me and having him help me get through the end of my career, for this to be his last AFC championship game, I had to be here,” Phelps said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be his last game. Our last game is the Super Bowl.” And Phelps will be there in New Orleans.
Long before she became a desperate housewife, Palo Alto native Teri Hatcher was shaking her pompoms as a founding member of the San Francisco 49ers cheerleading squad, the Gold Rush. In this 1984 video from their inaugural season, a teenage Hatcher can be limbering up and expressing how “nervous” and “excited” she is to get out there and cheer. Not only did Hatcher’s time with the Gold Rush help her score Super Bowl tickets for her parents, but it also led to her first acting gig—as a member of the Mermaid showgirls on The Love Boat.
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Although she’s many years removed from being a Ravens cheerleader, Baltimore native Stacy Keibler has lost none of her passion for her hometown team. “It's been 12 years—but worth the wait,” she tweeted after the AFC Championship. “Way to go @Ravens! #SuperBowlBound #HarBowl #SendRayOutInStyle” And Keibler has even made her Ravens fandom work in her relationship with George Clooney. In 2011, after taking the Oscar winner to a game against his team, the Cincinnati Bengals, she tweeted: “You know it's love when your boyfriend has elbow surgery two days ago and takes you to a Ravens game ... especially when he's a Bengals fan."
During his 1995 HBO comedy special Critics Choice, Dana Carvey, who grew up in the Bay Area, pandered to the San Francisco crowd by delivering his rallying cry (and one-lyric song) “Fucking 49ers!” But then the former Saturday Night Live star composed himself and said sincerely, “They’re the best, man. I love the Niners.”
There are rabid 49ers fans and then there is Huey Lewis. The pop icon loves his Bay Area team so much that back in the ’80s he had Niners legends Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott sing backup vocals on “Hip to Be Square.” And for the past two years—as the team has returned to its former glory—Lewis (and the News) have returned to perform the national anthem at playoff games.
Although he was born in Brooklyn and is now the king of New York basketball, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony grew up in Baltimore and remains a huge Ravens fan. In 2008, the team asked Melo, who hadn’t attended a game since he was 8, to be an honorary captain for the day. "It's means a great deal to be at the Ravens' first game, their home opener,” he said before the game. “I never thought I would be doing the coin toss out here. It's just an honor for me."
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Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote only one poem about sports—“Baseball Canto,” which was inspired by Willie Mays and the New York Giants, who eventually moved to San Francisco several years after he did. Along with the Giants, Ferlinghetti became a big 49ers fan, but his passion waned over the years because of the sport’s increasing violence. Then last year, as the Niners returned to the NFC Championship game, Ferlinghetti rekindled his love for the team and predicted they would make it to the Super Bowl. “I think they’ll beat the Giants easily, no problem,” he told The New York Times. “Their players are smarter and faster. Their coach is smarter. Of course, what do I know? I’m no expert on football.” He was only a year off.
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Baltimore native Josh Charles has only one regret about the Ravens making it to the Super Bowl this year—he can’t get down to New Orleans sooner because he’s shooting The Good Wife. But Charles has faith in the team. "I'm hoping they can finish it,” he told The Baltimore Sun this week. “It will put the perfect exclamation point on what's been an incredible ride that's made the state and the city really proud. I'm thrilled for them. They're good dudes." Which has earned them more supporters since their first Super Bowl trip in 2000. "The fan base has grown tremendously," Charles added. "I was in New York the other day and saw a Ravens flag on Third Avenue. That just put a smile on my face. It's grown, it's special. I'm really proud of this team. I love this team."
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After decades of cheering for the 49ers and the Giants, longtime Bay Area resident Robin Williams knows the love flows both ways. On the profile page for the team mascot, Sourdough Sam lists the comedian as his favorite actor. Why? “49ers fan of course!”
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