Chapter 1000: Chapter 1000: Sworn Enemies

Chapter 1000: Sworn Enemies

People had anticipated the possibility of the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Seattle Seahawks, but no one had anticipated the riot that broke out after the game. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The situation was completely out of control!

After the entire 49ers team returned safely to the Bay Area, the furious team president, Jed York, immediately released an official statement.

At the press conference, Jed’s emotions were on the verge of losing control. He strongly condemned the shameful and disgusting behavior that occurred at the Seahawks’ home stadium, saying it was even worse than the incident that happened at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona last year. Jed made it clear that San Francisco did not welcome those low-quality thugs!

During the interview, Jed slammed his hand on the table, vented all his anger without holding back, and then left in a rage. The overwhelming anger that was boiling inside him created a powerful ripple effect, dropping a bomb on the entire league.

Such incidents were very rare in the history of the NFL.

To be objective, the Arizona Cardinals, the team that had been in the league for the longest, had been around for more than a century, which was not much different from the traditional powerhouses of Europe’s top five leagues.

However, compared to the long history of those ancient soccer leagues, the process of mergers and acquisitions in the NFL was longer. The current Super Bowl era had been around for less than half a century. Also, at the turn of the century, the league had readjusted the divisions, which meant that the emotions between rivals were not as strong or as deep as in European soccer leagues. The bond between fans and teams had not reached a level of life-or-death hatred. Even if there were conflicts, the scene would not be too serious.

But this time, the situation had gone beyond imagination.

League Commissioner Roger Goodell immediately held a press conference to strongly condemn such behavior and stated that the league’s ethics committee would immediately hold a meeting to make a further ruling. However, before the ruling was made, the league demanded that the Seahawks’ front office immediately take action.

The Seahawks’ front office also realized the seriousness of the situation, not only because the 49ers and the league were pushing hard, but also because one of the two seriously injured fans was in a very serious condition and had not woken up yet.

So, they also held a press conference as quickly as possible, appealing to the home fans to remain calm. They said that creating chaos was a bad influence on both the visiting team and the home team. At the same time, they sincerely apologized to San Francisco.

After that, Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and other players also came forward to appeal to the fans to remain calm.

Meanwhile, the 49ers, who had returned to San Francisco, also officially accepted interviews and expressed their views.

Jim Harbaugh called the incident a "disgrace."

Whenever there were fan riots in Europe’s top five leagues, especially with English hooligans, the major American news media would mercilessly criticize and mock them, saying that the uncivilized thugs on the European continent, who considered their cultural heritage to be superior and looked down on North America, were more numerous than they had imagined.

But this incident showed that "our sport is also facing a severe test. Those football thugs are shamelessly treating their arrogance and barbarism as support for the team. This is ridiculous! Look at the loyal fans of the Green Bay Packers. They know how to express their anger, and they also know how to control themselves!"

Harbaugh’s words were a bit incoherent. During the interview, he used foul language many times. Even after being filtered, the version was still not much better. His words were a direct attack on the 12s.

Harbaugh’s frustration was understandable.

Not only because he had also been treated viciously in the chaos, even being spit on and having his shirt ripped, but also because such an action was a huge threat to the team. What if a player had been injured in the conflict? Would that have affected the team’s playoff prospects? This was unforgivable!

As the team captain, Lu Ke also accepted a media interview. "I know we won."

This was Lu Ke’s simplest and most powerful response: it was precisely because the 49ers won that the Seahawks couldn’t accept the loss. It was precisely because the 49ers won that the 12s were so enraged. The more chaotic the riot was, the more it proved how ugly and bad that team was.

This "victory" was not just about the game, but also about the spirit of the game. The Seahawks had completely lost.

With just a few words, Lu Ke exposed the Seahawks’ wound, hitting the bull’s-eye and bringing all the focus back to the outcome of the game. There was no fluff, no cover-up, but it was a fatal blow.

This was all of Lu Ke’s response. After that, he refused all interviews and all other responses.

But according to rumors, on the next day, which was a day off, Lu Ke returned to the practice field to train. Not just him, but also Logan, Frank Gore, and a series of other teammates also voluntarily returned to the practice field. They put the last victory behind them and prepared for the next game. This unified sight was a powerful counterattack to the Seahawks’ provocation in a different way.

Besides this, Patrick Willis, Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss, Justin Smith, and other players all came out to condemn the organizing problems at the Seahawks’ home stadium. The foul-mouthed Crabtree was undoubtedly the most vicious. "If their so-called ’home-field advantage’ is just all their fans rushing onto the field and using a human wave tactic, then I admit, they are the best home field in the history of competitive sports."

This sarcasm was widely spread on social media and became the best quote of the day.

The situation was escalating, and all parties were reacting very quickly, including the league.

Although the Seahawks showed enough sincerity, after some discussion, the league still handed down a heavy fine of $300,000. They also gave a serious warning to CenturyLink Field: if it happened again, they would lose the right to have fans watch the games at home.

Such a fine was comparable to the discriminatory incident at the University of Phoenix Stadium last year.

This was not only because the chaos had threatened the safety of the spectators’ lives, but also because the discrimination and conflict that occurred during the chaos had gone beyond the bottom line that the league could accept. Such an incident must be punished severely and not be tolerated!

But for the 49ers’ fans, the anger still couldn’t be quelled.

The fans, led by Jeff Locke and Cliff Hart, launched a strong condemnation on social media. The scene, however, looked more and more chaotic, like a bunch of housewives arguing. The insults between them and the 12s were getting more and more vicious, and trash talk was flying all over Facebook and Twitter. In this situation, Noah Parker finally came up with an idea and united all the "Niners."

Immediately after, the same topic appeared on social media again, with a flood of posts about "minimum score"!

A silent protest!

The Niners didn’t curse or swear. They just silently spammed the topic of "minimum score" to express their protest with a silent, non-cooperative attitude. All the residents of the city were mobilized. Whether they were fans or not, they all joined in. In less than three hours, the topic was spammed more than 150,000 times, and it was still growing exponentially.

This was a protest, and it was also a humiliation!

Not only that, fans from other teams in the league also joined in, spamming the topic. The topic of "minimum score" had completely exploded on social media.

The neutral fans were not angry or unyielding. They were just enjoying the show. In such a sensational situation, they continued to add fuel to the fire, hoping for things to get even more exciting.

For the Seahawks’ 12s, they tried to fight back on social media, but in the face of the entire league’s unified voice, their voices were like a scoop of water poured into a roaring fire that covered the mountains and plains. They had not even had time to react before they turned into a wisp of smoke, unable to create any kind of wave.

This was truly frustrating. They had lost the game and their dignity!

Just as Lu Ke said: they won; and they lost.

The matter was that simple, but also that profound.

Even without this incident, the rivalry between the Seahawks and the 49ers would have been impossible to break. But after this game, especially after the riot, the two teams had become true sworn enemies. Even if there were no games, they would still glare at each other when they saw each other’s fans. That hostile feeling had completely become irreversible.

Even the rivalry between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings was probably like this.

Now, the atmosphere in the NFC West was definitely tense and on the verge of exploding. Any small spark could cause a huge fire! In particular, the conflict between the 49ers and the Seahawks had surpassed the one with the St. Louis Rams and had become the new rivalry of the 21st century. It was hard to tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

With the heavy fine from the league, the matter seemed to have temporarily come to an end. And the seriously injured fan who had been in a coma finally woke up after 24 hours. The storm had finally passed. But the fans of Seattle and San Francisco knew that the bad blood between them was far from over.

Not to mention ending, to be precise, it was getting worse. It had become more and more intense, and it was like a train that had lost control, completely unstoppable.

Leaving aside the two divisional games in the next season for now, there was still a possibility of the two teams meeting in the playoffs this season. The flames of war could be reignited at any time. The next time they met, the game would definitely not be as "calm" as today’s game. Both teams were holding back a lot of anger, and they were sworn enemies!

There was still one week until the playoffs. The flames from the last game had not completely died down, but both sides’ fans were already sharpening their knives.

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