Cowboys fans cheer last and loudest

Sept. 18, 2011MAIOCCO ARCHIVE
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Matt MaioccoCSNBayArea.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- The 49ers fans who showed up in team gear for the "Red Out" ended up leaving Candlestick Park on Sunday feeling quite blue.It's difficult to estimate how many of the announced crowd of 69,732 fans supported the Dallas Cowboys, but a conservative estimate is a quarter of the fans were rooting against the home team.But, as far as the noise level, Cowboys fans nearly equaled the decibels generated Sunday by the 49ers fans throughout the game. Of course, those wearing blue got the last and loudest cheers when the Cowboys pulled off the 27-24 victory in overtime."There were a lot of Cowboys fans in the stands today," 49ers left tackle Joe Staley said. "It felt like kind of an away game."The 49ers this week tried to market a "Red Out," encouraging fans to show up at Candlestick decked out in red.
In 2005, first-year 49ers coach Mike Nolan was not pleased with the number of Cowboys fans who found their way inside of Candlestick Park. "I would like 49ers fans to keep their tickets," Nolan said after Cowboys fans forced the 49ers to call a late-game timeout because crowd noise.Perhaps, Jim Harbaugh knew what to expect. The 49ers had crowd noise blaring at practice -- something that is generally only done in preparation of road games. Harbaugh said it was to prepare the 49ers' defense to communicate when things got loud.When asked about the large contingent of Cowboys fans on Sunday, Harbaugh said, "I thought our crowd was into it. There was obviously some Cowboys fans there that were loud. That's my only reaction."