There really is nothing like an NFL game.

Last week my wife and I were among the 69,732 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco for Tennessee's 34-27 win over the home team 49ers. And while LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo may hold close to that number of fans, there really is no comparison between the atmospheres.

One of the first things you notice at an NFL game is there are no casual fans. If you go to a Jazz game, look at the high-roller tickets or suites. You rarely see people wearing their D-Will or Boozer jersey, but at an NFL game, the cool thing is to wear the gear. The businessman who wears the $5,000 suit all week leaves the Armani at home and suddenly sports his Alex Smith jersey for the game. The woman with the immaculate manicure and five-karat diamond ring on her finger is seen rubbing elbows with the high society sporting her throwback Joe Montana No. 16 red jersey.

Passion abounds when it comes to America's new pastime and, make no mistake about it, the NFL and football long ago took over that distinction from MLB and baseball.

Another thing I noticed was that just a couple of obnoxious hooligans can ruin the work of many. Being Titans fans, my wife and I — she is a de facto Titans fan since she long ago decided that rooting for a team is much easier than dealing with marital strife — caused quite a little commotion walking down to our seats in our throwback Eddie George No. 27 Titans jerseys.

We purchased the tickets from a Niners' season ticket holder on Stub Hub on Row 1 of the north end zone — which incidentally really turns into Row 5 when there is an A,B,C and D row in front of it. Why is it that a stadium, arena, whatever can't just put down what row it really is? Would it have changed anything for me in buying the tickets? No. But when I got on the Web site for Candlestick to see where our seats were, there wasn't any mention of the "Red Zone" seats in front of us that started with letters instead of numerals, so I was a little disappointed when we got to our seats.

The vast majority of those around us were cordial, even downright nice, saying they respected the fact that we would "represent" while in hostile territory, but there were a handful of loudmouths who had indulged in one-too-many adult beverages that made their best attempts at keeping us miserable. I consider myself pretty thick-skinned. I think it takes a lot to get me riled up, so go ahead and take your best shot at upsetting me. But inappropriate language in front of my wife is going over the line.