Seeing Is Happily Disbelieving : CS Long Beach Fans Cheer 49ers to Victory at Sports Bar

The crowd that jammed into Legends sports bar in Long Beach late Monday afternoon to see the satellite feed of Cal State Long Beach’s game against No. 1 Kansas didn’t have the highest of hopes at first.

“After getting thrashed by Virginia Commonwealth, we expected to be buried right there (in Lawrence, Kan.),” said Don Heckman, a member of the 49er Athletic Foundation.

Instead, Long Beach buried Kansas, 64-49.

“This is a monumental upset,” Heckman said. “It’s not the same as the (U.S.) hockey team beating the Russians, but for a team to get beat by 30 (actually 34) a couple of days earlier, then come back and beat the No. 1 team in the country, that’s incredible.”

There was barely room to stand near the bar as the 49ers’ victory became inevitable in the final minutes. Chants of “Long Beach State, Long Beach State,” reverberated, then fell silent when Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg appeared on the big screens for a postgame interview. They erupted into cheers once more at Greenberg’s answer to a question about the folks back home.

“I think they’re sitting in Legends celebrating,” said Greenberg, who himself watched the 49ers’ play via satellite at the bar last year while suffering from chicken pox.

In the crowd Monday was Ed Ratleff, a two-time All-American at Long Beach in the early 1970s who was a first-round NBA draft choice in 1973.

“I think everybody’s excited,” said Ratleff, who now works in insurance in Long Beach and has a nephew, Everett Ratleff, who will play for the 49ers next season. “We just wanted to stay close and have a chance at the end.”

For many of the Long Beach fans, believing what they were witnessing was difficult.

“I never thought they’d win,” said Chris Cruz of Huntington Beach. “Especially after all the abuse Long Beach fans took went they went to work today, ‘Oh great, you lost by 34.”’