I had my wife set the alarm clock for 11 because there was a lot I wanted to get done before heading to my brother's house for the pregame poker tournament. The tournament has been a 5 year running tradition in which family and friends gather to partake in the "Cadillac of Poker." We had 11 entrants for this year's event. I would like to give a quick shout out to my mom for taking it down this year. To put this epic win into perspective I would have said it would be more likely for the final score of the Super Bowl to end 4-2 than ol' barnyard B winning the yearly tournament. Also an honorable mention to the rookie debut of Isaac "casino kid" Barkman taking a a very respectable 5th place.
The timing of the tournament ending and game starting was almost perfect. A big thanks goes to Alicia Keys for singing a 2 min 40 second national anthem. Then again, when you add an additional line to the song your bound to set the SB record for longest anthem.
Random thoughts:
-How does SF not line up correctly on the very first play of the game? My football career wrapped up in 7th grade, but I can only imagine how many times that play was run in practice / walk-through.
-Combine that with SF jumping offside on Baltimore's opening drive on a 3rd and long to extend the drive another play (which allowed TD instead of FG attempt) showed the lights may have been too bright for this team. (bad example)
-Punting was horrible in this game--Raven's punter especially. He kicked two touch-backs when he had a chance to pin SF inside 20. Then when he needed to drill one he hit it off the side of his foot leading to zero hang time and a big return that put SF right back in the game.
At the end of the day there is really only one thing to truly remember a punter for...
- Ray Lewis got exposed in space. Not sure what his final stat line was, but there were back to back plays where he tried to cover Vernon Davis on an out route which he wasn't even close. I don't think Ray Lewis in his 17th season could cover Vernon Davis in a phone booth. Gore also shook him in the hole one time in which he would not have been down in a game of two hand touch.
-I am really glad Anquan Boldin got a ring. That 50/50 ball that Flacco threw up to him on 3rd and inches late in the game won the game for them. There is a lot that could be said about this guy but I think I will let Michael Irvin do the honors.
- No opinion on the halftime show other than the fact that Mr. Shawn Carter is a lucky man. He is a multimillionaire mogul and he moved the Nets to BK. Beyonce is okay looking too.
- I feel obligated to at least address the blackout. The weakest ploy to stall for time was Bill Cowher trying to have a serious debate about the possibility of throwing Alex Smith into the game. Another weak aspect at this juncture was when audio was reconnected to the booth. Jim Nantz led in with some joke about Phil Simms plugging in his cell phone charger. Come on Jim you had 34 minutes to come up with gold. He could have easily said something like, "yea well the jerkstore called"...Jerkstore! Jerkstore is the line!
-As far as the commercials go there were a few decent ones. I laughed at the nerd making out with the model in the Godaddy commercial. Oddly enough, I was watching Van Wilder tonight and I am pretty sure that guy is in that movie. It might have just been his handsome twin though. Sadly, Van Wilder might have been Ryan Reynolds best work.
 |
-It is easy say now because they did not score but I think SF play calling on 3rd and 4th down was pathetic. The second down play had a good concept behind it getting Kaepernick on the edge with a run/pass option. The 3rd down play was horrible, especially coming out of a timeout. It had similar design to second down minus the roll out. Even if Crabtree makes the catch you still have to complete another pass to get the score. I am assuming the 4th down play was not the call in the huddle, but rather a check based on the pressure look. I just can't imagine as innovative as Jim Harbaugh has been as a coach that he would take the other 10 guys off the field and make it a 1 on 1 jump-ball for the whole thing. With a cast like this it just wouldn't make sense.
-A QB that has ran for more yards in one game than anyone in the history.
-A WR who has caught more touchdowns over a career than anyone in history not named Jerry Rice.
-A TE who is probably the most athletic tight end to ever play based on measureables such as speed (4.38) and strength (225lb / 33reps)--nearly twice my personal best.
As far as the no call on the holding I think it was the right call given the throw/route and situation. A flag there would have bailed out a very sloppy looking play and more than likely decided the winner of the Super Bowl. With that said I did view that play through a pair of purple glasses. If you the glasses were red it may have looked different.
With the conclusion of the Super Bowl we have officially hit the doldrums of winter. It is never to early to take a look at next years odds to win it all.
Pats 6 to 1
SF 7 to 1
Denver 8 to 1
GB 10 to 1
Texans 10-1
Seahawks 12-1
Steelers 14-1
Ravens 14-1
Saints 16-1
Falcons 16-1
