2013 Super Bowl blog

First Quarter: Don’t worry, I only drank two 12 oz beers, so I’m sober as a judge. A night court judge.

Which is why I’m so pissed off. What is up with the 49ers secondary? And specifically, Chris Culliver #29. Get it together man.

The Flacco to Boldin connection is Baltimore’s strongest weapon. To win, the 49ers need to stop that. Offensively, just keep doing what you’re doing ‘9ers. Hit Vernon Davis, feed Gore, run when you have to Colin and get Randy Moss into the mix.

See you in the second quarter.

Second Quarter: Pitta-ful.

The secondary sucks. Yeah, I said it. Especially Culliver, who is young and will get better with experience. Maybe.

Yeah, I’m depressed. The game is basically over, nobody comes back from a 21-6 deficit in the Super Bowl.

The 49ers came out too tentative, too conservative. Big brother Harbaugh wins again. The fake field goal run by Justin Tucker was an amazing call by Johnny Harbaugh. It worked for eight of the nine yards needed and didn’t hurt them at all.

The 49ers need a half-time adjustment, which one coach has called the hardest thing to do in sports, even harder than hitting a baseball.

Trust me, this game is over. Still, there is one bright spot. David Akers is nailing his kicks.

True and sarcastic all at once.

Third Quarter: And then the lights went out.

Holy hell. The Blackout Bowl. If the 49ers come back to win and people ask, “Do you think the power outtage had anything to do with it, my answer will be, ‘Yes.'”

If they win, that is. There’s a five-point deficit and the Ravens are knock, knock, knocking on the door.

Nevermore.

Game Over: It went the way it should have. John out-coached Jim, no doubt about it. John showed more courage, more creativity.

Sure glad my dad didn’t live to see this game. But now we really know how great Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh and Roger Craig et al were.
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Some last minute Super Bowl thoughts

My 49ers are in the Super Bowl? Hell, I don’t think I ever got around to writing about the Giants World Series win last year, and it’s been less than four months since the boys from the bay swept the Detroit Tigers on Oct. 29, 2012.

To a San Francisco fan like me, the past 120 days has been sports Nirvana. But it could turn into purgatory if the ‘9ers lose. They are 5-0 after all, so a perfect record is going to be put to the test.

I plan to watch the first quarter stone sober with a pen in hand, just as I have the last five Super Bowls the 49ers played. Yes, I realize they no longer script the first 20 plays like Bill Walsh used to do, but I’m a creature of habit and don’t want to give way to the jinx. I’m pretty sure I can wait until the second quarter to crack my first beer. (Editor’s note: Turns out I was wrong about that.)

Here’s to 6-0.

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The Super Bowl is where it should always be in my opinion—New Orleans. It’s the perfect way to revive the city that won’t wash away. And there’s only a conflict of interest once every thirty years or so when the Saints are actually in the Super Bowl.

Next year in New York will be a disaster. Or maybe not, since global warming happens.

If we can’t have the Super Bowl in The Big Easy every year, then I say we should restrict the big game to these four cities—New Orleans, San Diego, Miami and Dallas.

Frankly, it’s not likely any of these teams will be in the Super Bowl much either.

• • •

Got my sushi, got my Lone Star beer, got my deer antler spray. Let the game begin. I’ll be keeping a blog and will post after each quarter. My prediction? 44-21, 49ers.

Hey, if you want objective, go read last year’s blog.

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Whatever happened to Eddie D?

Eddie DeBartolo didn’t get elected to the NFL Hall of Fame today, but Bill I’m-so-mediocre-except-for-that-one-year Parcells did.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Parcells should be in the Hall of Fame, just not on the first ballot and not ahead of DeBartolo, Art Modell and Jerome Bettis. I’m fine with the other newly-elected members, which include Cris Carter, Jonathan Ogden, Warren Sapp and seniors Curley Culp and Dave Robinson.

But I’m especially pleased with Larry Allen, former offensive lineman with the Dallas Cowboys. Because Allen wasn’t just a Cowboy, he was a Cossack—a graduate of Sonoma State University.

It’s safe to say that Allen will be the only NFL Hall of Famer to ever attend SSU, since the college no longer has a football program. I think it’s also safe to say that Sonoma State isn’t likely to send even a bench warmer to the NFL. Ever.

The big question is why Allen went to Sonoma State in the first place. It means he didn’t have the SAT scores to get into Stanford, Berkeley or USC. Even worse, it means he didn’t have the common sense to go to Fresno State.

But I’m straying from my main focus here. Whatever happened to Eddie D? Well, long story short, he got taken down by Louisiana politics (as we all do eventually) in some corruption scandal that involved the Governor of Louisiana, riverboat gambling and Eddie D. He gave up ownership of the San Francisco 49ers in 2000, ceding control of the team to his sister Marie Denise Debartolo York.

The York family continue to run the SF 49ers with 32-year-old Jed York as its CEO.

Meanwhile, Eddie D. was elected to the Bay Area Hall of Fame in 2008 and the 49ers Hall of Fame in 2009. He will no doubt wind up in the NFL Hall of Fame some time in the future. It’s not like he’s Pete Rose, after all.

One thing can never be taken away from Eddie D. His 5-0 Super Bowl record as an NFL team owner. No one will ever beat that. Not even a Sonoma State grad.
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