January 23, 2012
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The Daily News1 Oh, Niners. Really?
2 Okay, so now I get to feast on a little crow. No excuses. In my entire life I had never been more confident about a football game.
3 What I didn’t expect was that we would rely on some little fellow named Kyle Williams to screw up nearly every play he would be in.
4 I expected Michael Crabtree (who?) to step it up, and for Alex Smith to go bold and gold. Didn’t happen.
5 Instead, we relied on trick plays, which didn’t work, and our running game. I expected Harbaugh to give Smith a little more freedom to throw. I expected miraculous third-down conversions.
6 Our defense did just about what I had expected. Well, the didn’t get enough pressure on Eli, but still, they kept the Giants to twenty, which should have been enough. But our offense?
7 Dude.
8 Both Harbaughs lose. Who knew? Great games, but great teams step up in great games.
9 I’m stunned. I honestly felt that we should have kicked those guys all over the planet. Really? Kyle Williams? Lawrence Tynes? Bleh.
10 Our defense, while bending a whole bunch, never broke. But a couple of guys who shall remain nameless simply didn’t show up.
11 We converted zero third down conversions, a little item that this team needs to work on. Really? That was perhaps the most important thing to do. You’re home. You have the crowd. You have the better singer of the National Anthem, even though she was a weird call.
12 Michael Crabtree, where WERE you?
12 And so this is January. And what have you done?
13 Well, you almost got to the Super Bowl, that’s what you have done.
14 To my Niners: thank you for an unbelievable season Thank you for bringing the magic back. Thank you Jim Harbaugh, for bringing it. Thank you Alex Smith, for enduring not only my wrath, but the wrath of so many people. We honor your guts and your belief. You are not the villain. There is no villain. The Niners played their hearts out yesterday, and I stand proud of their performance.
15 Games in the rain. Every strategy is nullified. It becomes pretty much dumb luck, and we experienced dumb luck. We put too much stock in a player who had very few touches during the season. Maybe a smart strategy, maybe not. Harbaugh is a gambler. But he got us fourteen wins this season.
16 I really wanted this one, because I think football is going to go downhill in the coming years. As a season ticket holder, I am going to get priced out of the game, so I fully expect to give it up, as much as it is a large part of my life.
17 And next season, they will test for steroids during the season. I must say that I have looked the other way in football, which has always been an outlaw sport. But that will become an issue in the next couple of years.
18 So I really wanted one last shot at the Super Bowl. I thank Jed York and our entire operation for an awesome season. I remain a Niner Faithful, and I salute Alex Smith and Vernon Davis for all the crap they had to put up with for the past six or seven years. Especially from me. It was pretty frustrating, almost agonizing. And so there was yesterday. And what have we done?
19 We lost, yes, but on a fluke in overtime. You can’t battle better than that. I’m proud of the team for turning a long hiatus into almost certain victory. I loved the entire concept of the Harbowl, which somehow never came to fruition. But I love this team for all it did this year. I’m sorry we lost, but I’m not sorry of my bold prediction. Jim Harbaugh doesn’t believe in jinxes. He believes in mud and guts.
20 And his team believed in him. I still believe in him. I could complain about a lot of stuff in that game, but the reality is, in the end, it was one play that was going to kill either team.
21 In the end, we need to wonder a bit how we didn’t figure out time of possession, or how to gain yardage through the air.
22 Or having trick plays that use guys who didn’t touch the ball all season.
23 Hopefully Harbaugh will figure that out. I’m a bit disturbed that we came this far this season and didn’t get the ring, because football is going south, at least in my eyes. I won’t be able to root for a team that has priced its season ticket holders out of the market.
24 In the end, however, I wish to salute the players and the coaches of this awesome team. The very fact that I publicly expected them to win by ten is a testament to their amazing year. Nothing will ever take that away. I’m not going to grouse about the game; it was a shootout the entire time. We got to overtime in the NFC playoff game. Either team could have won.
25 I copied and pasted almost a play-by-play in today’s DN. I know we lost, but it was still an amazing season and an amazing game. One big play and we would be there. So thanks Niners, thanks Joe, and Steve, and Walsh, and Harbaugh, and Alex, and Vernon, and the entire team for bringing the gold back to San Francisco.
26 May the future bring more magic. I salute the 2011-12 Niners, and will evermore. Wonderful season, wonderful team.
27 Here’s the game, complete with Tweets, according to Michael Solomon of The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/22/new-york-giants-san-francisco-49ers-live?intcmp=239
28 Kyle Williams. Who knew? Poor guy. Seriously. He could have been a contenduh.
29 I will stick by my support of this particular team. They let the entire world know that the Niners are back, and with the exception of one fumble, could have had it all.
30 Sadly, the NFL will never be this again. Too much boushit and all. Not trying to be negative, mind you. Just realistic. To be a fan next year knowing that the greed is going to be costly just won’t do it for me. This was the season; this was the dream; this was the destiny.
31 It just didn’t happen.
32 Kyle Williams. That poor kid. That’s about all I could think about.
33 Thanks Niners, for all the memories. You were a large part of my life. But I can’t afford $80,000 to retain my seats. Once that happens, I won’t want to watch anymore. I may, because it’s in my blood, but this game was it. I gave you this season, and now I just don’t know anymore. In my heart I will always be a Niner fan. But those issues are hard not to examine now that the season has ended.
34 Pitchers and catchers report in February. We have the Sharks.
35 <sigh>
36 Thanks for a great season. Truly. You guys played your hearts out all season long, and the entire Bay Area salutes you. You have earned that respect. Love you, Niners. Always will.
37 Peace.
~H~
