MONSTROUS!!!
1 I’m speechless, which is a rare thing.
2 Enjoy it while it lasts.
3 Such a GREAT weekend in so many ways.
4 I dragged my hypocritical self to my Dad’s for two days of getting drenched in NFL playoffs. With the exception of last night’s game, every game was incredible.
5 Even if you’re not a Niner fan, there is no denying the intensity of that game, nor of the Kaepernick version.
6 Both days I had to get up in the 5 a.m. and stumble around my house. The reason I had to do that is that I had to drive fifty-or-so minutes to take care of my Dad. This involves loading my traveling desk, which consists of four bags, three regular shopping bags and one huge bag for my papers, of which there were many.
7 I also needed to load all of the paraphernalia that goes with a traveling desk.
8 Always room for error.
9 That being said, one of my favorite things is watching football with my Dad. He has been a season-ticket holder since I was born, which was somewhere in either the Dark Ages, or at least during Picasso’s blue period.
10 To say I am a natural-born Niner fan would be an understatement.
11 Ironically, because of the length of the day, I had to leave the other night after the first quarter.
12 So I had to listen to one of the most intense games of recent years on my car radio while cruising down 280 in the dark.
13 It was awesome, in many ways, because I enjoy the Niners’ announcers. Ted Robinson in particular is spot on in his play-by-play. It was almost the difference of reading a book and watching a movie.
14 I had my own game going on in my mind, while everyone watching the game saw it from a different perspective.
15 I have known since we drafted him that Colin Kaepernick was a monster. I looked at film of his college career and was flabbergasted. I told everyone and his brother that this guy was being groomed.
16 Whoops.
17 Getting a bit full of myself about nothing.
18 All apologies.
19 But honestly?
20 What a weapon.
21 The only thing that bothers me is that he finally IS the talk of the town. That’s a lot of pressure on a young athlete.
22 And Atlanta is listening. That’s a bit scary.
23 Still, I got home and got instantly intense, and worried. We kept kicking Green Bay’s ass, but the score stayed within seven.
24 I have a lot of respect for Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers. While other people were cheering for Kaepernick, I worried, which is what real fans do. I was at the forty-yard line when The Catch happened. THE classic Niner miracle. I went out of my mind, but within seconds knew there was still too much time on the clock. That’s what we do. Football fans, not just Niner fans.
25 After Coin’s unearthly run, I relaxed. I then started up with my usual football hubris, telling anyone within range that my armchair strategy for the game was to have faith that Frank Gore would unleash, and that Kaepernick should be our second running back. He delivered.
26 He blew the doors off any statistic in the history of football, carrying sixteen times for 181 yards.
27 For the football laymen, or lay women, the average yards-per-carry for the best running backs in football is usually just a little over 4. Kaepernick’s yards-per-carry on Saturday night was 11.3.
28 Freak show.
29 Great performance, undoubtedly.
30 The traditional criticism of a quarterback having a great ground game is that he shouldn’t have to run the ball so much, that somehing is wrong with the rest of the machinery.
31 <basketball buzzer>
32 That game was planned from the moment we acquired Sir Colin. Alex Smith was just a pin prick, just an in-between quarterback who was going to start until Kaepernick could be unleashed. I saw it way back then. Had we any other coach than Harbaugh I wouldn’t have seen it. But we have Harbaugh. And he is good.
33 Nobody expected Alex to perform as well as he did. His strength became his conservative play, and his almost inability to make a mistake.
34 He did make them, but only when he started to feel he was being used, which he was. I’m sorry, but that’s the way I see it.
35 And he was getting paid handsomely for it.
36 Make no mistake: that playoff game on Saturday night was planned long ago, in the event we reach the playoffs, which Jim Harbaugh never doubted.
37 That weapon was kept a bit of a secret, especially once the Niners clinched a bye.
38 That’s Harbaugh.
39 He’s a madman. He is Dr. Frankenstein, and Sir Colin is his monster.
40 Now that he has been revealed, he has other teams a bit scared. He has the oddsmakers making the Niners three-point favorites going into Atlanta.
41 That alarmed me a bit, because Colin is going into only his ninth professional start.
42 He’s still a kid. A freakishly talented kid, but still a kid.
43 His hat was two sizes too big during his interview yesterday. It looked like he was wearing a soup pot on his head.
44 So we’ll see.
45 In the meantime, we sport’s fans have a lot to look forward to.
46 And a little bit to fear.
47 Either way, it was a fun weekend.
48 I’m looking forward to a fun week.
49 I hope you are too.
50 Have a great Monday.
51 As always, fly low. This week should be fun.
52 See you again.
53 Peace.
~H~
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