The Day After

Unfortunately I woke up today. That's how it feels the morning after your favorite sports team loses in the biggest game, on the biggest stage in the whole world; the Super Bowl. Yes the 49ers lost, but as most experts said leading up to the big game, the 49ers were the better team. The Ravens weren't even top 5 this year, I challenge anyone to say the Ravens were a "better team" than the 49ers, Seahawks, Broncos, Packers, Falcons, or Patriots. Remember the "better team" doesn't always win every game, that's why they play the games and as I've stated before that's what makes sports so interesting; can the underdog be the victor?
The 49ers were not focused and have no one other than themselves to blame for the Super Bowl loss. The Ravens came out pushing and shoving, knowing that they were out matched talent wise, that attitude allowed for them to establish the tempo early. The 49ers fell behind as they had all post-season, it finally caught up to them. Kaepernick looked rattled like he had against the Seahawks and Rams in the regular season, he brought it back in the second half but the damage was done. No team should expect to win in the playoffs when they give away 2 turn-overs and get 0 turn-overs. The opening second-half kick-off for a touchdown was the whole game in a nut shell, the Niners were just not in the right place at the right time. On the final goal-line stand the 49ers passed on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th down when they had displayed one of the best running games all year long in the NFL, this was possibly because they wanted to keep enough time on the clock in case they didn't score and needed to try and get the ball back, bad decision. And then there was the "no-call" on Crabtree in the end-zone. That was blatant "defensive holding," not to be confused with "pass interference." The defender never let go of Crabtree and even was stretching his jersey as they went beyond 5 yards, the refs decided they didn't want to be the difference in the game or to Ray Lewis' career. This is a sad reality, how sometimes in this country we put athletes on such high pedestals we're willing to ignore their obvious imperfections and deceits in order to see them achieve goals we never could. Despite all this the 49ers nearly won the Super Bowl, which is a testament to how talented they are.
As I do with all my teams, I slowly rummaged through my gear and picked out my 49ers hat to wear today. I always wear my teams gear the day after their season ends so that people know that I'm a true fan. Although this loss hurts worse than any I can recall, or chose to recall, I will sport my black SF hat all day and nod at the hecklers because I love the 49ers and I'm proud of all the players and coaches and what they accomplished this year even though they fell short for the second year in a row of what they were capable of.