In response to RockScully's comment:

Dude just admit you were wrong about Kaepernick.  Pretty much every throw he made were ones that Smith couldn't have dreamed of making.

Complaining about the officiating in general is just plain dumb.  Do officials blow individual calls or have bad games?  Of course they do in much the same way that players screw up on individual plays or have bad games in general.

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In response to RockScully's comment:

I thought Kaepernick played well. Can't fault him on that final drive. Horrible play calling. It brought me right back to Brady before the half. It looked like the Pats were headed for 7 easy. And it certainly looked like Niners were going to at least take the lead. Just terrible play calling. Run that ball in.

Just like the Pats, the Niners got weak. No guts. When the kicker fell and a penalty was called. It made it 4 and 2. They should have tried for first down. A field goal at that juncture was not helping. 

Also not going for the 2 point conversion earlier. That would have made it less pressure to do it earlier and most likely would have had success.

The Niners D was pretty bad on downs that mattered the most.

 

 

 

 

 

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In response to RockScully's comment:

You are right about them failing by not winning it all. Other than that overthrown pass to Moss who made no attempt to help during or after, most of the night his passes were lasers. I have to admit, he is no Peyton at the line.

I watched the game from the Vegas Club on Fremont St in downtown Vegas. (It was good to be warm for a few days, since moving to No Man's Land in PA a year ago.) I took the Ravens to cover, and made some coin. But, I was sitting across from a few Niners fans from outside Petaluma, CA (north of the Bay Area, where, for us old timers, ABC's Wide World of Sports used to show the Arm Wrestling Championships). It was easy to sit there wiith no real dog in the fight, and watch two completely different games. They were a few Ravens fans at the next table over (set up family style). Pretty good back and forth banter, until the game got tighter. Then The Play happened. The Niners fans went appoplectic, and we just about had to call in the EMT's. The Ravens fans were all insisting that it was a great no call.  asked them, honestly, what they would say if Boldin, or Jones, or Smith was the targeted receiver. They all took a pass on the question, saying the Ravens didn't have the ball. True fans, all of them. But the food was free. Also didn't have to pay the $25 per person fee, as I grabbed a table/seat a few hours before they officially opened the doors, and actually did some work on my laptop. Typical game to observe... the crowd dictated the ebb and flow of the game. Calls and no calls. We even joked that Vegas would take advantage of the power outage, by posting an over/under line of 59 1/2 inutes before the lights came back on, and 89 1/2 before play resumed, but only in a parley. One Ravens fan even yelled out that it was a Patriot player that pulled the plug. Both brought our laughs, which was good. Generally speaking, the crowds were well behaved.

Niner fans seemed to outnumber the Ravens fans, probably due to the geographic proximity to Vegas, and that they seem to have a more national fan base, a la Packers. The crowds downtown for the two days before were well behaved, and the Vegas cops discreetly stepping in to keep things in hand. Just like Barney Fife: Nip it in the bud, Ange; nip it in the bud! The big monuments to gambling on the Strip were busy as usual for weekends. The gals were out to be "seen", some fully dressed. New women's undergarments went up at Coyote Ugly, not unusual. But I did catch a glimpse of a Niner brassier being hoisted. I would have LOVED to see who it came from, as it was a sail. I was unable to see the donator. Had a funny observation of 5 younger guys in town with apparent "kitchen passes", from the Inland Empire of So Cal (east of the LA Basin: Riverside, Ontario, etc). They were all bragging about going into the Glitter Gulch (a club specializing in "fabric free" entertainment, with 30+ practicioners at all times). I told them that there was a 2 drink minimum, and it WAS SB weekend. They said it didn't matter. They all went in, and came back out in 10 minutes. Seems they didn't want to pay that steep a price for the well drinks. It was kind of sad and disturbing to see people pushing kids around in strollers at 11 PM.   

For anyone complaining about traffic and traffic jams, quitchyerbichin' !!! Boston and the Northeast have absolutely NOTHING on the Strip on Friday or Saturday night.... just about 2 hours to go @ 2.5 miles. Taxis are the ONLY want to get around. If you have the two hours to kill, you could always hoof it. It's not the time to cover the distance, as much as it's fighting the pedestrian traffic. Only here on a weekend and NYC on a business day, can you see @ 3000 folks crossing a street on a single light change. Plus, there's all the interesting handouts all over the place.... lots of "escort" services available. You can get 100 handouts from different people, adn they all have the same 5-10 girls featured on them. For giffles and grins, I decided to take one from every person handing them out between Bally's and Planet Hollywood. Got back downtown to just check 'em out, and I had over 300 of them, approx 2 lbs. All the same stuff. I hid a few in my buddy's suitcase. Will be interesting when his wife sees them today, when we get home. What a good friend I am!   

Gaming tables had their special Super Bowl rates in place. Minimum bets started at $10 on Fremont Street ($25 on The Strip). OUCH! But, they were all packed. Best chance of hopping in on a $10 table came after 1 AM. And then you didin't give the seat up for hours. Best meal was the Steak & Potatoe at 11:45 PM. It just seemed to taste that much better when it's something you would never do at home. My parting thought this morning, as I sit waiting for my shuttle ride to the airport is this: Just what defines a 'loser". Then, I saw it. A lost soul, wearing a Niner's jersey (Ball, #14), wandering around Freemont Street at 6:30 AM, unshaven, disillusioned, glazed look on his face, dragging his feet. carrying a bottle of Bud.  

Now, time to Fly Those Friendly Skies!

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In response to RockScully's comment:

Easy rock. I am neither a Ravens nor a Niners fan. As for Flacco. Come on. He made some Eli Manning hail mary tosses(prayers) that were answered by his receivers. He does have the long ball toss though.

Managing a game. Sounds like the old TB. I think it will be interesting to see how Flacco does too.

Was there a game yesterday......Bring on the Draft!!!!

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In response to RockScully's comment:

To borrow a phrase from you: Do you own a pair of Alex Smith panties?  Because your man crush on him is completely ridiculous if you think he could have made more than a handful of throws that Kaepernick made last night.  He is not a bad player, but SF put up 29 points and you think they lost because of Kap?  Yeah the INT was bad, but pretty much every other throw was spot on.

Call-No call.  He was still held...

 

Aside from that call SF play calling was highly suspect and  just outta curiosity how do you completely ignore the physical abilities "still"  of a Randy Moss in the Red-Zone?

They didn't throw to him the entire game from what I could see and it would have been the perfect call over the middle....

In response to RockScully's comment:

Hahaha!  Kaepernick did fine, dude you are such a hater, its sickening because it makes your comments look foolish.  Actually he did pretty well and had a few huge , perfectly thrown passes dropped.  Vernon Davis clearly should have caught one down the sidelines that would have scored, I believe Crabtree another one down the middle that would have scored.  My man Moss made no attempt on the int pass, not even to try for a catch or knock it down.  As much as I like Alex Smith, he wouldn't have been able to beat the Ravens.  I did not like the 49'ers game plan early and their play calling was very questionable many times.  As for Kaepernick, he did well.

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Kaepernick put up 31 pts on the Ravens D. nuff said, crusty loses, again.

Refs let them play, no call was okay although it certainly could have been called. PI was loosely called(or not called) both ways all game. I saw a play that Torre Smith looked as though he was going to get behind the CB and the CB clearly slowed him down with a chest grab.

The out of bounds hit on Flacco was much much more shocking to me. he was clearly out of bounds 2 yards without the football and he is a QB. That call is made 99 out of 100 times this year.

My standard rule....

NEVER let the game be close enough that the officials can effect the outcome. Remember all the non-holding calls in the first SB loss to the Giants?

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In response to RockScully's comment:

You saw that raven defense first hand a few weeks ago.  The kid was good, Flacco was better.

I don't see how PI could be called on that final play.  The contact that lasted beyond five yards appeared to be the receiver pushing off on the CB's helmet.  Good non-call, since if you had to call PI, it would be on the WR.

In response to glenr's comment:

True. Good point. SF blew it on that final drive. They had a chance to take the lead and perhaps steal a SB. But the play calling on the last drive to punch the ball in stunk. They should have been running it in from 5 yds out.

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In response to leatherhelmet's comment:

I crown you the wisest man for the week (and I almost spelled that weak... would ahve changed the point entirely)

Kappernick played a solid game but I thought the offensive playcalling was conservative. The interception was his fault obviously but his receivers also dropped some perfect passes. Bottom line is they should have mixed it up a little bit and ran Kap more out of the pistol. When you take the ball out of his hands it is a mistake. There were gaping holes all over the place! Also, that was a great no-call on the last play. Call a freakin' good play once in four downs!!! Where was Frank Gore! How about a QB sneak!!??

Just got back home. Sat next to, and neat giddy Ravens fans. Talked about the lights (caused by NFL, as suspensding Lewis was not going to happen; another punishment was needed), the Ravens game plan, and The Non Call. All 5 said it was a great non-call. All 5 smirked when I asked if they'd say the same of Boldin was the WR in the same situation. One guy even said that that play had no bearing on the game. (Must still be hung over.)

Even in victory...... But, I expected nothing different from them than Pats fans, or The Gang in Vegas.

When does training camp open? Let's hope that the Brady Bunch comes in HUNGRY, and acts on it.