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Super Bowl XLVII—the aftermath
It is Monday evening, and the lights are out at the SuperDome in New Orleans. Intentionally.
Yesterday, they lost power during the game at the Super Bowl, and there was cause for concern. Fortunately, the lights came on about half an hour later, and the game continued. A great game, by the way, in doubt right down to the final seconds. When the clock read zero, the Baltimore Ravens edged the San Francisco 49ers 34- 31.
Fifty years ago, in 1952, the Grey Cup was played in Toronto. Halfway through the game between the Hamilton Tiger Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, fog rolled in from Lake Ontario. With nine minutes and 29 seconds left in the fourth quarter, officials postponed the game. They played the final minutes the following day. When the fog interfered with play, the Bombers led 28-27. The same score held up until the end of the game the next day.
Despite the fact that the Ravens were considered to be underdogs by the majority of football fans, they dominated the first half. Quarterback Joe Flacco, who was named the game MVP, outperformed his counterpart from the 49ers, Colin Kaepernick. Flacco threw three touchdown passes, and led the Ravens into the locker room at half time with a 21- 6 lead.
To complicate things for the 49ers, the Ravens’ Jacoby Jones took the kickoff deep in his end zone, and wove his way through the centre of the field to the 49er end zone. The final determination was that he had covered 108 yards in his journey, a Super Bowl record. By comparison, he would have covered 128 yards on a Canadian football field. The field of play is 110 yards in the CFL, and the end zone is 20 yards deep, as opposed to 10 in the NFL.
The 49ers were stunned. At that point, they trailed 28-6. Following the kickoff, the lights went out. I could almost hear “Dandy” Don Meredith, the iconic Monday Night Football announcer howling out his patented song, Turn out the Lights, the party’s over! I would not have been a bit surprised if the game had turned out to be a blowout.
Such was not to be the case. Thirty-five minutes later, the 49ers rallied to score 17 straight points. With the Ravens ahead in the fourth quarter by six points, the 49ers headed to the line of scrimmage inside the Baltimore 10-yard line, with a first and goal. Most armchair quarterbacks assumed that coach Jim Harbaugh would elect to run the ball, either by Kaepernick or by running back Frank Gore. The 49ers elected to pass, four times, and the Ravens’ defence, including Ed Reed, thwarted all attempts. They pressured Kaepernick, and that was “all she wrote.” Ravens took a safety to end the game harmlessly.
It was the first time in football history that two coaches who were brothers, Jim and John Harbaugh, faced each other in a championship. Ravens’ Ray Lewis played his final National Football League game. He announced his retirement several weeks ago, and many of his teammates wanted to win one for Lewis.
Twelve years ago, Lewis led the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory, and was the game MVP. Controversy surrounded his career; several years ago, he was implicated in a double homicide that has yet to be solved, and during the past week he was accused of using deer antler spray to help rehabilitation with a torn bicep muscle. As a sidelight, golfer V. J. Singh recently admitted to using deer antler spray. I am sure that would raise a few eyebrows in Bancroft!
Kaepernick made his debut as the 49ers QB in mid-season. His debut has been nothing short of spectacular. He broke several records with spectacular performances. He is now 25 years old, and has a bright future in the game. But the day belonged to Flacco, who completed 22 passes out of 33 attempts.
A most entertaining end to the season.
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