Super Bowl Live Diary

The Patriots aren't here but I'm still watching. This marks the 27th consecutive year I'll have watched the big  game live. The first one I saw in its entirety was was XX, when my even then beloved Patriots were slaughtered by the Bears and their 46-defense.


0:28 Ravens win the toss and choose to defer. Smart choice by the team I'll root against really hard. Let's hope Kap sticks it to them right away.

0:32 Davis beats Pats Nation Enemy #1 Bernard Pollard, but the play is nullified by a penalty. Hate that bastard, if you'll excuse my French.

0:35 3-and-out after two miscues by the Niners. Ay caramba!

0:40 Another Niners gift (offsides on 3rd down) and Ravens capitalize. I'm going to v omit. Well, the Niners have shown they can come back from a deficit. If they can't stop these mistakes, it won't be close.


0:47 Crabtree gets away from #52 (Lewis) and #31 (Pollard).

0:51 Pistol starting to work. Theisman says Ravens D will wear down. I tend to agree.

0:53 I spoke too soon. 49ers may not be able to pull this out if they have to settle for field goals inside the ten. And Davis looked hurt. They need him to attack Ravens weakness - LB coverage. D. Walker ain't gonna cut it.


0:59 That was almost Patriots like by the D - get good pressure and still allow the completion.

1:03 And again. How does that get completed?

1:04 Niners pass rush doesn't wrap up and finish. That needs to change.

1:05 Pass rush gets to Flacco and knocks Ravens out of field goal range. They need to keep bringing it.


1:10 Davis is back. 29 yards. And follows it up with another 11. He's going to eat them up if they don't adjust.

1:13 And another gift by the Niners. Can't keep piling up yards and not cash in.

1:15 This is how a superior team loses. Penalties, turnovers and FG's instead of TD's.


1:17 Seems like Ravens want to run it just to give their D a breather. First down here was key. Drive already a success.

1:18 Patrick Willis lowers the boom. I wish the Pats had someone that hits like that.

1:21 Ravens score on a play the Patriots ran all the time in their heyday. Niners have no more margin for error. I'm getting a beer.


1:28 This may be it if the 49ers give up another TD here.

1:34 If things were going the Niners' way, this Boldin drop ends up being intercepted.

1:35 Ravens go for knock out punch with fake FG and miss. Niners still have life. Barely. Need to score here, though. Ravens get ball to open 2nd half.


1:40 Well, that was futile. Moss was open for a second but Kap got the ball off too late, giving the DB time to recover. Unless Lee booms one here Ravens will get ball with good field position. Fake FG may only have delayed the inevitable. Worst case, Niners are down 28-3 by the time to they get the ball again.

1:48 That's the first half of that worst case scenario. Except now the 49ers will get the ball with about 1:50 left. Unless a different team comes out after half time, this game may be over. The Patriots blew a 21-3 lead in the 2006 AFC Championship Game. But then, the Colts had Peyton Manning and half the Patriots D was either injured or had the flu.

1:53 Kaepernik needs to run the ball. They won't win this game with him just throwing, this great completion to Walker notwithstanding.

1:58 Another FG. Keys to first half. Niners commit turnovers and costly penalties, do not capitalize on scoring chances. Ravens 6-8 on 3rd down, including TD passes to Boldin and Jones. Niners can allow one more TD max or they won't be able to catch up.

2:03 B. Pollard has two tackles in first half, no notable plays in pass defense, continuing his remarkable stretch of only being a factor in playoff games against the Patriots.

2:17 If the Ravens go on to win, these are your last 8 SB winners. The 10-6 Ravens (4th seed), the 9-7 Giants (4th seed), the 10-6 Packers (6th seed), the 13-3 (top seed), the 12-4 Steelers (2nd seed), the 10-6 Giants (5th seed), the 12-4 Colts (3rd seed), and the 11-5 Steelers (6th seed). The playoffs deliver great drama but also render much of the regular season meaningless. That's one thing I appreciate about European soccer leagues - you win the regular season, you're the champion.

2:31 And that's that TD. Niners basically have to score on every possession now, unless they completely shut down the Ravens offense from here on out. Somehow, I don't see that happening.

2: 35 I should just go to bed, but I've only ever not finished one SB and that was that miserable Colts win over the Grossman-led (if you could call that leading) Bears.

2:40 The lights go out. Is this a sign I should turn the lights off, too? What happens if they don't regain power? Will the game have to resume tomorrow? Is this NOLA's revenge against the NFL - You kill our team's season, we're killing your big game? I'm sure someone will find a way to blame Belichick for this.

2:57 If I want to function later today, I may HAVE to shut it down before the game ends.

3:05 We've got 3 & 13 coming up. Who benefits from this delay, if anyone? This is another half time, right after we've just had one. Does that mean we have a punt return TD by Jacoby Jones to look forward to?

3:13 Ravens not taking the foot off the pedal. Still throwing it.

3:15 49ers have 25 minutes to make up a 22 point deficit. Can be done, but can it be done with a QB starting his 11th game? Defense has to make multiple stops, too. The odds favor more turnovers forced by the Ravens D.

3:18 I would keep doing that if I were the Niners. Run Kap every opportunity he sees.

3:21 Crabtree has to make that catch on 2nd down. Niners just not making plays that are there to be made. At least, Kap and Moss bail him out on 3rd down. Niners must get a TD on this drive.

3:24 Davis beats Pollard. I take my small victories where I can get them.

3:25 Crabtree makes up for the drop. Pollard fails to wrap up. If that had been a Patriot receiver, he would fumbled, gotten a concussion, broken several bones and torn all ligaments in both knees. Have I mentioned that I hate Bernard Polard? The Patriots should just sign him and never activate him for gameday. Who knows, he probably would knock out half the defense with friendly fire-style hits. Niners, btw, should go for two but don't.

3:28 Meanwhile, the 49ers stop Jones before he reaches the 20. Signs of life?

3:30 Blitz comes home and Niners force second 3 and out in a row. Ted Ginn Jr. returns punt to Ravens' 20. Here we go.

3:32 Niners making it look easy. We have a ball game. Again, Niners should go for two. If you fail here, at least you have time to compensate. If you fail late, that may be it. Then again, there are 20 minutes left to play.

3:35 And Niners kick. Odds are there'll be a lot more scoring anyway. Niners need another stop. Can't let momentum get away from them.

3:40 Oh my. That's a fumble. What goes around comes around. Rice's 3rd lost fumble of playoffs. Belichick would personally nail him to the bench.

3:42 39 FG coming up. Akers has been shaky this year.

3:44 Wow, questionable penalty gives Akers a second chance and he makes it. All breaks suddenly going Niners way. Tale of two halves.

3:50 Niners can't wrap up in the backfield. As a Patriots fan, it's reassuring to see that our D is not the only one with that problem. Great drive for the Ravens so far. They need to come away with points here, TD puts them up by 12, esssentially two TD's.

3:55 Boldin pretends it's a run play that he's given up on and then breaks hard to the outside. Smart play.

3:57 Ravens settle for 20 yard FG. Must be considered victory for Niners. 12:54 left, down 8. Teams are statistically very even. Big difference is Ravens +1 in turnovers and special teams TD.

4:02 Moss between Pollard and Reed for 32 yards, followed by Gore for 21. Niners have been moving ball well most of the day.

4:04 Kaepernick too fast, it's almost unfair. Going for two here and fail. Bad play, bad execution. A lot of time left. This is when you want to be able to grind out first downs on the ground. Don't think Ravens will be able to do that. Flacco will have to make some throws.

4:10 First PD call of the night. No complaints, though.

4:16 At least, they didn't lose the time out. Now we'll see if it was worth it.

4:17 Boldin is a monster. No Patriots WR makes that play. I hate that we can only run the 'throw it at the defenders head and let the receiver adjust'-play with Gronk. We need a big and strong wideout.

4:20 Big third down coming up, Niners must hold Ravens to FG. And Pitta can't hold on. Tucker makes 38 yarder. 49ers have 4:19 to score a TD and take the lead for the first time. The trick is not only to score but also to use up most of that time. And to convert the 2-point conversion.

4:25 That ball was maybe 6 inches too far. Davis just couldn't hold on.

4:29 Niners let the clock run down to two minutes, facing 2nd and goal. They are almost certainly going to leave enough time on the clock for the Ravens to mount a final drive, if they score. The 2-point conversion will be critical.

4:32 3rd & 5 for the Niners. I think I would've run on 2nd. Hindsight.

4:34 What was that play? You throw it short of the end zone?

4:35 And then you throw a fade. Niners best offensive weapon this close is Gore and Kaepernick running. They used neither when it counted most. Granted, there was a lot of contact on Crabtree but the refs haven't been calling much and you certainly can't count on it.

4:41 Intentional safety. Need a Music City Miracle type play now. Did Harbaugh bring the Stanford marching band?

4:45 No, he didn't.

I'm going to say this: Sometimes teams say they didn't lose, they just ran out of time. I believe this is true today. add another quarter and I think the Niners win. They just couldn't overcome all their early mistakes.