The following post was written the day after the Niners lost. I didn’t finish it because every time I wrote ‘the Giants’ I thought about Aubrey Huff rolling over to second base and had to look at pictures of Brandon Belt on the Internet to calm me down. This was time consuming and I had homework. Enjoy.
The 2002 World Series was a blur. I was 9 years old and I was more interested in watching 30 minutes of Blue’s Clues than watching 3 hours of a baseball game. The 2003 MLB playoffs I don’t even remember. The Steve Finley grand slam was disappointing but I was too focused on climbing the sixth grade social hierarchy. Those were all heart breaking Bay Area sports moments, all happening before I became a sports junkie. Though it’s been tough being a sports fan in the Bay Area for some time, it was the overall incompetence of the teams that hurt rather than any specific moment. I haven’t experienced a stomach punch loss since Bay Area teams have been stuck in the cellar of their respective sports for so long. The only really hit to the groin I’ve taken was in 2007 when Cal Football was one half away from becoming the number 1 team in the country and Kevin Riley took a sack in the final seconds instead of throwing the ball away to set up a last second game-tying field goal. The clock expired and the game was over, sending Cal into a tailspin for the rest of the year. What hurt even more was I was at that game. Yesterday’s loss might have hurt more.
I’ve always wondered what it feels like to get kicked in the junk, thrown into a river, and have a vampire suck blood out of me while Dragons play soccer with my head. This loss might be as close as I get to that scenario. At least for now. There definitely have been worse losses over the years for other teams. But for fans that haven’t experienced such a heartbreak in a long time, this feeling feels like rock bottom.
The 49ers, by all rights, should have won yesterday. If they play special teams the way they did the entire year yesterday, the 49ers are going to the Super Bowl. The Giants had one sustained, long drive, that ended in a touchdown, and that was in the first quarter. Other than that, the Giants had difficulty moving the ball all the way down the field. The Niner’s defense was as good as advertised yesterday. Their second touchdown came off the first Kyle Williams fumble setting them up deep in Niner’s territory. I think FOX is still showing the extra zoomed in replay of the ball hitting Williams’ knee. The Niner’s built their team off being mistake free. It’s a shame one player’s misfortune led to the total demise of one team, and shattering of hearts around the Bay. The hard part about it, is that I really like Kyle Williams as a player. He’s explosive and has potential to be a real nice offensive weapon. Unfortunately this cloud is going to hang over that potential for a while.
I’m not going to beat around the bush, if Kyle Williams doesn’t muff two plays, the 49ers probably win. It’s the sad reality. That said, if the 49ers had gotten anything done on offense apart from a few big plays, those two mistakes would not be so monumental. For all the praise Alex Smith got the previous week, he deserves just as many questions this week. The man had 2 completions in the first half. He was constantly underthrowing wide receivers. The 49ers went 0 for 12 in 3rd down conversions in regulation(not counting the hail mary on the last play), much of those were passing plays that Alex did not convert. Of course, a lot of that had to do with receivers not being open. There’s a problem when you’re number one wide receiver is an underachieving top ten pick, and your number two wide out was picked up off the scrap heap midseason. With no Josh Morgan or Ted Ginn, who would’ve been huge in the return game also, the 49ers receivers were nonexistent.
Apart from being one game away from an NFC championship, this game stings even more because of the team that did win it. Now the world has to listen for two weeks about how the Giants are road warriors that can’t be stopped. If I wanted to listen to the same thing I heard in 2007, I would just listen to Kanye. New York was so confident leading into this game, I was sure the 49ers would win. We also have to hear the obligatory “Eli Manning is an elite quarterback that belongs with Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady.” and the “is Eli better than Peyton?” debates. Let me preface this by saying Eli is one tough SOB, and is playing very well in the playoffs. However, let’s remember the Giants were 9-7, and this so called Eli-led-team barely made the playoffs. This year was the first year the Giants made the playoffs since 2008-2009 season. Peyton Manning has made the playoffs every year of his career apart from his rookie season and this injured year. Eli Manning is a good quarterback that makes amazing plays, but to say he’s in the same class as the aforementioned quarterbacks is being a prisoner of the moment.
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