Score More Points

IN PLAY LOSE was reminded today, in the aftermath of the Super Bowl, of a conversation I once had on the sidelines during my ill-fated attempt at coaching basketball. I had just pulled a player from the game who had committed her 4th foul, a ticky-tack over-the-back foul on the rebound after she had taken an ill-advised shot:

her: that was a bad call
me: yes, but you took a bad shot and put the referee in a position where they weren't going to give you a break

Now, in truth, the official in that particular basketball game had eyesight slightly worse than Mr. Magoo, but the point was that my own team was making a hash of it out on the floor. You don't get to blame the officials if you don't make the plays necessary to win the game.

My rooting interest in the Super Bowl came mainly from the fact that I live in San Francisco. Civic pride. In theory, a Seahawk fan shouldn't want the 49ers to win, since they're in the same division, but that rivalry has never felt real to me. My developmental years of watching football came when the Seahawks were still in the AFC West, so I grew up hating the Denver Broncos, loving the fact that the 'Hawks would torment the Raiders, and facepalming as they lost in Kansas City 84 consecutive times. I wanted the 49ers to win because I live in San Francisco, and would've enjoyed seeing the collective mood of the city rise into a state of jubilation. That's happened twice with the Giants winning the World Series since I have lived here. You cannot help but get caught up in the groundswell of enthusiasm. I think the bigger reason that I wanted to win is that the Ravens are one of the single most annoying teams in all of professional sports, and have been so for the entirety of their existence in Baltimore. A bunch of loudmouths and blowhards. And I am sick of the Ray Lewis retirement tour. Honestly, I would rather see a class guy like Tony Gonzalez go out with a ring than someone like Lewis. Just shut up already.

But back to the game. 4th & goal, 2:00 left, the 49ers trail 34:29. The QB Kaepernick throws a pass into the end zone, the WR Crabtree is rather clearly grabbed by the Ravens CB ... and there is no flag for defensive holding. Quite honestly, it was a terrible call. And I will admit I wanted the 49ers to win, but I'm not a diehard homer by any stretch of the imagination. In my opinion, it should've been a flag. But none was tossed, the Ravens took over, killed the clock and took a safety to win 34:31.

It was a lousy call, in my opinion. And in all honesty, I thought the officials were generally terrible throughout the game – not because they egregiously screwed up, but more because they just simply couldn't keep up with the speed and the intensity of the game. They seemed overmatched. The game was physical, chippy, and occasionally threatened to boil over, and the zebras just sort of seemed lost out there. Officiating wound up being a huge sideshow in the NFL this season, what with the replacement refs at the start of the year making a mess of everything, and I found the crew entrusted with managing this most important of games to be substandard.

And I'm all for letting the game be decided on the field of play and not by arbiters, but I don't believe in swallowing whistles come crunch time. A foul is a foul, a penalty is a penalty, and should be called as such regardless of time or score or circumstance.

That being said, the 49ers put themselves in an unenviable position to begin with by squandering opportunities in the red zone and turning the ball over and letting a guy run 109 yards with a kickoff virtually untouched right down the middle of Market St. to start the second half and FOR GOD SAKE HOW COULD YOU LINE UP OFFSIDES ON THE FIRST PLAY OF THE FUCKING GAME? It's one thing to be winning the game and get jobbed by a bad call with little or no recourse. (Witness 'Fail Mary' in my previous blog about the Seahawks.) It's another to make a mess of things and reach times of desperation and hope the stripes will bail you out – which is exactly where the 49ers found themselves at the end of the Super Bowl.

And football officials usually have far less damning effect than in basketball – where you essentially award a team free points at the foul line and force players into foul trouble – or in soccer – where a single goal via an awarded penalty can be all you need to determine the outcome. There were 130+ plays from scrimmage in the Super Bowl, and the officials certainly got a few wrong, but so did the players.

So, in short, the 49ers should score more points next time. And maybe tackle someone. The bad call didn't cost the 49ers the game. They did a fine job of costing themselves.