What a super-ass game that was. As soon as the blackout happened I starting calling it the greatest ever, knowing that it was gonna lead to a crazy Niner comeback. I swear! And it almost happened. I was really pulling for the Kapernicus kid, I hadn't given up on the game yet (though the 98-yard kickoff return didn't have me as confident anymore), and I figured the big delay could only help. And I kept babbling about how if they do come back, it would be so crazy since of course the other team would be so pissed and have to blame the blackout, causing a huge firestorm. But SF fell just short. I still don't know why they didn't give Kapernicus a shot to run the ball--or at least throw one of those option plays and give it to Gore--when they have four shots to WIN THE SUPER BOWL from inside the 10. And then on the final kickoff--where are your laterals!? This is it, man, break out your Cal-Stanford play! What is this coach thinking? It's almost like he gathered the team, and said, "Okay, it's down to one play, here's what we're gonna do! Eh, on second thought, just don't even try, let's go home." Or maybe the NFL knew what the blackout firestorm would be like if they won, so they made them just end the game.

The good thing about SF losing, of course, is that the homophobe loses. And in the most ironic play in NFL history, the gay-hater goes and gets a penalty for putting his hands and body up against another man late in the 4th to potentially cost his team the Super Bowl. It stinks that the Murderific one gets another ring, but oh well, I didn't really care who wins. But I do admit I was super disappointed in the ending after having rooted for the Niners the whole way.

And that safety! Of course my dad and I did our usually prop bets, and the one every gambler always does is the "will there be a safety in the game?" bet. I only wish we'd put up more on it, but hey, we got our safety, even if it took 59 minutes. As soon as it got to 4th down, we were well ahead of the announcers in knowing there was a good chance the punter was gonna take the deuce. Awesome. That plus the SF + 14.5 spread we jumped on when they were down by 22 made it a pretty good night.

As for the contest, we had longtime reader (and now real-life friend!) Ryan winning quarter 1, then "gojohn" took halftime (looked like my mom was gonna win yet another contest just before the half but no), then another longtime reader Boston Fan in Wichita won the 3rd, and then, for the fourth, thanks to the safety, gojohn--with a different set of numbers--nailed it. I wasn't remembering who he was, so I checked his profile, and it turns out he's the writer of a new blog called Rhody Sox! Woohoo, a fellow Rhode Islander and blogger wins. (I had already had his blog linked in the sidebar as of a few weeks ago.) So nice job by him, he gets the top two prizes. Winners, send me your addresses! (I think Ryan and Wichita have both already won stuff so I should have theirs but they might wanna go ahead and re-send just in case....)

Thanks for playing, everybody, I hope that game was as fun for you as it was for me.