It will be the San Francisco 49ers, who are (5-0) in Super Bowls vs the Baltimore Ravens, who won in their only Super Bowl appearance, meeting for the NFL Title on February 3rd in New Orleans.
Each team coached by a Harbaugh brother (Jim with the 49ers and older brother John with the Ravens) lost a gut wrenching Conference title game last year but won this year.
This is only the second time since Conference title games began in 1970, that both of the previous year’s losing teams each won in the conference title games the following season.
The other time, ’94/’95 also involved Jim Harbaugh. In the 1995 AFC Title game, the Steelers beat quarterback Jim Harbaugh and the Indianapolis Colts. In the ’94 AFC Championship game the Pittsburgh Steelers had lost to the San Diego Chargers. The Steelers ’95 Super Bowl opponent, the Dallas Cowboys, had lost the ’94 NFC Championship game at San Francisco versus the ’49ers. In ’95, Dallas came back and beat the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game.
Jim Harbaugh and the Colts had played gallantly as an underdog at Pittsburgh in the ’95 AFC Championship game. That defeat (the game ended when Harbaugh’s hail mary pass was ruled incomplete in a questionable decision) plus the one vs the Giants in overtime last year leaves Jim with one more tough title game loss than brother John. John’s Baltimore Ravens lost a heart breaker last year versus the New England Patriots.
Jim’s 49ers certainly had a tougher time winning last week, overcoming a (17-0) deficit and having to “hold off” (was there defensive holding by SF on the last key play?) the Atlanta Falcons while John’s Ravens scored 21 unanswered second half points to knockout the Patriots.
Each Harbaugh brother coached team trailed at the half, scored 28 points and held their home team opponent scoreless in the second half.
It is only the third time in 43 years of two conference title games that both road teams won. In 47 years of two games to determine the Super Bowl participants, it is the fourth time both road teams prevailed. Starting with the AFL’s first season in 1960, this is the fifth time in 53 years of two title games, that both road teams won. In a humorous note, it is the third time of the five that the year or season had a two as its last digit. The years are 1962, 1992, 2012, 1966 and 1997.
On a day I saw baseball great Willie Mays speak at a program honoring the current World Champion San Francisco Giants, news came that two baseball Hall of Famers, first manager Earl Weaver, and then Stan “The Man” Musial had died.
Weaver managed some great Baltimore Orioles teams including the (1969-1971) vintage which won three straight pennants but stumbled as favorites in two of those World Series. In 1970, in a World Series considered a tossup and without home advantage, Weaver’s Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Earl won another pennant with the 1979 Orioles but again with home advantage and as the favorite, Weaver’s Orioles lost the World Series. The Orioles also won divisional titles under Weaver in 1973 and 1974 losing the ALCS to the eventual World Champion Oakland A’s.
Stan Musial was “The Man:” a wonderful man and among the greatest of the great as a player. His plaque in Cooperstown reads “holds many National League records” because they could not come close to listing all of them. Growing up, I heard Stan held the record for holding the most records.
Musial’s career and some of his records and legacy got lost as he retired in 1963. Stan’s last hit, number 3630, then a National League record (1815 hits at home, 1815 hits on the road), went past the 1963 rookie of the year, Pete Rose, who would break Musial’s record 18 years later, just after a baseball strike ended.
Less than two months after Stan’s last game, John F. Kennedy, for whom Musial campaigned in 1960, was assassinated. Soon, new kinds of records and “setting records for records” was happening with the Beatles.
Musial’s baseball achievements were incredible and his class was overwhelming. I saw Stan once at a conference in 1997, honoring Jackie Robinson 50 years after he broke the “color barrier” in baseball. Stan was holding “court” and had mentioned he played with Ken Griffey’s father, the grandfather of Ken Griffey Jr. I suddenly thought of the clear line that sent National League control east from St. Louis (the Cards won four pennants in Stan’s first five full seasons and made a run in 1941 after Musial was brought up from the minors) to Brooklyn (six pennants and two excruciating near misses) in the ten seasons Jackie Robinson played. I never got the chance to ask Stan about that as a loud, no nothing, blurted out a foolish comment and Stan was on his way.
History, and what a great history, is what Stan Musial is about.
Stan Musial
Earl Weaver
For the second time in a two year period the world champion San Francisco Giants honored their New York beginnings and still loyal New York fans by bringing the World Series trophy to Manhattan.
At a wonderful breakfast program, CEO Larry Baer; former owner Peter Magowan; and General Manager Brian Sabean talked to members of The New York Giants Preservation Society and The New York Baseball Giants Nostalgia Society, thanking them for their great loyalty.
Next the crowd exploded with joy as the great Willie Mays talked of his love for the Giants in New York where he played from 1951-1957. In that span, the Giants won two pennants (and the Giants’ last title, until 2010). One was a four game sweep of the heavily favored 111 win (154 game season) Cleveland Indians’ team. Mays also loves the San Francisco Giants, for whom he is still a prominent member of the organization. The Giants have won two of the last three World Series titles going (8-1) in the Fall Classic.
The event which clearly illustrated the Giants organization’s commitment to its glorious New York history was a great success. In addition to Mr. Baer at the top, I would like to cite the great effort of both Staci Slaughter and Shana Daum from the Giants public relations and community relations departments in putting together the event. They are two, among many, who did so much from the tremendous Giants’ organization.
Additionally, Gary Mintz and Steve Rothschild, who head “The New York Giants Preservation Society,” also put forth a great effort and helped the event be the success it was.
Steve Rothschild, NY Giants Preservation Society
The promotion for the Off Broadway play, “Old Jews Telling Jokes,” reads “What’s not to like?” After seeing the performance, I use the bigger “L” word. “What’s not to love?!”
It was a ninety minute, great experience of hearing and seeing three supposedly old Jews and two younger ones rattling off some superb jokes. Also some very funny skits and songs. In all cases, the performer’s timing was impeccable.
The joke tellers/stars were Marilyn Sokol, Lenny Wolpe, Todd Susman (he was the public address announcer on eight seasons of “M A S H”) as the older joke “dispensers” while Bill Army and Audrey Lynn Weston were the younger performers.
The director is Marc Bruni. Peter Gethers and Daniel Okrent are both the conceiver/producer.
My best testimony is I left the performance saying… “a man goes into a psychiatrist’s office…” and repeated it many times as I truly enjoyed “Old Jews Telling Jokes.”
Now playing at the Westside Theatre (407 West 43rd Street) in New York City.
If one follows the NFL decree that the Baltimore Ravens are not the descendants of the old, and often times, great Cleveland Browns, then none of the four teams in the two title games this weekend has ever won a title before the Super Bowl era which began in 1966.
The old basketball shooting game, “5,3,1” applies as the San Francisco 49ers have won five Super Bowls, the New England Patriots three and the Baltimore Ravens one. The Atlanta Falcons lost in their only Super Bowl appearance. The 49ers are (5-0) in Super Bowls while the Ravens won in their only Super Bowl appearance. The Patriots, who are (7-1) in AFC title games, (4-0) at home are only (3-4) in Super Bowls, (3-2) in the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.
The Falcons will be playing in their third title game and first at home. All three are the earlier starting title game. On the other hand, the 49ers, who lost a divisional game at Atlanta in 1998, are in their 13th NFC Title game and this will be just the third one that is the earlier game. The 49ers lost both previous earlier title games at Dallas in 1971 and at Washington in 1983.
“Who but me” would note this? San Francisco won a road, earlier start playoff game in 1970 versus the favored Minnesota Vikings in their first such playoff game. Since then they have lost eight straight such games since that lone victory.
The 49ers have lost eight straight times when playing a road, earlier start playoff game. In one of those eight games, 1985, there was only one game played.
When the nine point favorite, and defending AFC champion, New England Patriots host the Baltimore Ravens in the later title tilt on Sunday, it will mark the fourth time the same two franchises are playing for the AFC crown in a second straight year.
On the previous three occasions the team that won the first game won the second. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders in both the 1974 and 1975 AFC title games but did lose the 1976 AFC Title game to the Raiders. Neither Franco Harris nor Rocky Bleier, the Steelers’ starting running backs, played in the loss. That was a key reason the vastly overrated Oakland coach, and later “analyst,” John Madden ever won a title.
The Steelers also beat the Houston Oilers in consecutive AFC Title games in 1978 and 1979. All four Steelers’ victories and the Oakland victory were followed by Super Bowl wins.
In both 1986 and 1987, the Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns for the AFC Title. Both times the Broncos were devoured in the subsequent Super Bowl.
Last year the Patriots edged the Ravens for the AFC Title only to lose the Super Bowl to the (9-7), and just three point underdog, New York Giants. By the way was it necessary for Bill Belichick, as stated here a coach I truly admire (see September 12, 2012), to have kicked a field goal, up 10 points with seventy four seconds left vs the Houston Texans? Bad karma for the Patriots to have done so?
The Atlanta Falcons will host a conference title game for the first time in their 47 year history when they face the San Francisco 49ers in the earlier title tilt this Sunday. The winner will go to the 47th Super Bowl, being played this year in New Orleans, on Sunday February 3rd.
The Falcons, who were two and a half point favorites yesterday versus the Seattle Seahawks, disappointed their bettors but delighted their fans (wonder how many are both, and the extent of the fan’s diminished joy with the “no cover” victory) winning (30-28) after dissipating what twice was a 20 point lead.
Bettors have reacted to the Falcons’ near loss/no cover and to the 49ers impressive Saturday night win vs the Green Bay Packers. SF is a three and a half point favorite, after opening as a three point favorite, vs the Falcons.
The 49ers are hoping to bring San Francisco just the 5th “double title,” meaning baseball and football in the same year during the Super Bowl era (1966- present). The San Francisco Giants, who had never won a World Series as a San Francisco based team, won their second World Series in three seasons. Now if the Niners (5-0) in Super Bowls can win a sixth in the next three weeks, San Francisco will join Baltimore 1970 (with the Orioles and Colts–Ernie Accorsi was the Colts public relations man), Pittsburgh in 1979 (Pirates and Steelers), New York in 1986 (Mets and Giants), and Boston in 2004 (Red Sox and Patriots) as the only cities to win the baseball/football “Double title” in the same baseball, followed by football, season.
The Baltimore Ravens pulled off a big upset win on the 44th anniversary of an even bigger upset, that went against a Baltimore football team.
Yesterday, when the nine point underdog Ravens went to Denver and upset the top seeded Broncos in a scintillating double overtime game, was the anniversary of the New York Jets’ win over the Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl. The Jets were twice the underdog that the Ravens were going into yesterday’s game. In some circles, they were 18 point underdogs, before winning (16-7) vs the Colts, coincidentally the same franchise that the Ravens beat last week in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs.
The Broncos are now (7-3) in home divisional playoff games. All three losses have come in years that a United States President was reelected. The Broncos’ home divisional round loss to the Steelers in 1984 came after Ronald Reagan won a second term in a landslide vote. In 1996, the top seeded Broncos were stunned by the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars, coached by Tom Coughlin, who has won two Super Bowl titles with the New York Giants. Earlier that year Bill Clinton was easily reelected as President. Now a stunning Broncos loss, again as the AFC top seed, in the divisional round at home. Of course, earlier in the course of this football season, Barack Obama was voted a second term as President.
The Hall of Fame, especially baseball’s, was supposed to be a truly special place. However, as with the rest of our society, the standards have been lowered causing major erosion in its glory.
So many “compilers” (Phil Niekro, Don Sutton and Dave Winfield as examples) have made the “Hall,” while others worth true consideration because of their impact (Kirk Gibson, Keith Hernandez, Tommy Davis and Minnie Menoso) have not.
Nobody made the “Hall” this year. That was rare good news. The utter disgrace that is the denial of entry to Pete Rose gets less and less attention. Want to cite his gambling? Put it on his plaque, but to deny this great player, who epitomized one of the few instances when the “American dream,” peppered with hard work, can manifest, is beyond injustice.
That decision is presided over by a chain smoking former car salesman who intones baseball’s current glory equating it with money. That “decision maker,” baseball czar “Bud” Selig, did more to destroy baseball’s integrity by putting in wild card teams and catering to TV networks, than any gambling on one’s own team, however sick (that is the operative word as compulsive gambling is a sickness) could possibly have caused.
Why Craig Biggio? Any titles on his resume? Could one write the history of his era without including his name. I think so. Believe it or not, a so called “traditionalist” like me, has no problem with Edgar Martinez making the “Hall.” If he does not, I would not lose sleep but the designated hitter has been around (better or worse) for 40 seasons. He was a great hitter and on his plaque, if he ever gets in, should flash pictures of Rico Carty. When the subject is just hitting, Martinez and Carty are two of the best I have seen.
I am not “backtracking” but know I did not give enough credit to Peyton Manning. He has played on a Super Bowl winning team and on another team that lost the Super Bowl. He clearly is one of the greatest regular season quarterbacks in NFL history. Most of all, he deserves credit for his hard work epitomized by coming back from a neck injury to lead the Broncos to the AFC top seed.
Maybe, even likely, next week at some point I will preview a New England (Patriots) at Denver Broncos AFC Title game and at that time I can tell you I choose Tom Brady as the better quarterback. Right now, having cited Manning’s failures in at least four post season losses, I had to add he won a title (2006 Colts) and his Colts’ team overcame a (21-3) deficit vs New England and Tom Brady in the AFC Title game that season.
One has to be careful criticizing players, as while of course, they are rewarded “totally out of whack” as compared to such society contributors as teachers and nurses, they do possess a unique skill.
Andy B Sports 