pain revisited

I'm sitting in front of the television the morning before Super Bowl XLVIII (48) and thought this might be an appropriate time to briefly reminisce about the season-that-was for my dear San Francisco 49ers and once again, what-could-have-been as far as a spring and summer of celebrating as the top dog in the football world. And amazingly, their season once again abruptly and painfully ended with a missed opportunity to Michael Crabtree in the right corner of the end zone. While this year’s season ended one game short of the Super Bowl, I definitely felt a greater amount of pain with this one – the kind of pain I endured as a teen watching the Niners bow out of the playoffs over and over again to the Cowboys and Packers. There are the obvious reasons: missed opportunity for the final destination, playing against and ultimately losing to your rival, second guessing a risky play when more chances were available. Again, those are the obvious reasons. Thinking about it this morning, two weeks removed from the horror, my thoughts have crystallized a bit. Last year, there was zero doubt in my mind that Year Two of the Jim Harbaugh era would conclude with a celebratory hoisting of the Lombardi trophy. There was no way they were losing to that Baltimore Ravens team. But the game happened, they went down big (“WHAT?”), they came all the way back (“OF COURSE!”), the win was in the bag, the ball sailed past Crabtree’s outstretched hands…and the game was over. Poof. Over. Done. The ending happened so suddenly, even now, I’m not quite sure I’ve experienced the burden of the thing as a fan. Even that short blog post from last year – I just don’t have much to say about it. It just ended. So in contrast – the 49ers at the Seahawks. I languished this possibility for the entire year, I watched hours of Seattle football games hoping in vain for losses. I talked with friends repeatedly that the Seahawks wouldn’t lose with home field advantage, all of it was mental preparation for the inevitable. Not only did it play out as intended, the trail cruelly seeded tangible glimmers of hope for a different ending. And this one, it lingers. It didn’t simply end. The whole season keeps playing over in my mind. The “what ifs” and “if this”…And I absolutely loved this team, one of my all-time favorites, a 6-4 team that ran the table to finish 12-4 with impressive road playoff wins in Green Bay and Carolina. Even with (knock on wood) Super Bowl victories in the future, I’ll always remember this one. Thanks for stopping by.