Shootout in the Superdome!

Despite the final score, the big game came down to the old saying "Offense wins games, Defense wins Championships".  Early on, it looked to be all Baltimore as they built a 21-6 halftime lead on the strength of three Touchdown Passes by Ravens QB Joe Flacco to three different receivers.  Baltimore's vaunted defense held wonderkind Colin Kaepernick in check for the most part in the first half leaving him looking mighty frustrated at the end of it.  When Jacoby Jones ran the second half kickoff back 108 yards for a Ravens Touchdown, it looked like it was time to turn out the lights on the 49ers at 28-6 Baltimore.  Then someone really turned out the lights at the Superdome delaying the game for 34 minutes while CBS farted around trying to take up the time.  

When the game resumed, it seemed the teams had changed places and the 49ers were virtually unstoppable as they scored 17 points in about 4 and a half minutes to draw close at 28-23.  After a Baltimore Field Goal made it 31-23, the 49ers came back to score a Touchdown but missed the try for two points to leave them at the short end of the score at 31-29.  The Ravens scored another Field Goal to go up 34-29 before the 49ers made a furious attempt at winning the game driving to the Baltimore 5 yard line with just over 2 minutes to play.  The Ravens defense then withstood 4 strikes into the End Zone by Kaepernick, getting the ball back at the 5 with 1:42 left to play.  They failed to make a first down but ran the clock down to 12 seconds when the Ravens punter ran around in the End Zone for 8 seconds before purposely taking a Safety by stepping out of the End Zone giving the 49ers their final 2 points to draw within 3 at 34-31.  The punt return by the 49ers ate up the remaining 4 seconds of clock time and Baltimore became Super Bowl XLVII Champions with QB Joe Flacco winning the MVP honors.  

I watched the whole spectacle from the beginning of the pre-game show at 1 PM CST until the opening minutes of the excellent new CBS series "Elementary" after the game.  The most glaringly disappointing thing about CBS' coverage both before, during and after the game was their completely ignoring the single biggest controversy of the week, the blatant homophobic statements by 49er linebacker Chris Culliver, for which he later apologized and the denial of the two 49ers in the "It Gets Better" video of their involvement in it.  Chris Culliver was in on several pivotal plays, most of which went badly for him, but nary a comment was made of the controversy by anyone at CBS.  There was one stray comment about generic homophobia in the pregame that passed by so fast you almost did not see it, but other than that fleeting remark, CBS failed to tackle the subject of homophobia in sports completely.  I give CBS a big FAIL for their lack of coverage of the biggest controversy of the week.  

On a positive note, Chris Culliver will be working with The Trevor Project to educate himself about LGBT issues and the harm that homophobia in any form causes to anyone of the LGBT persuasion, especially our youth.  Let's hope he learns his lessons well and goes from an enemy to an ally from here forward.  

The hottest advertisement prize went to Calvin Klein commercial featuring model Matthew Terry in a sizzling debut the CK Concept line of underwear.  Watch for yourselves to see the mega hotness:

Now that the NFL season is over and football fans are nursing their Super hangovers from too much alcohol during and after the game, I have the perfect soothing accompaniment for your look at today's Super Studs lounging about the page in their Monday's Undies for your visual appreciation.  Over the weekend I discovered an artist heretofore unknown to me in the remarkable Adam Hurst "A Cellist and Composer bridging Eastern and Western musical worlds".  I loved his music so much I could not decide which pieces to include and which I would leave out.  In the end I decided to post his entire play list of uploaded videos which provides two and a half hours of soulful, evocative and melodic music that I would classify as contemporary classical at its finest.  Adam Hurst plays Cello, Acoustic Spanish Guitar and a Gypsy Cello in some pieces that he crafted himself in addition to organ foot pedals and percussion instruments.  Have a listen while you admire the eye candy and I think you will be as impressed as I was upon discovering this amazing artist.  

Thanks for spending part of your Monday here at Nichevo, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time a s always, Enjoy!