Arena The Official NFL Discussion Thread (Now Featuring Time's Person of the Year, Taylor Swift!)

They really treated him like crap, especially after he roared them back against the Saints to go to the conference game last year.

Meanwhile, Flacco and I have the same favorite gummi bear flavor. Go Ravens.

 

Yeah, I am still fairly disappointed in the Niners for the way they treated Smith this season. He's not geting nearly enough credit for putting them on the road to being in the SB.

 

they made a really tough call and it was the right one. it sucks for smith but the decision to bench him wasn't some great injustice.

 

It's more just the way they so totally erased his contribution to the season. I don't for a second think they'd be in the Super Bowl if Kaepernick had been playing from the beginning of the season. Maybe next year but not now.

 

i don't think anyone went out of their way to "erase his contribution to the season". i mean that's more of a media coverage thing than a team decision. are they supposed to take some time at every press conference to talk about how great alex smith played three months ago? issue a statement or something?

 

I don't know, something. I agree it's mostly a media problem, though.

 

He looked like he was going to cry when Deion Sanders was questioning him about not having a podium.

 

I think Harbaugh had his eye on Kaepernick all along, even before he took the Niners head coaching job. Alex Smith was never going to be the future QB for the Niners under Harbaugh. And ironically, you can also give Andrew Luck some credit for scouting Kaepernick for Harbaugh (Both QB's were at the Manning academy).

Interesting article regarding all of this:

http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/ostler/...-Kaepernick-in-2011-4218962.php#photo-4077921

"If the scouts weren't impressed, Luck apparently was. He and Kaepernick became pals, and when Luck returned to Stanford, Harbaugh asked him if he'd seen anyone who looked good.

Oh yeah, Luck said. Colin Kaepernick.

Andrew Luck: the Bay Area gift that keeps on giving.

In picking Luck's brain, was Harbaugh thinking and plotting ahead one year, to when he might be an NFL coach for a team in need of a good young quarterback? Who knows?

Fast forward to the following spring. Harbaugh gets the 49ers' job, decides Alex Smith will be his quarterback for the present, but what about the future?

That's when Harbaugh and Baalke head to Reno."

 

Kaepernick can also probably thank Luck for deciding to stay at Stanford that extra year when Harbaugh took the 49ers job.

 

Pioli comments on Javon Belcher's suicide.

 

This is a disgusting statement from a 49ers player concerning gay football players.

 

And yet, sadly, he's probably right and more honest about that sad fact than 99% of the league would be.

 

I really hope someone on the Ravens is secretly gay, and proceeds to thrash the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

 

Another reason to root against the Niners

 

yeah, because the only ignorant moron professional athlete in the world plays for the 49ers! a win for the wise and virtuous ravens is sure to be a victory for gay rights and human decency.

 

God this is the worst Super Bowl ever! I hate these teams! damned no matter who I root for!

 

I more just like the idea of a closeted Ray Rice breaking the guy's face and then giving a post-game interview announcing he likes dudes.

 

that was super bowl 30 for me. steelers and cowboys, ugh. but when the 49ers started being terrible i pretty much stopped caring about the super bowl. this will be the first one i've watched in 12 years.

 

Giants vs Ravens in 2001 is more or less a forgettable one for me. The only reason I remember it at all is that my ex invited me to a mini - Super Bowl party with him and his parents that night. I'm willing to bet to this day his dad still calls that Super Bowl 'rigged' with the way the Giants choked in it.

 

I can do that with baseball. But I love football. I look forward to the Super Bowl no matter who is playing. This is just that rare year where there is no team I hate more so I could root for the other.

 

tbh i probably would have watched every super bowl but i've been working weekends for the last 12 years. this is just the first time i've cared enough to get the day off.

 

It's the opposite for me: I like both teams, so as long as the game isn't a blowout, the end result doesn't matter to me. As for past Super Bowl's, the last one I was flustered about going in was for Super Bowl XXXV. I watch every year, though, because Super Bowl Sunday is in the top 5 of my list of favorite day's of the year. Super Bowl XLVII will mark the 10th straight Super Bowl that me & my brother will have watched with our buddy Brian at his place... it's been a great tradition of ours, even if some of the games were up to par.

 

the two most forgetable SBs for me were the pats/eagles, and pats/panthers. just really... bleh games.

oh. the steelers seahawks. i forgot about that one. probably because i didn't even bother watching it.

 

Tunick rooting for SF team is odd.

 

Both of those games were close in the 4th, with Pats/Panthers being decided by a Vinatieri field goal. Not exactly bleh (even if they started that way) bleh games.