Painful Playoff Loss

After such a long layoff, I wondered a bit whether it would feel the same now as it did for all those big games in the 80s and 90s.  Would I still feel that same level of intensity and passion for the game?  Well, even before the game kicked off, I knew the answer was yes.  I was extremely focused on every play.  I literally did not sit down the entire game, with so much nervous energy.  The game was a lot of fun to watch, right up to that final fatal fumble.  Yesterday really did remind me of all those playoff games from the past.  I hate losing NFC championship games. 

Conference Championship Game

It has been 14 years since the last time the 49ers played in a conference championship game.  I was convinced the 49ers would win that game, even though they had been eliminated from the playoffs by the same opponent, the Packers, in the two previous years.  The game was played in San Francisco and I really thought Super Bowl number six was at hand.  I remember I was taking a ski trip that weekend and I convinced everyone to return on Saturday instead of Sunday so I could watch the game.  Well, the 49ers

Smith Outduels Brees

I don’t like to get ahead of myself.  Great, tremendous playoff wins have a way of being rendered meaningless when the team loses the following week.  Sure, that Young to Owens touchdown to win the wild card game against the Packers in the 1998 season was memorable, especially since the Packers had bounced the 49ers out of the playoffs in the three prior seasons, but the following week the 49ers lost to the Falcons in the divisional round.  Having said that, wow, what a game this Saturday! 

Playoff Saturday

It should be quite a day of football tomorrow.  First we have the first 49ers playoff game since Colin was born.  I can finally stop accusing Colin of being a curse on the 49ers.  Then in the evening game, we have the Patriots versus the Tebows.  That evening game will be a lot more fun to watch if the 49ers win their game.  The playoffs are so much more interesting to me when the 49ers are involved.  Which means in the past eight years or so, I haven’t watched many playoff games.  Some years, I don’t even bother watching the

The Open Sea

With the 49ers earning a bye for the first round of the playoffs, that gave me a free day to take the kids somewhere.  It had been awhile since we last visited Monterey, so we took a short day trip to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We’re members there, so I like to get down there as often as possible, but in recent months with swim lessons on Saturday and football on Sunday, it’s been difficult to find the time to visit.  In fact, our last trip there was in August, which was before the start of the NFL season.  The thing I remember about our last visit were the