Monday, January 20, 2014

Love the 49ers the Right Way: A Word on the Art of Excuse-Making

I was going to do a little postgame analysis; work through some specific key plays and key coaching decision in the 49ers-Seahawks game (nothing is forthcoming on the Pat-Broncos game, Broncos dominated, the end.) I will do that soon, because there was a lot of great plays in this game, a lot of plays that could be considered turning points. A lot of things to look at and appreciate and mistakes to look at and learn from. I’m not going to do that yet though, because I have a rant that’s been building up inside me and grew to a fever pitch this morning.


I really, really, really do.


You know what bothers me the most about this game? The excuses made by 49ers fans that I see on every corner of the internet. Could a few things have gone our way that didn’t? Certainly. I was even apt to say after last year’s Super Bowl loss that the referees had as much to do with it as the Ravens. But then again we (probably) benefited from a power outage and subsequent delay. It’s football, shit happens.

This game though doesn’t even compare, doesn’t even come close by any stretch of the imagination, to the sort of unlucky nonsense the 49ers went through in last year’s Super Bowl. Bruce Miller wasn’t held so badly his feet came off the ground while he was being, quite literally, carried by his shoulder pads as Jacoby Jones raced by him for a second-half opening touchdown.

That running-into-the-kicker/roughing-the-kicker call is hardly some instance of horrid officiating. When I watched it live I thought it was of the five yard variety as well. Maybe by textbook definition of the rule, due to where the defender hit Andy Lee, it should have been enforced as roughing the kicker, but there was no malicious intent—the sort of operative definition of a “personal foul.”

But this isn’t even really relevant to what I’m actually talking about. I would be less inclined to speak out against people who wear the same color jersey as I do on gamedays if their ire was directed towards officiating (which, sure, it wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough).

No, I’m bothered—sincerely bothered—by the amount of “hypothesis excuses” (as I’m going to term them) I’m seeing 49ers fans throw around. As you all know from elementary science a hypothesis is an “if, then” statement; the beginning step of the scientific method. For example, if I lower the temperature of water to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, then it will turn into solid ice. You test your hypothesis and it either confirms or denies it the veracity of the statement. Good lesson class.

Every status, every comment, every forum post seems to be dedicated to some sort of alternate reality version of the game that didn’t happen, “but could have, if only _____, then _____” (usually the latter blank is some variation of “the 49ers win”).

Here’s my hypothesis: If football was played like this, then everyone would be the Super Bowl Champion.

The other steps of the scientific method are observation and experimentation. In our extended metaphor we’re going to say that the experimentation part is when the game is actually played, and the observation part is when we watch it.

What about that game can make anyone think anything otherwise than the Seahawks should have won? The experiment was played out, in front of our very eyes in the form of a professional football game—we observed it—and a pretty conclusive statement was made. Players commonly refer to this as “looking at the scoreboard.”

But, but but. But if Kaepernick throws that last past two inches higher and Crabtree catches it then the 49ers win. But if Richard Sherman’s arms were slightly shorter then Crabtree catches it and we win the game. But if the game was played at Candlestick and not Century Link, then the 49ers would have won the game. But if we had Calvin Johnson on our team, then the 49ers would have won the game.

I mean, where does it end?

What is the point of watching football, what is the point of playing the games, if we’re just going to try to deny the results?

Sometimes it’s acceptable. The Ahmad Brooks-Drew Brees fiasco is an acceptable source of anger and “what if.” But only because the rule in place that allowed for that flag to be thrown is subjective and left to the whims of a referee, and in this instance especially so because that foul is clearly not called in a consistent manner whatsoever. The NFL has to answer to that. At the same time, the 49ers did not have some dominating performance stolen from them and handed to the Saints through that call alone. That game was close mostly because Colin Kaepernick’s would-be pick-6 was dropped as cornerback was diving into the endzone.

It is not acceptable, however, when you’re denying the results that are the clear and conclusive evidence of play on the football field, unmarred by any sort of subjectivity or circumstance.

The refs in no way affected the game ending interception. They did not affect any of the 49ers’ three turnovers. They did mishandle the fumble that should have rightly been awarded to the 49ers at the one-yard line during Bowman’s terrifying knee injury, but the fact is that we actually benefited from that missed call in a roundabout sort of way. Instead of being backed up against our own endzone we were gifted ten to fifteen extra yards of field position on the ensuing play. It was karmic justice certainly, but once again you can’t really go crying about officiating.

So that honestly leaves one possible outcome; that—god forbid a 49ers fan utter the words—the Seahawks deserved to win that game. The play on the field showed that, and showed it about as clearly and brightly as it can be shown.

Do I mean that the Seahawks were clearly and brightly the better team? No, those teams are as evenly matched as they come. They’re both grade-A teams. The Seahawks simply played and executed better yesterday, and thus they were the better team yesterday (as they have been in two of the three meetings between us), and so they deserve to be in the Super Bowl. It would take an actual insane person to legitimately believe anything otherwise.

But I guess that’s the beauty of sports, one of the cosmic draws to the adrenaline of the game and the pure loyalty of fandom—that very intelligent well-informed people can lose their shit for a moment, and do so in a socially acceptable way.

But the game’s over, we lost, and there’s no “iffing” our way out of it. The moment is over, so go ahead and return to reality please.


We have four draft picks in the first three rounds of the 2014 NFL Draft, maybe five if given a compensatory third-round selection for the loss of DaShon Goldson. We have two first-round talents joining the team from IR in addition to our draft haul (Lattimore and Carradine). We are going to be awesome for a long time. Keep calm and love the 49ers.


Take a page out of the 49ers’ book. We win and we lose with class (the team that is). Maybe you can argue that Harbaugh doesn’t—I personally think he does—but the 53 men in that locker room aren’t making excuses. They aren’t playing the “if, then” game.

They’re acknowledging defeat and responsibility for their part in that defeat, and they are already working at getting better. Because that’s their job, because it means more to them than we can possibly even imagine. So we should also acknowledge their defeat and their part in it, and also acknowledge their success and their part in it. Football isn’t over when the last whistle of the season blows; not for them and not for us.

Fans aren’t doing themselves or their favorite team any favors by writing off losses as aberrations, or “bullshit,” by discounting them through some sort of mental gymnastics particular to sports fans.

Because doing so disrespects the game. If we don’t respect the results on the field, then what’s the point of playing the games? We’d like to think we have more power than we do to decide who the winner and the loser of these games are. That through words and loyalty we can actually affect who is the better team. “Oh we may have lost that game, but we are better, and we deserve to be in the Super Bowl.” No, we aren’t. No, we don’t.

Look, writing isn't my "job" because I'm not paid to do it, but I love writing and I take great pride in it, in a way I'd like to think the 49ers players take pride in their jobs. If I post a lousy article filled with typos I would want to address it correctly, not make the excuse that if my fingers were positioned merely one inch to the left "gppyns;;" would have been "football." And I wouldn't want credit where credit isn't due. If someone writes better articles than I do, like Bill Simmons, you should read them and I should try to write better articles.

And as much as I’m sure it crushed the 49ers players to have lost, I don’t think they would want to be “explained” into the Super Bowl. Because the game is played on the field, and it was a game they lost, and they’re not going to make excuses for it, they haven’t been making excuses for it. We as fans, as writers, as observers of the game, need to respect the result, because it’s the right thing to do.

The players put their entire lives into games like this so that the results on the field matter. So let them matter.

1 comment:

  1. I'd love to hear what Sherman thinks about this, the guy who tells people not to judge him by his character on the field

    ReplyDelete