NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Around the Super Bowl and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of everything surrounding the game: ___ WHAT A GAME! SUPER BOWL SUPER INDEED This year's Super Bowl sure lived up to its name. With a power outage, a record kickoff return, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scoring flurry and the biggest goal-line stand of Ray Lewis' long career, the Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers was so wacky and thrilling it even made folks briefly forget about the Harbaughs. Until John shoved a photographer to get to his little brother, that is. The game had all the makings of a yawner in the first half, as the Ravens steamrolled San Francisco to a 21-6 lead. When Jacoby Jones returned the opening kick of the second half 108 yards for another Baltimore touchdown, most folks at home headed for the kitchen, happy to have seen Beyonce's Destiny's Child reunion and leaving their TVs on just so they could see the commercials. (To recap: Chrysler and the Clydesdale were warm-and-fuzzy, GoDaddy.com was just gross and most of the rest were forgettable — many were released in advance, anyway.) Then the power went out. And the game's entire mojo changed. Fitting, considering this is New Orleans. The 49ers that could only manage two field goals in the first half went on a scoring frenzy, ripping off 23 points in a little over 12 minutes. When they reached the Baltimore 5 yard line just before the two-minute warning, the unprecedented comeback was almost complete. Right. Like this game was going to get wrapped up that easily. The Ravens defense stopped quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers not once, not twice, but three times, forcing them to turn the ball over on downs. Then Baltimore tried to run the clock out — literally. Did you see punter Sam Koch run around the end zone like he was playing a game of keep away? San Francisco wound up with a safety, but did nothing with the final kickoff. The Ravens ran onto the field, the confetti fell and, just like that, it was done. Four hours and 14 minutes has never been so much fun. — Nancy Armour — http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour ___ REPEAT? 14-1 ODDS, VEGAS SAYS So now that the Baltimore Ravens are NFL champs, what are the odds they'll do it again? According to sports books in Las Vegas, 14 to 1. Casinos put up lines for next year's championship immediately following the Super Bowl. The San Francisco 49ers are actually a bigger favorite to win it all next year, 8 to 1, tied with the Denver Broncos. New England is the overall favorite. — Oskar Garcia — http://twitter.com/oskargarcia ___ QUICKQUOTE: VERNON DAVIS While the Baltimore Ravens can revel in their Super Bowl win for the next few months, the San Francisco 49ers are already looking ahead. "We've always got next year, we've got next season," tight end Vernon Davis said. "May as well look forward to next season." — Nancy Armour — http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour ___ KAEP: LAST PLAY WAS AUDIBLE San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick came just short of leading the 49ers to an unprecedented Super Bowl comeback. But with three chances to take the lead needing 5 yards for a touchdown, Kaepernick had three straight incompletions. All three passes were intended for wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who got tangled up with a defender on the final play. No holding was called — 49ers coach Harbaugh screamed from the sideline and signaled for a penalty. Kaepernick's off-balance throw under pressure on fourth down sailed through the end zone. He lowered his head slightly and walked slowly off the field. "That wasn't the original option," Kaepernick said. "It's something I audibled to at the line based on the look they gave us." — Janie McCauley — http://twitter.com/JanieMcCAP ___ QUICKQUOTE: RAY RICE Ray Rice wants diamonds in his Super Bowl ring. Lots and lots of them. "I want to light up like a chandelier when I turn off the light," the Baltimore Ravens running back bellowed, urging Ray Lewis to ask Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti for some bling in their rings. Rice finished with 59 yards on 20 carries in Baltimore's 34-31 victory over San Francisco. — Nancy Armour — http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour ___ DAHLBERG: ADVANTAGE, JOHN AP national sports columnist Tim Dahlberg just filed his latest dispatch on what he calls "the strangest Super Bowl you will ever see." An excerpt: If football is a game of momentum, the San Francisco 49ers probably deserved a better fate. It took a blackout to get them going, only to have some pedestrian play calling with the game on the line finally finish them off. This wasn't two coaching geniuses at their best, not even close. Their father, Jack, surely saw that from the stands, where he and his wife, Jackie, spent more than four hours trying their hardest not to root either way as their sons went up against each other on the biggest stage in football. One, though, was better than the other, and in the end that was why the Ravens were holding the Lombardi trophy aloft in celebration while the 49ers filed quietly off the field. Advantage, John. Read the whole column here: http://bit.ly/VJYQX4 — Tim Dahlberg — http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ___ QUICKQUOTE: MICHAEL CRABTREE With the lead, and the Super Bowl victory, right there in front of them as they lined up on the Baltimore 5 yard line, the San Francisco 49ers could think of only one thing. "Make a play," receiver Michael Crabtree said. "All we needed to do is get in the end zone. We were that close to the Super Bowl title, and we fell short." The Baltimore Ravens defense stopped the 49ers for no gain on three straight downs, ending San Francisco's title hopes. — Nancy Armour — http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour ___ POWER SYSTEM 'ABNORMALITY' Officials say the Superdome power outage during the Super Bowl was triggered by an "abnormality" in the power system. That triggered an automatic shutdown and forced backup systems to kick in, officials said about two hours after the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. But officials still aren't sure what caused the initial problem. A joint statement from Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the stadium, and Superdome operator SMG gives a chain of events. The problem started at the spot where Entergy feeds power into the stadium's lines, and occurred shortly after Beyonce's halftime show with extravagant lighting and video effects. "A piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system," the statement said. "Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue. ... Entergy and SMG will continue to investigate the root cause of the abnormality." The FBI has ruled out terrorism. The concourses didn't go totally dark thanks to auxiliary power. — Paul Newberry — http://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 ___ BROTHERLY RIVALS Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh says he's happy but partly hurting for his brother Jim after beating the 49ers coach in the Super Bowl. "I just love him, obviously. I think anybody out there who has a brother can understand. I just believe in him and I have so much respect for him. I admire him. I look up to him in so many ways and I am hurting for him in that sense," John Harbaugh didn't seem surprised that San Francisco nearly came back after being down big before a power outage delayed the game 34 minutes. "I just knew with Jim Harbaugh being on the other sideline and all of those years we have been together that game was going to be a dog fight right to the end," John Harbaugh said. "Those guys were coming back. There's no greater competitor and no greater coach in the National Football League or in the world, as far as I'm concerned, than Jim Harbaugh. The way that team played proves it. ... That is who he is and that is who they are. I could not be more proud of him." John Harbaugh said that after the game he simply told Jim, younger by 18 months, that he loved him, and that Jim congratulated him. — Brett Martel — http://twitter.com/brettmartel ___ QUICKQUOTE: PATRICK WILLIS "The clock hitting zero." — San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis on the worst part of the 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday night's Super Bowl. — Nancy Armour — http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour ___ STAT CHECK: ATTENDANCE Attendance at Sunday's Super Bowl: 71,024. No word if that includes the electricians they had to bring in. — Nancy Armour — http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour ___ SF FANS CALM IN DEFEAT Fans in San Francisco seem to be relatively calm in Super Bowl defeat. Not like when the Giants won the World Series in late October. Back then, a city but was set on fire, cars were overturned and bonfires lit up trash containers and streets. About three dozen people were arrested. But despite a large number of people on sidewalks, most appeared to be well-behaved in the Mission District after the 49ers lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens. Police declined to say how many arrests had been made. "City-wide, everything seemed to be pretty good," Officer Carlos Manfredi said. "We did have a couple of flare-ups in the Mission District but otherwise everyone seemed to be behaving themselves." — John S. Marshall ___ M-V-P! M-V-P! FLACCO NO ORDINARY JOE Joe Flacco won't have to do much negotiating after this. The Baltimore Ravens' low-key quarterback put off talks on a new contract until after the season. Now when he and the Ravens sit down, all he'll have to do is show off his Super Bowl MVP trophy. "It's cool," Flacco said after Baltimore's 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. "We just won a Super Bowl. That's the last thing I'm concerned about. But (owner Steve Bisciotti) did let me know that if that day came, I could go beat on his desk and really put it to him. "So that's exactly what I'm going to do." Flacco capped a perfect postseason, throwing three touchdown passes in the first half to stake the Ravens to a lead they would never relinquish. When the 49ers made a furious comeback after a power outage interrupted the third quarter for 34 minutes, Flacco was cool and controlled. Let the Niners make their run, he almost seem to say, we'll hold our own. "You've seen these guys do it," Flacco said. "They have the ability to score and to score quickly, and that's what they did." But the Ravens defense made a spectacular stand late in the fourth quarter, stopping San Francisco not once, not twice, but three times on the Baltimore 5. A safety gave San Francisco one last chance, but the Ravens went hard after Colin Kaepernick again, and his last-gasp pass was way off the mark. Flacco finished 22-of-33 for 287 yards. He didn't throw an interception — didn't throw one the entire postseason, to be precise. His 11 touchdowns in the postseason matched a record set by Joe Montana. "That's pretty cool," Flacco said. "Joe Montana is my favorite quarterback so it's pretty cool." Continued... |