Super Bowl XLIV reportedly most watched TV program ever
by Fooch on Feb 8, 2010 6:03 PM PST
in News
2 comments
Various news sources are reporting that Super Bowl XLIV will likely go down as the most viewed television program ever with approximately 106.5 million viewers. The record was previously held by the M*A*S*H series finale with 105.97 million viewers. Apparently though, the numbers are subject to a margin of error and thus might change a bit.
Even if it doesn't surpass the previous record, it's an impressive number in its own right. The previous record for Super Bowl rating was last year's matchup between Arizona and Pittsburgh, which had approximately 98.7 million viewers. Even with a dip from the overnight number, this year seems certain to at least surpass last year's Super Bowl.
When I first read this, I was thinking the matchup of the top 2 teams in the league was a factor. However, in reality, I can't imagine that led to too much of a bump since actual football fans were generally going to watch this game no matter the opponent. Maybe a few extra with this matchup but not too many.
As the link above suggests, the national story line of New Orleans and Katrina and whatnot had to have helped the ratings. At the Super Bowl party I attended, there were many non-football fans who could tell you they were rooting for New Orleans because of everything that went down there.
This year's Super Bowl also appeared to benefit from the huge snowstorm in the greater Washington, DC region. The New Orleans media market had the highest rating for the game, but the second highest rating came from Washington, DC. I have a bunch of friends that live out there, and there Facebook messages said it all. Nobody was going anywhere this past weekend, so they might as well watch the Super Bowl.
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The Offseason ahead at Niners Nation...
by Fooch on Feb 8, 2010 4:00 PM PST
in News
17 comments
The 49ers and Niners Nation have been in the offseason for a month now. Such is what happens when you can't do better than 8-8. That's the way life goes. However, with the completion of the Super Bowl, and the Pro Bowl being moved to last week, NFL football is officially complete for approximately six months (hopefully that doesn't send anybody to the ledge!).
Since we're now fully into the offseason, I thought I'd give a rundown of some of the things we've got planned here at Niners Nation for the offseason. Furthermore, I'd like to open the floor for ideas anybody has for the kind of coverage they'd like to see at Niners Nation over the next five or six months.
The addition of smileyman and drummer will bring all sorts of new ideas to the table. Smileyman will be posting fairly frequently, with an assortment of topics to keep you informed and entertained. He'll be doing a regular "Where Are They Now?" feature that looks at 49ers of the past and what they're up to now. On Fridays he'll be doing a regular book and/or movie review feature he's calling "Friday Night Fun." This past Friday he discussed one book's list of the top 25 sports movies of all time (plenty of disagreement to be had). On Wednesday's he'll be discussing a variety of topics ranging from the CBA to some statistical analysis to whatever else might be on his mind.
Our other new front page writer is drummer. He's working on a post right now dealing with the importance of this offseason for the 49ers. He won't be focusing on specific topics at this point, but more just various topics that he wants to write about. Additionally, he and smileyman will cover the front page when I'm out of town or away from my computer.
During the season, Josh Branco gave us some more insight about the rest of the league, as he put together preview pieces for each weekend's slate of games. During the offseason, he's going to continue to try and keep us informed about the rest of the league through free agency and the draft. If the timing is right, he'll be taking a look at each of the 49ers 2010 opponents and what their needs are heading into free agency and the draft. As they fill holes (or lose players), he'll provide us with updates. Although it won't involve the 49ers specifically, I think it's incredibly helpful to know what's going on with the 49ers various opponents. Hopefully you'll get something out of those articles.
After the jump we run through a few more features we'll be running throughout the offseason. As always, head into the comments if you have any suggestions for our offseason coverage.
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100 in 100: Bruce Campbell (28 of 100)
by Drew K on Feb 8, 2010 2:00 PM PST
in 100 in 100 (2010)
13 comments
Bruce Campbell could very well be the most athletic Offensive Tackle entering the NFL this year. There have been some concerns regarding injury, but the Maryland Tackle should be as healthy as an ox and as strong as one as a rookie as well. Campbell has been considered in most Mock Drafts up to this point to be a 1st Round pick.
When asked about what he would bring to the table as an NFL Player, Campbell had this to say,
"I feel I can be something special and this is best for me. I have good size and I can protect the quarterbacks' blind side. I played defensive line in high school so I can also think like a defensive player, which is an advantage."
This to me sounds like a young man who has a lot of confidence and faith in himself. Confidence is a very important virtue to possess at the next level coming in as a rookie. Campbell should be able to step in an make an immediate impact whether it be at Right Tackle or Left Tackle. Like former Terp, Vernon Davis, Campbell is a gym rat. He works out religiously and likes to keep himself in tip-top shape.
Below, Well look at some of Campbell's accomplishments while at Maryland...
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Super Bowl XLIV (That's 44 for Those Who Don't Know Their Roman Numerals)
by urnext on Feb 8, 2010 12:00 PM PST
in National Preview/Review
18 comments
Throughout most of his football life, Drew Brees has probably felt like Rodney Dangerfield. He gets no respect. After finishing High School in Austin with a 28-0-1 record as a starter, none of the major Texas colleges offered him a scholarship. So he went to Purdue where he broke all the Big Ten passing records. But because he's undersized, he fell to San Diego in the second round of the draft. After 3 years, San Diego decided it was time to go in another direction so they drafted Eli Manning who was quickly traded for Phillip Rivers. That's when Brees started lighting it up and even made the pro bowl, but with Rivers waiting in the wings the Chargers only gave him a lowball offer that was on par with what backups make. In his final game with the Chargers, only minutes away from a big free agent pay day, the Broncos Gerard Warren crushed the QB, damaging his rotator cuff and completely tearing his labrum 360 degrees. With concerns over how he'd come back from the injury, only the Saints made a strong push to sign him. He quickly validated their faith in him by becoming only the second passer in league history to have four consecutive 4,000 yard passing seasons. But just as things were going well, adversity struck again when his mom, who was under investigation for fraud, took an overdose of pills in August and killed herself. She was 59.
Rising above it all, Brees led the Saints to their best start in franchise history and their first Super Bowl appearance. But still no one gave them any respect. Tony Dungy was so confident in the Colts he was quoted as saying about Manning, "I think they're going to be so far ahead that people are going to say, 'Oh, ho-hum, he played a good game, they won by two scores, the Colts won their second championship.' He's going to have those rings Sunday night. I don't think it's going to be close." And there's little doubt that on paper, the Colts are the better team. Too bad for them the game's not played on paper. And what was Tony Dungy thinking anyways? When are people going to learn not to create poster board material? So while the Colts may have the better team, and their fans feel they deserved to win, in the words of Clint Eastwood in the movie "Unforgiven", just before he shoots Gene Hackman, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it."
18 comments | 0 recs |
Where Are They Now Part 2: The skill positions.
by smileyman on Feb 8, 2010 10:00 AM PST
in News
11 comments
Now that we've hit the off-season things will be a bit slower. I started this series way back in October, and then got busy doing other articles. I'll be returning to these and doing one a week throughout the off-season. I'll first be concentrating on the All-Niner team as voted on by the readers of Niners Nation. Once I'm done with that I'll move on to some of the more famous teams/players from the early days of the Niners. If you have any requests please let me know and I'll trade to include them.
The first part of the series was on the QBs and can be found here:
Where Are They Now Part One: The QBs
This article will deal with the running back, full back, and tight end.
Next week's installment will deal with the offensive line.
11 comments | 0 recs |
Time to hit the reset button: The San Francisco 49ers going forward
by Fooch on Feb 8, 2010 7:00 AM PST
in News
31 comments
Now that we have a new Super Bowl champion, it's only fitting that we shoe-horn the 49ers into the middle of this story. The 49ers and Saints are drastically different teams so generally speaking it's hard to find similarities between them. Nonetheless, the completion of the Super Bowl means we get to hit the reset button on the 49ers 8-8 season.
With everybody back to 0-0, and with free agency and the draft just around the corner, I thought it'd be fun to open up a general discussion about how far people think the 49ers are from once again raising the Lombardi Trophy. I suppose we could make this about getting back to the Super Bowl, but when you're 5-0 in Super Bowls (don't forget that Steelers fans!), you don't get excited going to Super Bowls...you get excited winning them! (ok I'd be excited just to go at this point)
A few weeks ago I was approached by the blog SimonOnSports to answer a few questions related to the 49ers 2009 season, their offseason, and the near future. In that Q&A Simon asked me when the 49ers would next be in the Super Bowl. My response:
I'll go with 2011. This offseason heading into the 2010 season is a big one and hopefully the team will beef up the offensive line. If they can make the playoffs in 2010, I could see them taking that next big step in 2011. Of course, a lot of that is dependent on Alex Smith actually becoming a legit NFL quarterback. If he can do that, I'm gonna go with 2011.
Many may view 2011 as too optimistic. Some probably think the 49ers will be back in the Super Bowl next season. I won't begrudge either side their opinion. After all, teams make huge turnarounds very quickly (see the 1999 Rams), other teams drag along in mediocrity for years, and others turn into playoff teams but can't quite make the leap into the Super Bowl (see the Chargers as long as Norv Turner is head coach).
The question is where will the 49ers be in the next few years, and what kind of team will they become under Coach Singletary? I've posted a poll, although it's probably not all that easy to answer. You might think 2012, but if a few things go right, maybe it happens sooner. Or, a few things go wrong and the team remains in its current drought for the foreseeable future.
So, without going too much into the minutiae we discuss on a day-to-day basis, how far away are the San Francisco 49ers from the mountaintop?
31 comments | 0 recs |
Golden Nuggets: Pretty good game.. oh and I'm back.
by Ninjames on Feb 8, 2010 3:00 AM PST
in Golden Nuggets
18 comments
Aaaand I'm back. Thanks to Fooch for covering for me the past three days, I had to take some time to get past certain things, work on some stuff... etc. Basically my vacation, I suppose. I took a bit of time and now all is as well as it can be in the world of Ninjames and I'm back on your daily links and what not. That's the good (awesome) news. The bad news is I don't really have a whole lot of 49ers links for you today. Regardless, the Super Bowl was yesterday (did you hear?!) and it was a pretty good game. I've already been to both the Saints and the Colts blog (there is a seriously huge amount of butthurt on both sides) and congratulated the winners and patted the losers on the back. It was a good game, not as good as the last couple super bowls but I'm very satisfied with the results. Sooo that all being said, let me get back to your links and don't complain if there's some repeats.
Don't mistake the 49ers for the Colts. I'll be honest with you guys, I have no idea what this article is about because I personally find Cohn to... not be good. I love my expansive vocabulary. (PressDemocrat.com)
Jerry Rice and Steve Young are both willing to help the 49ers players of today. Alex Smith learning from Young and Crabtree learning from Rice? Yes please. (PressDemocrat.com)
So obviously you know that Jerry Rice made the hall of fame. Cool stuff. (SacBee.com)
Here's a selection of quotes about Rice from old teammates/friends/etc. (SFGate.com)
18 comments | 0 recs |
New Orleans Saints 31 - Indianapolis Colts 17: Sean Payton makes his bones...
by Fooch on Feb 7, 2010 8:35 PM PST
in News
79 comments
Initially I didn't have a recap planned for the Super Bowl. However, given the comments flowing about the game all across the Interwebs I wanted to throw in my two cents, and get people's opinions on a few things:
Sean Payton
The Saints win and Payton is a ballsy genius. If the Saints had lost, he goes down as over-aggressive and the guy who cost them the Super Bowl. Obviously that didn't happen and he goes down as as much a hero as anybody in that game today. And given how aggressive they were as a team all season long, it was only fitting that they would win the Super Bowl thanks to some amazing calls. Obviously there's the onside kick. But the fourth down try late in the first half could have been a killer. Instead they still manage three points before the end of the half. Sometimes things just bounce your way. In the end, I think Sean Payton is as much the MVP of this game as anybody else.
The passing games
The two quarterbacks that lit up defenses all season long combined for 614 passing yards. And yet, I can't believe I was the only one that was surprised at those totals at the end of the game. There were some good sized plays, but with a team like the Saints you expect big 60, 70 yard touchdown passes. You look for Peyton Manning to drop some bombs to Reggie Wayne. I realize both teams have some solid defenses, but nonetheless, it felt like a dink and dunk sort of affair. Obviously it won the game for the Saints, but something seemed off in the passing games.
Commercials
I realize there are plenty of people who don't care about the commercials, but I really enjoyed a few of them. The early Doritos commercial with the kid slapping the mom's date, the first E*Trade baby commercial with the boy talking to the girl on web-chat with the "milkaholic" girl. And the Betty White commercial was entertaining, particularly when they rolled out Abe Vigoda.
The Who
That was just brutal. If Janet Jackson doesn't have her wardrobe malfunction, maybe we have some decent shows the last few years.
In the end, congratulations to the New Orleans Saints. They are most definitely not the Aints anymore.
79 comments | 0 recs |
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49ers Schedule
@
Arizona
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Sun 09/13 | W 20 - 16 |
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Seattle
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Sun 09/20 | W 23 - 10 |
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@
Minnesota
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Sun 09/27 | L 24 - 27 |
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St. Louis
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Sun 10/04 | W 35 - 0 |
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Atlanta
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Sun 10/11 | L 10 - 45 |
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Houston
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Sun 10/25 | L 21 - 24 |
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@
Indianapolis
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Sun 11/01 | L 14 - 18 |
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Tennessee
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Sun 11/08 | L 27 - 34 |
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Chicago
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Thu 11/12 | W 10 - 6 |
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@
Green Bay
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Sun 11/22 | L 24 - 30 |
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Jacksonville
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Sun 11/29 | W 20 - 3 |
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@
Seattle
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Sun 12/06 | L 17 - 20 |
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Arizona
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Mon 12/14 | W 24 - 9 |
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@
Philadelphia
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Sun 12/20 | L 13 - 27 |
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Detroit
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Sun 12/27 | W 20 - 6 |
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@
St. Louis
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Sun 01/03 | W 28 - 6 |
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