28
Jan
2012
Your Saturday Morning Comic: New York Giants Playoff Graphic Novel (PICS)
This tremendous New York Giants graphic novel comes to us via the always-awesome BigBlueInteractive.com, from user Chris in Philly. And on this Saturday morning, it should serve quite nicely in our continuing theme of posts for all you Giants fans during the off-week prior to SB XLVI.
This is Part 2 of CiP’s comic book series, from the Giants NFC Championship victory over the 49ers (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
(Artwork: Chris in Philly via BigBlueInteractive.com)
PART 1 FROM THE GREEN BAY DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAME AFTER THE JUMP
27
Jan
2012
7-year-old fan writes heartwarming letter to Kyle Williams (PIC)
(via Huffingtonpost.com)
Following his two epic blunders in the NFC Championship game, 49ers returner Kyle Williams quickly became the scapegoat for Niners fans everywhere, even receiving death threats via Twitter by adults who have clearly lost their grip on reality. Here’s a sampling of some of the more vile messages directed at Williams:
@KyleWilliams_10 HOPE U RUN n2 A BULLET DA WAY U RAN INTO DAT BALL…
Jim Harbaugh, please give @KyleWilliams_10 the game ball. And make sure it explodes when he gets in his car.
@KyleWilliams_10. I hope you, youre wife, kids and family die, you deserve it
Well fortunately, as is often the case, our children are here to help put everything into perspective. Following the Niners’ loss, 7-year-old Owen Shure is a lifelong 49ers fan, and decided to write an old-fashioned hand-written letter as a show of support for Williams. You can see the letter itself in the banner pic (above), but in it, little Owen reminds his favorite player that he should be proud of everything he accomplished this season, and to keep his head up.
Let’s just hope some of the “adults” out there learn a thing or two from young Owen. It’s only a game, people. Let’s not forget that.
FULL TEXT FROM OWEN’S LETTER AFTER THE JUMP
23
Jan
2012
Do you know where Steve Weatherford and the Giants are going? (GIF)
(via mocksession.com)
That’s right. The mother f-ing SUPER BOWL!!!
PS – great hold by Weatherford on the game-winning field goal, with a low snap in sloppy conditions. Big play from yesterday’s NFC Championship game that nobody’s going to talk about it because of …
(via Sportsgrid.com)
and this:
(Image via sportsgrid.com)
PPS – We genuinely feel badly for Kyle Williams today. Dude must be the loneliest man in America right now.
19
Jan
2012
Giants and 49ers set to renew rich playoff rivalry (VIDEO)
"The Hit" ended Montana's day, and ultimately his career in SF (Photo: NY Daily News)
On Sunday, the 49ers and Giants will meet in the playoffs for an NFL record-tying EIGHTH time … with all of those match-ups coming since 1981. Along the way, the two NFC powerhouses have won a combined 8 Lombardi Trophies, and have given us a few of the more memorable games in playoff history.
In looking back at the rivalry, some of the more indelible playoff memories include Jim Burt blasting Joe Montana in New York’s 49-3 Divisional drubbing in 1986, Roger Craig inexplicably fumbling late in the 1990 NFC Championship game to set up Matt Bahr’s game-winner, and Trey Junkin (whose name alone has become a curse word in Giants fandom) botching the game-winning field goal snap in 2002′s Wild Card game to complete the second-biggest collapse in playoff history.
So before these proud franchises take the field to provide the latest chapter in their long-running saga, we thought it fitting to look back at two of their previous meetings to get ourselves in the proper frame of mind. Specifically, we bring you the highlights from the 2002 NFC Wild Card game and the 1990 NFC Championship.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
16
Jan
2012
Vernon Davis gives 49ers “The Catch III” to defeat Saints (VIDEO)
(Image via Sportsgrid.com)
We’re obviously a little late to the party on this, but the San Francisco 49ers took down the New Orleans Saints 36-32 in the game of the Divisional Playoff weekend, with Alex Smith delivering the game-winning TD to Vernon Davis on what will undoubtedly forever go down in San Francisco sports history as “The Catch III”.
Both Smith and Davis turned in career-making performances and Smith finally delivered on his #1 pick expectations by out-dueling the NFL’s all-time single season passing leader (Drew Brees) in a game that saw four lead changes in the final 5 minutes! Smith had his NFL bar mitzvah and became a man on Saturday, finishing with 299 yards and 3 TDs passing, 0 INTs and one 28-yard rushing score to pus SF ahead late in the 4th.
For his part, Vernon Davis cemented himself in Niner lore with 7 catches for 180 yards and 2 TDs, including the game winner on a 14-yard strike from Smith with nine seconds remaining. After dominating all day long and when his team needed him most, Davis delivered a huge blow to Saints safety Roman Harper in the endzone and managed to hang onto the ball for the win.
On what was very nearly the 30th anniversary of the original “The Catch” – Dwight Clark‘s infamous touchdown grab in the 1981 NFC Championship game (1/10/82) – Davis’ play more closely resembled “The Catch II” by Terrell Owens in 1999, right down to crying on the shoulder of head coach Jim Harbaugh as he ran to the sideline (pic above).
VIDEO OF ALL THREE 49ERS “CATCHES” AFTER THE JUMP
10
Jan
2012
Harbaugh’s 49ers using Honey Badger as motivational tool (VIDEO)
(Image via ninersnation.com)
As the San Francisco 49ers prepare for their upcoming Divisional Playoff showdown with the New Orleans Saints, head coach Jim Harbaugh is using a rather unusual motivational tactic to get his players ready for battle. It seems that the crazy, nastyass Honey Badger has become the unofficial mascot for the Niners during their 13-3, NFC West championship run.
In addition to being the world’s most fearless animal, the Honey Badger is also the subject of a wildly popular (and hilarious) viral video. Apparently, prior to a recent game, Harbaugh spliced the video together with 2011 49ers highlights and showed it to the team. You see, much like their ferocious weasel-esque inspiration, the San Francisco defense “just takes what it wants”, leading to a league-high 35 takeaways this year. And since then, the “honey badger don’t care” mentality has taken over the locker room.
Check out this report from CSNBayArea:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
19
Dec
2011
Turn Out The Lights, the Party’s Over … Transformer Explodes at Candlestick Park on MNF (GIF)
Tonight’s 49ers-Steelers Monday Night Football contest was delayed prior to kickoff when a transformer exploded at Candlestick Park, plunging the stadium into darkness. The explosion was captured by ESPN’s aerial cameras, and was converted into glorious GIF format by the ever-awesome GIFulmination:
(via mocksession.com)
The first outage came at 5:19pm local time, delaying the start of the game for 20 minutes before power returned. But early in the second quarter, with the 49ers leading 6-0, the lights went out again. This time, the delay lasted 16 minutes before play resumed.
Steelers LB James Harrison, serving his one-game suspension, chimed in via Twitter:
If I cant play then can’t nobody play… Lights out!
RIP Don Meredith.
5
Dec
2011
Aldon Smith absolutely, positively did not celebrate his sack yesterday (VIDEO)
During the fourth quarter of the 49ers 26-0 beatdown of the Rams yesterday, the Niners got flagged for excessive celebration following an interception by Dashon Golden, much to the chagrin of his coaches and teammates.
So when, on the next defensive series, DE Aldon Smith sacked A.J. Feeley, he wanted to make sure his actions couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted in any way as over-celebrating. Check it out:
Simply awesome. And with the way the NFL has been punishing players for touchdown celebrations recently, I get the feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of these anti-celebrations moving forward.
BONUS GIF AFTER THE JUMP
24
Nov
2011
How the 49ers Got Their Groove Back (INFOGRAPHIC & VIDEO)
On this Thanksgiving Day, the San Francisco 49ers and their fans have a lot to be thankful for after starting the season 9-1 under rookie Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.
In case you were wondering exactly how Harbaugh has managed such a fast turnaround, we bring you this handy-dandy infographic drom reddit/r/nfl. In it, you’ll see how the Niners’ defense – led by all-everything LB Patrick Willis - has really been the biggest factor, leading the league with 26 takeaways and zero rushing touchdowns surrendered. And as we know, football is a game of field position, and San Francisco’s special teams have also contributed hugely to their success in that department.
(Image via reddit/r/nfl)
One could also argue that the 49ers schedule has played a big role in their success, and many are predicting an early playoff exit for Jim Harbaugh’s club. But they’ll have a chance to prove their critics wrong tonight when San Francisco plays the Baltimore Ravens and John Harbaugh in this brother-versus-brother head coaching matchup.
In the mean time, Harbaugh has his club feeling confident and as relaxed as can be in San Francisco, as evidenced by this clip of OT Joe Staley and TE Vernon Davis singing Adele’s “Someone Like You” from Staley’s “The Joe Show”. These gridiron crooners definitely struggle with the lyrics, and they’re both terrible singers, but they earn points for enthusiasm … especially Davis while butchering the chorus.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
16
Nov
2011
Marissa Miller is the NFL’s Official Superfan … HOORAY!!! (VIDEO)
(Photo via GQ-magazine.co.uk)
The NFL made one of its savviest marketing moves ever recently when it announced that Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Marissa Miller was hired as the newest spokesperson for the league.
Upon being named as the NFL’s “Official Superfan”, the fan response was one of joy but general confusion as to how and what, exactly, Miss Miller would be promoting. But given Miller’s status as one of the world’s hottest women, we naturally assumed that whatever she’d be doing, it would involve minimal attire and maximum skin, and that was good enough for us!
Well, the NFL has now released its first video featuring Miller – a devoted 49ers fan – behind-the-scenes at a photo shoot for this year’s London game between the Niners and the Broncos. And let’s just say we’ve never wanted to be a Frank Gore jersey more in our lives.
So sit back and enjoy over three minutes of pure NFL fandamonium … or what Marissa appropriately calls, “the new fantasy football”:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
