he 2019-20 season is now in the history books. Super Bowl LIV delivered an exciting, well fought game with hard hitting big players, and controversy. There always has to be some controversy. An offensive pass interference call on George Kittle ended a possible 49er scoring drive. Did Damien Williams really break the end zone plane despite Richard Sherman shaving him out of bounds on the goal line? The review said yes. 49er fans will still gripe that the Chiefs seemed to get preferential treatment on some key calls.
Patrick Mahomes was the game MVP although this was far from his best game of the season. However, when it counted most in the 4th quarter he delivered the goods by leading two scoring drives that won the game for the Chiefs and he is the one that got to lead the parade at Disney World. It was also good to see Andy Reid finally get a Super Bowl win for his Hall of Fame resume. For Richard Sherman it was a bad night as Sammy Watkins wore him down in the 4th quarter.
As for the 49ers, they played about as well as they could. They have a really good all around team. The look of anguish of Kyle Shanahan’s face was heart rending. For the second time in four years his team has come up short. But as Scarlett O’Hara observed “Tomorrow is another day.”
The half-time show got some rave reviews and some criticism as well. Many call it the best show ever; others say JLo and Shakira went overboard on the booty shaking. I only saw the end so I can’t say. JLo looks pretty good for being half a century old, though.
Now there is speculation about free agency, particularly the Chiefs. The Chiefs’ defense is adequate but not outstanding and several of their best defenders are now free agents. They don’t have a great deal of cap room. They are going to have to make some tough decisions
Now we can start thinking about the draft and free agency for the 2020 season or we can rejoice that baseball season is just eight weeks away.
Victor Oladipo’s Return
After an 82 game absence, Victor Oladipo is back on the active roster. His return has excited the home crowd, but he still has some rust to scrape off. His surgery to repair a ruptured right quad tendon was a year and a day ago. The Pacers are in a bit of a slump right now, so Victor O could be a big help. However, it is unrealistic to believe that he could jump back in and be immediately effective. He is going to have to work back up to his previous All-Star level. That will take a little while.
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