Quest for Six, Super Bowl XLVII

Go Niners!

49ers 45 Packers 31

Niners dominate Green Bay to win the divisional playoff and advance to the NFC Championship game for the second consecutive year.

Fiesta Bowl: No. 4 Oregon Dominates No. 5 Kansas State

Oregon Ducks 35 Kansas State Wildcats 17 Oregon was definitely FASTER, never looking back after De'Anthony Thomas's opening 94-yard touchdown on a kickoff return in yesterday's Tostito's Fiesta Bowl. Great year, Oregon. One overtime short of a national title. With No. 3 Florida losing in the Sugar Bowl, Ducks will end ranked No. 3, or even possibly No. 2.

Sugar Bowl: Louisville Stuns Florida

The No. 21 Louisville Cardinals shocked the football world with their 33-23 upset win over the No. 3-ranked Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl last night. I love to see underdogs win!

A Good Weekend for Football

It was not a good weekend for Bay Area baseball fans. So let's talk about football. The 49ers put in a dominating 45-3 performance over the Buffalo Bills. And the Raiders didn't lose. (It was a bye week.) Stanford made 2 crucial fourth downs to force overtime with Arizona and then won 54-48. Because of my time living in Oregon I became an Oregon Ducks fan. The Ducks dominated their foe, stopping the Washington Huskies 52-21.

Ditka on Aaron Rodgers

"I'm totally amazed at the professionalism in this young man. He's a great example to young people."

— Mike Ditka commenting on Aaron Rodgers on ESPN radio this morning (11/1/11). Rodgers will be on the cover of january's Pentecostal Evangel Super Bowl Outreach Edition.

Oregon Ducks Win Civil War Game, Go to National Title Game

The Ducks beat the Oregon State Beavers, 37-20, to go 12-0, and will head to the BCS championship in Arizona against Auburn. Heisman trophy contenders LaMichael James of Oregon vs. Auburn's Cam Newton.

Way to go, Ducks! One more!

Ditka on Singletary

I am Ken. And I am a Forty-Niner fan. I feel this confession is important. I am one of the frustrated faithful.

Football has not been kind to Niner fans for a bunch of years. We were reminded of this last night when Jerry Rice's #80 jersey was retired. There stood Joe Montana behind him. Steve Young had been on the pre-game. Those were the days.

But the glory days have long been over for the Prospectors. Forget about championships, wins have been hard to come by. And we had no chance at all last night facing the New Orleans Saints, right? Well, we had a chance. And when we scored the TD and replay gave us the 2-point conversion to tie the reigning Super Bowl champs with a little over a minute to go, I didn't even cheer. I felt it was inevitable.

When the Saints' 3-pointer knuckled through with no time left on the clock, I turned off the TV, kissed my wife, and went to bed. (I stayed up late for this? Games are 2 hours later here in Missouri than in my old California home.)

The Niners played great most of the time, and indeed could have beaten the Saints ... if it hadn't been for several bonehead plays. Oh, well. This is my reality. And at least I'm not a Cowboys fan.

But there was a highlight for me ... not in the game, but in the pregame show. I don't usually watch it, but since my Niners were making a rare Monday night appearance I turned it on.

The highlight came from something commentator Mike Ditka said. I can't believe I would ever be impressed by something said by Iron Mike, the legendary player and coach of the Chicago Bears who many fans loved to hate.

Talking about Singletary, perhaps the best middle linebacker ever, who played for him on the Bears, Ditka actually talked about his Christian faith and his character.

He said that Singletary was a man "driven by his faith.'

Ditka said that Singletary has made it clear that the priorities of his life are "faith, family, and football," in that order. And then Ditka said what really mattered. He said that Singletary lives what he says.

Near the end of the segment, Ditka said that as good as Singletary is as a football player and coach, "he's even better as a person."

High praise. High-light!

Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad

Unbelievable that NOW opposed this.

The Full Drew Brees Interview

Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The full Sharing the Victory magazine interview with New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees.

Saints QB Drew Brees talks about his relationship with Jesus Christ

Now that Kurt Warner is retired, this is my new favorite quarterback who is a stand-up Christian.

Football Has Changed

I've been a big football fan all my life. Watching the playoffs, I began thinking about how much football has changed since I remember watching my first games as a kid. I am dating myself but here are some of the ways the game has changed:

Helmets didn't have facemasks.

Many players went both ways—offense and defense. Some of these regular players even kicked.

Kickoffs were from the 40.

The goalposts were at the front of the end zone.

There was no 2-point conversion.

Quarterbacks had no special treatment.

There was no bogus "tuck rule."

Receivers could be blocked downfield.

Players didn't wear earrings.

There was no sudden death, except in postseason.

There were no indoor stadiums.

There were only 2 teams in the post season.

We watched the games in black and white.

There was no instant replay. (How amazed we were when that came about.)

There were no VCRs or DVRs to record games, so our minds wandered during the sermon. (On the West Coast, games started at 10 a.m. so this made some unspiritual people shorten their time at the altar on Sunday morning.)

You could meet the players at Joe's Grocery Store on the corner. (I actually met All-Pro Forty-Niners there, and at least one Hall-of-Famer.)

You could easily afford to attend the games.

The players made so little they had to have full-time jobs in the off-season. (Some of them, like Leo "The Lion" Nomellini, actually wrestled full-time. I remember how bad I felt when Nomo failed to defeat Ray Stevens for the U.S. title—I thought it was real then.)

Football cards cost a penny a piece, or 6 for 5 cents ... with a stick of bubble gum.

College teams weren't professional.



Most of this is news to my younger friends. Any older guys like me out there have changes to add?

Oregon Dominates USC, 47-20

Still reveling over the dominating victory the #10 Oregon Ducks put on the #5 USC Trojans. The Trojans, now with 2 losses in the Pac 10 will see their 7-year streak as conference champs come to an end. USC will not go to the national title game or to the Rose Bowl this year.

AP report excerpt:

No. 10 Oregon runs past No. 4 USC 47-20
By ANNE M. PETERSON, AP Sports Writer
Nov 1, 1:28 am EDT

EUGENE, Ore. (AP)—As the T-shirts worn in Oregon’s student section proclaimed, it was Fright Night at Autzen Stadium.

It certainly was for USC.

Jeremiah Masoli threw for 222 yards and a touchdown and ran for 164 more yards with another score and the 10th-ranked Ducks trampled No. 4 Southern California 47-20 Saturday night, the Trojans’ worst loss since 1997.

“I don’t know if we made a statement, this is just what we planned on doing,” Masoli said. “If it makes a statement it makes a statement. That’s just Oregon football and how we roll.”

Redshirt freshman LaMichael James ran for 183 yards and a score as the Ducks (7-1, 5-0 Pac-10) racked up 391 yards on the ground against the Trojans, who came into the game with the fifth-best rush defense in the nation (79.9 yards a game).

USC’s defense yielded a total of 613 yards to Oregon.

“It was a real mess for us tonight,” said Pete Carroll, who was handed his worst loss as coach of the Trojans. “Oregon did everything that they wanted to do.”

Southern California (6-2, 3-2) had not lost a game by more than a touchdown since a 27-16 loss to Notre Dame in 2001, Carroll’s first season with USC. The last time the Trojans were so soundly beaten was 1997, when they lost 35-7 to Arizona State and 27-0 to Washington.

Oregon remained alone in first and undefeated in the Pac-10. USC has won or shared the last seven Pac-10 titles. That streak is in serious jeopardy. The Trojans’ run of seven straight BCS games is also in danger.

The Ducks are now poised to take the crown after stomping the longtime Kings of the West Coast.

Sweet.

Congratulations Kurt Warner & Arizona Cardinals

On going to the Super Bowl. Kurt Warner is a solid Christian with an uncompromising testimony. It is great to see him lead one of the greatest underdog playoff runs in NFL history.

Oregon Clobbers Michigan

The Oregon Ducks rolled over the Michigan Wolverines, 39-7, as the Wolverines suffered their worst loss since 1968. I don't get to see many Oregon games either here in the Midwest, but I did get to tape and view this great victory for the Ducks. I'm still a big Oregon fan. Even though we only lived there 5 years, it is our favorite state and I am faithful to the Oregon teams. Even have an Oregon Ducks banner on my sports wall.

Click the title for full story.