Superbowl

Most of you can skip this post. It will probably bore you. It's about the 49ers and the Superbowl (sports)... But for me it is everything and anything (:

This Sunday the San Francisco 49ers will face the Baltimore Ravens in Superbowl 47 which will be played for the 7th time in the Superdome in New Orleans. Let's celebrate with some facts and stats about the history of the Superbowl games. Well, mostly facts and stats about the 49ers' Superbowl history...

The last time the 49ers played the Superbowl in New Orleans was in 1990 when they recorded the most lopsided game in Superbowl history crashing the Denver Broncos 55-10. 55 is the most points scored in a Superbowl game by one team. It is also more than the total points scored by the other three teams in the NFC west division (where the 49ers play) on their last Superbowl appearance: 50.

Two of these three teams, the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks, both lost in their one and only Superbowl appearance. They are the ones responsible to why there is one team who has more Superbowl wins than the 49ers. The Pittsburgh Steelers who won 6 titles (one more than the 49ers), won their last two titles against these two teams. In 2006 they beat Seattle 21-10, and in 2009 they beat Arizona 27-23. Arizona, who were down 20-7 half way into the last quarter, came from behind scoring 16 points, and took the lead with less than 3 minutes to play. They lost thanks to an amazing catch by Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds to play.

The 49ers though became the first team to win 5 Superbowl titles in 1995. A year after the 49ers won their fifth title the Dallas Cowboys joined the club beating the Pittsburgh Steelers who also had 4 titles at the time.

The New England Patriots have 7 Superbowl appearances, 5 in the last 10 years, but they've lost more than they've won (3-4).

From 1985 to 1997 the NFC conference won every Superbowl. 4 of them by the 49ers. Another 7 were won by the NFC east division. The other two wins came from the NFC north division and are the Superbowls in which the New England Patriots lost their first two appearances.

Also during these years the Denver Broncos lost 3 Superbowls in 4 years (the last to that 49ers team who scored 55 points). But it was probably even more painful to the Buffalo Bills organization who lost 4 Superbowls in a row during these 13 years drought for the AFC teams. Unlike Buffalo who have yet to win a title, Denver were able to ease the pain with two Superbowl wins in a row (1997-8).

The Cincinnati Bangals lost both of their Superbowl appearances, both to the 49ers (which where the 49ers' first 2 appearances).

In their last Superbowl appearance (1995) the 49ers scored 49 points. Since then, no team scored more points in the Superbowl (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came close in 2003 with 48 points).

The average points scored by the last 9 Superbowl winners is 25.9. The average points scored by the 49ers in their 5 Superbowl appearances is 37.6. Appearances which they all won. Together with the Ravens who won their one and only Superbowl appearance (in 2001) they have a perfect 6-0 record. Who will stay perfect?

The last 3 Superbowl winners came from 3 different NFC divisions. Will the 49ers complete the series this Sunday?

Superbowl 47 will meet the 49ers and the Ravens, who are coached by brothers. I don't envy their parents, but I guess that's looking at the half empty part of the glass.

In a best of 7 I believe the 49ers would have been the champions, but in one game anything can happen. Who will win? We'll know in about 100 hours from now...

Here the two Harbough brothers can be seen scouting players together.
John (left) coach of the Ravens, and Jim coach of the 49ers.
Picture taken by Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports.

Quotes & Coins

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” That’s a good one. I posted a nice video in an earlier post were Alan Watts talks about a similar idea. He says “Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way.”

“A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.” I can totally relate to this quote. One of my current enemies is cancer. And although none of my friends have cancer, as far I know, I feel that some at least can imagine one of their enemies been cancer. I see it with their support, their constant love and support.

“Character is like a tree, and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” I think what is meant here by “tree” is say, ourselves, and what is meant by “shadow” is how people see us. The shadow can be altered with little effort. All you have to do is move a little bit, change your angle with respect to the sun. But the tree, the person you are, your character doesn't really change. So many of us try to manipulate our shadows. We try to manipulate our true selves so other will like us. But the shadow is not real, it isn't who we really are.

“If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.”

And these were all quotes by Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th president of the United States of America (1861 – 1865). He is famous for his Gettysburg Address speech “Four score and seven years ago…” You can hear the speech with English subtitles in this video. Lincoln can be found on the one cent coin, also known as the “penny.” (do NOT press these pictures till the end of the post... I believe you'll enjoy this post more if you don't see all the pictures at once right now...) 

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“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”  Sadly, with all these obstacles I've been enduring, I haven’t had the will for hard work. But it does seem that most people who work hard find luck (in form of success for one).

“Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.”  Saying too much is usually a bad thing. Too much information will often cause confusions and complicate things.

“Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.” I know too many who aren’t aware of how much they are losing because of their pride. Pride could be said to be a type of cancer, eating you alive from within.

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today” Yes, but I got to check Facebook, Twitter, and Survivor is almost on (:

“He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”

“I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.” I will second that strongly. If we all would have done good for others, and less good for ourselves (we would get good from others) we would all be happier. Unfortunately, most of us fear to give and not get, to be the “sucker.”

These were quotes by Thomas Jefferson who was the 3^rd president of the USA (1801 – 1809). He can be found on the US nickel coin. He is famous for writing the Declaration of Independence (1 of 5 writers).

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“The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.”

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” Stop being subject to high-school-like peer pressure, enough already! Put yourself out there! Don’t fear the reactions from people, fear the time you’re wasting, the time you’re spending trying to be someone you’re not, and “Remember, you are just an extra in everyone else's play.”

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Parents everywhere, as well as school staff, need be doing a much better job.

“Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.”  How I keep finding more and more spiritual force is beyond me, honestly.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was the 32^nd president of the US (1933-1945). Yes he served THREE terms. He was actually elected 4 times, but died of a stroke one year into his 4^th term. Roosevelt can be found on the US’s dime coin.

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“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” This includes the internet as well. And why do I keep hearing about certain governments trying to block information from the people?!

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”

“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.” Discipline in general is crucial and important to implant in our youths. It is how we can teach them structure.

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation”

George Washington was the first president of the US (1789 – 1797). He is one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. Washington can be found on the US's quarter coin.

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Now, what I actually meant to share is this:

Fabrice's Pastries

While I was traveling in India (winter of 2008), I spent about a week roughly 7000 feet (2134 meters) high up in the mountains in a village called Vattakanal. Here is a picture I shared in an earlier post (A magical photo album):

One of the things I remember about the small remote village we stayed at is a french guy who sold delicious pastries. I don't remember his name, so I'll call him Fabrice.

Fabrice lived at the top of the village. I believe he said he has been living there for a long time - a few good years. I think during the week he bakes pastries in his home. These are not any pastries, these are some very fresh hot-from-the-oven pastries. And he makes them right from scratch, dough and everything. He then slowly comes down the mountain stopping at each house to sell these delicious pastries. At one point I think we rented a place pretty high in the mountain, so he always had a fresh load of his daily creations.

He was always friendly and funny. I can't remember what time he would come down the mountain, I think it was around 10:00 in the morning. During my week there, I think only one day I was too tired to get up, so I asked one of the friends I was traveling with to buy me some. Other days I made sure to be up so as to not miss him coming by. Here are some pictures (In case you didn't notice or wasn't aware, if you click on a picture you should be able to see it in a larger size as well as scroll through all the pictures of this post using the arrows on your keyboard).

You can see in this last picture that Fabrice has a dreadlocks hairstyle. One day we saw him walking down on the main road without his wool hat. His dreadlocks weren't rolled up, they were free and loose, and they nearly touched the ground! You can see in one of the pictures that Fabrice is about my height, maybe more. I'd say he is 6 feet tall (about 1.80 meters), so those dreads were loooooong. He was walking pretty fast, and I don't think anyone was able to get a camera in time...

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Good Karma

I needed to make room in the garage for some of the stuff I'm leaving behind when I move to Israel, so on the day before yesterday I posted a bunch of ads on Craigslist for stuff I wanted to get rid of. A few of the ads were for free stuff. After I finished posting the ads I went to see a movie with my ima. Checking my cell after the movie I noticed over 50 unread emails waiting for me. Most of them asking about some of the free stuff.

Yesterday I uploaded some of that stuff to my car, and met with people at a Starbucks. I gave away some old tennis balls for a guy who has a dog that loves to chew on some balls, and I gave some stackable plastic drawer to an Asian guy who I think just moved to the area. For the ad about these drawers I received over 30 emails alone!! I quickly deleted the ad so it won't flood my inbox with more people interested in these drawers.

Funny thing was that these two guys came at the same time. One guy called me when he was outside, and then immediately after I had a call waiting. I saw them talking to each other when I stepped outside, so I think they both thought the other was me.

Before these two came by, a different older-man dropped by to grab an old HP printer that was laying in the garage for a while. It sounded as he is having a rough time financially wise since he said he didn't have a cell phone to call me when he arrives. He said he will just step in, look around, and he is easy to spot. I couldn't really concentrate on my readings and writings as I was waiting for him to come by. He said he lives close to the Starbucks I was at, and sure enough I don't think I waited too long.

Lastly came a guy who sadly was laid off around Thanksgiving this year (damn CEOs wanting more money for themselves...). He took an old Dell computer I had that I bought around 2004. It had everything but a hard drive. I even found some CDs with the drivers that came with that computer. It was so old it still had a floppy disk. He felt like giving me something in return. I didn't catch exactly how he got it, but he offered me some cans of beans and some rice bags. I politely rejected his offer explaining that I'm moving away, and trying to get rid of stuff, not acquire more stuff I'll have to carry.

Before dinner yesterday, I posted another ad for some cradle swinger combination, and within less than 30 minutes 10 people emailed to ask about it. I will probably give it away today. I also have an old Sony tube monitor I might give today as well. I was suppose to give it yesterday to some guy. I wasn't sure if he could make it at the time I scheduled with the other guys, but I loaded it to the car anyways just in case.

It feels great to give people things for free. I also love to recycle, and believe we all should try to do our best to recycle everything possible. It really does not take much of your time or effort to recycle. I recycle every little piece of paper that I can. If it's mail, or some small piece of notes. Global warming is real you awesome-readers and supporters of mine, and we all should try to avoid filling up more and more landfield sites with our trash.

Only one person emailed me about an ad for something I'm trying to sell. People, of course, love free stuff. Some because they just love free, but a lot also because they, sadly, are broke. Either way I was happy to help out some fellow human beings. On the way back home I stopped by a 7-11 and bought me a scratcher, hmm thanks karma...

ho ho ho, now in the dark I glow
(white beard - a side effect from the chemo medication).