Playing with Fire: Baltimore vs. San Francisco – Super Bowl pick

Colin Kaepernick leads the San Francisco 49ers against Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens

Here is the Pick for Ravens vs. 49ers

Baltimore: 13-6

San Francisco:  13-4-1

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Ravens vs. 49ers -  This is a match up of Brother vs. Brother, and rising stars vs. falling stars.  The Harbaugh Brothers, John and Jim have probably been rivals as well as friends for all their lives.  It’s nothing out of the ordinary for siblings to want to out do each other.  And as much pride as they have brought to the Harbaugh family through their playing and coaching careers, the fact is only one of them can win this game.  They can share the experience, but they can never share this victory.

Coaching can be a cutthroat profession.  It’s not for the faint of heart.  And at the highest level of the game, a win or a loss in this game could serve to unite the brothers bond even tighter, or it could tear them apart forever.  I’m sure the family coaching legacy means a lot to both Jim and John Harbaugh, but I believe the individual’s coaching legacy ultimately means much more.

Ray Lewis comes into this game with controversy nipping at his heels.  No matter how hard he tries to escape the past, it continues to dog him right up to his final game as an NFL player.  The 49ers Randy Moss also continues to be a magnet of controversy as well.  Proclaiming himself to be the greatest WR to ever play the game, in this what may be his last shot at a Super Bowl win.  One of these falling stars will fade into history, and the other will cover themselves in glory?

But as those stars fall, other stars rise.  Colin Kaepernick has burst onto the scene and has forced the world to take notice of his amazing talents.  Inexperience and youth have not deterred this rising star, and he enters this Super Bowl seemingly undaunted.  Focused on completing the mission that the 49ers came oh so close to last season, but couldn’t complete.  Will this be the time the 49ers finally strike gold, after so many years removed from the ultimate victory?

And then there’s Joe Flacco, who’s spent four years in the shadow of the so called elite QB’s in the NFL, and written off by some even mere few weeks ago as destined to remain a second tier player incapable of ascending to the top of the game.   But yet after out gunning two of the elite in Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, some still don’t believe that Flacco has what it takes to out duel a fellow young gun in Colin Kaepernick.

So the story lines have been written, and the stage is set.  All we need now is an ending.  So how will it end?  Both sides have endured controversy over the past few weeks, from the PED allegations against Ray Lewis, to the politically incorrect ramblings of Chris Culliver.  But once the games starts those things won’t matter, as the controversies will cancel each other out.

The 49ers are the more talented team.  They are the younger team.  But I don’t think they are the better team.  Right now that is the Ravens.  Having gone on the road and beaten the Broncos and then the Patriots, I don’t think the presence of the 49ers will rattle them.  I like the 49ers, and I have praised Kaepernick.  But I think they should have been beaten by the Falcons in the NFC Championship, but the Falcons simply tripped and fell before crossing the finish line.

The Ravens have already been through hell in beating the Broncos and Patriots, and came out unscathed and ready to take on the world.  The 49ers won’t roll over and die, they will fight hard, and Kaepernick will cause the Ravens problems.  But it is John Harbaugh who will lead his team to victory, not Jim.  The Ravens have been climbing this mountain to the top longer than the 49ers, and they will be the first to reach the summit of this super bowl.   Ravens win.        27-24 – Ravens

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Related articles

• 2013: Fan on Fire – Pro Football Awards: (Award Winners) (fanonfiresportswire.com)
• The Live Wire (commentary): The Controversial Ray Lewis (fanonfiresportswire.com)

 

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