SB Weekend 2013

Baltimore Ravens (14-4) -vs- San Francisco 49ers (15-3)

Super Bowl brothers, the Har-bowl. It's Ray Lewis' final ride, the 49ers' 6th Super Bowl, and Colin Kaepernick's 10th start. This Super Bowl comes built with the story lines that sportswriters' dreams are made of.

Yet isn't it interesting that the only thing louder than the hype, is the complaints about the hype by the very same media? Strangely, the press this year feel rooted in self-hatred, almost guilt, for over-hyping the amazing storylines provided to us.

Ray Lewis declared before the playoffs that this would be his "final ride" and then promptly drove the least-acclaimed Ravens team this decade, right through Luck, Peyton and Brady.

QB Colin Kaepernick has started 9 games and his 10th is the Super Bowl! He has displayed superstar speed and an absolute rocket arm, resigning QB Alex Smith, the 49ers starting quarterback since 2005 to the sidelines.

Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers and John Harbaugh of the Ravens, brothers a year apart, both have not only become head coaches in the NFL, but have both made the playoffs in the same year, both won have won their conferences and earned their first Super Bowl appearances. In the same year! It is one of the most improbable coaching match-ups any sport championship has ever seen. And this is no normal "sport championship", this is the Super Bowl.

Isn't this awesome? Yet we spit all over ourselves, angry that the stories behind the headlines actually warrant the hype. Relax, football media, this one truly does have some amazing stories. Enjoy it.

(Let us again reign ourselves in, back to the football field, back to the 100 yards each team has to navigate towards touchdowns and field goals.)

"Two running teams in the Super Bowl" they say, "so much for the NFL being a passing league" they say. Yes, it's a nice sentiment, a crowning moment for the old-school-tough-guys. For the Ravens and 49ers, two teams commonly associated with running and defense have downed the high-flyers on their way to the big game. However, the Ravens were decade-long perennial playoff stepping stones until QB Joe Flacco made that next step, The 49ers were mediocre, postively pedestrian, with their great All-Pro defensemen and RB Frank Gore's brilliance until Jim Harbaugh made the most of Alex Smith and then rolled the dice on QB Collin Kaepernick's rocket arm. It was the addition of a passing game that brought both these teams to the Super Bowl.

HOW BAL GOT HERE: Baltimore has been a dark horse flirting with the Super Bowl since 2008, the entire Joe Flacco/John Harbaugh era. The duo does not have a one-and-done season on their resume. Five playoff wins in the last four years but the Super Bowl eluded them still as they lost to the eventual AFC Champion all four years (Steelers, Colts, Steelers, Patriots). The defense has been getting older, their Hall-Of-Fame candidates reaching the twilight of their careers, they started hot but faded drastically in 2012 regular season but bounced back, caught fire and here they are. Unlike the 2000 Ravens who had the most dominant defense of all time, this team rides and dies with offense. Make no mistake, Flacco, RB Ray Rice, WR Anquon Boldin and WR Torrey Smith will be the keys to a Championship.

HOW SF GOT HERE: QB Alex Smith put his time in since 2004, trudging through the proud 49ers franchise's darkest years. While bluff-and-bluster coaches failed, offensive coordinators revolved annually, and talent fluctuated low, he was there through it all. Through 2007, 08, 09, the defense began to improve behind LB Patrick Willis and a myriad of ridiclous talent, 2010 and 2011 the defense turned downright frightening in it's athletic dominance. Weapons floweed in, TE Vernon Davis, WR Michael Crabtree but they didn't seem to pan out. So Alex Smith continued to wait for that moment. Then Smith got hurt, Kaepernick stepped in, and the elements finally ignited. Here they are, a dynamic brand new quarterback leading a team that has struggled beneath the line of mediocrity, labeled 'talented' but never 'successful'. Kaepernick was the missing link, the moment is here.