Baltimore Beat Bay In Brothers' Beyonce Blackout Bowl [February 11th 2013 in The Courier]

 Fraternal rivalry, Beyonce and a blackout: Chris Taylor reports on one of the most dramatic, exciting and surprising Super Bowls in recent history

Super Bowl XLVII was an odd one simply because no-one saw it coming. Super statistician, Nate Silver, who managed to predict the winner of all US states in the 2012 Presidential Election, had his money on a Falcons-Seahawks final. During the playoffs, confidence surrounding Baltimore Ravens was particularly low. There is, after the game, a general consensus that a Ravens-49ers match up was going to lead to an exciting game, even without a 34-minute power failure in the 3^rd quarter.

This Super Bowl seemed more like the season finale of a TV show than the final game of the season. For both teams, it was one of storylines and each one was wrapped up rather neatly and with a hell of a lot of gusto. The backstory behind the game made the actual events on the field so much more exciting than they already were, the score at the end only showing half of the story.

The first major story was the Cain and Abel battle between Jim and John Harbaugh, opposing coaches of San Francisco and Baltimore respectively. This is the first time two brothers have ever faced off as opposing coaches in the Super Bowl. Leading to the slightly cringeworthy title of ‘The HarBowl’, it became both a battle to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy but also to decide who is the better child in the Harbaugh family…probably.

It was also a battle of the quarterbacks. Joe Flacco, in his contract year, had a very uneven season. Many commentators were declaring him too unreliable to be of any worth going into the playoffs so he clearly had a lot to make up for in the eyes of the press. Colin Kaepernick, on the other end of the spectrum, had only played in nine previous NFL games, making the Super Bowl his tenth after he replaced Alex Smith who was out with concussion midway through the season. However, Jim Harbaugh had clearly seen that Kaepernick was capable of taking over from a quarterback with one of the best competition percentages in the league this season, so eyes were very heavily on the chosen one.

This Super Bowl saw the end of a seventeen year long career for Baltimore linebacker, Ray Lewis, who announced his retirement before the play-offs began. As one of the most vocal and devoted players for the Ravens, Lewis has had a rocky career after being involved in a double homicide in 2000, yet, over the years, he has turned from a plucky youngster to something akin to an over-the-top preacher making him one of the most notorious players of recent years. Ray Lewis, however, did not make much of an impact in his last game, but he was still prepared to celebrate the Ravens 34-31 victory of 49ers with the rest of his team.

Ultimately, the game itself came down to the decisions of the Harbaughs as well as the skill of the quarterbacks. The first touchdown came four and a half minutes into the first half after the 49ers had failed to make any headway on their first offensive play after they were caught with an illegal formation. After the penalty was given due to 49ers’ Ahmad Brooks stepping offside, Joe Flacco hit Anquan Boldin as he raced and leapt for a touchdown. David Akers responded on the next drive with a 36-yard field goal, but the frustration for the 49ers was palpable, and it would not be their first disappointment. After a promising next drive, their following two drives ended up with turnovers; a fumble at the Ravens 24 (stopping any chance of a field goal and led to Ravens drive that ended in a touchdown from tight end Dennis Pitta, one yard from the end zone) and an interception by Ed Reed making Kaepernick the first 49ers quarterback to be picked off in a Super Bowl. The interception saw an advance from the San Francisco 44 to the 14 before Harbaugh opted for a fake field goal on fourth-and-ninth. It failed, but only just as place kicker Tucker was tackled one yard short of first down.

Surprisingly, this did not knock the spirit of Baltimore, as, on their next drive from their 44, Flacco connected with Jacoby Jones after two incomplete passes. Flacco had underthrown and knocked Jones to the ground as he struggled to adjust, but San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver failed to take him down and Jones got to his feet and almost danced his way to the end zone for a touchdown. Despite the 49ers responding with another field goal before half time, the score board, at 21-6, was showing a very one sided story, which shocked many.

After a pop-fuelled half time show with the legend that is Beyonce, Ravens were clearly pumped up from hearing the likes of ‘Crazy in Love’ and ‘Halo’, and returned a kick off for a 108 yard touchdown thanks again to Jacoby Jones, a New Orleans native which made his two touchdowns all the more special from playing at home. However, minutes later, the Superdome went into blackout. Unsure why exactly (some say Beyonce’s set was so exciting the electricity could not handle it or Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs joking that Jim Harbaugh gave out “Order 66”), it proved to be very important to the game itself. The momentum completely changed and the 49ers began to dominate.  Kaepernick hit Crabtree for a 31 yard touchdown after he broke free from a few tackles on the way. After Flacco was sacked on third down and the teams exchanged punts, a poor punt from Baltimore’s Sam Koch was returned to the Baltimore 20, the drive culminating in a Frank Gore touchdown from the 6.

Things went from bad to worse for Ravens as Ray Rice fumbled at the Baltimore 24, although the 49ers could not turn it into anything other than a field goal. The Ravens offense began to kick in again, with a 12 play drive that ended in a field goal. This did not slow down San Francisco as Kaepernick ran the ball himself for a 15-yard touchdown, but they failed to pick up the two point conversion turning it into a 31-29 game with Ravens responding immediately with a field goal.  By the two-minute warning, the 49ers were ready to burst through, but, after three consecutive incompletions, turned over the ball on fourth down.  Instead of punting on fourth down, Koch took a safety in his own end zone, a move clearly inspired by John Harbaugh’s Special Teams coach past at Philadelphia Eagles, allowing Baltimore to kick the ball away from their end zone with seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately, the 49ers did not have enough time to respond so the game ended at a close 34-31 to Baltimore.

London 2012 Opening Ceremony review [July 28th in old personal blog]

London 2012 has begun. And it begun in a way many didn’t expect. I fully went into Danny Boyle’s epic 3 hour+ opening ceremony with cynicism glasses well and truly placed upon my head. In the same frame of mind as when watching The X Factor or Made in Chelsea, my sole goal was to take the piss out of what was to be an overblown, kitsch look at Britain.

And the prologue did much to cement the idea this would happen. The Britain Boyle had created; of picnics, cricket, football, beehives, quaint cottages, lush green fields, did little to remove the idea in foreigners minds that Britain was essentially Bag End with regular sized people. But then, roll VT. A swooping fly through of London, visiting all the sights accompanied by Sex Pistols and the Eastenders theme tune. Whilst all CGI, it was a kinetic, exciting way to kick off proceedings officially.

Then something happened. The London Symphony Orchestra began playing Elgar’s Nimrod and Tour de France yellow jersey victor Bradley Wiggins rang the largest harmonically tuned bell. A chorus of Jerusalem, followed by Danny Boy (a little egotistical when taking into account Boy could easily be misconstrued as Boyle), Flower of Scotland and Cym Rhondda, a song for each country, rang out and welcomed the arrival of Kenneth Branagh as Isambard Kingdom Brunel to ruin this idyllic scene and bring on the “satanic mills” Jerusalem talks about.

And what a way did they appear. After Branagh’s reciting of Caliban’s monologue from The Tempest, the peaceful English countryside was torn apart to the sound of pounding drums and industrial workers rising from Glastonbury Tor. The transition between rural and industrial here was simply breathtaking. As the farmers slowly removed their cottages and farms, made obsolete by these new creations, huge smoke stack chimneys rose from the ground, billowing smoke everywhere as bosses surveyed both their achievements and their workers. In a few minutes, the hippy loving Glasto-alike was replaced with Barnsley circa 1920. Pandemonium, the name of this act, is a more than apt title, taking inspiration from John Milton’s hell in Paradise Lost.

Britain’s most motley groups parade around after this transformation, from the suffragettes, to the Jarrow marchers, Chelsea pensioners to the complete historically accurate 72 Beatles members and a Yellow Submarine as the Olympic rings were forged in an orgasm of light and sound as they rose into the air to join together; the shot that is no doubt on the cover of every morning newspaper today.

But we’re nowhere near done yet! An homage to both the NHS and children’s literature was up next, which had some very strong and not very well hidden subtext relating to the Conservative’s attempted destruction of the NHS. Whilst children and nurses played, witches, The Childcatcher, a 30ft Voldemort and many other fairy tale villains (the Conservative party) terrorised the stage. That is until an army of Mary Poppins fly onto the stage to take down the impressive figure of Voldemort.
 
Things just accelerated from here. In what was possibly a section entirely designed for me, as a person that owns EVERY SINGLE James Bond film on DVD, Daniel Craig’s James Bond MEETS THE ACTUAL QUEEN! Not someone dressed as The Queen, but HRH Queen Elizabeth II herself. He takes her on a flight of London, becoming less and less of a secret agent as more people start waving and recognising him, before parachuting into the stadium. Whilst some Americans actually believed the Queen parachuted in (with The New York Times actually writing a piece to debunk this), it was still a hell of an entrance for a lady who normally just walks in.

And then Rowan Atkinson does something spectacular. He actually regains his funny. Whilst I know Mr Bean is a big international hit, I’m not a fan. So I rolled my eyes as he took part in a rendition of the theme tune to Chariots of Fire. It was a very British type of humour, only heightened by the next act; a celebration of everything British. From Michael Fish’s failure to predict the weather accurately, to Gregory’s Girl, The Archers, David Bowie, Brookside (particularly that pre-watershed lesbian kiss apparently making it’s showing at the ceremony the first lesbian kiss EVER shown on Saudi TV!), Dizzee Rascal, The Rolling Stones and finally an appearance from the inventor of the World Wide Web himself, Sir Tim Berners-Lee (who actually sent a tweet whilst on stage), the final act was both a celebration of modern technology and modern British culture, something a culture nut like me was loving; attempting to spot all of the clips and songs used.

It wasn’t all exciting and bombastic. Twice did it take a more sombre, but emotionally beautiful tone. Once during Pandemonium in which soldiers removed their hats and the stadium was taken by silence apart from one lone whistle to commemorate those lost in the wars and again with a choreographed dance while Emeli Sande sung “Abide With Me” to “all those that couldn’t be there”.
Then, after all this, came the athlete’s parade, a spectacle of thousands of men and women from some countries GCSE geography neglected to tell me existed and finally the lighting of the cauldron. Probably one of the best kept secrets of the night, no-one quite knew exactly what it was. Every country had someone holding a cup like thing which looked more like a potty than anything else and it was these that made up the cauldron. A wonderful  transfer of the flame from old Olympic heroes such as Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Steve Redgrave to the new British talents, a literal passing of the flame, and a beautiful song made just for the ceremony entitled Caliban’s Dream (sung by that bloke out of Two Door Cinema Club which felt a tad weird), the pottys were lit and slowly ascended into the sky to form a giant flame. Impressive it most certainly was and an apt end to a mesmerising ceremony.

Completely cynicism free, Danny Boyle’s Olympic ceremony was a proper celebration of Britain, not some falsified fairy tale version. Beijing’s opening was more a show of their strength and power and a totalitarian nation, similar to the Nazis in the Berlin Olympics. It was mechanistic and strong. As a country with a lot less power than we used to, Boyle felt there was no need to do it. This was very much a ceremony for the British. Judging by American reactions of it, it was often difficult to know what was going on for them. But it was an introduction to what makes Britian not that bad rather than a more general show of power and money.

A mix of high culture and low culture seemed an accurate way to show how Britain is. From Shakespeare and Blake, to Ken Loach and grime music, everything was covered here and nothing was left out. It showed a Britain that loved its welfare state, its rich heritage, one that didn’t dwell on its mistakes and embraced those things that have shaped it to what it is today.

It really did seem to be hated by the Tories, however, with a certain MP on Twitter denouncing it as essentially, leftist bullshit. Rumour has it that Jeremy Hunt even tried to persuade Boyle not to add the NHS section to the ceremony. It was a celebration of the liberal, multicultural, egalitarian side of Britain, paid for entirely by a Conservative government opposed or just ignorant to such ideas which made it all the more sweeter.

I tried to be cynical throughout and make jokes but it was so difficult when it was such a magnificent spectacle. Cinematic, moving, funny and dippy as anything, it made very little sense but was enjoyable as anything to watch. Boyle has made some mis-steps in his career but this is not one of them. Kudos Danny Boyle. Kudos.