Larry Brown Sports

While I know very little about life inside the walls of a prison, I have heard enough stories to know that there are several ways you can become popular and several ways you can fall out of grace. OJ Simpson may have found a way to increase his standing among his peers on Super Bowl Sunday.

According to the NY Post, Simpson held a Super Bowl viewing party in his jail cell at Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada. He is reportedly one of the few inmates who has his own TV, so he invited several friends to cram into his 80-square-foot cell to watch the Baltimore Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers.

“If you have the money, you can buy a TV at the inmate store and put it in your cell,” the former NFL star’s producer friend Norman Pardo told the Post. “He’s like the Godfather of the prison now.”

Simpson is serving a 33-year sentence for kidnapping and armed robbery, so he could be there a while. A TV set was probably a solid investment, especially if it helps protect him from his fears of being killed by Aryan Warriors gang members while behind bars.

If the Harbaugh brothers weren’t such fierce competitors, they would not have been coaching against one another last Sunday. It has been nearly five full days since the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, but fierce competitors hate losing. That would explain why Jim Harbaugh has still yet to speak to John Harbaugh.

During an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Thursday night, John Harbaugh was asked if he had been in contact with his brother since beating him last Sunday.

“I have not,” Harbaugh said with a smile. “We have not had a conversation since. We will. Soon.”

He’s not joking. Anyone who has watched Jim Harbaugh coach should not be surprised. People who throw fits like this don’t enjoy losing, and they probably have no interest in hearing “you’ll get ‘em next time” from their older brother.

“When will you talk to your brother?” Letterman asked later in the interview.

“I’m hoping sometime, you know, soon,” Harbaugh replied. “We actually have meetings coming up, we have a combine in two weeks. Anybody who has a brother knows that you don’t console your brother. It doesn’t work.”

If John avoids a punch in the face from Jim the first time they see each other face-to-face, he’ll probably consider it a another victory.

Sunday night was a special night for Baltimore Ravens fans, many of who filled the streets of Baltimore to celebrate their team’s Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. As if winning a championship isn’t thrilling enough, one fan was captured on camera making the celebration an even more memorable experience.

As you can see at the 38-second mark of the video above that was posted on Reddit, a fan was recording some of the festivities when he came across a man who was down on one knee proposing to his girlfriend. Judging by her reaction, it’s safe to say the answer was yes.

My question is this: was this dude proposing after the game win or lose? I’m guessing he had some sort of alternate proposal plan in place. If his girlfriend is a big Ravens fan and he asked her to marry him after a Super Bowl loss, there’s a good chance he would have ended up like this guy.

H/T SI.com’s Extra Mustard

Whether you like Ray Lewis or not, there is no denying he is one of the greatest middle linebackers to ever play in the NFL. His career numbers and accomplishments speak for themselves. Lewis has been to 13 Pro Bowls and has won two Super Bowls. When the Baltimore Ravens won it all in 2001, he was named Super Bowl MVP.

With all that in mind, you would assume there is no way the 17-year veteran was any more nervous than the average player heading into Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers. Former Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce says that would be a poor assumption.

“I think he played with a case of the nerves,” Pryce told Jim Rome on Monday. “I think he had the yips. I really do.”

Pryce, who played four seasons alongside Lewis, said he has never seen anything like that from the future Hall of Famer. He also said he believes the emotions of the game became too much for Lewis to handle.

“He had it bad; he didn’t look like himself, even his new self,” Pryce said. “Forget his old self, that guy’s gone, that guy’s named Patrick Willis. But even the guy he was last week, he wasn’t that guy.  He had a case of it bad, badly. It was almost like he was just hoping let’s get this over with.

“Half of his playoff check should go to Dannell Ellerbe for making that last play on that last fade route. The other half to Greg Roman, the 49ers offensive coordinator.”

Lewis recorded only four total tackles in the Super Bowl, so it was certainly his least productive game of the postseason from a stats standpoint. That being said, I find it hard to believe that he would have been as nervous as Pryce insists he was. He got beat on a couple of plays, but that’s what happens when you’re 37 years old playing against guys in their prime. Maybe the whole deer antler spray fiasco rattled him more than we thought. Whatever the case, he’s still a two-time Super Bowl champion who gets to go out on top.

Audio of Pryce’s interview can be heard here.

H/T Game On!
Photo credit: Evan Habeeb-US PRESSWIRE

Winning in the NFL on a weekly basis is difficult enough, let alone winning four straight games in the playoffs against the best teams in the league. Generally speaking, the team that wins the Super Bowl deserves the right to be called the best. The Baltimore Ravens earned that right by beating the San Francisco 49ers this year, but Frank Gore is not willing to fully admit that.

“It’s tough,” the Niners running back said Sunday according to ESPN.com. “I just feel like we [were] the better team. They got away with one today. We showed we were the better team. It was just a couple plays here, a couple plays there.”

Any Super Bowl is bound to come down to a couple plays, but I disagree with Gore that the Niners showed they were a better team. If anything, they showed that they were completely outmatched until the stadium lights went out and things seemed to turn in their favor.

“I think we’re the better team,” Gore said. “[I'm] just happy the way we kept fighting. Any other team probably would’ve just laid down, and we let people know what type of guys we’ve got in the locker room, type of warriors we are. It just didn’t happen for us today.”

Gore has every right to be proud of what his team accomplished, but it seems like we have at least one person who pulls the “the better team lost” card every year. Last year, it was Baltimore linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo who refused to give credit to the AFC and NFC champions. Would the Niners have beaten the Ravens three out of five times if the two teams played a series? It’s possible, but this is the NFL. The team hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season is is No. 1.

When Jacoby Jones returned the opening kick of the second half of the Super Bowl 108 yards for a touchdown Sunday night, he did more than just pad the Baltimore Ravens’ lead and set a Super Bowl record. He also won free furniture for lots of people in the Baltimore area.

According to the Baltimore Sun, a furniture company called Gardiners Furniture offered to refund money on all furniture purchases between Jan. 31 and 3 p.m. on Sunday if the Ravens returned the opening kick of the game or the start of the second half for a touchdown. As if Jones wasn’t going to be popular enough after the play.

“That was amazing!” the store posted on its Facebook page after Jones’ 108-yard scamper. “Furniture is FREE! If you made a purchase this weekend, it’s your lucky day. Go Ravens!”

The store has run the promotion for the past three years. This year, customers bought $600,000 worth of furniture during the promotional time period. Kasee Lehrl, the advertising and marketing manager of Gardiners, told the Baltimore Sun they are overjoyed with the result.

“We’re obviously thrilled,” she said. “So exciting.”

Yes, they took out an insurance policy. It’s not uncommon for stores to run promotions like this, but it’s extremely rare for the consumers to come out on top. Earlier this season, we saw a Denver appliance store offer free appliances for a Broncos shutout. A Chevy dealership later offered the same thing for a Redskins shutout, but neither team came through. That’s because neither team had Jacoby Jones.

H/T The Big Lead

Sunday night may have been the last chance Randy Moss will have to capture a Super Bowl ring, and his team came up short once again. The San Francisco 49ers turned Super Bowl XLVII into a close game, but the Baltimore Ravens were in charge for most of the night. One of the most devastating plays for the Niners came in the second quarter, when Colin Kaepernick threw an interception with his team already trailing 14-3.

The pass was intended for Moss, and although it sailed a bit high you have to wonder if he could have at least gotten a hand on it by extending himself. Instead, he watched it sail over his head and into the arms of Ed Reed. This infuriated Bill Romanowski, who laced into Moss during the Niners’ postgame show on Comcast SportsNet.

“Randy Moss alligator armed it, he didn’t go up for the ball!” Romanowski said while gradually raising his voice, via CSNBayArea.com. “He said he was the best receiver in the DAMN world — ok, you hear me? OH GOD! That’s what pisses me off! You’re playing in the SUPER BOWL, guys!”

Video of the play can be seen here.

Just as a 60-yard touchdown down the middle of the field is vintage Moss, so too is giving up on a play. He may feel that he is the most skilled player to ever play the position, but Moss never had a chance at being the best of all time due to a lack of effort. Would he have changed the outcome of the game had he broken up the pass? Could he even have reached it? We’ll never know, but we wouldn’t have to ask these questions if he at least made an effort. That’s simply Randy being Randy, and it may be one of the many reasons he’ll likely never win a ring.

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