The world according to Jim:
• After a tremendously difficult week, this was the Super Bowl we needed.
Maybe it was a weird form of closure, Kansas City’s come-from-behind victory over San Francisco on Sunday in Super Bowl LIV. It might not seem that way in the Bay Area, where 49ers fans can now have just as grumpy an offseason as Rams fans did a year ago (and can second-guess their head coach just as intensely, if not more so).
But elsewhere, after a week of grappling with the tragic deaths of nine people taken from us way too soon, the ritual of football-and-halftime show-and-critiquing the ads was a return to normalcy, and maybe a bit of healing.
• That reflects the magnitude of the helicopter crash a week ago that took the lives of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser and Ara Zobayan. Bryant’s death, in particular, didn’t just rock Southern California and the NBA but was felt throughout the world, its impact recognized in all sports and throughout a multitude of countries.
• It will be felt for months to come, too. As noted by this publication’s Lakers writer, Kyle Goon, the tributes and remembrances are expected to continue in every road arena the team visits this season, and the Lakers will have to be mindful of the emotional toll that might take.
• Lakers coach Frank Vogel was asked the other night what it will take for things to get back to some semblance of normal, basketball-wise.
“Time,” he said. “I mean, that’s the simplest answer. We’ve got to continue to just focus on the work. There’s therapy in the work … We’ve got a resilient group with high character that has a great work ethic, and we’ll continue to get back to work.”
• As for the rest of us, it will be harder. Even Sunday night, as the process of picking up all of the impromptu shrines around Staples Center and L.A. Live had begun, TV shots showed a throng of people still showing up to mourn and grieve.
• The memorial service for Bryant, whenever and wherever it takes place, will be massive on a number of levels. Staples Center, which held memorial services for Michael Jackson and Nipsey Hussle, won’t be nearly big enough for this one. The Coliseum might not be big enough.
• I was asked if I could remember another moment that affected so many so intensely. In sports, the only other event that comes close from the standpoint of national and worldwide impact would be Magic Johnson disclosing he had HIV in 1991. Much of that was because at that time people assumed HIV was a death sentence. Fortunately, that was wrong, but Magic’s announcement at the time shook us all to the core.
• I’m guessing that the normal buzz leading up to this Super Bowl was muted most everywhere, with the exceptions of the Bay Area, Kansas City and Miami, because of the tragedy. But a competitive game, with the traditional trappings, was its own type of therapy.
• By the way, JLo and Shakira nailed it at halftime. And those buzzkills who complained about the content of their show better have raised objections last year, too, when Maroon 5’s Adam Levine whipped off his shirt during the Rams-Patriots halftime.
• Then again, Sunday’s game wasn’t therapeutic to bettors who took the popular prop bet on Patrick Mahomes’ rushing yards.
The over/under started at 29.5 and reached 36.5 in some betting parlors. Mahomes had 44 … until the Chiefs’ final possession, when he knelt down three times to kill the clock (and burn two San Francisco timeouts). He lost 15 yards on those kneel-downs. Final total: 29.
That, folks, is the classic example of a “bad beat,” the bet that looks like a winner until strange things happen.
• The best ad of the night? Sorry, but all of those multinational corporations that paid millions for 30-second spots were playing for second place. I’ve got to go with the NFL’s own “Next 100” ad right before kickoff, with L.A.’s own 13-year-old Maxwell “Bunchie” Young toting the football here, there, and everywhere as NFL legends urged him to “take it to the house, kid,” and ultimately delivering the game ball to referee Bill Vinovich live in Miami.
Got to admit, by the end of that spot, the room was getting a little dusty.
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• And yes, there was a heavy SoCal component to that ad, even beyond Aaron Donald and Joey Bosa shoving bulldozers out of the way at the SoFi Stadium construction site to clear a path for Bunchie and pals, and Derwin James and Jalen Ramsey providing commentary.
Of the 32 kids who ultimately accompanied Bunchie onto the field in Miami, representing the league’s teams, four live among us: Madden Williams of Irvine (Raiders), Ariana Soil of Lancaster (Chiefs), Noah Bush of Reseda (Chargers) and Kayla Muhammad-Flissinger of Torrance (Seahawks).
• Heard after a Super Bowl loss: “Just have to learn from it, keep working and, like I said, we will be back. We will be back for sure.”
No, that wasn’t heard from a 49er on Sunday night. That was from the Rams’ Donald one year ago after the loss to New England. That should be a reminder: Getting to the Super Bowl is hard enough. Only six teams in 54 years have gotten back after losing the year before, and only three have won that return visit – the 1971 Cowboys, the 1972 Dolphins and the 2018 Patriots.
• But this is more to the point for Rams fans: Fifteen Super Bowl losers have missed the playoffs the following year. Of those, 12 made it back to the postseason the year after.
So there’s hope.
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