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January Sunset
29 January 2024
We shot this last night at 5:34 just a few minutes before Fox Sports showed an earlier shot as if it were live. A few minutes later we tweeted our brothers that "hope springs infernal" as the Santa Clara 14ers, formerly known as the San Francisco 49ers, struggled against a well-prepared Detroit Lion team in the NFC Championship game.
January Sunset. Nikon D300 with 18-200mm Nikkor at 34mm (51mm equivalent), f8, 1/60 second and ISO 200. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
This was the third straight NFC Championship the 14ers have played in. Against a team that has never been to the Superbowl. One was expecting better than a 24-7 halftime deficit from the local squad.
But we're old enough to remember that same advantage held by the 49ers over the Lions in 1957. In the end it counted for nothing as the Lions won and went on to defeat Cleveland for the championship.
History sort of repeated itself yesterday. Detroit couldn't hold that lead either and the 14ers advanced to the Superbowl against Kansas City.
There's something about the 14ers, though, that invites defeat. We've come to think it's the Morabito curse. Tony Morabito, his brother and a couple of business associates founded the San Francisco 49ers in 1944 and we suspect the team's failure to win another Superbowl after leaving the city is his doing.
We wouldn't mind being proved wrong, however.