That Conspiracy Theory is Crazy....or is it?

Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce and friend

It sounds like such an outlandish conspiracy theory that one may well suspect that it's a "false flag" planted by Democrats posing as Republicans to make the latter look ridiculous.

The theory, as stated by Scott Ostler of the Chronicle:

Thanks to a host of right-wing news sources with a wide collective audience, everyone with half a brain (but no more) is convinced that the Democratic Party and the NFL have joined in a conspiracy to assure that the Chiefs beat the 49ers.

Major right-wing media influencers, and even a one-time presidential hopeful, are uniting to spread the word of this devious plot, the purpose of which is to provide Swift an even greater platform from which to rock the 2024 vote in favor of Joe Biden.

Even the Wall Street Journal editorial page saw fit to make some remarks:

The story is that the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 will be rigged so that the Chiefs win in a dramatic fashion. Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce will get engaged. That way they’ll be at peak influence to cut a joint October ad for Mr. Biden.

This is either lunacy or it’s theater. Our guess is the latter. Many of its purveyors well know they’re putting on an act, but there’s fame and notoriety and money to be had from spinning conspiracy theories, the crazier the better.

Yet the paranoia on the right about a romance between the most popular singer in the world and an NFL player does make Republicans seem, frankly, weird.

Frankly, these analysts should look deeper. This could really be a plot by the San Francisco 49ers to get the conservative half of the country to root for them. San Francisco's homelessness, drugs, crime, and filth have threatened to taint the 49ers by their association with the City.

Come aboard the 49ers bandwagon, MAGAns. Don't give Kelce-Swift or Swift-Kelce a platform at the Super Bowl! (Hey, that sounds like a ticket that has greater appeal than the choice this year, and, get this, both will turn 35 by the end of this year.)

Not Much to be Proud of

Tua's Facebook photo

I did have a rooting interest in the Chiefs-Dolphins game this Saturday (Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was born in Hawaii, my home state), but not enough to subscribe to the Peacock channel, which had exclusive rights to the game.

My initial take was that the NFL was especially dumb in removing the game from "free" national television, since Taylor Swift's attendance at Chiefs games had been attracting millions of non-football viewers who were hoping to catch a glimpse of her. However, the money Peacock offered was too tempting: [bold added]

The Saturday night contest between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs will only be on Peacock, unless the viewer lives in the local television markets of the respective teams (the game will air free). For everyone else across the country, a Peacock subscription plans start at $5.99 per month...

So why is this game exclusively on a streaming service? NBC Universal paid the NFL $110 million last year for rights to carry a wild card game on Peacock -- a one-year deal.

Our household already subscribes to five streaming services that we don't fully utilize, and Chiefs-Dolphins couldn't justify adding a sixth. BTW, the game itself wasn't suspenseful or well-played; the Chiefs won 26-7 under extremely frigid conditions.

As for Taylor Swift, she was breaking the internet in her custom-made jacket by Kristin Juszczyk, wife of 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk.

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A post shared by Kristin Juszczyk (@kristinjuszczyk)

Winning by Losing

QB's Mahomes and Garoppolo after the game (Chron photo)

When the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs on February 2nd, Bay Area fans were, of course, disappointed.

But not too badly.

The 49ers had far outperformed expectations for the season.

It was a terrific game that wasn't decided until the final minutes.

The 49ers have a good, young team that should make them contenders for years.

2017 Warriors parade, Oakland (WSJ photo)

Now comes the report that many lives were possibly saved because the 49ers did not have a victory parade:

It’s impossible to know precisely how many people would have packed the streets to fete quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, coach Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers. But it’s possible to offer a rough estimate: a lot of people.

When the Golden State Warriors won their three recent championships, the parades in Oakland attracted reported crowds of between 500,000 to 1.5 million fans.

But wasn't San Francisco's gain Kansas City's loss? Not this time.

...the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl turned out to be a public health savior. Kansas City happened to be one of the last NFL cities to report its first case of the virus, and the hundreds of thousands of long-suffering fans who celebrated on Feb. 5 were about six weeks behind San Francisco. Not until March 18 did Kansas City report its first case. Bay Area residents had been ordered to shelter-in-place by then.

San Francisco fans lamented that Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes was perhaps the only player in the league who could have overcome a 10-point lead against the 49er defense in the fourth quarter.

Thank God he was there, as both cities won.

Super Bowl LIV: Chiefs 31, 49ers 20

QB's Mahomes and Garoppolo after the game (Chron photo)

The local team didn't win, but it was a pretty good Super Bowl. The lead changed hands several times, and the game wasn't resolved until the 49ers had to give up the ball on downs on a must-score drive in the 4th quarter. (I suppose a "great" Super Bowl is one that features spectacular plays and a game-winning TD in the final minute.)

Also making it good: there were no questionable calls, and the losers, who were the better team for the first 54 minutes, have no one to blame but themselves for allowing the Chiefs to score the last 21 points in the game.

Also, I was happy to see good-guy Andy Reid, 61, win a Super Bowl after 22 years of being a head coach in the NFL.

The 49ers have a young team, with only a few at risk for leaving next year, and a brilliant young head coach in Kyle Shanahan. They should be contenders for years.

Wait till next year....