Blackout

The blackout during last night's Super Bowl was very interesting to me. Not only was there an apparent lack of backup generators (inexcusable), but to say that the CBS team struggled to fill the void on-air was an understatement. I was baffled by the fact that Boomer Esaison thought it would be a good idea for the 49ers to insert Alex Smith into the lineup, but listening to Shannon Sharpe try to fill time (painful) and Dan Marino try to sound articulate (spoiler: he's not) was not quality television. Cutting to an overwhelmed Steve Tasker certainly wasn't the solution, and even the normally calm and smooth James Brown had some trouble keeping the audience informed (We're 15 minutes away from playing? You said that 5 minutes ago. And 5 minutes before that.)
And with Phil Simms and Jim Nantz suggesting that the blackout having something to do with the play on the field, I call B.S. The way that the teams run practice and training camp, they're accustomed to the stop-and-go. Practice for a while, go in watch some film, stretch, lift, back to the field. I don't think it had any affect on how the 49ers played better afterwards. They're obviously a very good team and in my opinion, were bound to start playing better. Maybe the blackout gave the coaching staff a chance to talk over a few more things, but it comes down to execution.