Note to editors: I apologize for missing my deadline for this column. For reasons that will be apparent, I typed it with one hand and knocked on my wooden desk with the other hand the entire time I was working on it.
I’m an anxious sports fan, so it’s been a stressful NFL playoffs for me as my beloved San Francisco 49ers have marched their way into the Super Bowl. Now we have a chance to win a sixth Super Bowl, but all I see is the horrifying smiling face of Pat Mahomes standing between me and actually getting to celebrate a Super Bowl win for the first time in almost 30 years.
The one comforting thought I’ve had over and over for the two weeks between the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl? Well…it can’t be worse than last time. Right?
In February of 2020 the 49ers and Chiefs played in the Super Bowl, with Mahomes and the gang coming back and breaking our hearts. If I’m being honest, I barely remember the game.
That’s because for a week prior I’d been gripped with a mystery illness that robbed me of my sense of smell and taste, made it hard for me to get out of bed for more than a few minutes, and eventually put me in urgent care. The doctors there x-rayed my lungs because my oxygen levels were so low and told me to isolate myself from my family as much as possible.
A few days later when the Super Bowl happened, I was at least feeling strong enough to sit up and watch the game. Not wanting my family to get sick, I wore the doctor-issued mask I’d been given and sat in our dining room, watching the game from the other room while Shar, Vinny and Maya sat in the living room. If I’m being honest, I have almost no recollection of the day--Shar snapped a picture of me in my mask on February 2, with Vinny in his Steve Young 49ers shirt. That picture is about all I remember about being a fashion trendsetter who was wearing a mask just a few weeks before they became ubiquitous.
Going to sleep that night, Maya was sick with what we assumed was the same bad case of the flu that I had. I remember being sad about the 49ers losing, and hopeful that we’d bounce back and win a championship my kids and I could celebrate in 2021.
Of course, what actually happened was that six weeks after the Super Bowl, schools and businesses shuttered and we went into lockdown as the world waited out the devastating effects of COVID-19. Sports stopped completely for a time, both on TV and on the fields and courts around Long Beach. My family and I got used to that awkward mask I’d worn for the Super Bowl, and Vinny and Maya went to school on their computers for several months.
Now here we are again. A few days before kickoff, I’m feeling alright (physically if not emotionally) and world news outlets aren’t reporting any mysterious pneumonia outbreaks on the other side of the globe.
So when Mahomes is inevitably looking like Mahomes on Sunday, I’ll do my best to remember the last time the Niners had their hearts ripped out by the Chiefs, and all the lessons we’ve learned since then. Hopefully whatever the outcome of this 2020 rematch, the aftermath will be a lot less stressful than the last time these teams met.
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