congratulations to 49ers and alex smith

I must say I was a doubter. Both of the team and the quarterback. I secretly longed for the niners to be a flashy offensive machine with an emphasis on passing. This team surprised me by winning and by continuing to win. Great defense. Dominant special teams. Offense good enough to win. Quarterback much better than in his first 6 years but still a "game manager". Not a Montana or Young. So I have kept on waiting for the
bubble to burst and I am still waiting. And I hope I am still waiting in March.

There were flashes. Down 20 to 3 in Philly and a comeback against at that time what was considered to be an elite team and on the road. 4th and goal in Detroit with a minute left and do or die and a touchdown to Delaney Walker with no room for error.
But nothing to suggest what would take place last Saturday. Alex Smith has been the target of so much negativity over the past 6 years. And I must include myself in that. Sports astrologer Andrea Mallis(www.virgoinservice.com) predicted when he was drafted that he would be a flop of Ryan Leaf perportions. When I learned he was going to be retained she said he would be much better this year because Jupiter(expansiveness and good fortune) was now in Taurus which is his sun sign. And she has been right. But Saturday he played a game for the ages which can stand up to anything hall of famers Montana and Young ever did on a single game basis. With 4 lead changes in the last 4 minutes he ran for 1 touchdown and passed for the game winner, both times answering Saints touchdowns that gave New Orleans the lead. It was two equal forces slugging it out with the niners on top when the game ended. Really no loser in a game like this. But for that day the niners established themselves as a force equal to one of the elite teams, and that was not the perception of them going into that game.

I love it when I am proved to be wrong. The Giants did it in 2010. The niners and Alex Smith have done it this season. When you know everything the world is always the same. But when you are amazed, shocked, and positively proved wrong the world has a sense of wonder that is quite special. No one expected the Giants to win it all in 2010. And no one could have forseen what the niners have done this season.
Regardless of what happens Sunday in the NFC title game, it has been special. And seeing Smith transform and grow before our eyes has been special. Certainly my life has been much more an Alex Smith-like one before this year life than it has been like one of the annointed. And to see him rise to the occasion, show immense courage by transcending all the failure and negativity of the past, and to deliver when everything game wise was on the line was incredible. And rejuvenating. There is nothing like what happens when something that has been weak transforms into a strength and even a force. I wish him well for the next game but regardless of the outcome I thank him for Saturday's moment.

With the tradition of Montana and Young there is a lot of rare air here when we look at quarterbacks. So just coming into the space of the bay area and the 49ers is tough. But Smith may well establish his own mark here. Even when he was less successful I liked him as a person and the unassuming way he carried himself. This is very refreshing in this culture, which worships heroes and asks for more and more cliches. So Go Alex for another week!

I am including another clip of me that was shot for the movie "Thrive"(www.thrivemovement.com)