Culture
Anne Tyler, Close-Up Artist, Zooms Out for a Novel of Family Rifts

The novel’s emotional crescendo comes at Robin and Mercy’s Fiftieth-anniversary celebration. (Twenty years after she moved out, they nonetheless haven’t advised the children.) Watching residence films along with his disconnected, taciturn brood, Robin displays: “Had there been some form of restrict, in these days, on how lengthy a scene might final? Every one was so temporary. … Pouf! After which goodbye. Goodbye to all of it. … It had flown by means too quick, he thought because the display screen went clean. And he didn’t imply solely the film.”
“French Braid” is a novel about what’s remembered, what we’re left with when all the alternatives have been made, the youngsters raised, the desires realized or deserted. It’s a transferring meditation on the passage of time.
The novel ends on a poignant notice, as David, now retired, finds himself unexpectedly awash in household intimacy when his son strikes in with him through the pandemic. He’s startled to acknowledge Garrett household traits in his 5-year-old grandson. “David’s father had raised his shoulders like that at any time when he was intent on some job — a person Benny had by no means laid eyes on.” It leads him to recall the French braids his daughter wore as a baby: “When she undid them, her hair would nonetheless be in ripples.”
David tells his spouse: “That’s how households work, too. You suppose you’re freed from them, however you’re by no means actually free; the ripples are crimped in perpetually.”
The second is classic Tyler: the epiphany that can shock nobody, a intelligent rephrasing of typical knowledge that merely affirms what we already consider. It’s why some (principally male) critics have, through the years, dismissed her work as sentimental — the defining attribute of the style often known as “ladies’s fiction.” It’s a publishing euphemism that carries greater than a whiff of misogyny, implying that fiction written by and about ladies is by definition one thing lower than literature — heartwarming somewhat than cerebral, reassuring somewhat than difficult. To make certain, over her lengthy profession Tyler has sometimes fallen into these traps. (See “A Patchwork Planet.”) However “French Braid” is the other of reassuring. The novel is imbued with an old-school feminism of a form presently retro. It appears squarely on the penalties of stifled feminine ambition — to the girl herself, and to these in her orbit.
For all its attraction, “French Braid” is a quietly subversive novel, tacklinging elementary assumptions about womanhood, motherhood and feminine growing old. Opposite to the message of a thousand self-help books, Mercy’s efforts to start a profession at midlife are fruitless. She advertises her providers in neighborhood grocery shops, on laundromat bulletin boards: “Let a Skilled Artist Paint Your Home’s Portrait.” After a long time as a housewife, home life is her solely topic.
In mourning the misplaced potentialities of Mercy’s life, Tyler takes goal at a sentimental trope deeply embedded in American tradition. The feminist motion however, well-liked tradition (to not point out “ladies’s fiction”) nonetheless clings to the notion of motherhood as the final word emotional achievement, the nice and crowning satisfaction of a lady’s life. For Mercy Garrett, that merely isn’t the case.

Culture
One last MLB free agent for every team: Finding new homes for 30 available players

Spring training is around the corner, and the free agent market has been stripped of its universal impact. What’s left — with very few exceptions — are players who would barely move the needle on one roster but fill a specific need on another. So, let’s find those guys some uniforms and get on with it. Here’s one remaining free agent for every major league team.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Kenley Jansen, RHP
A few days ago, we might have paired the D-Backs with a right-handed bat, but they just filled that need by re-signing Randal Grichuk. So, what’s left is to solidify the back end of their bullpen. Putting Jansen in the ninth would leave Justin Martinez to serve as a high-octane setup man. And playing for a good team would give Jansen a chance to get the 31 saves he needs to tie Lee Smith for the third-most saves in history.
Athletics
Nick Pivetta, RHP
The A’s have already signed one free agent attached to the qualifying offer. So, what’s one more? Add Pivetta to Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs, and the A’s would have a completely new top of the rotation while leaving room for young arms JP Sears, Joey Estes and Mitch Spence to round out the group. With a young and exciting lineup, and a couple of legitimate late-inning relievers — Mason Miller and Jose Leclerc — another proven starter could really raise the floor in Sacramento.
Atlanta Braves
Kyle Gibson, RHP
Stability. That’s all we’re looking for here. The Braves have done very little this offseason — Jurickson Profar and not much else — and are counting on the return of Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. to meaningfully raise their ceiling. Fair enough. Strider, Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez are the impact starters at the top of the rotation, but another veteran starter would help solidify the group and protect against further injury.
Baltimore Orioles
John Means, RHP
The Orioles just filled their last glaring need by signing Ramon Laureano to provide some right-handed balance in the outfield. The market doesn’t offer meaningful upgrades to their rotation, and their bullpen is more or less full, but a reunion with Means — who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer — would bring back a former All-Star and begin building depth for next season.
Boston Red Sox
David Robertson, RHP
Entering his 17th season, David Robertson just keeps delivering strong performances. (Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
Massive impact would come from signing Alex Bregman, but short of that, the Red Sox could use another dependable arm in their bullpen, and Robertson, who pitched like his old self as a 39-year-old last season. He would give the team another experienced reliever who could even be an option in an uncertain ninth inning.
Chicago Cubs
Jalen Beeks, LHP
Recent trades for Ryan Pressly and Ryan Brasier have given the Cubs some much-needed help in the late innings, and a late deal with Beeks would give them another experienced reliever who’s been everything from a long man to a closer. Beeks would also give the Cubs some left-handed balance in their pen. Caleb Thielbar is their only lefty at the moment.
Chicago White Sox
Brendan Rodgers, 2B
Throw a dart at a list of free agents, and you’ll probably hit a name that could help the White Sox. They could really use a veteran pitcher, but how many veterans really want to be a part of such a rebuild? For Rodgers, though, the White Sox could provide an opportunity to play every day and build back some value after a couple of down seasons in Colorado.
Cincinnati Reds
Phil Maton, RHP
The Reds have plenty of role players and a full five-man rotation (though an additional starter wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world). What they don’t have is a single reliever who FanGraphs projects to have an ERA below 4.15. It’s not necessarily a bad bullpen, but it lacks a standout aside from Alexis Díaz (who’s not even the best reliever in his own family). So, let’s add another solid arm into the mix and let Terry Francona sort it out in spring training.
Cleveland Guardians
Kiké Hernández, CF/2B
Defensively, center field is the Guardians’ most glaring need. In terms of experience, they’re thinnest at second base. And their everyday lineup includes only one strictly right-handed hitter. Well, Hernández would address all of that. He would be their best defensive option in center, their most experienced option at second, and another right-handed bat on a roster loaded with lefties and switch hitters. Maybe Lane Thomas would still play center field against righties, but Hernández could play there against lefties and in the late innings. Maybe Juan Brito is ready to play second, but Hernández would free him to also help out at other positions.
Colorado Rockies
James McCann, C
You might think it would make sense to give the Rockies a veteran starter. But their starting pitchers already are veterans! Or maybe give them an experienced reliever. But who would want that job? So, let’s give the Rockies the most boring addition possible: a new backup catcher. Playing McCann behind Jacob Stallings would free Hunter Goodman to continue playing all over the field (first base, catcher, outfield corners) to see if his immense power will play at the big league level (he had a .228 on-base percentage but slugged .417 in a half season last year).
Detroit Tigers
Justin Turner, 1B
You know what would be really fun? Putting Alex Bregman in Detroit. But in this market, Turner is the next best thing. The Tigers definitely need another right-handed hitter — Gleyber Torres and Matt Vierling are their only everyday righties — and Turner could play first base and DH while letting manager A.J. Hinch mix and match with lefty hitters Kerry Carpenter, Colt Keith and Jace Jung. Turner would also give the Tigers a massive clubhouse presence as they try to build on last season’s breakout.
Houston Astros
Alex Verdugo, LF
We sent Bregman elsewhere, which means this version of the major league multi-verse won’t have the Astros filling their left field void by shifting Jose Altuve from second base. So, let’s give them a real left fielder. Bonus points for the fact Verdugo hits left-handed (the Astros’ only everyday lefty is Yordan Alvarez). FanGraphs is still projecting Verdugo to have a 1.1 WAR season, which is better than Ben Gamel and Taylor Trammell — the two left-handed outfielders currently jockeying for Astros’ playing time — have produced in the past four seasons combined. Verdugo hasn’t been especially good in a few years, but he’s the best of what’s left.
Kansas City Royals
Brandon Drury, 3B/2B

Brandon Drury had an ugly season, but before that he was a standout contributor for three years. (Stephen Brashear / USA Today)
According to FanGraphs WAR, there was not a player in baseball less valuable than Drury last season. He was a full 2.1 wins below replacement. So why would the Royals want him? Because they actually have enough infielders — if this signing goes belly up, they’re covered at second and third — but Drury had a 118 OPS+ from 2021 to 2023, and he generated that offense while playing first, second, third, left and right. Basically, Drury would be a chance for the Royals to maybe find some cheap offense. Their projected Opening Day roster on FanGraphs includes seven hitters projected to have a sub-100 wRC+. That includes their entire bench and their starting third baseman, Maikel Garcia, who’s a great defender but had a 69 wRC+ last season. If Drury can bounce back to be just league average at the plate, he could help the Royals at multiple positions.
Los Angeles Angels
Craig Kimbrel, RHP
The Angels are in wing-and-a-prayer territory, anyway. They need a ton of things to go right, and those things range from Mike Trout’s health to Kyle Hendricks’ sinker. Scott Kingery and Jo Adell are involved. Yoán Moncada just joined them. There’s a Rule 5 pick in there, too. It’s a lot. So, why not add one more wild card? Kimbrel was an All-Star in 2023 and he saved 23 games last season, but he also pitched so poorly that the Orioles released him in September. How many teams are in a position to give Kimbrel even a chance to close again? The Angels are! If Kimbrel stinks and Ben Joyce wins the job, so be it, but the Angels bullpen is crawling with 20-somethings, and adding a veteran to the mix wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Clayton Kershaw, LHP
What do you get the team that has everything? How about a Hall of Famer? And, in this case, it’s a Hall of Famer who is almost certainly going to re-sign with them eventually, anyway. Kershaw to the Dodgers is basically the free square in free agency bingo, but we’ll gladly take the gimme.
Miami Marlins
Cal Quantrill, RHP
The Marlins would be a reasonable landing spot for all sorts of free agency leftovers. Michael A. Taylor would give them a legitimate defender in center. South Florida native Anthony Rizzo would be a veteran presence and a left-handed option at first base. Pretty much any free-agent reliever would become the most experienced guy in their bullpen. But Quantrill feels like an upside play for their rotation. He’s only two years removed from a couple of encouraging seasons in Cleveland. Best-case scenario: Quantrill rounds out the Marlins rotation in April before becoming a trade chip in July.
Milwaukee Brewers
Paul DeJong, SS
This is the only remotely viable shortstop left on the free agent market (the next-best was Nick Ahmed, but he just signed a minor league deal with the Rangers). Signing DeJong would let the Brewers keep Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz at second and third, where they’re excellent defenders. DeJong would also give the Brewers another right-handed bat (their regular lineup already has four lefties).
Minnesota Twins
Luis Urías, 3B/SS
The Twins want to add infield depth, especially shortstop depth, and this just isn’t the free-agent market for teams that need a shortstop. There’s really only one free-agent shortstop left, and this hypothetical exercise has him landing in Milwaukee. The fact Urías, who hasn’t played a big league game at short, is even on the radar for such a role speaks to just how few options are out there (Ahmed recently signed a minor league deal with the Rangers). For teams in the market for a viable shortstop, it’s pretty much DeJong-or-bust.
New York Mets
Brooks Raley, LHP
Our first draft suggested the Mets re-sign Pete Alonso. Then they actually did! So, we went back to the drawing board and found a Mets roster that has basically everything covered. The Mets have seven experienced starting pitchers, at least six guys who could get time at second base, and a pretty solid bullpen. So, we’ll suggest bringing back Raley, who pitched well for the Mets the past two seasons before Tommy John surgery last summer. He won’t be available until the second half, at which point the Mets might be happy to have the extra lefty.
New York Yankees
Colin Poche, LHP
The Yankees have done most of their heavy lifting, and short of Bregman, there’s no free-agent infielder who meaningfully improves them at second base or third. But they could use a second left-handed reliever to pair with Tim Hill, and Poche is a proven commodity in the AL East.
Philadelphia Phillies
Héctor Neris, RHP
With every team, there’s a desire to come up with an interesting addition that fits one specific need, but the Phillies basically addressed the most glaring needs in December when they traded for Jésus Luzardo, signed Max Kepler and signed Jordan Romano. The free-agent market really doesn’t offer any other ideal fits. Neris at least would give them one more veteran arm, and a familiar arm at that. He would fit about as well as anyone. Basically, just give the Phillies one of the last relievers standing, hope all their big bats stay healthy, and call up Andrew Painter in June.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Lance Lynn, RHP
At 37, Lynn has considered transitioning to a bullpen role, and that’s where he might best fit the Pirates. The team could go the usual route and sign one of the remaining free-agent relievers — Andrew Chafin? Dylan Floro? Scott Barlow? — but Lynn feels like an upside play. If he thrives in a one-inning role, Lynn would give the Pirates a veteran arm to pair with David Bednar. And, frankly, with Johan Oviedo returning to the rotation from Tommy John surgery, Lynn could end up being a welcome fallback option should the Pirates need a starter instead.
San Francisco Giants
Mark Canha, DH/RF
This is probably out of the Giants’ price range, but the team did trade for Canha at last year’s deadline, and he delivered a .376 on-base percentage in the final two months. Canha doesn’t have the power typical of a DH, but his on-base skills are valuable, and the Giants don’t really have a better option at DH. Canha can also play first base and right field, two spots where the Giants have left-handed hitters and could use the right-handed option. Alternatively, the Giants could add a depth starter or bring in another relief pitcher, but it’s hard to imagine them doing anything to wow you at this point.
San Diego Padres
Jose Quintana, LHP
The first thought was to add J.D. Martinez or Rizzo to an already aging lineup and see what happens (the Padres don’t really have a DH as long as Luis Arraez is playing first base). Maybe the Padres could do that, but if they’re going to keep exploring trades for either Dylan Cease or Michael King, they’re going to need someone else to fill the innings. Frankly, the Padres could probably use the pitching depth anyway, and Quintana, 36, is coming off another solid season.
Seattle Mariners
Jose Iglesias, 2B
The Mariners are all about being reliably decent, so here’s a veteran second baseman who tends to hit OK while playing solid defense. He would add stability to a questionable Mariners infield and improve the bench by freeing Dylan Moore to serve as a super-utility man. Otherwise, maybe David Peralta as a left-handed bat off the bench?
St. Louis Cardinals
Jose Urquidy, RHP
The Cardinals seem content to just kind of exist this offseason. Maybe they’ll trade Nolan Arenado and open the door to another right-handed bat or add a guy like Andrew Heaney for a bit of rotation depth, but if the Cardinals are going to keep their focus on the future, we’ll do the same and take a look at a two-year deal with a guy recovering from Tommy John surgery. Urquidy probably won’t help much this season, but he could give the Cardinals a leg up in their search for 2026 rotation depth (Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde are free agents after this season).
Tampa Bay Rays
Kevin Pillar, CF
The Rays could use another right-handed bat and a backup in center field. Pillar, 36, had an .852 OPS against lefties last season, and while he’s no longer among the elite center fielders in baseball, both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average had him as a positive defender in center last season. He would provide a veteran presence alongside starting center fielder Jonny DeLuca.
Texas Rangers
Kendall Graveman, RHP
The Rangers seem to be collecting relievers who aren’t quite closers but are certainly comfortable pitching the late innings. Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, Jesse Chavez, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Shawn Armstrong have all been added to the bullpen this offseason, so we’ll add one more to the mix. Graveman was a pretty good late-innings arm before shoulder surgery cost him all of 2024. He seems like a worthwhile addition to this hodgepodge bullpen the Rangers are putting together.
Toronto Blue Jays
Alex Bregman, 3B
This is the splash the Blue Jays have been trying to make for a couple of years. Bregman is a better fit — both short-term and long-term — than Alonso would have been, and he would give the Blue Jays one of the best infields in all of baseball alongside Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Andrés Giménez. Bregman is basically the biggest move any team could make, and the Blue Jays are as motivated as anyone to make it.
Washington Nationals
Kyle Finnegan, RHP
The Nationals are in a tough spot in a loaded NL East, but they went out of their way to add a couple of meaningful bats (Josh Bell, Nathaniel Lowe), they took an interesting gamble on Mike Soroka, and they have a couple of young outfielders just waiting to establish themselves as big league stars. Why do all that and leave the ninth inning unprotected? Finnegan has his shortcomings, but the Nationals never really replaced him this offseason, and at this point, bringing him back would be their best way to improve the bullpen.
(Top photo of Jansen: Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)
Culture
Book Review: ‘Animals, Robots, Gods,’ by Webb Keane, and ‘The Moral Circle,’ by Jeff Sebo

Several vignettes stand out. Keane cites a colleague, Scott Stonington, a professor of anthropology and practicing physician, who did fieldwork with Thai farmers some two decades ago. End-of-life care for parents in Thailand, he writes, often forces a moral dilemma: Children feel a profound debt to their parents for giving them life, requiring them to seek whatever medical care is available, no matter how expensive or painful.
Life, precious in all its forms, is supported to the end and no objections are made to hospitalization, medical procedures or interventions. But to die in a hospital is to die a “bad death”; to be able to let go, one should be in one’s own bed, surrounded by loved ones and familiar things. To this end, a creative solution was needed: Entrepreneurial hospital workers concocted “spirit ambulances” with rudimentary life support systems like oxygen to bear dying patients back to their homes. It is a powerful image — the spirit ambulance, ferrying people from this world to the next. Would that we, in our culture, could be so clear about how to negotiate the imperceptible line between body and soul, the confusion that arises at the edge of the human.
Take Keane’s description of the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, who, in the 1970s, likened the development of a humanoid robot to hiking toward a mountain peak across an uneven terrain. “In climbing toward the goal of making robots appear like a human, our affinity for them increases until we come to a valley,” he wrote. When the robot comes too close to appearing human, people get creeped out — it’s real, maybe too real, but something is askew.
What might be called the converse of this, Keane suggests, is the Hindu experience of darshan with an inanimate deity. Gazing into a painted idol’s eyes, one is prompted to see oneself as if from the god’s perspective — a reciprocal sight — from on high rather than from within that “uncanny valley.” The glimpse is itself a blessing in that it lifts us out of our egos for a moment.
We need relief from our self-centered subjectivity, Keane suggests — hence the attraction of A.I. boyfriends, girlfriends and therapists. The inscrutability of an A.I. companion, like that of an Indian deity, encourages a surrender, a yielding of control, a relinquishment of personal agency that can feel like the fulfillment of a long-suppressed dream. Of course, something is missing here too: the play of emotion that can only occur between real people. But A.I. systems, as new as they are, play into a deep human yearning for relief from the boundaries of self.
Could A.I. ever function as a spirit ambulance, shuttling us through the uncanny valleys that keep us, as Shantideva knew, from accepting others? As Jeff Sebo would say, there is at least a “non-negligible” — that is, at least a one in 10,000 — chance that it might.
THE MORAL CIRCLE: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why | By Jeff Sebo | Norton | 182 pp. | $24
ANIMALS, ROBOTS, GODS: Adventures in the Moral Imagination | By Webb Keane | Princeton University Press | 182 pp. | $27.95
Culture
How a Super Bowl blackout in New Orleans nearly altered Ravens and 49ers history

“This is Steve Tasker, sideline reporter for the Super Bowl 47. If you’re expecting to hear our friend Jim Nantz, it may be a moment before he gets on.”
When the audio of Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens suddenly cut out early in the third quarter on Feb. 3, 2013, the millions watching the CBS broadcast might have suspected something was amiss.
When Tasker, assigned to work the 49ers sideline, was the first voice anyone heard, it was confirmed. There was no power in the broadcast booth, elevators and escalators ground to a halt and so did the game — for 34 minutes.
“Half the power in New Orleans stadium, the Superdome here, is out,” Tasker announced to the world.
For some Ravens players, the stoppage was suspicious. Jacoby Jones had returned the second-half kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown, Baltimore was leading 28-6 and the Ravens had just sacked 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick on second down. The Super Bowl was about to be a rout and then the lights went out? Linebacker Ray Lewis smelled a rat.
“You cannot tell me someone wasn’t sitting there, and when they say, ‘The Ravens (are) about to blow them out. Man, we better do something,’” he said in an interview for NFL Films’ “America’s Game” later that year. “That’s a huge shift in any game, in all seriousness.”
The actual explanation was more mundane. A newly installed device called a relay automatically cut power to the stadium when the amperage hit a certain level because the factory settings were too low.
Entergy, the local electric company, vows that won’t happen Sunday when the Super Bowl returns to New Orleans for the first time in 12 years. The company no longer uses the equipment responsible for the blackout, there are better redundancies for electrical flow and the stadium has hosted more than a decade of New Orleans Saints games and concerts since without incident.
GO DEEPER
From Super Bowls to ‘last resort,’ Michael Jordan to ‘No mas,’ the Superdome has seen it all
Those concerts, significantly, have included Beyonce, whose halftime show in 2013 preceded the blackout, and Taylor Swift, who brought 200,000 fans to the Caesars Superdome over three nights in October.
“Some called that weekend the ultimate tabletop exercise,” Entergy said in a statement.
While the 49ers laugh at Lewis’ conspiracy theory — “We had the same delay they did,” offensive tackle Joe Staley said — there’s no question they benefited from the reset.
They barrelled into their locker room at halftime intent on fixing everything that had gone wrong in the first half, quickly going over the tactical changes they’d make. Then they had nowhere to go.
A Super Bowl halftime is twice as long as a regular-season version and because there was so much staging equipment, the players couldn’t get onto the field. Instead, they were cooped up in the locker room.
The 49ers note that the Ravens got away with a holding penalty against fullback Bruce Miller on Jones’ kick-return touchdown to start the third quarter. But there also was a sense that the long halftime had an effect.
“I remember coach (Jim) Harbaugh coming up and asking, ‘Were we warmed up?’” the 49ers strength coach at the time, Mark Uyeyama, recalled. “And I go, ‘Uhhh — clearly (Jones) was.’”
The 49ers then ran two plays — a 29-yard pass to Michael Crabtree and a 3-yard run by Frank Gore — before Kaepernick was sacked by Arthur Jones. Following that play, color commentator Phil Simms was in mid-sentence when the broadcast went silent at 7:37 p.m. local time.

The 49ers had the ball trailing 28-6 when the power suddenly went out in the Superdome. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
An attack? A shooter? Those thoughts flashed through everyone’s mind. The Sandy Hook shooting had happened a month and a half earlier and the 49ers had been on hand at a game in New England where the victims were remembered.
“The first thing that went through my head is an act of terrorism,” then-49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. “And what’s coming next? First, they cut the power. And now what? My whole family’s there.”
“I honestly thought it was a terrorist attack initially,” said Wink Martindale, then the Ravens’ inside linebackers coach. “You just didn’t know. Right away, you’re looking up where you know your family is sitting and everything else to make sure everyone was OK.”
After a few moments, those thoughts dissipated. There was an initial groan from the crowd, but there was no panic or commotion. The Superdome was quiet.
“To their credit, everyone remained calm,” Tasker said in a phone interview.
“Why is the clock stopped?”
Throwback to the lights going out during Ravens vs. 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII 💡😳 pic.twitter.com/BD5qbuhjmq
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) December 25, 2023
He said everyone’s first task was to find out what happened and how long the game would be delayed. The sideline reporters had stopped using wireless microphones six years earlier during rainy Super Bowl XLI because those mics had gone out. Tasker had a cable attached to his mic in New Orleans that stretched only as far as the numbers on the field. The league officials he wanted to interview were safely huddled at midfield and didn’t want to be interviewed on camera. So he strolled to midfield, got as much information as he could, then was approached by Jim Harbaugh on his way back to the sideline.
“He wanted to know what they told me,” Tasker said.
The 49ers had an advantage in that they’d gone through something similar the year before when a transformer blew outside of Candlestick Park, causing two delays during a “Monday Night Football” game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uyeyama said he reminded players how well they’d handled that wait on the sideline.
“We were better prepared than we were against Pittsburgh,” Uyeyama said. “And we’d put (Ben) Roethlisberger on his back all game. So we were walking around and communicating with the guys, ‘Remember, Pittsburgh.’”
The teams initially were told the game would resume in about 15 minutes and that everyone should remain on the field. They heard the same refrain — 15 minutes — when they checked in later.
“The longer it went, you had to get yourself back in coaching mode,” Martindale said. “It was like, ‘Holy s—, we have to start stretching.’ We knew we were in trouble. I know analytics say there’s no such thing as momentum, but that’s bulls—. The lights going out changed the momentum of the game. We were killing them when the lights went out. We had an older team than them and it really took us a while to get loose again and get going.”
Said 49ers safety Donte Whitner: “Football is a game based on momentum. And whenever you have a lull like that, it’s a good opportunity for the team that’s not playing well to regroup and recover.”
He said linebackers Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman discussed strategy. Justin Smith, the elder statesman of the defense, made sure everyone stayed focused and calm.
“I remember vividly hearing Dashon Goldson continue to say, ‘Not today. Not today. We’re too good. We’re too great of a defense,’” Whitner recalled. “And what he was referring to was, ‘Let’s not make the simple mistakes that will beat us.’”

The blackout officially last 34 minutes and seemed to lead to a huge momentum swing for the 49ers. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
On offense, Roman made only a quick visit to the locker room at halftime. The 49ers had scored only two field goals at that point and he needed to rework the entire game plan. Roman spoke briefly to the players, then approached Harbaugh.
“I just said, ‘Hey, Jim, I’ve gotta get upstairs and get things figured out,’” Roman said.
He was back in the coach’s booth before Beyonce began her show and felt good about the alterations he’d made.
“Then they returned the kickoff and it was like the price of poker has changed even greater,” Roman said. “It was like, ‘Oh my God. Now we’re in quite a hole.’”
He made even more adjustments after the stadium lost power. The radio headsets connecting him and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to the sideline didn’t work and in fact were one of the last things to come online before the game resumed.
So Roman bounced plays and ideas off of receivers coach John Morton. The 49ers would run the ball occasionally to keep Lewis and the Ravens defense honest. Otherwise, they’d attack through the air.
“We were gonna be ultra-aggressive,” Roman said. “We had so much talent on the team, it was only a matter of time.”
He was right. The 49ers punted immediately after play resumed but scored on a 31-yard Kaepernick-to-Crabtree pass when they got the ball back. Then they scored on their next three possessions, cutting Baltimore’s lead to 31-29 with just under 10 minutes to play. It was as if the blackout had created two distinct games.
“It was like a track meet from that point forward,” Roman said.
But while the Ravens scored once more — on a Justin Tucker 38-yard field goal — the 49ers offense got bogged down deep in the red zone in the final minutes.
San Francisco seemed to have a great shot for a go-ahead touchdown after Gore’s 33-yard run to the 7-yard line with 2:39 to go. That carry, however, left Gore — one of the best short-yardage runners in the NFL — winded and his replacement, LaMichael James, was stopped for a 2-yard gain on first down.
A quarterback keeper that likely would have scored a touchdown was wiped out when Jim Harbaugh called a timeout to avoid a play-clock violation. When the last of three throws to Crabtree in the corner of the end zone sailed over the receiver’s head, the Ravens knew they had finally halted San Francisco’s momentum and hung on for the win.
“If we would have lost that game, I would have walked away saying, ‘It was because the power went out and the long delay,’” Martindale said. “We were just killing them otherwise.”
Said Roman: “Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. That was a bizarre day in our lives, for sure.”
Despite being the lone face and the voice for the Super Bowl broadcast for a few uncertain minutes, Tasker said he didn’t receive much attention following the game. Instead, his phone started blowing up six days later when “Saturday Night Live” — with Taran Killam playing Tasker — spoofed the blackout with a cold open.
“That’s when I knew I’d finally made it,” Tasker said with a laugh.
(Top photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
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