Monday Night Football: Steelers-49ers delayed by stadium power outage

by Bill Palmer

The kickoff of tonight’s Monday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers has been delayed due to a power outage at Candlestick Park. ESPN, which is due to broadcast the game on live television, is reporting that attendees have largely remained in their seats despite the darkness; it’s currently 5:30 PM pacific time on the west coast, past sunset at the outdoor stadium. The outage, and the stadium’s inability to fix the problem or offer sufficient backup power, comes at a time when the Forty-Niners are looking to move to a new stadium outside San Francisco city limits if necessary, potentially adding fuel to the notion that the facilities are too outdated for the team to continue playing there. However, ESPN has subsequently reported the the outage was due to a transformer explosion and wasn’t specific to the stadium itself.

If the game is able to be played tonight, it’ll have a major impact on both the AFC and NFC playoff chases. The Steelers are in a position to take sole possession of the AFC North if they win, after division rival Baltimore Ravens lost their game last night. The 49ers are also in the midst of a playoff chase. Super Bowl-winning Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is expected to return to action tonight despite injury concerns, while longtime 49ers quarterback Alex Smith is in the midst of a career turnaround in his first year paired with new head coach Jim Harbaugh.

The power outage at Candlestick Park evoked flashbacks to the 1989 World Series, in which the stadium was rocked by an earthquake just head of game three. The San Francisco Giants baseball team, which played in Candlestick at the time, has since moved to newer facilities. In another historical note, Candlestick was the site of The Beatles’ final concert.

Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes tries to crash airplane with his iPod

Just weeks after being traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the New York Jets, wide receiver Santonio Holmes was busted (although not arrested) during a recent flight for refusing to turn off his iPod as the plane was getting set to land. After the flight landed safely despite Holmes’ best efforts to crash the plane using the power of his iPod from his seat, police greeted the former Super Bowl MVP at the gates to remind him of the multitudes of airplanes that have crashed because someone forgot to turn off an iPod FAA rules which require behavior while in the air that would make no sense in any other societal situation.

Holmes wasn’t charged for the violation, but he is already facing a suspension for part of the upcoming NFL season for reasons we can’t remember. No word on whether the league will tack on extra games to his suspension due to this latest revelation that he’s a terrorist big fan of music.