Oracle to buy network gear maker Acme Packet for about $2 billion


(Reuters) - Oracle Corp agreed to buy Acme Packet Inc, which makes network equipment to speed up voice, video and data delivery across networks, for about $2 billion.


The $29.25 per share offer represents a 22 percent premium to Acme Packet's Friday close on the Nasdaq. The deal value is based on the number of outstanding shares as of Dec 31.


Oracle shares were down 1.7 percent at $35.60 before the bell. Acme shares were trading at $29.22.


"Users are increasingly connected and expect to communicate anytime and anywhere using their application, device, and network of choice. Oracle Communications along with Acme Packet can help service providers and enterprises meet these demanding requirements," Oracle said in a statement.


The deal is worth about $1.7 billion, net of cash, the companies said on Monday.


Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison, who has boosted Oracle's revenue dramatically over the past decade helped by a series of acquisitions, said in October he would not rule out a big deal "down the road".


The company's last acquisition was cloud computing firm Eloqua Inc, which it bought for $810 million in December.


Acme also reported fourth-quarter earnings of 9 cents per share, excluding items, on revenue of $70.7 million.


Analysts expected an adjusted profit of 8 cents per share and revenue of $68.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Acme has been hit by weak telecom spending in the last few quarters as carriers spend less on new projects and delay existing ones. Its shares have fallen 18 percent in the last year.


(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)



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Ravens edge 49ers 34-31 in electric Super Bowl


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For a Super Bowl with so many story lines, this game came up with quite a twist.


Try a blackout that turned a blowout into a shootout — capped by a brilliant defensive stand.


The Baltimore Ravens survived a frenzied comeback by the San Francisco 49ers following a 34-minute delay in the third quarter for a power outage Sunday night, winning their second championship 34-31. Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco threw three first-half touchdown passes, Jacoby Jones ran back the second-half kickoff a record 108 yards for a score, and star linebacker Ray Lewis' last play fittingly was part of a defensive effort that saved the victory.


"To me, that was one of the most amazing goal-line stands I've ever been a part of in my career," said Lewis, who announced a month ago he would retire when the Ravens were done playing.


They are done now, with another Vince Lombardi Trophy headed for the display case.


"What better way to do it," Lewis said, "than on the Super Bowl stage?"


That stage already was loaded with plots:


—The coaching Harbaughs sibling rivalry, won by older brother John, who said the postgame greeting with Jim was "painful."


—Flacco's emergence as a top-level quarterback, and his impending free agency.


—Colin Kaepernick's rapid rise in the last two months as 49ers QB.


—The big game's return to the Big Easy for the first time in 11 years, and the first time since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city in 2005.


—Lewis' self-proclaimed "last ride."


But when the Superdome lost power, well, that wasn't in anyone's scenario.


Flacco and the Ravens (14-6) were turning the game into a rout, leading 28-6 when, without even a flicker of warning, several banks of lights and the scoreboards went dark. Players from both sides stretched and chatted with each other in as bizarre a scene as any Super Bowl has witnessed.


"The bad part was we started talking about it," said safety Ed Reed, who had the game's only interception. "That was mentioned. It was like they were trying to kill our momentum."


After power was restored, the 49ers began playing lights out.


San Francisco (13-5-1), in search of its sixth Lombardi Trophy in as many tries, got back in the game almost immediately.


Michael Crabtree's 31-yard touchdown reception, on which he broke two tackles, made it 28-13. A few minutes later, Frank Gore's 6-yard run followed a 32-yard punt return by Ted Ginn Jr., and the 49ers were within eight.


Ray Rice's fumble at his 24 led to David Akers' 34-yard field goal, but Baltimore woke up for a long drive leading to rookie Justin Tucker's 19-yard field goal.


San Francisco wasn't done challenging, though, and Kaepernick's 15-yard TD run, the longest for a quarterback in a Super Bowl, made it 31-29. A 2-point conversion pass failed when the Ravens blitzed.


Tucker added a 38-yarder with 4:19 remaining, setting up the frantic finish.


Kaepernick couldn't get the 49ers into the end zone on the final three plays. The last was a pass into the right corner of the end zone to Crabtree that involved some incidental bumping. Jim Harbaugh insisted a flag should have been thrown.


"There's no question in my mind that there was a pass interference and then a hold," Jim Harbaugh said.


Ravens punter Sam Koch took a safety for the final score with 4 seconds left. Koch's free kick was returned by Ginn to midfield as time ran out.


"How could it be any other way? It's never pretty. It's never perfect. But it's us," John Harbaugh said of his Ravens. "It was us today."


Barely.


"Yeah, I think that last drive when we got the ball and had time to go down and score a touchdown," Kaepernick said, "we thought it was our game."


But the championship is Baltimore's.


As for the foul-up at America's biggest sporting event, officials revealed that an "abnormality" in the power system triggered an automatic shutdown, forcing backup systems to kick in. But no one was sure what caused the initial problem.


Everything changed after that until Lewis and Co. shut it down. But there were plenty of white-knuckle moments and the Ravens had to make four stops inside their 7 at the end.


"I think it speaks to our resolve, speaks to our determination, speaks to our mental toughness," John Harbaugh said. "That is what wins and loses games."


At 4 hours, 14 minutes, it was the longest Super Bowl ever.


Flacco's arrival as a championship quarterback — he had 11 postseason TD passes, tying a league mark, and no interceptions — coincides with Lewis' retirement. The win capped a sensational four games since Lewis announced he was leaving the game after 17 Hall of Fame-caliber years.


The Ravens will become Flacco's team now, provided he reaches agreement on a new contract.


Flacco's three TD passes in the opening half tied a Super Bowl record. They covered 13 yards to Anquan Boldin, 1 to Dennis Pitta and 56 to Jones.


That start boosted him to the MVP award.


"They have to give it to one guy and I'm not going to complain that I got it," Flacco said.


John Harbaugh had no complaints about getting that other trophy named after that Green Bay coach. But he struggled to balance it with the disappointment his brother was feeling.


"The meeting with Jim in the middle (of the field for the postgame handshake) was probably the most difficult thing I have ever been associated with in my life," the Ravens coach said.


The wild scoring made this the second championship in the NFL's 80-year title game history in which both teams scored at least 30 points. Pittsburgh's 35-31 win over Dallas in 1979 was the other.


The Ravens stumbled into the playoffs with four defeats in its last five regular-season games as Lewis recovered from a torn right triceps and Flacco struggled. Harbaugh even fired his offensive coordinator in December, a stunning move with the postseason so close.


But that — and every other move Harbaugh, Flacco and the Ravens made since — were right on target.


New Orleans native Jones, one of the stars in a double-overtime playoff win at Denver, seemed to put the game away with his record 108-yard sprint with the second-half kickoff.


Soon after, the lights went out — and when they came back on, the Ravens were almost powerless to slow the 49ers.


Until the final moments.


"The final series of Ray Lewis' career was a goal-line stand," Harbaugh said.


Lewis was sprawled on all fours, face-down on the turf, after the end zone incompletion.


"It's no greater way, as a champ, to go out on your last ride with the men that I went out with, with my teammates," Lewis said. "And you looked around this stadium and Baltimore! Baltimore! We coming home, baby! We did it!"


Jim Harbaugh, the coach who turned around the Niners in the last two years and brought them to their first Super Bowl in 18 years, had seen his team make a similarly stunning comeback in the NFC championship at Atlanta, but couldn't finish it off against Baltimore.


"Our guys battled back to get back in," the 49ers coach said. "I thought we battled right to the brink of winning."


The 49ers couldn't have been sloppier in the first half, damaging their chances with penalties — including one on their first play that negated a 20-yard gain — poor tackling and turnovers. Rookie LaMichael James fumbled at the Baltimore 25 to ruin an impressive drive, and the Ravens converted that with Flacco's 1-yard pass to Pitta for a 14-3 lead.


On San Francisco's next offensive play, Kaepernick threw behind Randy Moss and always dependable Reed picked it off. A huge scuffle followed that brought both Harbaughs onto the field and saw both sides penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.


Reed, also a New Orleans native, tied the NFL record for postseason picks with his ninth.


Baltimore didn't pounce on that mistake for points. Instead, Tucker's fake field goal run on fourth-and-9 came up a yard short when Chris Culliver slammed him out of bounds.


The Ravens simply shrugged, forced a three-and-out, and then unleashed Jones deep. Just as he did to Denver, he flashed past the secondary and caught Flacco's fling. He had to wait for the ball, fell to the ground to grab it, but was untouched by a Niner. Up he sprang, cutting left and using his speed to outrun two defenders to the end zone.


Desperate for some points, the 49ers completed four passes and got a 15-yard roughing penalty against Haloti Ngata, who later left with a knee injury. But again they couldn't cross the goal line, Paul Kruger got his second sack of the half on third down, forcing a second field goal by Akers, from 27 yards.


When Jones began the second half by sprinting up the middle virtually untouched — he is the second player with two TDs of 50 yards or more in a Super Bowl, tying Washington's Ricky Sanders in 1988 — the rout was on.


Then it wasn't.


"Everybody had their hand on this game," 49ers All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis said. "We point the fingers at nobody. We win together and we lose together, and today we lost it."


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Bolshoi ballet chief heads to Germany after attack






MOSCOW (AP) — The artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet said he knows who ordered an acid attack that left him with severe burns to his eyes and face but won’t say, voicing hope that investigators will soon name the perpetrator.


Sergei Filin checked out of a Moscow hospital Monday and headed to Germany for further rehabilitation.






Filin, 42, wore shades and a bandage on his head, and skin on his face was red and swollen from burns. But he spoke energetically and seemed to be in a good mood as he walked out of the hospital accompanied by his wife.


“My body is full of strength and energy,” he told reporters.


Filin earlier told Russian state television that he knew who ordered the attack but wouldn’t give names. “My heart tells me who did it,” Filin told Rossiya 24 television in an interview broadcast late Sunday.


He said that investigators would visit him in Germany as part of the continuing probe.


An attacker threw sulphuric acid in Filin’s face in Moscow on Jan. 17, as he was returning home from work.


“I felt enormous, unbearable pain,” Filin recalled in the television interview. “I fell face down in the snow and started rubbing my face and eyes with snow.”


His colleagues said the attack on Filin could be in retaliation for his selection of certain dancers over others for the prized roles.


The Bolshoi has been plagued by intrigue and infighting that have led to the departure of several artistic directors over the past few years.


Filin told reporters Monday as he was leaving the hospital that he’s still seeing as if through a mist as his eye treatment is continuing, and added that he will have to undergo further eye surgery in Germany.


“I don’t care about my face, my hair, my looks,” he said in the television interview. “I’m ready to be completely bald, look like a Frankenstein. It will have no impact on my heart, on my soul. All my inner self, all my energy is focused on recovering eyesight.”


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Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens


CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.


The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the start, just over half of the 187 gay, lesbian and bisexual teens said they had been bullied; by 2010 that dropped to 9 percent of gay and bisexual boys and 6 percent of lesbian and bisexual girls.


The researchers said the same results likely would be found in the United States.


In both countries, a "sea change" in cultural acceptance of gays and growing intolerance for bullying occurred during the study years, which partly explains the results, said study co-author Ian Rivers, a psychologist and professor of human development at Brunel University in London.


That includes a government mandate in England that schools work to prevent bullying, and changes in the United States permitting same-sex marriage in several states.


In 2010, syndicated columnist Dan Savage launched the "It Gets Better" video project to encourage bullied gay teens. It was prompted by widely publicized suicides of young gays, and includes videos from politicians and celebrities.


"Bullying tends to decline with age regardless of sexual orientation and gender," and the study confirms that, said co-author Joseph Robinson, a researcher and assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "In absolute terms, this would suggest that yes, it gets better."


The study appears online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.


Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, said the results mirror surveys by her anti-bullying advocacy group that show bullying is more common in U.S. middle schools than in high schools.


But the researchers said their results show the situation is more nuanced for young gay men.


In the first years of the study, gay boys and girls were almost twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers. By the last year, bullying dropped overall and was at about the same level for lesbians and straight girls. But the difference between men got worse by ages 19 and 20, with gay young men almost four times more likely than their straight peers to be bullied.


The mixed results for young gay men may reflect the fact that masculine tendencies in girls and women are more culturally acceptable than femininity in boys and men, Robinson said.


Savage, who was not involved in the study, agreed.


"A lot of the disgust that people feel when you bring up homosexuality ... centers around gay male sexuality," Savage said. "There's more of a comfort level" around gay women, he said.


Kendall Johnson, 21, a junior theater major at the University of Illinois, said he was bullied for being gay in high school, mostly when he brought boyfriends to school dances or football games.


"One year at prom, I had a guy tell us that we were disgusting and he didn't want to see us dancing anymore," Johnson said. A football player and the president of the drama club intervened on his behalf, he recalled.


Johnson hasn't been bullied in college, but he said that's partly because he hangs out with the theater crowd and avoids the fraternity scene. Still, he agreed, that it generally gets better for gays as they mature.


"As you grow older, you become more accepting of yourself," Johnson said.


___


Online:


Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org


It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org


___


AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


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Following Super Bowl, Beyonce announces world tour


NEW YORK (AP) — Beyonce was just warming up at the Super Bowl: The singer has announced a world tour.


"The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour" will kick off April 15 in Belgrade, Serbia. The European leg of the tour will wrap up May 29 in Stockholm, Sweden.


The tour's North American stint starts June 28 in Los Angeles and ends Aug. 3 in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the Barclays Center.


It was also announced Monday that a second wave of the tour is planned for Latin America, Australia and Asia later this year.


Beyonce was the halftime performer at Sunday night's Super Bowl, where the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers. She performed a 13-minute set that included hits "Crazy in Love," ''Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and a Destiny's Child reunion.


___


Online:


http://www.beyonceonline.com/us/home


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Cubs, rooftop spat best viewed from sidelines








From the Super Bowl to the sandlot, just as surely as players give 110 percent, the math of sports is always suspect.


Sports isn't like other businesses. What other investment becomes more attractive because of its unpredictability? Revenue can always be accounted for, but what of ego, pride, loyalty, stubbornness or even the microns that separate a catch from a muff?


In no other industry does a perennial also-ran continue to see its value increase.






That's why it's a mistake to get too wrapped up in the dispute between the wealthy Ricketts family that owns the Chicago Cubs and the owners of buildings adjacent to Wrigley Field who have turned their rooftops into garish, outsize extensions of the bleachers?


If it's just money, there's a price — and if there's a price, there's a solution to be worked out. If it's a game, the drama is best enjoyed with healthy detachment because logic may or may not dictate the outcome.


Like a hockey fight, one or both combatants will eventually run out of gas, then will be penalized with the loss of time and opportunity.


"What we are trying to do is resolve this right now," Jim Lourgos, one of the rooftop club owners, said recently during a visit to Tribune Tower. "If you're in court on something like this, my feeling has always been that by the time you're in court, you've already lost."


Unless, say, you're trying to run out the clock. But enough with the sports metaphors.


At the center of this dispute, for those late arrivals to this fight, is a nearly 99-year-old ballpark long overdue for a rehab. Wrigley must be brought into the 21st century, in the interest of the team but also all those who benefit from its standing as a tourist magnet, including those peddling rooftop seats.


The Ricketts family is said to finally have abandoned its quest for taxpayer help in funding the project.


It is true other sports franchises in town have received taxpayer help to build facilities that enrich their owners, but every bad idea has to end somewhere. This would at last be consistent with the philosophy of patriarch Joe Ricketts, who has said he considers it "a crime for our elected officials to borrow money today to spend money today and push the repayment of that loan out into the future on people who aren't even born yet."


Rather than hitting up the cash-strapped city and state, the Ricketts clan instead wants help in the form of concessions such as a relaxation of landmark restrictions and city ordinances that limit such matters as the number of night games and ads in the ballpark. They also want to turn one of the streets into a pedestrian mall.


The rooftop interests, which kick 17 percent of their revenue back to the Cubs as part of a nine-year-old settlement with the team, are terrified the loosened restrictions will result in their views of the ballpark being blocked by advertising signs.


Never mind that Wrigley Field itself has many seats with obstructed views, thanks to support posts.


The rooftoppers have offered to put advertising on their building facades with the money going to the team and city. And they think they have leverage via the 2004 contract they signed with then-Cubs owner Tribune Co. (Yes, that's the same Tribune Co. that owns the Chicago Tribune and still has a small piece of the ballclub.) They think they can parlay this into an extension of their current agreement with the team to 2023.


But the contract allows that "any expansion of Wrigley Field approved by governmental authorities shall not be a violation" of the deal, which means if Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets behind the Ricketts, look out.


Rooftop owners talk about the taxes they pay, the people they employ, the money they've invested to make their businesses safe and viable, the character they add to the neighborhood.


The basic argument, however, still seems a little like when your neighbor with the big-screen TV decides to start watching with the drapes closed on what's become movie night at your house. It's bad form to complain that they not only shouldn't shut the drapes but should open the window and turn up the volume so you and the people in your living room you've charged $1 a head can make out the dialogue better.


At the same time it's hard to sympathize with the Ricketts family, which invested $850 million to acquire the team and ballpark, effectively creating a family trust that's a tax-efficient structure for protecting and eventually distributing wealth across generations. It's not as though these people didn't know Wrigley Field was in need of work or the deals in place with the rooftop clubs. They ought to be able to come up with the cash to make this happen, with or without advertising.


That deal is really something, though. For example, the contract calls for the Cubs to help hype them in a variety of ways, advancing the argument that the rooftop clubs are part of the appeal of Wrigley.


There's a requirement that "WGN-TV will show and comment upon the Rooftops' facilities during the broadcasts of Cubs games and the Cubs will request other Cubs television broadcasting partners to do the same." There's also a mandate for the team to "include a discussion about the Rooftops on their tour of Wrigley Field" and to include stories positive about the Rooftops in The Vine Line," the team's publication.


What you won't read in The Vine Line is that this fight, like the ballpark itself, is a fight over something that may increasingly be quaint in the coming decades. The Los Angeles Dodgers last week announced a $7 billion, 25-year deal for their own cable channel, following the example of the New York Yankees, which already have their own.


With that kind of money coming in via television, the pressure to make money from ticket sales may be relieved somewhat, turning the stadiums into glorified studios. But that may be too logical for sports. For one thing, it assumes that player salaries won't escalate in response as owners ditch their budgets in order to get an edge that may or may not materialize.


That's the thing about sports. You never know how the numbers will add up.


philrosenthal@tribune.com


Twitter @phil_rosenthal






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1 person dead, 8 to 10 people displaced in apartment fire













Fatal fire in Huntley


Firefighters from Huntley and surrounding areas work at the scene of a fatal fire at the 11700 block of Woodcreek Road in Huntley on Sunday morning. An adult male died in the fire which broke out around 6:15 Sunday morning, while another approximately ten people have been displaced.
(Stacey Wescott, Chicago Tribune / February 3, 2013)



























































A man died and about 10 people were displaced after a fire broke out in a six-unit apartment in Huntley this morning, fire officials said.


Huntley firefighters were called to the two-alarm fire Woodcreek Apartments, 11702 Woodcreek Drive at about 6:15 a.m., said Battalion Chief Tim Flannigan of the Huntley Fire Protection District.


The fire happened at the six unit, wood-frame apartment building, said Flannigan.





He said the fire began in one unit of the apartment where a man was found deceased, he said.


The fire spread to two other units of the building and about 10 people were displaced.


He said the McHenry County coroner was called to the scene, he said.


While the cause of the fire is under investigation, the preliminary indication is that the fire did not appear suspicious and may have been accidentally caused, he said.


A Huntley firefighter sustained a minor injury, he said.


It took firefighters about 10 minutes to put out the main fire in the unit and another hour and 20 minutes before officials had the scene under control.


chicagobreaking@tribune.com


Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking










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Hackers target Twitter, could affect 250,000 user accounts


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Anonymous hackers attacked Twitter this week and may have gained access to passwords and other information for as many as 250,000 user accounts, the microblog revealed late on Friday.


Twitter said in a blog post that the passwords were encrypted and that it had already reset them as a "precautionary measure," and that it was in the process of notifying affected users.


The blog post noted recent revelations of large-scale cyber attacks against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but unlike the two news organizations, Twitter did not provide any detail on the origin or methodology of the attacks.


"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter said. "The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked."


Privately held Twitter, which has 200 million active monthly users, said it was working with government and federal law enforcement officials to track down the attackers.


The company did not specifically link the attacks to China in the blog post, in contrast to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, which both said the hackers originated in China.


Twitter, the social network known for its 140-character messages, could not speculate on the origin of the attacks as its investigation was ongoing, said spokesman Jim Prosser.


"There is no evidence right now that would indicate that passwords were compromised," said Prosser.


The attack is not the first time that hackers have breached Twitter's systems and gained access to Twitter user information. Twitter signed a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission in 2010, subjecting the company to 10 years of independent privacy reviews, for failing to safeguard users' personal information.


(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill and Lisa Shumaker)



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Super Bowl of firsts, lasts, bests


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The journey to this Super Bowl wound through bounties and replacement refs, eventually bringing the big game back to the Big Easy — with a replacement quarterback, a sibling rivalry and a grand exit for one of the NFL's greatest players, clouded by the obscure healing powers of deer-antler spray.


It is a Super Bowl of comebacks, of firsts and lasts, and — if San Francisco wins — the best.


A win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday gives the 49ers six championships, matching Pittsburgh's titles in the Super Bowl era. Unlike the Steelers, the Niners have never lost one.


Of course, they haven't won one in 18 years, either.


"There's a tradition with the San Francisco 49ers, but I think these guys are paving their own way," said Hall of Fame receiver and three-time champion Jerry Rice. "They're playing with a lot of swagger."


Or as owner Denise DeBartolo York said, "We've come full circle and the dynasty will prevail."


New Orleans has come full circle, too. Ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, losing a quarter of its population, abandoned by the Saints for an entire season, the city couldn't imagine hosting another Super Bowl. But as New Orleans recovered and rebuilt, it envisioned staging what Patriots owner Robert Kraft calls "the pre-eminent sporting event."


The NFL agreed it was time to return. And even if Commissioner Roger Goodell is despised here after slapping the Saints with suspensions and fines in the bounty scandal, the vibes from the French Quarter and Warehouse District this week have been supportive, even uplifting.


"It's also terrific for us to be back here in New Orleans," Goodell said, joking about voodoo dolls in his likeness. "Our 10th Super Bowl here, the first since Katrina, and it's clear this city is back bigger and better than ever."


There's the tale of the head coaching brothers, Baltimore's John and San Francisco's Jim, the first siblings to face off in a Super Bowl. And Ray Lewis, the pre-eminent linebacker of his generation on his self-proclaimed last ride. (His farewell party was somewhat sidetracked for two days this week when Lewis waved off a report that he tried to get unusual products like deer-antler spray to speed his recovery from an arm injury that sidelined him for 10 games.)


"There are so many storylines to this game that make it bigger than just the Super Bowl," 49ers CEO Jed York said.


Such as the Harbaughs plot about sons of a lifetime coach who took different paths to the top of the NFL.


John, older by 15 months, has made his career standing on the sideline with a headset. He's the only head coach to win playoff games in his first five seasons; his quarterback, Joe Flacco, has the same distinction as he heads into his first Super Bowl. Jim Harbaugh was a first-round draft pick and quarterbacked four teams in 14 pro seasons before going into coaching. He was an immediate success at San Diego — the Toreros in the college Pioneer League, not the Chargers in the NFL — and Stanford before the 49ers won a bidding war for him in 2011.


This week's family reunion has been light-hearted, though that figures to change Sunday.


"It's probably a little tougher emotionally," John Harbaugh said of facing his brother. "It's a little tougher just from the sense of I don't think you think about it when you're coaching against somebody else; it's more about the scheme and the strategy. There's a little bit of a relationship element that's more strong than maybe coaching against someone else.


"I'll have a better answer for you after the game. I've never been through this before. This is all new."


And oh-so-new for the QBs, Flacco and Colin Kaepernick.


Flacco is no fluke, holding the career record for road playoff wins with six. But until outplaying Peyton Manning and Tom Brady this year, he hadn't gotten the Ravens to the Super Bowl. He has eight touchdown passes and no interceptions in the postseason, padding a resume that soon will make him one very highly paid quarterback: Flacco's contract expires after this game. Even with a franchise tag applied by Baltimore (13-6), he'll make about $14.6 million next season.


"I think when you talk about winning as quarterbacks in the playoffs," Flacco said, "I would think that all of them have Super Bowl victories. So that's really the only one that matters, and that's what we're trying to get."


Naturally, so are the 49ers (13-4-1), whose midseason adoption of the pistol offense to best use Kaepernick's dynamic versatility added a dimension no one has been able to stop. The Niners might never have taken such a huge step had incumbent Alex Smith, in the midst of his best season, not sustained a concussion on Nov. 11. Kaepernick took over and the offense took off.


Once Smith was healthy, he no longer was the starter. Jim Harbaugh gambled by sticking with the raw second-year quarterback who brought more game-breaking skills to the position.


Difficult decisions like that are sometimes foolhardy, sometimes inspired.


This one worked superbly, and Kaepernick stands one victory from joining Joe Montana and Steve Young as a 49er Super Bowl champion.


"It was tough watching this team do well and not being able to contribute," said Kaepernick, more recognized before his promotion for his collection of tattoos than for his strong arm and sprinter's speed. "For me, what kept me going was the fact that I might get an opportunity to get out there. When I did, I needed to take advantage of it."


The 49ers hope to take advantage in the same Superdome where they were at their most dominant, beating Denver 55-10 in 1990 in the biggest rout the Super Bowl has seen.


The Steelers are recognized as the true powerhouse of the Super Bowl era, which is nearly a half-century old. Four of those titles came in the 1970s, with Mean Joe Greene and the Steel Curtain shutting down opponents while Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris and Lynn Swann were scoring on them.


But the last two were in 2005 and 2008, and they've been perennial playoff qualifiers, too. That kept them in the football forefront.


For the 49ers the golden years of Montana, Rice, Young and Ronnie Lott ended with the 1994 season. They didn't even make the playoffs from 2003-10, and this is their first trip back to the Super Bowl.


Rice sees Super Bowl win No. 6 coming Sunday.


"I just think we had players who played well in the big game," he said. "My best football that I played, I think, happened in the playoffs and in the Super Bowl. I think it's the same with these players."


None of whom, except for center Jonathan Goodwin and linebacker Clark Haggans, has won a title. That's still one more ring than the Ravens have: Lewis is the sole NFL champion in Baltimore.


Lewis hungers for these teammates to taste their first title — and to do it in his last game.


"I've touched the Lombardi (Trophy), and I know how it feels," the perennial All-Pro said. "For these guys who've made this journey with me to feel that, it would be the perfect ending for my career."


Like Lewis, 49ers receiver Randy Moss also could be suiting up for the final time, although he hopes to play another year.


Grabbed off the scrap heap after his career spiraled into oblivion and no team would touch him in 2011, Moss didn't do much on the field (28 catches, 434 yards) this season. His loudest headlines came this week when he proclaimed himself the greatest receiver ever; maybe he's never seen Rice's numbers.


Teammates say Moss was very influential as a mentor and teacher.


"Randy's like my older brother," said Michael Crabtree, who emerged as a top receiver in his fourth pro season. "An older brother you would have that's been through a lot that you just can learn from just talking to him, watching him.


"He's a legend and I hope he'll be here next year."


Lewis won't be. He'll don the face paint, put on his No. 52 for the final time, and see if he can replicate the championship of a dozen years ago.


"You can never top the first one, because that's an unknown feeling," Lewis said before adding with a chuckle, eyes widening, "but a second one — that might be the only way you really can top it."


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NBC News President Capus to leave network






(Reuters) – NBC News President Steve Capus will be leaving the network in the coming weeks after struggles at the unit, including lower ratings for its flagship morning TV show, “Today.”


No replacement has been named for Capus, president of NBC News since 2005, according to a company memo obtained by Reuters. In a statement, Capus said it was “now time to head in a new direction.”






Three sources close to NBC said his departure had been rumored around the halls after parent Comcast Corp reorganized the news division in July, bringing in Patricia Fili-Krushel to head the news unit’s business operations. After that change, these sources said, Capus’ departure became a matter of when, not if.


Prior to Comcast’s takeover, the three heads of NBC‘s news operations — Mark Hoffman at CNBC, Phil Griffin at MSNBC and Capus — all reported directly to Jeff Zucker, who was not only NBC’s chief executive but also well-versed in hard news.


“There was a natural flow to the news division under Zucker. They all spoke the same language,” said one of these sources. “No disrespect to Pat, but she’s not viewed as a news person.”


Indeed, both Capus and Zucker basically grew up with each other at NBC, spending about 20 years together at the network. Capus did not say what his next move would be. Zucker, the executive who promoted him seven years ago at NBC, is now the worldwide president of CNN, owned by Time Warner Inc.


The sources said it would not be a surprise if Capus eventually resurfaced in a new position under Zucker at CNN. Earlier this week, Mark Whitaker, the managing editor at CNN, announced his resignation to make room for Zucker to install his own team. Prior to his joining CNN, Whitaker worked at NBC News under both Capus and Zucker.


Fili-Krushel said in a memo to staff on Friday that until a replacement for Capus is found, NBC News will operate under an interim structure with various executives reporting to her. She will start the search for a successor in coming weeks, with Capus helping with the transition.


Two other sources said that the recent view internally has been that Antoine Sanfuentes, an executive who oversees NBC News‘ Washington bureau and the Sunday political talk program “Meet the Press,” was being groomed to replace Capus. Fili-Krushel said in her memo that Sanfuentes will report to her and serve as interim managing editor responsible for editorial decision-making.


The first three sources said they had expected Capus to announce his departure at the end of last year to coincide with the announcement that Jim Bell was leaving as executive producer of the “Today” show to assume the newly created role of full-time executive producer of the Olympics.


Ultimately, Capus decided to trigger his departure by exercising an “out” clause built into his most recent contract, according to one of the first three sources.


Capus commanded the loyalty of NBC News staff, particularly the on-air talent and producers, all of the five sources agreed. Some of the major news events he worked on included the September 11 attacks, the discovery of anthrax in the NBC newsroom, the death of Britain’s Princess Diana and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His resignation came as an unexpected blow to NBC News staff, despite the apparent grooming of Sanfuentes.


Savannah Guthrie, installed by Capus as “Today” show host after the departure of Ann Curry, tweeted on Friday that Capus was “a great leader and tireless advocate for NBC News” who will be missed.


NBC News made deep job cuts in 2006 after wider layoffs at the parent company. Rivals ABC News and CBS News have also made hundreds of layoffs in the past few years.


Capus said in his memo that he “tried to shield journalists from the tough economic pressures hoping that would give each of you the running room to focus solely on a commitment to outstanding journalism.”


RECENT STRUGGLES


NBC News has been the one part of the network’s news operations to show slippage in the last year. CNBC is far and away the leading business news network, as measured in ratings. MSNBC has not only surpassed CNN to become a strong No. 2 among general cable news networks, but has also closed the gap with long-time leader Fox News, owned by News Corp.


“Pat Fili-Krushel has a strong vision of the integration that is required to make the full array of NBC programming fire on all cylinders in unison. She also understands the need to complement both the owned station and Comcast cable group goals to leverage all to best advantage,” said Magid & Associates consultant Steve Ridge.


NBC News has ranked as the leader among network news broadcasts in both the morning and evening for much of Capus’ eight-year run as president. Two of the first three sources said he deserves credit for maintaining the “Today” show as the dominant morning news program, “NBC Nightly News” as the leading evening news broadcast, and “Meet the Press” as the marquee Sunday news program. But over the last year, Capus’ fiefdom has taken a few hits, most notably at the “Today” show.


NBC News, for example, was criticized for ousting Ann Curry as “Today” co-host after only one year.


The “Today” show has been in a back-and-forth ratings war with ABC’s “Good Morning America” ever since ABC snapped NBC’s 16-year unbeaten streak last year. “NBC Nightly News” is averaging 8.76 million total viewers, ahead of “ABC World News” and “CBS Evening News.” It has seen less ratings success with the news magazine “Rock Center with Brian Williams,” which debuted in 2011 and after being bounced around the schedule, will move to Friday nights on Feb 8.


NBC News also came under fire last spring when it decided to edit a call to police from George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. The editing made it appear that Zimmerman told police, without being prompted, that Martin was black when, in fact, the full tape revealed that the neighborhood watch captain did so only when responding to a question posed by a dispatcher.


NBC has since been sued for defamation by Zimmerman.


(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Andrew Hay and Matthew Lewis)


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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