Niners faced down the Mike McDaniel led Miami Dolphins, and after fighting to a 17-10 half-time lead, came out and finished the deal with a 33-17 victory. Niners sitting 8-4 and riding a 5-game win streak. While a great team win, we appear to have lost QB Jimmy G to a season ending injury. Playing top-flight football and arguably his best season ever, it was so painful to see him carted off and then to hear of his injury. By all accounts he is done for the season. Our thoughts and support go out to him and his family.  

Just a reality of the football world we live in where injuries are part of the game and things for players, coaches, and teams, can change in the blink of an eye. Niners now reload with Brock Purdy at the helm, a former ISU standout (Iowa State) who played at an amazingly high level and executed the offense well enough to lead us to a victory over a solid Saints team, supported by another massive and impressive effort by the Niners’ NFL leading defense (who also added a score of their own for good measure).   

This week we complete our 3-game home stand playing Tom Brady and his Tamp Bay Bucs, who on MNF squeaked out a last second and hard-fought victory against those same Saints and come in at 6-6.  Hopefully good for us as they will have a short week and have to fly cross-country to play us.  Know our guys will be ready for them as every game matters in the fight to win the West and work our way up the playoff seeding ladder. Lots of ball yet to play and everything to keep fighting for.    

This week we have a very special treat for you on HPP, as we host the NFL host with the most – Rich Eisen. Rich has been a good friend and supporter of George in his years in the NFL and is well known from his days at ESPN and now for the past 19 years the NFL Network. He is a 6-time Emmy nominated broadcaster, author (Total Access), and just all-around good guy.   

In this show we talk all things Big Blue (Rich is die-hard and avid/rabid Michigan alum and fan of Big Blue Football), and we tackle some of our own Power Rankings as we get George and Rich’s top 5 Sports Broadcasters’ Birthday Parties they each would like to attend (good stories on Dan Patrick and Al Michaels!). We get inside stories on how Rich broke into the industry, hard lessons learned as he went from stand-up comedy to sports analyst, the early days at ESPN, and we hear a great Chris Berman story on the power of acceptance and welcome. Then Rich’s move to the NFL Network and the startup of the Rich Eisen Show. We close with the Run Rich Run story, his 40 yard-dash event at the combine and how that turned into a fundraiser for children’s’ cancer treatment and St Jude’s Hospital.   

This is fun and story packed show and one that has insights and wisdom for the journey, as well as some laughter and appreciation for the great game that football is. Please enjoy!   Happy December wherever you are and whoever you are with. We wish you the very best and joyous of times. Encouragement for self-care, safety, and healthy boundaries. There is magic in this season, it just lies within each of us to find the clarity to see it, feel it, and be it. Reminder to ask for help if/when you need it, you are never alone. Peace, kindness, and grace.    

- Bruce & Emma

REMINDERS:   It is OK TO NOT BE OK (and to tell someone!!) - YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!  It is OK TO ASK FOR HELP – that is why YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!  CANCER/ILLNESS SUCKS –YOU ARE NOT ALONE! – WE ARE THINKING OF YOU! HATE IS NOT OK – LET’S BUILD A SAFER, MORE JUST, AND MORE UNITED WORLD.