Ravens upset 49ers

The Baltimore Ravens claimed a 34-31 victory in America's biggest sporting event on Sunday before an estimated television audience of more than 100 million people.

A Super Bowl-record 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jacoby Jones gave the Ravens a 22-point lead early in the third quarter. But the 35-minute power cut early in the second half threatened to rob the Ravens of their momentum. It was the first such incident in the history of the NFL's championship contest.

After the long break San Francisco stormed back to make it close. However, they ultimately fell short on a fourth-and-goal play with less than two minutes on the clock.

John beats Jim

"Both teams had to deal with it," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said of the power outage. "They dealt with it better, obviously. They were able to turn the momentum of the game."

He also spoke of the raw emotion after he had defeated his brother Jim, the head coach of the 49ers, in the first Super Bowl in which two brothers had coached against each other.

"It's very tough," John Harbaugh said of their post-game conversation. "It's a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. It's very painful."

Much of the focus was also on Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who was playing the final game of his 17-year NFL career.

"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 after the match. "And you looked around this stadium and Baltimore! Baltimore! We coming home, baby! We did it!"

More than a championship game

America's Super Bowl, though, is much more than an NFL game. It is an event broadcast worldwide on television and is famous as much for its halftime show as the game itself.

This year's halftime show featured the pop diva Beyonce Knowles, who played a 13 minute set. Her performance came just days after she admitted that she had lip synched the national anthlem at President Barack Obama's inauguration last month.

ccp/pfd (AFP, dpa, AP)