Monday, February 04, 2008

It Don't Mean a Thing If You Ain't Got That Ring

For weeks - no, months - football fans and analysts have been trying to determine the place in history held by the 2007 Patriots, who earned an undefeated regular season, as well as the legacy of the current Patriots dynasty.

Quarterback Tom Brady, the best football player in the world this season, needed one more Super Bowl ring to tie Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana and be considered probably one of the two or three best ever to play the game.

Head Coach Bill Belichick, the Darth Vader of football, needed one more ring to tie Chuck Noll for most all-time Super Bowl victories.

Wide receiver Randy Moss needed a ring to finally claim the mantle of undisputed best of his generation.

Nearly everyone predicted a Patriots victory; my guess was 42-13.

What a pointless waste.

God bless the New York Giants, who came to play, and really shocked the sports world. It was the greatest upset in the history of professional sports. Peyton Manning's little brother Eli deserved MVP honors, and could have shared it with the phenomenal Giants defense, which kept Brady and Moss from making any big plays.

A few thoughts:

* I'm so tired of a lip synced national anthem. Boo, hiss. Shame on Jordin Sparks (and her handlers).

* Belichick's red hoodie didn't bother me as much as his continual bad attitude. I agree with one analyst who said that no matter what Belichick does, he always seems to be giving the NFL the middle finger.

* The Giants coaching staff called one heck of a game.

* Troy Aikman has become one of the best analysts out there. Working with Joe Buck, who always calls a good game, it was one of the more bearable Super Bowls in terms of broadcasting.

* Alicia Keys gave a terrific pre-game show; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ROCKED at halftime. I've seen Tom Petty live, and he always gives a great show. He'll be in Pittsburgh on June 10, just before Annual Conference. Anyone else want to go?

* It was great to see Peyton at the game, cheering on Eli. A true match-up of the NFL's best would mean that for most of this decade, we'd have been watching Brady vs. Manning. This is as close as we'll ever get to seeing that Super Bowl.

* Tom Brady is still one of the all-time best, and the Patriots may yet win another Super Bowl or two. But the opportunity for them to go 19-0 won't happen again; they choked, and got beaten up by a Giants team with way less talent, but way more heart.

7 comments:

Chris said...

I though the Giants defense deserved the MVP award. They were incredible! Who would have thought that we'd see Brady knocked around so much?

All-in-all, I enjoyed the game. Thanks for the fun commentary Keith.

gavin richardson said...

belicheat is just poor in leaving his team on the field, even if it is for just one play and formality.

go nfc east!

Unknown said...

A few thoughts.
- Bill B. is a poor sport, which goes well with his penchant for cheating. Now that they lost, there will be a deeper investigation into the extent of it. Like Bill said, "everyone forgives a winner" but when you lose... watch out.

- I was surprised by the low score, but not that the Giants won. If you look at the week 17 match-up, the Giants showed the same heart and ability to shut down the Patriots. The Patriots just got lucky to have the last possession and kick a FG. This Super Bowl was different. The Giants got the last possession, and showed their heart.

- One of the best Super Bowl games of all time.

Brenda said...

loved the game. Corben told me I scared Pearl. She was evidently shaking when I screamed when the Giants scored the go ahead touch down. I've never rooted for a NFC team to win the supper bowl before, but am soooo glad they did. And as far as belicheck goes I told Corben there is just not a word that we should use to describe him.

Unknown said...

The Pats were on a downward slide the whole last part of the season.. barely squeaking out some wins. I got this from the AP newswire.

"In their ninth game, they beat Indianapolis 24-20 on a touchdown with 3:15 left. In their 11th, they scored the go-ahead touchdown with 7:20 to go but needed two interceptions in the last four minutes to clinch the 31-28 win over Philadelphia.

The following week was the greatest of escapes.
They trailed 24-20 at Baltimore and failed twice on fourth down in the last two minutes. But the first play was nullified by a false start penalty against the Patriots and the second by a holding call against the Ravens. On the next play, Brady threw the winning 8-yard scoring pass to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds left.

And, in the last regular-season game, the defense struggled in a 38-35 win over the Giants."

The Patriots not being able to finish is symbolized by their quittter coach who also could not finish the game with dignity.

"Belichick didn't finish either.
After Brady's fourth-down desperation pass to Moss fell incomplete, Belichick went on the field for a handshake with Giants coach Tom Coughlin.
There was still 1 second left, but Belichick continued toward the locker room as Manning knelt down on the final play. Moss once left the field with 2 seconds remaining in a regular-season loss to Washington when he was with Minnesota and was criticized for it by his quarterback, Daunte Culpepper."

Maashu said...

Hells Yeah,

It couldn't have been a louder, rowdier, more floor-stomping Superb Owl party for us here in San Diego. After the massive dis the Patriots left us with during last year's playoff season, we feel totally vindicated.

The only sad thing is, now I think I can stop hating the Pats.

I hope that everyone out there, no matter who you were rooting for, can appreciate how fantastic a game this was, especially for a Superb Owl game!

Greg Cox said...

Great Thoughts. I couldn't have said it better. Belicheat is a child at best and he got beat this time.

As for the music, I agree - bring back live music. Better yet they need to invite Jeff Jimmerson!