18-1
You really gotta hate the ring to that, Patriot Fan! Eighteen wins and 1 loss - on any other day, in any other sport this record would seem dominant.....but all of a sudden, it will be a painful scar to the New England Patriots, who came into this game flirting with the label as "best team ever". At least they can continue to cling to the "greatest single-season team" of all time, but I think it will likely end there. It's crazy isn't it - how a team can go from 18-0 to 18-1 and in doing so, completely and utterly tarnish their legacy. I challenge anyone out there to name a time when a single loss impacted an organization and it's legacy so much.
All of that aside, what a terrific game this was to watch. Even early on in the game when it became apparent that it wasn't going to be a shoot out, it was still good, clean football. Neither team made any truly awful mistakes and all of the players seemed to play with extreme intensity while also playing with poise and control. The NFL couldn't have asked for a better game.
And how about those Giants??? As I was walking around and mingling at the great Madeley Super Bowl party of '08 with my trusty Giants jacket on (yes, the same one from back in the day), I still couldn't believe that these Giants were actually in the Super Bowl....you can imagine my reaction when the clock hit all zeros. Great example of a game where everyone is on the same page and, it seemed, every single player came out with the same level of intensity. Eli was great and you can't really argue with the MVP trophy for him, but I must say the REAL MVP of the game was the front 4 of that Giants' defensive line - those guys were tremendous. Sacking Brady 5 times in a single game is a HUGE accomplishment (and let's not forget how many other times they knocked him down). I can't remember seeing a more dominant performance by a defensive front in a game like this one, I really can't.
Here are my quick-hit thoughts and reactions to Super Bowl XLII:
So Bob Knight decided tonight to hang it up for good and has stepped down as Tech's head coach. I've always been a huge Bob Knight fan and I think he's probably one of the greatest basketball minds in the game...ever. John Wooden, Coach K, Dean Smith - you can't talk about any of those other guys without mentioning Bob Knight. What never gets reported half as much as his shortcomings is the fact that he raises tons and tons of money for his school's libraries and all of his players graduate. He'll certainly be missed.
Running Horns:
The great and wise Charlie Brown said it best on the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday - this Texas team needs to find their identity. How true that is. They played very tough in the second half and rebounded very well down the stretch, but they got down by as many as 14 early in the game. They're still struggling to find consistency in shooting and it's pretty much a done deal that they are a horrible free-throw shooting team.
They'll find that identity soon enough - I think the next 4 games will define who this Texas team is and what we can expect come tourney time. I hate to say it, but I'm not convinced that this Texas team isn't a #5 team in the conference and a one-and-done in the big dance. I don't know, but I do think we'll know what we really got after these next 4 games - at Oklahoma, at Iowa State, Kansas at home, and at Baylor. I do think this team is capable of just about anything, but there just doesn't seem to be a great deal of chemistry or "mojo".
Lakers a Contender?
I don't know, I certainly don't want to be "that guy" and declare them a Western Conference contender, but what a coup Kupcheck was able to pull here. Let's recap - he gets rid of Kwame Brown (for the record, if this is all that happened it would have been awesome), gets rid of a young PG (he's only got 3 others), and a couple of draft picks this year and in 2010....and he gets Pau Gasol? I still can't believe it.
In all seriousness, if this works out and the Zen Master can get Gasol to buy into the system they could make some real noise. Will be interesting to see what happens when Bynum comes back. Until then, I'll take Gasol's 20 and 10 per game.
That's what I got folks - I'll be taking a brief hiatus for a week or two traveling so enjoy the next couple of weeks.
All of that aside, what a terrific game this was to watch. Even early on in the game when it became apparent that it wasn't going to be a shoot out, it was still good, clean football. Neither team made any truly awful mistakes and all of the players seemed to play with extreme intensity while also playing with poise and control. The NFL couldn't have asked for a better game.
And how about those Giants??? As I was walking around and mingling at the great Madeley Super Bowl party of '08 with my trusty Giants jacket on (yes, the same one from back in the day), I still couldn't believe that these Giants were actually in the Super Bowl....you can imagine my reaction when the clock hit all zeros. Great example of a game where everyone is on the same page and, it seemed, every single player came out with the same level of intensity. Eli was great and you can't really argue with the MVP trophy for him, but I must say the REAL MVP of the game was the front 4 of that Giants' defensive line - those guys were tremendous. Sacking Brady 5 times in a single game is a HUGE accomplishment (and let's not forget how many other times they knocked him down). I can't remember seeing a more dominant performance by a defensive front in a game like this one, I really can't.
Here are my quick-hit thoughts and reactions to Super Bowl XLII:
- Although one of the bigger upsets in league history, I still say Namath leading the Jets past the Colts was a bigger upset....but not by much.
- I can't help but wonder what this does to the Patriots - don't get me wrong, I still think they're totally loaded, but they definitely have some spots they need to shore up (linebacker). But I'm more looking at the emotional/mental aspect - one of the most intriguing stories to me heading into next year is these Patriots and how they fare.
- Not sure if you heard that sound with about 35 seconds to go in the game, but I'm pretty sure it was the sound of collective silence by all of those Eli Manning critics....I heard it because I've been a big critic. The kid can obviously play and you just know his confidence has to be higher right now than it has ever been.
- The ball game came down to Eli getting away from the clutches of those defensive lineman during that last drive with a minute and fifteen left....that was the game right there.
- 45 rushing yards by the Patriots? I'm shocked. I wonder why Belichick didn't have more of a balance offensively.....oh that's right, it's because he's got Tom freaking Brady at QB.
- In all the hoopla around the huge Giants victory don't forget that Wes Welker played a HUGE game - he should be the team MVP.
- I give it a 50:50 chance that Moss is back with the Patriots next year. His stock is higher now than it ever will be again in this league - I think he'll go get the pay day.
- Marc Madeley's "bread dip" was redonkerous good, although I think it took about 6 months off of my life.
- As a Giants fan, I was ready to fire Tom Caughlin 2 short years ago. I'm glad they didn't do it.
- Nice catch David Tyree....actually, it was more of an unbelievable catch!
- Am I wrong or did Plaxico Burress predict that the Patriots would score only 14 points? Remember how much crap that guy took for that one? Huh....
- Belichick is a punk for leaving the field before the end of the game - he loses once and he acts like that? Pretty weak.
- I just gotta hit on this again - when will there ever be a scenario when the winning team's fans can chant "18 and 1" to the losing team's fans....and have it sting them so much?
- This Patriots team is and will be the greatest team to lose a Super Bowl. I know they lost and got pushed around on this particular day, but this squad right here is a ridiculously talented team.
- So I missed all the commercials during the game, but caught them all on the world wide web and here are my top faves: 1) Tide "Talking Stain", 2) E-Trade "Talking Baby", and 3) Bridgestone "Screaming Squirrel" - that talking stain was falling down funny.
So Bob Knight decided tonight to hang it up for good and has stepped down as Tech's head coach. I've always been a huge Bob Knight fan and I think he's probably one of the greatest basketball minds in the game...ever. John Wooden, Coach K, Dean Smith - you can't talk about any of those other guys without mentioning Bob Knight. What never gets reported half as much as his shortcomings is the fact that he raises tons and tons of money for his school's libraries and all of his players graduate. He'll certainly be missed.
Running Horns:
The great and wise Charlie Brown said it best on the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday - this Texas team needs to find their identity. How true that is. They played very tough in the second half and rebounded very well down the stretch, but they got down by as many as 14 early in the game. They're still struggling to find consistency in shooting and it's pretty much a done deal that they are a horrible free-throw shooting team.
They'll find that identity soon enough - I think the next 4 games will define who this Texas team is and what we can expect come tourney time. I hate to say it, but I'm not convinced that this Texas team isn't a #5 team in the conference and a one-and-done in the big dance. I don't know, but I do think we'll know what we really got after these next 4 games - at Oklahoma, at Iowa State, Kansas at home, and at Baylor. I do think this team is capable of just about anything, but there just doesn't seem to be a great deal of chemistry or "mojo".
Lakers a Contender?
I don't know, I certainly don't want to be "that guy" and declare them a Western Conference contender, but what a coup Kupcheck was able to pull here. Let's recap - he gets rid of Kwame Brown (for the record, if this is all that happened it would have been awesome), gets rid of a young PG (he's only got 3 others), and a couple of draft picks this year and in 2010....and he gets Pau Gasol? I still can't believe it.
In all seriousness, if this works out and the Zen Master can get Gasol to buy into the system they could make some real noise. Will be interesting to see what happens when Bynum comes back. Until then, I'll take Gasol's 20 and 10 per game.
That's what I got folks - I'll be taking a brief hiatus for a week or two traveling so enjoy the next couple of weeks.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 3:27 PM
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