18 Wins - 1 Giant Defeat

How many of you decided to skip Super Bowl XLII because you knew the Patriots were going to have a cakewalk to their 19th straight victory? Boy did you miss a beauty!

I'm not going to say I predicted the Giants were going to win but I was certainly hoping they would. Of course now we know the two teams combined for one of the greatest 4th Quarters in Super Bowl history and New York came away with a 17-14 win in Phoenix.

The Game
Let me start at the end. I can understand Tom Brady being upset with the loss and not being in the best of moods after losing but as a leader and a professional he showed complete lack of class. By leaving the field without acknowledging or congratulating the tremendous effort of his counterpart on the other side of the field he made a bad choice. Brady has won in the past and Eli Manning had just picked up his first championship.

Sure, the game was over after Brady's last pass didn't find its mark and sure the field was prematurely filled after oodles of people stormed the gridiron but there was still one second left on the clock. Instead the pretty boy undid his helmet and headed for the locker room. Of course once the field was eventually cleared, Eli Manning dropped a knee and perhaps one of the biggest upsets in sports history was complete.

All that aside, the game was a defensive struggle and the New York Giants did something that no other team was able to do during the season...stop Brady and beat New England.

The Catch
If not for the most amazing catch I can recall in any Super Bowl, the outcome would have been much different.

David Tyree had caught the first touchdown pass of the game for the Giants which is pretty good for a guy who was little more than a special teams player most of the season. The grab he'll always be remembered for now was pivotal as it set the Giants up for the game winning TD.

The Giants trailed 14-10 with only 1:15 left when Manning faced a third-and-5 at his own 44. The Patriots brought pressure, and Manning somehow shook loose from two defenders.

Scrambling to his right, he made a desperate and scary toss deep down the middle where two defenders were waiting. Tyree jumped up and with one guy on his back slapping at the ball, he managed to get both hands on it, pinned it to his helmet and fell backward to the ground. He had the presence to hold the ball aloft to show it was his. A spectacular catch that will be on everyone's top ten catches list for a long time to come.

Halftime Show
I was happy to see the NFL made it through another Super Bowl Halftime Show without any wardrobe malfunctions. Where's Janet Jackson when you need her?

Instead we had five guys who make me feel young, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Don't get me wrong...I love their music and at one time I belonged to their Fan Club. Don't ask.

It would seem that the powers that be are doing everything they can think of to guarantee no accidents during the Halftime Show. Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince and now Tom Petty. I guess the only accident they might worry about with these guys is someone falling off the stage and breaking a hip.

I have to admit they had an excellent performance and played four of their most popular songs which seemed to delight the crowd. I just wonder how much the crowd was payed to look that excited. I'd be surprised if the teenagers and twenty-somethings that surrounded the stage had even heard of Tom Petty before the game. I laughed when I saw the close-ups of the crowd and you could see they were trying to sing along but they obviously had no clue of the lyrics.

I'm not saying the NFL blew it with their choice as I thought the show was fine but I would like to see them take a chance on a band known more for their stage shows and a group that might whip the crowd into a real frenzy. They can do this without even breaking the string of old rockers if they just go out and confirm AC/DC for next year's Halftime Show. Now those guys will put on a good show guaranteed.

Final Thoughts
Overall I thought this year's Super Bowl was great from start to finish. I still think two weeks of pre-game hype is too much and starting the pre-game show at dawn is a little early but in the end the game is what counts and the fans got more than what they expected. Well...everyone except the New England fans any way.