Monday, February 4, 2008

18-1

I'll try to keep this one short and sweet for you, guys... because there isn't much that I need to say here that wasn't already emphatically stated last night in Arizona on that football field:

All that talk about utter domination can cease now. As much as it pained me, I was cheering for the Giants. Why? Simple -- they played brilliantly down the stretch. Before the game against the Cowboys, I was nervous all week. I knew that the 'Boys weren't playing up to par and that the Giants were on FIRE -- little did I know how hot they truly were. They went on to beat three of the best teams in the NFL and win Super Bowl XLII against all odds (speaking of odds, why didn't I bet on them? I'd be paying someone else to ghost-write this blog as we speak).

Spurred on late by a seemingly supernatural catch by David Tyree, the Giants rallied from a late 4th quarter deficit to defeat the New England Patriots 17-14. Any true fan of football had to be in awe of the great tug-of-war that we witnessed in the final 15 minutes of that game -- one which had been a mighty defensive struggle up to that point.

If you managed to hold down all the beer, wings and pizza you'd eaten after watching the slew of terribly uninteresting $3 million dollar sinkholes they so loosely referred to as "commercials" and held on long enough to see the game to the final whistle, you certainly got a treat.

Unless you were a Pats fan.

There is a lot of talk about Belicheck walking off the field. Look... there were 2 seconds left after Tom Brady's hail mary pass -- which were subsequently run off, added back on, run off and added back on again. The man had no way of knowing that the timekeeper was losing his marbles (Did anyone else notice how the time stayed at 6:12 in the 1st quarter for about 2 minutes?) Whether he eventually realized it or not, he'd already (albeit begrudgingly, I assume) congratulated his former co-worker Tom Coughlin on a hard-fought victory. There was no reason for him not to believe it was over... because it most certainly was.

Hats off to the Patriots for having such an improbably wonderful regular season -- but the ultimate kudos belong to the Giants for refusing to be star struck and completing the job they came to do.

I already can't wait for next season.

2 comments:

aaronic said...

As an Eagles fan, it was a rough game just because of the match up alone.

Once the game started, I couldn't help but root for the Giants, as much as it disgusted me.

Overall, just like most of America, I'm pretty satisfied. Not to mention it was arguably the greatest football game I've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

This was by far the second greatest moment of my life. (We all know what stands as the greatest) Did I think Eli Manning was capable of engineering a game winning drive? Absolutely not. Did I piss myself when Brady and the Pats walked down the field to take the lead? Yes, and I have the soiled laundry in my hamper to prove it. But all in all, 18-1 is nothing compared to 17-0. GO GIANTS!