Eighteen and Uh-Oh

The Giants won Super Bowl 42 XVII to XIV! In the process, they knocked off the golden boys of football, the previously undefeated New England Patriots. The much-maligned Eli Manning became Super Bowl MVP, the all-but-anointed Tom Brady became very well acquainted with the turf.

Shortly after the win in Green Bay, a friend of mine sent me an email saying he was seriously considering not attending our Super Bowl party. With my passion for the G-Men, he reasoned, regardless of who won the game, I would be insufferable. I am happy to report that I was, indeed, sufferable.

Well, I did get wrapped up in the game a little bit ...

Like in the fourth quarter, when the lead changed three times. My foot was twitching throughout, turning my sofa into the vibra-couch.

In the Giants drive following their first touchdown, Manning broke out of the pocket on third down and, while scrambling, tossed the ball over a defender to Plaxico Burress. The throw was off and Plax couldn't bring it in.

"Oh, deary me," I said.

My buddy, an Eagles' fan, tried to assure me. "What are you so concerned about?" he asked. "They've got the lead. All they have to do is keep up what they're doing."

"You don't know those Patriots," I said, "and you obviously don't know the Giants."

Sure enough, after the G-Men punted, the Brady Bunch proceeded to march all the way down the field and score, putting the Pats up 14-10.

But then, with just over two and a half minutes left, Eli and the Giants' offense began their drive into history.

SEE ITAn integral part of that drive was a play that will go down in Giants and Super Bowl lore. A furious Patriot pass rush came crashing through the Giant offensive line. The pocket collapsed around Eli, engulfing him. Yet somehow he managed to break free from the grip of a would-be sacker and he scrambled to the right. Looking downfield, he found David Tyree, a special teamer who fills in on certain passing plays. He threw a high pass Tyree's way. A Patriot defender leaped for the ball as well, and the two players each fought for the pass.

In what can only be described as indescribable, Tyree trapped the ball against his helmet with one hand long enough to get his other hand up there. Then, as they fell to the ground, he tightened his grip on the ball, maintaining possession and securing a key first down.

"Jolly good show," I said.

Saturday, Ms N and I decided to do our part to stimulate the economy; we bought a 42" LCD HDTV. Watching the Super Bowl on a screen like that is just shy of heavenly. Of course, it made for an interesting predicament towards the end of the game. I surprised everyone in the room on the final play of that Giant drive when I yelled "Touchdown!" as Manning took the snap from Shawn O'Hara. Sure enough, Eli lofted a beautiful 13 yard pass over Hobbs and into the sure hands of Plaxico.

"How did you know that?" I was asked.

"I heard the kids going 'Wooo!'" I replied.

Comcasts' HD signal is about 6 seconds behind the regular feed. The kids were in the other room watching on a regular TV; they saw the end of the play as we saw the beginning of it. I "banished" them into the living room with the rest of us for the remainder of the game.

The Giants went up 17-14, but they still left the Boys of Beantown 35 seconds and 3 timeouts, which is exactly the type of scenario that wannabe legends dream of. The defense still needed to hold one more time. In a game that is played six seconds at a time, 35 seconds is a long time for a storybook team playing out a storybook season.

Fortunately, the Giants defenders don't spend much time reading storybooks.

On that final drive, which featured three wonderfully defensed passes, unharolded Giant Jay Alford made a play on second down that seemed to be a tribute to all the teams that tried and failed to bring down the Patriots during the season. He broke through the middle of the offensive line and hammered into Tom Brady, lifting the hapless quarterback off his feet and pummeling him into the turf. It was the fifth sack for the Giants and the 14th time that Brady was knocked down during the game.

"That must smart," I said.

So now the Giants are Super Bowl Champions, the '72 Dolphins are still the only undefeated team in history, and the Patriots are now the "other guys".

Even worse (from their perspective - better for the rest of us), they become the answer to all sorts of trivia questions with negative connotations. And being that Giants fans tend to be Yankee fans while Patriots fans tend to be Red Sox fans, there is in some sense a feeling that the G-Men helped avenge those whose hearts were crushed in the 2004 ALCS, when Boston came back from a 3-game deficit to win the best-of-seven series 4-3.

In the grand scheme of things, losing after winning the first three games is not nearly as painful as losing after winning the first eighteen. The Yankees now have the second-biggest choke in recent sports history.

The Patriots are not the first team to go plus-17. The '72 Dolphins were the first to do that. They were not the first team to go 18-1. The '85 Bears did that. The difference, of course, is the Bears' loss came in the regular season (to Miami).

The Bears won their Super Bowl ... against the Patriots.

"Life with disgrace is dreadful."
- Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson

"Ha-HA!"
Nelson (from the Simpsons)