The Country Curmudgeon: A truly Super Bowl
By Roy Hicks
Thursday, February 7, 2008 10:45 AM PST
I hope you were watching last Sunday, friends. The stage was set for sports history, and there was much at stake.
The heavily-favored New England Patriots, with premier quarterback Tom Brady, were on the verge of a perfect 19-0 season. The 1972 Miami Dolphins managed a perfect 17-0 season with a win in the Super Bowl. The Patriots had gone 18-0 in a season two games longer than the ‘72 Dolphins but still needed one more win to step into football immortality.
On the other side were the upstart New York Giants with young quarterback Eli Manning. When Eli entered the NFL four years ago, his older brother Peyton had already proven himself one of the best, but at the time there was speculation Eli might be even better.
His first two years did not seem to support this assessment. In his third year he began to improve, and this year he got it done: steering his team into the playoffs where hardly anyone would have predicted that. The Giants started out as a “wild-card” in the playoffs but incredibly beat two of the NFL’s top teams, the resurging Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers, even with Green Bay QB Brett Favre’s best year ever.
Super Bowl XLII started out like World War I. The Giants struck quickly with an unexpected field goal. The Patriots came right back with a touchdown, and the battle was on. For the next two-and-a-half quarters, it was stubborn trench warfare: both sides trying to strike across “no-man’s land,” only to be stopped by ferocious defense.
In the last quarter, young Eli staged two superb long, scoring drives. After the first, Tom Brady — who was poised on the brink of joining only two other quarterbacks ever to win four Super Bowls — came back calmly to give the Pats a late lead.
Then young Eli had his finest moment, leading the Giants to one more touchdown with 35 seconds to go — the last drive with some incredible plays, including one where he escaped a certain sack yet found a downfield receiver who made a spectacular catch to keep the drive going. Eli then capped the drive with a bullet to Plaxico Burress, who has been to the Giants what Jerry Rice used to be to the San Francisco 49ers.
Brady had one more chance to tie the game but fell about a minute and perhaps two plays short of forcing the game into overtime.
Needless to say, the proud Patriots — unquestionably the best team in the NFL — were devastated by the loss. They will doubtless survive to excel again, and Tom Brady will likely get his chance to join Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana as one of the best Super Bowl quarterbacks ever. But last Sunday belonged to the scrappy New York Giants.
Sports history was made last Sunday, but in a way no one ever expected. Never had two brothers playing on different teams won back-to-back NFL championships.
When the Giants took their final kneel-down play to end the game, Eli’s big brother Peyton — who had won the Super Bowl the year before — leaped with joy. One can only imagine what the Manning parents must have been feeling. Young Eli had truly come into his own. Both brothers are headed for the Hall of Fame, yet perhaps their best days are still to come.
In these troubled days, when we have so much else to worry about, it’s wonderful to occasionally have a day off to marvel at the drama of professional sports.
