Oh, yeah....

Gee I almost forgot. (Yeah, right!) There was that other Super thingie yesterday.

Actually it was quite a Super Thingie. I even forgot about the ads at first.

With a 7-3 score at half-time, a strong Giant defense through most of the 3rd quarter, it was not what you would have expected. Then with about 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter, Troy or Joe (I forget which one) said he wondered how much longer the defense could hold on. At that moment I thought that maybe, just maybe, the Patriots were about to break out. But not right then. The quarter ended. "But remember," I told myself, "the Patriots are still the Patriots - and they are still ahead."

Until 11:05 left. Touchdown! Giants 10 - Patriots 7.

How about the Chester Pitts NFL Superad! How did I miss that one on the NFL website when I was voting? It WAS the best. "What do you play?" "The oboe." Great.

Then with 6:30 left the Patriots begin to look like, well, the Patriots. Tension builds. Is this the end of the dream? Now you're starting to see New England get into rhythm, Troy said just as I wrote that. The Pats follow with another 1st Down. Uh-oh.

I can see why these games are hard on the heart!

Touchdown to Randy Moss- of course :( and there's 2:42 left. I'm ready for House. Except that the Giants have the most 4th quarter comeback wins in the NFL this year.

And it comes to the Two-Minute Warning.

The Giants go for it on 4th and 1... and make it. They are still alive.

:59- Eli almost sacked but gets it off. 1st down at the 24. Again, they are still alive!

:51- They use their last time out. 2nd and 11.

:45- Almost caught. But almost doesn't count. 3rd and 11.

:40- Complete and out of bounds. 1st and 10 at the 14.

:35- TOUCHDOWN! Giants 17-Patriots 14. Could it be? Eli Manning has come into his own!

:29- BUT, Brady is still Brady and he has 3 timeouts. 1st and 10 at the 26.

:25- Incomplete pass. They don't have to use a timeout.

:19- Brady sacked for a loss and now has to use a timeout. 3rd and 20 at the 15.

:10- Long pass incomplete to Moss :) 4th and 20. It is now or never. 2nd timeout.

:01- Loooonnng pass incomplete.

The Giants have beaten Goliath. (I've been waiting all day to say that!)

A Wild Card team. 2nd time it's ever happened. First for the NFC. Perhaps one of the biggest upsets in football history.

Wow!!!! And Eli Manning (!) the Super Bowl MVP.
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Speaking of ads: they were interesting, but just didn't seem to be the thing in this game this year. Perhaps all the excitement about the historic nature and the possibility of a BIG upset turned many of the commercial breaks back into what they are- commercial breaks. It was only in reviewing them after the fact that I realized they were neat. My choices--

• In the Cute category- Charlie Brown getting the runaway Coke.
• In the Inspirational category- the Budweiser dog training the Budweiser horse.
• In the Best Steal from a Movie category- Audi/Godfather style ad.
• In the Most Stupid Ad category-"Amp" jump starting a car by hooking it to the mechanic's nipples. Gross.
• My Favorites- the E-Trade baby at the computer - 1st with the up-chuck, 2nd with Bubba the clown. It shows that you should never try to follow children. They will take it every time.
• Honorable Mentions: FedEx super pigeons and Cars.com witch doctor.
  Link to Super Bowl ads on MySpace.
  

Oh yes, Tom Petty was decent. Just the music, ma'am, just the music.

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And for once- football was the winner. Not the ads. Not the half-time. It was a Super Bowl worthy of the name. Does that mean that the Patriots are not the best team in history? Does it tarnish the "perfect season" and an almost perfect post-season? I guess the only ones that care about that are the Pats fans and the football historians.

For me- and probably for most football fans- it was just a damn good game- and a truly excellent season. This whole season was one for the books.

Next year- the Packers (?)