The Path to Pfftt...

THE NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS ARE SUPERBOWL 42 CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What got me these past 2 weeks was the stupid media hype of "The Path to Perfection." After spewing quite a few choice expletives at the TV set (can't remember if that line was endlessly touted on ESPN or The NFL Network), I was like, no, the Giants are going to win.

Not that I told anyone; I can be just as superstitious as any NFL player (and they are quite a superstitious lot).

But I was talking with hubby yesterday, just before halftime. I said to him, "What the Giants need now is an interception or a fumble recovery."

Bingo! Giants recover a fumble, with the Patriots not too, too far away from the end zone...

It's weird, but since I am a Weirdo Chick (trademark pending on that phrase ;-)), I have to say that in my mind's eye, I swear I saw Eli smiling at the end of this game. Weird, but I've done stuff like that before, so maybe it's not so weird.

Two Keys to This Game

The first, obviously, was the Giants defense. Ferocious, just like Giants fans who've watched them for quite a while (me, since the late 1970s) have seen before. I mean, they sacked Brady 5 times in this game, when he was only sacked 21 times the entire regular season. He was hurried a ton of times, plus there was that fumble, where the Giant defender came around with his arm like LT (sorry, LT will ALWAYS be Lawrence Taylor, no offense to Ladainian Tomlinson).

The second? Unheralded and rookie players rising to the occasion. At the end of the 1st half, I was complaining to hubby about stupid, silly mistakes made by some of the offensive players.

But...then there was the 46-yard pass play to Kevin Boss, a rookie replacement for Shockey. After Manning got sacked, he hooked up with Steve Smith, another rookie, good for a first down. (What was it with them that they kept making 3rd downs throughout the game? Not that I'm complaining. ;-))

Then there was that spectacular catch by David Tyree, a guy who only caught something like six passes all season. (Me: "Oh my God, he caught it! He made the catch!)

How the hell did he hang on to that frickin' ball? Stickum's been banned for quite some time (anyone remember Fred Blitnekoff of the Raiders?), so we know there wasn't any kind of sticky stuff on his hands/gloves. Lynn Swann-ish, indeed. :-)

The Play of the Game

Eli Manning...how the hell did he get out of the grasp of those two Patriot defenders? Thank goodness that stupid in-the-grasp rule has gone by the wayside (especially since it always seemed to me that that Giants was the only team it was called against). But there went Eli, scrambling out and away from the traffic jam in the middle of the field...and throwing that impossible pass to Tyree.

That last throw to Burress pretty much sealed the victory (although I remembered Yogi Berra's "It ain't over till it's over," so I wasn't completely convinced the Patriots couldn't come back).

Prognosticators...and An Organization That Should've Known Better

EVERYBODY was picking the Patriots because of their Path to Pff...I mean, Perfection. ;-) Chris Rizzo of The Fan in New York had the Patriots scoring a ton and the Giants scoring next to nothing; does that guy like ANY New York-area teams? I found that irritating, but par for the course.

The only two prognosticators I heard who picked the Giants to win outright? (Yeah, there were two.)

Joe Namath. Yeah, Broadway Joe, the same dude who guaranteed the Jets would win Superbowl 4 in 1969...and, of course, they did. (I remember a Superbowl from back in the 1970s with the Minnesota Vikings...and I can't remember their opponent...anyway, Joe picked a 10-point spread in the final score, with the Vikings' opponent winning. He got the point spread either dead on or close to dead on.)

The other? Mike Ditka. According to Boomer Esiason on the Boomer and Carton show this morning (The Fan's early morning guys), he said Iron Mike picked the Giants to win by 3 points.

Nice.

And the organization that should've known better? One of the Boston papers. I heard, two weeks ago, that they were (or did) offer a book on Amazon about the Patriots' perfect season.

Ah, guys, I have a few words for you, recent history notwithstanding: Boston Red Sox. Um, they went how long before they won a World Series? Uh huh.

Remember that Yogi Berra-ism I quote above? Yeah, exactly.

I will say this: I have nothing but admiration for the Patriots organization. The players and Coach Belichick were very gracious losers. My hat is off to them.

The media here, there, and everywhere? Not so much.

GIANTS! GIANTS! GIANTS! :-)

~Nancy Beck