Super Bowl Eckslii (XLII)

I didn't get too much into Super Bowl pregame hype. For some reason, that one off weekend made it seem like a month since the conference championship games. To top that, I didn't have a strong rooting interest in the game, since neither team was local, and since I had no money on the line. There were bad reasons for me to cheer for either team.

For the Giants/against the Pats,

• They were always one of those teams that I "Kind of liked" as a kid. I like that they say things like "The Giant 15 yard line," even though it's exactly the same size as the other 15 yard line.
• Boston's had their share of success. The Celtics are rolling, the Sox have won two recent World Series, and the Patriots have already taken home three Super Bowl titles.
• Do we really want to see a team go 19-0, and then get a top 10 draft pick? They're picking number 7 due to some trade or other.
• Let's face it. Bill Belichick is a grouchy old dick. And he dresses like shit.
• It might be fun to witness a team go from historical best to footnote, just like that.

For the Pats/against the Giants,

• The Pats have more LSU players than any other team on the league.
• The Patriots wore a number 91 on their helmet for the entire season to honor former Tiger and Patriot Marquise Hill, who died last summer in a jet ski mishap on Lake Ponchatrain.
• We could finally shut up those old '72 Dolphins, and their dumb champagne for the last team to lose every year.
• It might be fun to witness history.

Another reason that I avoided pregame stuff the past couple of weeks is that it seems every talking head has copied Chris Berman's thing where he always calls them, "The New York Football Giants." With one guy, it's a quirk that I can over look. With everyone doing it, it's fingernails on a chalkboard.

Do they really think we need the "Football" in there? We might accidentally think they're playing the baseball Giants? The baseball Giants that moved out of New York in the late 1950s?

And besides, when St. Louis had both baseball and football teams named Cardinals, I never heard anyone refer to "The Saint Louis Football Cardinals."

Speaking of Chris Berman, here's a clip that appears to be at least a few years old (UPDATE: 8 years, if you look at the sign behind him), but is just popping up everywhere now. Don't watch if you're offended by bad words.

Anyway, I found myself rooting for the Patriots most of the game, but when the Giants were driving, I was pulling for them too. I guess I just wanted some offense after the lack of it through the first three quarters. No sense in me recapping anything, but needless to say, good game.

Tom Petty did halftime, and he did nothing to shake my notion that he really isn't a big enough star to give him the Super Bowl half time show. I forgot about the song "American Girl," and it's better than I remember, but other than that, kind of a yawn. He has about tripled his weight in the last 26 years, don't you think? I think he went from roughly 90 pounds to a good 270.

They could have found someone both better and more currently relevant. Off the top of my head, and just rock and roll acts that are known by the masses: My Chemical Romance, Green Day, The Killers, Foo Fighters, U2, Coldplay, Radiohead. Is Arcade Fire still too obscure?

One more broadcast note: how about that fossil that they showed standing on the Giants sideline, wrapping up his final season after 60 years as some nobody in the organization. I can't believe that a player hasn't run into him and broken into tiny bits. He looked like Mr. Burns standing over there.

I hope they give him a ring.