My Thoughts on Superbowl XXXIX

Super Bowl XXXIX, or 39 for those of us who can’t read roman numerals was perhaps the least exciting or the four that I have watched the Patriots play. (I’m not so sure I was too cognizant of the ‘86 team as I was a whopping four years old.) However, I have to say that watching that game was an experience. The Pats dropped by a touchdown after the first quarter finished scoreless. Donovan looked like he might be getting the hang of the Patriot defense. And just when all was looking bleakest…The Pats throw down a MoNsTeR drive and return the favor. David Givens in the corner for 6 easy ones. Then the Pats played Pats football, 4 drives with scores separated by one punt. They kept it close like every Superbowl they’ve won, unlike their regular season when they almost maxed out the margin of victory stat as they sat with an average win of 11.3 points. With big plays from offense and defense, sometimes both on the same play, like linebacker Mike Vrabel’s impressive circus catch with a “Freak” on his back, the Patriots pulled out a big win on Vinatieri’s leg again, but with somewhat less dramatic flair than his previous two.

Aside from the game itself, the more important thing was the way it was played by my heroes and the role models for countless kids around New England. They played with class. The only time you saw any kind of celebration was in the end zone, or on the game capping pick from Rodney Harrison. And NONE of their celebrations were aimed. Take a look at Greg Lewis after her beat a ROOKIE free safety. How does he respond to his “big play”? He throws a Derek Lowe style “suck it” to the folks that flew thousands of miles to cheer for his sorry ass. {Side Note: The Patriots may have been favorites from the odds makers, but from the sound in that stadium, you could tell there was a loyal contingent of Philadelphia boo-birds that are sure to razz their team again someday when they drop back to mediocrity.} The entire Eagles team, along with most of the teams the Pats played in the post-season celebrates at the dumbest times. If you get the chance to watch any of the games again, pay attention to the defensive backs and what they do after a long reception and five more yards added after the catch on a hit hardly worth mentioning…it is sad to see such highly trained athletes get so excited because they let up a 17 yard catch and run play.

“But, the Patriots celebrated too!” I know, Sally, and thanks for the fodder. Some would say, hey what about the Patriots, they were blatantly making fun of the Eagles and Terrell Owens (who might I add makes himself a target for the mocking). This is true, but where did they celebrate? In the endzone…where did T.O. celebrate? If you said the 17 yard line, you guessed right! And on that drive, they didn’t even SCORE! Ok, lets move on to Mike Vrabel…Ok, I apologize for that dance, it was a sad take off of the Eagle’s flap, but he’s big and awkward and you have to give him points for trying. The jump-bump, made famous by Donovan and his teammates, was copied earlier in the game on the fumble recovery, which although I’m not a fan of the taunt, was deserved as they had changed the complexion of the game. Finally there was the Rodney Harrison flight after his second pick of the night which couldn’t have been cooler. He was saying to the entire Philadelphia bench and fan population…“I think you dropped your ball sir, thanks for playing.” The entire taunt war that occurred was reminiscent of the Falcons-Broncos Superbowl when the entire Bronco sideline started the dirty bird arockin. The moral of this story is to not have a specific dance that you do, or it’ll be thrown in your face after you already fell on your chunky-soup-eating can.

I guess all in all I was happy with the Super Bowl outcome, although I had to go a little crazy to be amused by it at times. The folks I watched it with, my girlfriend, one of my best friends and his girlfriend, all kept giving me weird looks every time I busted out a “YEEEEESS PandaCHI!” or made mention of Tedy Bruschi and Corey Dillon’s locomotive legs being powered by their eating of children (A trick taught to them by a Mr. Bryan Cox). I enjoy my Patriots


Until later…