What Superbowl? The Who?

For the first time in, well, decades I missed seeing the superbowl.  I didn't even record it on TiVo.  I didn't see any of the pre-game hoopla.  But I wish I had been watching at the moment when Peyton "the choker" Manning scored an own goal by passing the ball to one of the players in white instead of the royal blue, thus sealing another big game loss.

I'm not exactly a Manning hater but I just find all of the idolization of the brothers Peyton and Eli a little bit much.  Especially when the latter robbed the Patriots of the perfect season a few years ago by escaping from a sack only to float the ball down to his receiver within easy scoring range.  To my mind there's only one kind of great quarterback: a winning quarterback.  It doesn't matter how many touchdown passes you make if your team doesn't win!  Joe Montana knew that.  So did plenty of other great quarterbacks.  Manning isn't one of them.  Brady is.  End of story!

A propos of the Brady-Manning controversy, I just finished reading Dan Shaughnessy's column this morning and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed something in the paper so much.  BTW, here is the column that he had written on the even of the superbowl.

And could someone, preferably from "The Who" organization, explain to me how we old guys should go about getting well paid employment when the rest of the world seems to think that we've "rounded third"?  I'd love to know.

So what were we doing on Sunday evening?  Actually, we were returning from a "Wicked" weekend in New York.  As part of Kim's birthday celebrations, we went to see Wicked, the hit musical that is the "back story" (or "prequel") behind the Wizard of Oz.  It was great!  Let's all defy gravity!

Patriot Games

Is it a coincidence, or do I somehow manage to cause the Patriots to lose, simply by turning on the TV?  And, what if, as on this last Sunday, I actually record it on Tivo and watch it later?  How can my watching, affect what happens 2,000 miles away on the football field?

Yes, of course it's a coincidence.  Yet, every time I have watched the Patriots this season, they have lost, typically by blowing a seemingly comfortable fourth quarter lead.  In the latest installment of utter frustration, they were ahead by 14 points early in the fourth quarter.  There were no last-second heroics by the home team, the lowly Texans in this case.  They simply scored 21 unanswered points and then intercepted the ball in the last minute of play to seal the game.

The really bad news, however, was that we lost Wes Welker for the season, to an ACL injury, just like Tom Brady's last season (except that that was in the first game, rather than the last game).  The actual result of the game didn't matter much, it was really only for seeding (although it mattered quite a lot to the Texans).  For this reason, Belichik was spelling the starters and giving playing time to backups.  Unfortunately, the play on which Wes was hurt occurred early in the game when he was still in play (obviously).

Wes Welker, like his counterpart on the current Red Sox team, Dustin Pedroia (5' 8"), is one of those rare athletes: a short guy at the very pinnacle (excuse the pun) of his profession.  My old neighbor Doug Flutie (officially 5' 10", but I've heard that questioned) was another example.  Flutie still holds the single-season CFL records for passing yards and passing touchdowns.  Even in basketball, there have been short point guards who were really good.  Case in point, Muggsy Bogues at 5' 3"!

Welker is listed on the Patriots web site as being 5' 9".  This year he leads the NFL in receptions (he has 123 to Steve Smith's 107) and for his full stats and bio, see Wes Welker.  It's pretty amazing reading.  This seasons reception total of 123 is tied for second in the history of the NFL!  Even Jerry Rice's best season was only 122.  And, no doubt, if he hadn't been injured early in the game, he'd have got at least 124 putting him a clear second on the all-time list.  Trivia Question: just who does hold the league record for receptions (with 143!)?  Clue: this person has been in the news for almost catching a more deadly kind of projectile.  Answer in next blog (you can answer in comment if you like).

So I look forward to the Baltimore Ravens coming to town on Sunday.  There is hope.  The Patriots are unbeaten at home this season.

Decisions, decisions

What a great game! Will was here to watch the Sunday evening match-up: Patriots versus the unbeaten colts in Indianapolis. The old Brady-Moss magic was back. The Patriots were playing really well: stellar performances from the two stars, with Welker, Faulk and the rest of the offense on a tear, while the defense was seemingly able to shut the Colts down. Or so it was until the fourth quarter. For much of the game, the Pats led by 10 or 17 points. It could have been more but for an end-zone interception and a goal line fumble. The Colts got two friendly defensive-pass-interference decisions from the officials, the second one of these was just mind-boggling. The Patriots were able, with good justification, to go into the "prevent defense" during the last half of the fourth quarter with an 13 point lead. Will and I have always joked that the prevent defense usually prevents the winning side from winning, but last night it seemed appropriate. Injuries had reduced the defensive front seven to a situation where there were no backups and they certainly were tired. However, once the lead was down to 6, it was time to just play good football again. But His Hoodiness (aka Bill Belichik) treated us to a new concept in football: the prevent offense. With fourth-and-two at your own 38 yard line, what does coaching 101 tell you to do? Punt! The punt unit were on the field. But, OMG, they ran off and we're going for it. What relief when Kevin Faulk caught the ball for a first down (game more or less over)! But no, the officials have ruled that he didn't have control of the ball until the defenders had pushed him back over the ten yard line. The rest was inevitable. The most disappointing, nay, tragic loss since Super Bowl XLII.

I shouldn't be quite so hard on Belichik. I am a huge fan of his and am amazed how he always makes really good decisions. Maybe he had a headache, or his contact lenses had fallen out. Whatever the reason, this one is going to be discussed for weeks!

Go Pats!