Stunning
I usually don't care about the Super Bowl unless the 49ers are playing, and the fact that the game was aired at 7:30 this morning in China my motivation to watch was nil. But...wow: I can't believe the Giants won. I'm of two minds about this. Part of me wanted the Patriots to win, to humble the obnoxious 1972 Dolphins and to finish off what would be the most impressive accomplishment in NFL history. I also don't like the Giants much. Their coach is a jerk and so is their quarterback- I'll never forgive Eli Manning for balking to play for the Chargers (my No. 2 team) when they drafted him a few years back.
But as a 49er partisan, I was getting sick and tired of this Patriot dynasty talk and the beatification of native son Tom Brady, who some reckoned would knock Joe Montana off his pedestal as the greatest quarterback ever. Well sorry Tom, but Joe never lost a Super Bowl.
Plus, this will humble obnoxious Boston sports fans for awhile, which is good news for absolutely everyone outside of New England.
Anyway, the Super Bowl is usually the only time anyone outside of the US ever watches American football, which is a shame. The event seems more like an exhibition game than anything else- it's played inside a dome or at a warm weather site (Arizona this year), the ridiculous and bloated halftime show, the obsession over the ads, the pomp and circumstance of the introductions, and the sheer length of the game all would turn me off if I weren't already a fan of the sport.
For my non-American football following readers, the best time to tune in is for the second and third week of the playoffs, pitting teams from the same conference in cold-weather stadiums filled with screaming partisans. The Super Bowl comes two weeks after the conference championship games and often feels like little more than a formality.
These American sporting events are superior to the Super Bowl:
- The NCAA college basketball tournament
- The World Series (baseball)
- The NCAA college football championship game
- Occasionally the NBA (basketball) finals.
February 5th, 2008 - 04:09
What a huge let-down. There is always next year. Boston fans are used to that.