A few thoughts of the Big Game (the name of the Super Bowl if you don’t have licensing rights)
- Good Times was packed, and they were ready for it. If I were to guess, there were at least 20 projection screens on all the walls, probably more, with a full staff and not a lot of waiting for anything. The waitresses were quick for everything, and there didn’t appear to be any seating shortages until the third quarter, although that might’ve just been the area I was sitting at.
-The crowd (at Good Times) was very live. Standing ovations and high fives abound whenever something reasonably good happened (INT, turnover, punt returns, TD) even though most of the above were called back at some point, which leads me to…
-A lot of bad penalties by the Patriots. Not to take anything away from Philly, who played a great game, but the Patriots really dug themselves into holes for quite a few drives after quite a bit of line penalties and a few illegal blocks on punt and interception returns. While penalties are part of the game and no one ever won by wondering “if”, if the Pats had a bit more discipline this one wouldn’t have been so close.
-I’m glad I didn’t bet on this game. I would’ve picked NE by 7. Although if Brady didn’t fumble at the 5 yard line, that probably wouldn’t have been a problem. I’ll break my gambling cherry next year. Maybe.
-Donovan McNabb had one of the best bad games I’ve ever seen. He hit Westbrook all over the field, threw for 3 TDs, got a few important first downs, dodged a few rushes, and found TO for some big gains, yet he threw 3 interceptions, took big losses when he was sacked, and made some poor decisions on his second-to-last drive that cost the Eagles a lot of time and really, their chance to win, although…
-Andy Reid deserves the blame for the poor clock management at the end. He otherwise called a pretty good game, although Philly fans will spend the next XX years agonizing over the onside kick. On Game 7 of the ‘86 World Series, I don’t think Vin Scully mentioned the ball going through Buckner’s legs except when he was up for his first at-bat. The story then was about how they blew a two-run lead in the 10th (which is what should have been discussed for the last 18 years). The same thing here: People are talking about the clock management now, but there will be second guessing of the onside kick until the Iggles finally win. My view? In hindsight, kicking it off would’ve been a better idea, but in that situation, with not that much time to think it out, I probably would’ve onsided it too. Of course, the 15 yard kick by Akers certainly didn’t help their chances.
-I think I had a Baldwin in my pants when Eugene Wilson went down. After last year, when Rodney Harrison went down with a broken arm in the 4th quarter and the Panthers proceeded to rape our secondary, I definitely had some worries.
(Remember that skit when Jimmy Fallon said he was one day gonna be a big star and host SNL in the future? Whodathunk that he would become a semi-celebrity who will eventually host SNL when he needs to promote his next Queen Latifah buddy cop movie?)
-I had quite a few moodswings throughout the night. I was at my lowest at the end of the half, but picked myself up when I was reminded by the radio analysts that the Patriots were purposely playing conservatively to get a read of the D, and would come out guns blazing in the second half. I was never incredibly comfortable throughout the night; my closest moment of levity was after the Bruschi interception to keep the Pats up 24-14. Of course, two ineffective offensive drives that gave the ball right back to PHI put me back in a state of concern, although I was never in a state of doubt that Patriots would win. In my confidence meter, 10 being absolutely convinced the game was ours, 0 being anyone’s game, and -10 being act of god to allow Pats to win, the lowest I got was 1, and I didn’t hit 10 until Harrison’s last interception.
-As much as I hate the guy, I gotta hand it to TO. Of course, I still have my doubts. I wonder if his surgery was as invasive as they claimed, and if the surgery really had that much recovery time. He really didn’t seem all that hurt… maybe this god fellow is as good as they say.
-I was dissapointed with American Dad, but I’ll give it a chance.
I’m sure I have more… I’ll be back later tonight.
