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$.10 For The Super Bowl
Authored by Jeff Risdon - 1st February, 2008 - 2:03 pm
With John Herrera standing to his right dressed in black and appearing not unlike an undertaker, Lane Kiffin sat down at the podium for Sunday's postgame news conference.
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The NFL season comes to a close with the Super Bowl this Sunday. And as usual, the hype machine is spinning wildly out of control. Here are ten cents for the Super Bowl.
$.01-- I typically ignore all pre-game build-up this entire week, and although this is late, I encourage you all to do the same. Do you really care what style of sunglasses Randy Moss is rockin’, or how the backup TE of the Giants likes to sing karaoke? It has very little to do with football which is a shame because this matchup is actually a pretty intriguing one from a football aspect.
$.02-- These teams met in Week 17, and the Giants very nearly pulled off the upset. Ignore that game when predicting this one. The circumstances are vastly different, and the players all know that. You would think most of the pundits would as well, but everything football-related I’ve heard from the national media relates back to this game. It’s a valid reference tool, but don’t plan on the same things happening from either team. Between the pressure of the stakes and the two weeks off since the last games, any resemblance to the prior game is strictly coincidental.
$.03-- The one aspect you should take away from that game is that Tom Coughlin is a very astute coach, more so than he gets credited. He saw that his team needed a confidence boost headed into the playoffs, and he realized that playing the Patriots tightly would do more for his squad than resting some regulars and conceding the defeat. Coughlin takes an unbelievable amount of BS from the New York media, but the plain fact is that the man has done an outstanding coaching job this season.
$.04-- I keep hearing and reading about how the retirement of Tiki Barber is the primary factor in why Eli Manning has really taken off. I suspect Eli doesn’t miss him, but the real reason for Eli’s sudden progress from an average QB to one that can lead a team to a Super Bowl is the loss of Jeremy Shockey. It’s strange because Shockey is arguably the most talented player on the offense, but with him out of the lineup, the tension is gone. It’s quite tangible with the Giants, and it leaves them with a very interesting offseason dilemma.
$.05-- Tom Brady’s high ankle sprain is not something to get all worked up about, but it’s not an insignificant injury either. It primarily impacts lateral mobility and balance on the move. Even though Brady is not a big scrambler, he does move around quite a bit in the pocket and really likes to step forward when the pressure comes. If that pressure is from the middle, and the Giants have proven they have that ability, Brady will have to test that wonky ankle more than he’d like. It’s also an injury that gets worse the more you agitate it once the adrenaline wanes.
$.06-- I have a new favorite New York Giant, and his name is Grey Ruegamer. He’s a backup offensive lineman who has played pretty well in a fill-in capacity, but that’s not why I’m a fan. Ruegamer created a stir when he talked about his experience castrating sheep--with his teeth. Any man who emasculates an animal without the benefit of tools, now that’s a man’s man! It also has to make Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork a little nervous when they’re all piled up.
$.07-- The Super Bowl is often amateur hour for football fans, much in the manner that New Year’s Eve is for drinkers. Memo for those of you who watch about 2 games a year and then suddenly think you’re Chris Berman: shut up and watch. We don’t care that you heard Plaxico Burress got his name when his mom saw it on a truck, or that Zak DeOssie was once a ballboy for Bill Belichick at some college, or that Mike Carey is the first black referee in Super Bowl history. Cheer when something exciting happens, pick a side and stick to it, and leave the technical talk to those of us who actually know what “Cloud 3” coverage is or how to play the 5-technique.
$.08-- The NFL does indeed stand for “No Fun League” when it comes to their fascist protection of the term “Super Bowl”. I’m so tired of hearing all the radio ads that dance around using the term out of fear that the NFL will crack down on them. It’s the most-watched television broadcast on the planet; kids in Guangzhou and old people in Cochabama actually pay attention to this game. I do understand the need to protect the sponsors who shell out major $$ to get their names attached to the Super Bowl, but when the local watering hole has to call it “The Big Game”, that’s going overboard. Roger Goodell has shown a refreshing burst of common sense in handling other affairs. It would be outstanding if he applied some of that here.
$.09-- Many people pay a great deal of attention to the commercials, but I’m not one of them. I look at it this way: if the commercial doesn’t suck, I’m bound to see it 10,000 times over the next 6 months. If it’s historically egregious, I can YouTube it to my heart’s delight. If it’s lame, I don’t care now and I won’t care later. Of course, I’m a person who can’t stand Budweiser beer, doesn’t take any Rx drugs for anything, and not in the market for a car or a mortgage or a broker or help with my small business. Commercial breaks for me will be spent reloading my plate with wings and cheese, making sure my 2-year old is still somewhere in the house, and draining a full day’s worth of Labatt’s from my bladder.
$.10-- Without breaking down the minutiae of all the matchups, I really like the Patriots to win. The Giants have the right personnel and style of play to make it interesting and can certainly pull the upset if the Patriots aren’t sharp. But the Patriots have so many different ways they can beat you, and Belichick isn’t afraid to scrap what isn’t working for something else mid-game, even mid-drive. I respect Tom Coughlin and the Giants' defense a great deal, but I just don’t see them being able to adapt on the fly as well as the Patriots. New England 33, New York Giants 20.
