Super Bowl XLII

I feel as if I owe my readers some commentary, loathe though I am to speak on the subject. So here are a few thoughts on a game which I'm apt to be reminded of far, far more often than I'd like in the future.

• The Giants played really well. Congratulations to New York on an excellent game.



• They were also sprinkled in fairy dust. Every time the ball hit the ground, they ended up with it. Pierre Woods recovered Manning's fumble in the first half, got rolled over with possession, and then had the ball stripped after having been downed, and the Giants got the ball back. Manning fumbled on the final drive, the Patriots came out of the pile with the ball, and for some reason, the Giants kept it.



• I don't know why the play wasn't stopped on the throw to Tyree. And I don't know how he caught that ball.



• And the Patriots played badly. The offensive line had their worst night of the year. I'm sure that Neal going out early didn't help. And Brady made a number of un-Brady like throws. Again, part of that was the pressure, but a lot of it was Brady having a bad night at the worst possible time.



• Assante Samuel's going to make a lot of money this off-season, but he had the game-sealing interception go through his hands on the last Giant drive.



• The most frustrating thing about last night may be the failure to eliminate the 1972 Dolphins as a storyline the next time someone starts out 8-0.

That game is going to be sickening for a long, long time...

Kuechenberg on WEEI

A couple of interesting comments this morning from former Dolphin lineback Bob Kuechenberg on WEEI. I didn't have a recorder going, so can't provide a transcript right now, but hopefully they'll post the audio later.

- On the Patriots "spygate" issue, he thinks (as I do) that it was vastly overblown. "Why should it be illegal?"

- There's been a portrayal of the 1972 Dolphins as desperately protective of their "legacy."

Here they come again, the NFL's grumpy old men, tarnishing their legend a little more each time they grumble about another team's attempt to fashion a similar piece of history. The 1972 Miami Dolphins will forever be remembered as the first NFL team to achieve an undefeated season, but for some Dolphins it has always seemed that being the first is not enough. They desperately want to remain the "only."

And there's also been backlash against that portrayal. Former TE Jim Mandich says that they are not "pathetic losers down here clinking champagne glasses and desperately clinging to a record set 35 years ago."

Well, Kuechenberg said (and I'll have to get the exact wording later) that he's rooting as hard as he can for the Patriots to lose.