Before the days of costume malfunctions
I guess New England’s Tom Brady isn’t better than Joe Montana
after all. I said I wouldn’t consider him so, unless, of course,
the Pats won the Super Bowl. But I guess I do have a few small
pieces of egg on my face for even comparing the gunslinger from San
Mateo to the guy who put the 49ers’ franchise on the Super Bowl
mat
– at least not this early in Brady’s career.
But I will say that I’d take Brady over Payton Manning any day
of the week
– and even more so at playoff time. So what if Brady and the
Patriots lost to Denver last weekend. Brady has three Super Bowl
wins. Manning’s got a donut hole.
Before the days of costume malfunctions
I guess New England’s Tom Brady isn’t better than Joe Montana after all. I said I wouldn’t consider him so, unless, of course, the Pats won the Super Bowl. But I guess I do have a few small pieces of egg on my face for even comparing the gunslinger from San Mateo to the guy who put the 49ers’ franchise on the Super Bowl mat – at least not this early in Brady’s career.
But I will say that I’d take Brady over Payton Manning any day of the week – and even more so at playoff time. So what if Brady and the Patriots lost to Denver last weekend. Brady has three Super Bowl wins. Manning’s got a donut hole.
But this year Manning had it all – home-field advantage all the way and a great team around him – but still couldn’t cash in.
It’s just like the 1980s all over again. Manning’s got a better arm and gets all the accolades but Brady’s got the rings. Just like Dan Marino had the stats the Montana had the championships.
Since I’m still in football mode, in the games today I’m taking Pittsburgh over Denver in the AFC Championship and Seattle over Carolina for the NFC title.
On Super Bowl Sunday I’m going with Seattle. Final score: Seattle 27, Pittsburgh 17.
Or maybe I should take the Rolling Stones in the over and under or the commercials. That’s what I don’t like about the Super Bowl; it’s becoming more like a Super Show or a three-ring circus than a title game.
It’s football in January, or in this case February. (It seems like the NFL brass does its best each year to add another week to an already drawn-out season.)
The Super Bowl should be about frozen tundra and old-school coaches yelling at their players from the sidelines in a woolen hat and a suit and tie – not about Janet Jackson flashing her metal-capped rack.
And enough with the Roman Numerals already. Ever wonder why they started using Roman numerals for all of the Super Bowl games in the first place? It’s probably because no one thought it would catch on but now there’s no end in sight.
I could handle the Xs and even Vs but this year there’s an L in the mix, as in Super Bowl XL.
For some reason this Super Bowl makes me want to go out and shop for shirts. And what about when a C or a D creeps into the Roman equation? You could even have a Super Bowl LCD, or even liquid plasma if you prefer a clearer picture to watch it on, I guess.
Soon it’s going to be harder to figure out what Bowl you’re watching than to calculate the stats. I say next year call it Super Bowl 41 and move on from there.
What gets me is how this one game has become a national event – even for people who don’t care about football. Just walk into Safeway or any other supermarket and take a look around. The signs are everywhere – Buy now for the Big Game! Plan Your Party! I’m starting to think that if it fell on a Monday night that Monday would probably be declared a national holiday.
What gets me about the Super Bowl are all the people that watch it that don’t know the difference between a touchdown and a first down. I’ve been to parties where some people didn’t even know who was playing, but it’s like a national obsession now. The Halftime Show. The commercials, The National Anthem, The costumes.
How about watching it for the game?
Instead, many people watch the game for the commercials. That’s like going to a World Series game for the seventh-inning stretch! The Super Bowl is the only sporting event that most of America watches yet most could care less about the outcome. Talk about the NFL being run by marketing geniuses. Half of America is whipped up over a game that has become a pseudo Thanksgiving in front of the television set instead of the dinning room table.
The superficial Super Bowl is what makes today’s NFC and AFC championships games all the more special. Today is the day for the real football fan. It’s for the guy who knows formations and can name the players by looking at their number. It’s not for the guy who grabs his smoked salmon during the game so that he won’t miss the commercials. That game will take place on Feb. 5.
Today it’s pure, uninterrupted football.
