The Super Bowl, Part I - The Game

As readers know, I fully expected a Colts victory, and that is how I was rooting, but it was no fluke that the Saints won that game. And good for New Orleans. They were in 2009 what the Steelers were in 1974 - a historically lousy team that finally got to the Big Game and won it decisively. Congratulations to the Saints.

As for the game, you have no doubt already read and heard from commentators more knowledgeable than me, but here are a few of my thoughts from the game.

• I thought the Saints going for it at 4th and goal late in the first half was a bad move. Get the sure 3 points, I thought, and when Indy stopped them, I thought that spelled bad things for the Saints. Who would have thought that the Colts would have given the Saints a do-over by playing conservatively, go three-and-out, give NO the ball back and allowing them to get the three points they "lost" a few minutes earlier?
• The other "big play" being cited today was Pierre Garcon dropping a third down pass in the second quarter, thus forcing Indy to punt. I must confess that that play didn't even register with me at the time. Shows how astute I am, or maybe I just got used to watching Limas Sweed over the past two years.
• The onside kick to start the second half. Obviously a key play in the momentum of the game, and Sean Payton is being hailed a genius for making the call. What would we be saying about him if the Colts recovered that kick, drove a short field and gone up 17-6? But they didn't, so coach Payton is the hero. It did take some cujones to call that play, though.
• The interception for the NO touchdown that sealed the deal. Wonder what Neil O'Donnell thought if he was watching? On PTI today, Tony Kornheiser compared Manning leaving the field after that play to Ralph Branca walking of the mound at the Polo Grounds in 1951.

I can't take credit for this comparison, but another I heard today offered this proposition: are the Indy Colts to the NFL of the '00s what the Atlanta Braves were to MLB in the '90s? And does this make Peyton Manning Greg Maddux? It's an interesting hypothesis.

Now that the NFL season is over, look forward to lots of off-season reading about the soon to expire Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players. Won't that be fun to read about? What revenues does the NFL produce in a year? About $6 billion? Hard to imagine that owners and players wouldn't be able to figure out a way to divvy up that pie. Having said that, though, of the four major sports, I would guess that the NFL players have the lousiest deal with the owners, especially, given the risk to which they are exposed in the course of performing their occupation. So, good luck to them, but I'm still not sure I want to read about it.

And on the subject of NFL labor relations, I'll close with a great line from the PG's Gene Collier from last week: Will NFL players be able to wear baseball caps on the sidelines if 2010 is an uncapped year?