The Seattle Super Bowl and Other Thoughts

 

The Seattle Seahawks 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX has been in our rear view mirror for four days, so there is no point in going into great detail about the game at this point.  It was a game that lacked in drama.  If this same game had taken place at 1:00 on an October Sunday afternoon, it would have been noted in the rundown of scores and written off as a relatively dull and one sided affair.  However, this game took place at the Super Bowl, so it is a game of great consequences, history wise.  

The game was noteworthy for the other worldly performance of the Seahawks' defense.  They completely overwhelmed Pats' QB Drake Maye and the offensive line that was supposed to protect him.  Poor New England left tackle Will Campbell (#66).  I'd hate to be him sitting in the film room when the coaches grade that performance.

I don't know how sustainable that Seattle defense will be over the next five years or so, but this past Sunday they looked "Steelers Steel Curtain" and "1985 Bears" good.

A word about the quarterbacks.

As I watched this game unfold, I said to those watching with me that the blame for New England's performance was going to fall, unfairly, all on Drake Maye, and he has been taking a beating since that game.  No mistake, Maye played a bad game and it appeared that he was in way over his head on Sunday afternoon.  He was playing injured, so there is that, and as mentioned above, his offensive line gave him ZERO chance to succeed in this game, and he is only in his second year in the NFL cut him some slack. He finished second in the voting for league MVP this season and with good reason.  I think the Pats are set at quarterback for the foreseeable future.

The Sam Darnold Redemption Story is one of the better ones in the NFL over the last couple pf seasons.  He was a high first round draft pick, number three overall, I believe, of the Jets (where careers go to die), and he bombed there.  He was discarded by New York and went to San Francisco as a back-up, and then became free agent signee of the Vikings in 2024, where he led the team to 14 wins.  The Vikes bombed out in the playoffs where Darnold didn't play well.  He was released and then signed with Seattle this past season, where he led Seattle to a pretty good season.  Yet all season long, the talking heads kept saying that Darnold would eventually be Seattle's undoing.  Well, it didn't happen, did it?  No, Darnold didn't have a great game either in the Super Bowl (the Patriots have a pretty good defense, too), but he didn't make any mistakes, and his team, you know, WON THE GAME.  

No one is comparing Sam Arnold to Joe Montana, but I think he's earned the right to now tell the doubters to eat it.  And I wonder what the outlook would be like in Steelers Nation right now if instead of signing free agent Aaron Rodgers last year, the team had signed free agent Sam Darnold instead.

BAD BUNNY

Yes, we watched the much discussed Halftime Show featuring Bad Bunny.  Yes we were entertained, and yes, we enjoyed it.  No, we didn't understand the words sung in Spanish, but we loved the music, the dancing, and the overall spectacle of the performance.  As the days passed, and we came to learn the meaning of what was being communicated on stage to the audience, we came to appreciate the show even more. There was an actual wedding that took place during the show.  How could you not like that? And how can you possibly take a stance against  this message that was communicated:

If it wasn't so sad and pathetic, it would actually be funny watching so many of our so-called leaders in Washington twisting themselves into knots in the months leading up to the Super Bowl and in the days since over what they conceive as being "un-American", "unpatriotic", and "disgusting", even threatening deportation and FCC licensing of the TV networks.  Which prompts me to ask, Why was the leader of this rabble watching this show at his Super Bowl party down there in Berchtesgaden-by-the-Sea, aka, Mar-a-Largo?  Why wasn't HE watching his boy Kid Rock performing the All-American Alternative Halftime Show?

There is great irony here.  Super Bowl Halftime entertainment, like much of popular music, has passed me by.  I get it, and if the NFL chooses to go with what is current and popular, fine by me.  I have glanced at halftime shows over last five years or so briefly and have basically said "talented people, but not for me", and have used halftimes to get something to eat and go to the bathroom.  That would have probably been the case this year, but for all of the fuss raised by the so-called patriots who are currently in the process of destroying the America that has been built since the end of World War II. 

So I watched the Bad Bunny show, and I enjoyed it, and I'm guessing that most people did.  The TV ratings numbers show that in excess of 135 million people watched the Super Bowl halftime show.

5 million people tuned into the Kid Rock alternate show (the leader of the anti-Bad Bunny forces, as noted, did not).

12.5 million people tuned into the Puppy Bowl Halftime show on Animal Planet.

Super Bowl Commercials

Four days after the fact, the commercial that sticks with me most was for Dunkin' that featured Ben Affleck and actors in character from '90s sitcoms, although I wish that  Alfonso Ribeiro would have been able to do a few steps of "The Carlton" in there.    The worst commercial was for an electric razor for Manscaping that talked about keeping beards and sideburns trimmed, but was REALLY talking about men shaving....somehwere else.  Didn't need to see that.

That's it, that's the list.

FINAL NOTE:  I went down a road in this post that I usually try to avoid when writing The Grandstander.  I am going to try not to make a habit of these kinds of posts.  If you were offended, I'm not going to apologize.  I have hated seeing what has been happening in this country over the last year, THAT has been truly offensive to me, and sometimes you just have to say something about it.

The Championship Games

 

One of my favorite sports days of the year did not let me down as the AFC and NFC Championship Games produced a lot of drama in determining the upcoming Super Bowl matchup indicated in the photo above.

New England 10 - Denver 7

This one started out to be a very MEH kind of a game.  Denver, playing with a backup QB Jared Stidham, scored early and took a 7-0 lead.  New England's QB Drake Maye played not so well, but The Patriots recovered a fumble inside the Broncos 15 yard line and were able to tie the game 7-7 at the half.  Oh, and each team suffered failed field goal attempts during the first half.

The Pats took the opening second half kick-off and drove over 80 yards and consumed close to eight minutes of game time that led to a field goal and a 10-7 lead.  As that drive was unfolding, though, a curious thing happened. A day that started sunny and clear turned into a blizzard-y snow game.

My friend Vic says that the snow ruined what should have been a good game.  I say that the snow turned what had been a plodding affair into a fascinating game both visually and strategically.  I especially enjoyed hearing Tony Romo on the telecast stressing how the conditions were so varied depending on which direction of the field you were going.  After New England was able to kick a FG at the end of that opening second half drive to take a 10-7 lead, Romo  made a point of mentioning that conditions were such that he didn't think that either team would be able to score for the rest of the game, and he turned out to be correct.

Seattle 31 - LA Rams 27

Whatever the Pats-Broncos game lacked in excitement, this one more than made up for it.  Lots of scoring, spectacular scoring plays, great quarterback play from Sam Darnold and Matthew Stafford, and gift touchdowns for each team (a muffed punt by LA that resulted in a Seahawks TD; an unsportsmanlike conduct on a knucklehead Seattle DB on a fourth down play that gave the Rams a first down, which Stafford immediately converted into a long TD pass against the same knucklehead DB).  It also featured plays by WR's Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba that were utterly amazing to watch.

Just one terrific football game, to go along with two other terrific games between these two teams during the regular season.  If the NFL doesn't match these two against each other for the Thursday Night opening game next year, they're crazy.

Oh, and speaking of drama, I mentioned in my post yesterday that back on December 8, I made a $2.50 sucker bet parlay bet that both New England and Seattle would win their respective Conference Championships.  As neither game was in the bag until the final gun sounded, that wager certainly added a bit of spice for me as the games unfolded.  It turned out to be well worth it:

Shortly after the NFC game ended last night, FanDuel posted a line of Seattle -4.5 points with an O/U of 46.5 points for the Super Bowl.  Lots of time to reflect and slice and dice all aspects of the coming game, but based on what I saw yesterday, Seattle certainly deserves the role of favorite in this one.

Road Tripping With The Steelers

No, the "road trip" in question was not to Dublin, Ireland to see the much ballyhooed "Dublin Game" between the Steelers and the Vikings.  Our trip was a bit closer to home, although it did involve being in a car for close to 24 total hours, going through four states, and covering 1,330 miles in eight days.

Yep, there we were in Foxboro, MA on September 21 to see the Steelers play the Patriots and deliver a 21-14 win to Steelers Nation.  The genesis of this trip was our cruise vacation through Canada last May and perhaps one too many cocktails with our new friends, Patti and Barry Rowe, who live in Boston suburb of Melrose.  The NFL schedule was released while we were on the cruise, we saw that the Steelers were visiting New England in September, when the weather would still be nice, and the next thing you knew, we were getting in the car two Fridays ago and headed towards Boston.

After staying in Scranton, the halfway point of the trip, where we visited the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and drove on the "President Biden Expressway", we were grateful guests of the Rowes for two nights. On Sunday morning, we piled into Patti's SUV and headed to Foxboro.

This was our first ever "road trip" to see a Steelers game, and, frankly, we weren't quite sure how we would be treated as we wore our Steelers gear and waved our Terrible Towels.  We needn't have worried, because it couldn't have been a more positive experience.  As we walked through all of the tailgating parties in the parking lots,  entered and sat in Gillette Stadium, and returned to our car through those same parking lots after the game, we could not have been treated more graciously by the New England fans.  We had countless conversations with many of them, all of them positive, and even the "derisive" comments were made with tongues in cheeks and smiles on faces.

Of course, it no doubt helped that we were far from alone in being Steelers folks in the crowd.  We have heard for years and seen on television how Steelers Nation travels, and we can now testify that it is a very real thing.  I would estimate that anywhere from twenty to thirty percent, and maybe more, of the crowd were Steelers rooters, all of them waiving Terrible Towels.  (Funny Story:  As we left the stadium after the game, a young guy and his date walked up to us and asked "Were they giving those towels away at the game today because EVERYBODY had one?"  We set him straight.)  Nobody gave us a hard time, nobody picked a fight with us or threw a beer at us.  It was just a terrific experience.

Everything you've ever heard about traffic and driving in Boston is true.  It was horrendous ("You learn to live with it" Barry told us), and this is true about getting to and from Foxboro on game day.  The logistics of how the police work the traffic patterns before and after the game are sheer genius.  It was truly amazing.

Here are some photos from our memorable weekend On The Road with the Steelers.

Tailgaters

Taking it all in

With Barry and Patti Rowe

Now THAT'S a big video board!

Bragging Rights.  

They earned them.

The only thing missing was "Renegade" being played

Post-game

I was also able to continue the tradition that I started with my Roberto Clemente jersey at Pirates games of getting photos taken with HOF jerseys from the other guys, which was pretty cool.

One photo that we didn't get was me chest bumping 

with a guy (not this guy) wearing a Jack Lambert jersey in the parking lot

At halftime of the game, Julien Edelman was inducted 

into the Patriots Hall of Fame.  That was pretty neat to see.

Like I said, it was one terrific experience.

When we decided to drive to make this trip, Linda and I made the decision to add time on to the trip and spend some beach time at Cape Cod, a place where neither of us had ever been.  I was going to write of that in this post, but it is long enough already, so that write up will take place separately within the next few days. 

The Steelers Get Humiliated....and Some Pirates News!

A familiar sight - 

Donte Moncrief flat on the ground 

after failing to catch yet another pass 

against New England last night.

There is not much that can be said about that 33-3 humiliation that the New England Patriots laid on the Steelers last night.  Professional sports can be astounding in the sense that a team can point to a single occurrence - in this case, the Steelers season opener against the Pats - prepare for it for months, and then come out so flat and listless that it appears that they had no interest in playing at all, and are never in the game from the opening kick/pitch/tip-off.  This happens a lot in sports, and it always just astounds me when it does.  As one of the oldest cliches in the book says, that's why you play the games.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll just recap some comments that I made on The Facebook last night while watching the game:

• If the Steelers of the Tomlin/Roethlisberger ever played a worse game than last night, I cannot remember it.
• Based on what we saw last night, I would guess  that opposing teams defensive coordinators will game plan against the Steelers as follows:  "Let them throw to Donte Moncrief and Ryan Switzer all game long, and we'll take our chances."
• It was early in the second quarter, and I felt like I was watching  Pirates game.
• I cannot come up with a single solitary positive thought or comment on the Steelers performance last night.
• As a Steelers fan, one of the worst aspects of the ass-kicking they received from New England is that it will lessen the opportunity to gloat about the Browns and the ass-kicking that THEY received at the hands of the Titans yesterday.
• How about old goat Bob Kraft down there on the field pre-game parading that Lombardi Trophy.  The guy has absolutely no sense of shame does he?
• On the bright side, this week's episode of Pittsburgh Dad should be positively epic!

Oh, and speaking of the Pirates, lost amid the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Steelers debacle, this headline was buried at the bottom of Page 8 of the Post-Gazette sports pages this morning:

FEW CHANGES EXPECTED FOR 2020 SEASON

Some quotes from the story written by Jason Mackey:

"The way general manager Neal Huntington put it Sunday, It doesn't sound as if there will be many changes to the Pirates for next season."

And...

"Huntington's comments painted the picture that, unless something dramatic happens here, the Pirates might be coming back with pretty close to this existing group."

As is the case for last night's Steelers game, I can't quite find the words to respond to THAT either.  Those comments  ought to help sell a lot of season tickets this coming off season.

Patriots Win

The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3, to win the Super Bowl last night, and in the twelve or so hours since the game ended, it has become de rigueur for sportswriters, commentators, and people on various forms of social media to try to out-snark each other in proclaiming how AWFUL and BORING and LOUSY the low scoring game was.  Even people who have spent a season decrying how out-of-control offense had gotten in the NFL and how defense has been legislated out of the game (yeah, that's you, Michael Wilbon) are trashing this game.

I agree that this one might not have been as exciting as that Steelers 27-23 win over Arizona ten years ago, or the Pats come from behind overtime win over Atlanta two years ago, or last year's 41-33 Eagles win over New England, but when you consider what was at stake - the Super Bowl Championship! - there is some value in a low scoring game, when a 3-0 lead, which NE held at halftime and deep into the third quarter, could be wiped out and overcome on the very next play of the game (which didn't actually happen, but it could have).

Context is everything.  I will grant you that if that game yesterday was played at 1:00 on a Sunday afternoon in early October, it would have been written off as a desultory and boring game, but if you cannot find tension and value in  game like that when the league championship is at stake, well, then you're just looking for something to bitch and moan about.  You probably shouldn't be a sports fan at all then.

I have written much about the Belichick/Brady/Patriots Dynasty in the lead up to this game, so I won't belabor it in this post.  Simply stated: 18 seasons, 9 Super Bowl appearances, 6 Super Bowl Championships.  Greatest of all time, and we will ever see anything like it again, certainly not in my lifetime.  It is becoming part of the narrative that last night's Super Bowl win was the "last shot" for this particular Pats' dynasty.  Maybe so, but raise your hand if you would be willing to bet a lot of money on Coach Bill and the Golden Boy NOT being in the hunt for the Super Bowl next year. Anybody?  Didn't think so.

Why I Am Rooting for the Patriots in the Super Bowl Tomorrow

Yeah, yeah, I know it can be viewed as treasonous and a mortal sin to root for the Patriots, but I am going to be doing so tomorrow as they take on the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.  Here's why:

1. Three weeks ago in Las Vegas I place a $15 bet on the Pats to win the Super Bowl and three and a half to one.  So there's that.
2. History has it's eyes on them.  What the Pats have done over the last eighteen season has been undeniably historic.  Nine Super Bowls in eighteen seasons.  We'll never see this again, certainly not in my lifetime, so I will always, in most instances, root for historical greatness.
3. Tom Brady.  Yes, he can be smug and annoying, and yes, the officials always seem to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he is also the greatest quarterback who ever played the game.  After tomorrow, he will have played in NINE SUPER BOWLS.  No other player - ever - has appeared in more than six.  This is historical greatness that must be appreciated and burnished.
4. If New England should lose tomorrow, Brady's record in the games will fall to 5-4 and there will be people who will say something like, "well, he's barely over .500 in those games, so he's no big deal."  A Brady/Pats win will cut off such patently ridiculous statements at the pass.
5. Bill Belichick.  As Brady is to quarterbacks, Belichick is to coaches.  He's the best there is and ever was.  Yes, he's crusty, arrogant, a poor loser, and a public relations man's nightmare, but there is something about him that appeals to me (and yes, I have gotten as PO'd over and at him over the years as many of you have).  I like his single-mindedness, and his penchant for sending a metaphorical middle finger at authority, especially the Suits in the NFL offices on Park Avenue.  For example, earlier in the season, Coach Bill appeared on the sidelines in his rumpled Patriots blue hoodie when every other coach, assistant coach (including the Pats' staff), and player was wearing those mandated military-style olive drab hoodies.  And if you tell me that you DIDN'T love seeing Bill hurl that Microsoft Tablet to the ground during the Chiefs game last week, I just don't believe you.  I mean, who among us HASN'T wanted to do something exactly like that at one time or another.
6. And how about that story that Bill Cowher told this week of Belichick's offer to help him, Cowher, and the Steelers out in preparing for the Broncos in the 2005 AFC Championship game, after Belichick's Pats had lost to Denver in the previous round of the Playoffs.  You gotta love him for that, right?
7. My cousin Janice Spencer lives in Maine and is a big Patriots fan, and she was a really good sport when the Steelers beat the Patriots in December, posing with a Terrible Towel on Facebook, so I am rooting for the Pats for her sake, too.
8. I don't really care that a sixth Super Bowl win will tie the Patriots with the Steelers for most Lombardi Trophies. Neither my civic nor sports fandom self-worth will be diminished by such a fact.  Also, nothing that the Patriots do, or any other team, for that matter, lessens the accomplishments of the Steelers over the years.  Let's all get a grip here.

Of course, the main thing I am hoping for is an entertaining and competitive game.  And if the Rams should win, that's okay by me, too, my fifteen buck wager aside, for a couple of reasons.  One, I would be happy for Pitt's Aaron Donald to get a Super Bowl ring, and two, I'd never feel bad to see Bob Kraft and his stuffed blue-shirt-with-a-white-collar come up on the short end, and if that conflicts with my History Has It's Eyes On You themes spelled out above, well, being a sports fan doesn't always have to be accompanied by perfect logic.

Enjoy the game tomorrow, everyone!

The GCR and the Super Bowl

With only two teams left standing, it is time for the final Grandstander Confidence Rankings (GCR) of the season.

Here you go:

1. Patriots
2. Rams

As you might be able to guess, I am picking the Patriots to defeat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.

There are lots of reasons why the Rams might win this game. To name a few: bright and innovative young coach Sean McVey, emerging star QB Jared Goff, MVP-caliber RB Todd Gurley, dominating defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh.  All of those are balanced off and canceled out by two words: Tom Brady. Yeah, I know the Pats have actually lost three Super Bowls with Brady at the helm, but I just can't bring myself to bet against him.  Literally.  In Las Vegas two weeks ago, a week before the AFC Championship Game, I placed a bet on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl.

In the next day or two, I plan on writing another post that will explain why, separate and apart from my $15 bet on them, I  will actually be rooting for the Patriots this coming Sunday.  Not a popular position to take outside of New England, I realize, but that's how I'm going, and I'll tell you why in a that future post.

By the way, and speaking of Aaron Donald, back in the earlier years of this decade, I watched Aaron Donald ply his trade for the University of Pittsburgh.  You knew at the time that he was a really good player, certainly the best player on those Pitt teams, but no one among my ticket group would have been willing to bet the mortgage payment that he would one day turn out to be the best defensive player in the NFL.  That's why I made a living as an insurance professional and not as a football scout.

Steelers Sunday Night Fever: Stayin' Alive

Joe Haden with the key play off the game.

After three weeks of consecutive Steelers losses and the sturm und drang  that goes with such a streak, Rooney U pulled off what many, including The Grandstander, who placed a legal wager on the Patriots at -3 at the newly opened sports book at The Rivers Casino on Saturday morning, thought was impossible: they defeated the evil New England forces of Belichick, Brady, and Gronk 17-10 under the cold dark early evening skies at Heinz Field last night.  Entering the weekend with a 1/2 game lead over Baltimore, and knowing that the Ravens won earlier in the afternoon, and knowing that they have to play 11-2 New Orleans next Sunday, this game with the Pats was about as close to must win game as you could possibly get.

Here's what the Steelers had going against them, and how it all shook out:

• James Conner was still out with an injury, and rookie Jaylen Samuels, who showed very little the week before against Oakland, had to play.  He rushed for 143 yards and caught two passes for 30 yards, each of which resulted in critical first downs.  He may well have been the MVP of the game for Pittsburgh.
• Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions, and was flagged for intentional grounding that proved critical during a Steelers drive in the second half.  It was not his best game, BUT he also threw two TD passes in the first half and completed several key third down passes.
• Yips-afflicted kicker Chris Bosworth missed a near chip shot FG that loomed large, especially when playing Brady and the Pats, BUT he also made a longer FG late in the game that extended the lead to 17-10.
• The Steelers defense gave up a TD on New England's first possession of the game that was so bad, it looked like  they only had nine guys on the field, BUT although we didn't realize it at the time, that was to be the only time NE was to put the ball in the end zone all night.
• That same Steelers defense, which all season long has appeared not to realize that you were allowed to intercept the opposing QB's passes, came up with a critical one when Joe Haden (see photo at top of this page) picked  one off inside the five yard line when Brady appeared to be driving the Pats to a score.
• As they did in last year's loss to New England, the Steelers could not manage to get just one more first down late in the game, and that gave Brady and the Pats the ball with 2:30 in the game on their own 25 yard line.  How many time had we seen that movie before?  Somehow, though, this time the Steelers managed a different ending.  Brady did drive the Pats down to inside the Steelers twenty yard line, BUT then threw three straight incompletions, including one on fourth down, and for the first time in what seems like a thousand years, Mike Tomlin's Steelers came away with a "W" over Bill Belichick's Patriots.  The game and the victory were both gut-wrenching and euphoric.

It has been mentioned on some national shows today that in that game, Tom Brady looked every bit like a 41 year old dude out there playing quarterback last night.  I am not saying that this is the end for the Golden Boy, nor am I writing off the Patriots as a Super Bowl contender, but those Pats last night didn't look like some of the Pats teams that we have seen over the years.  No, I am not saying that the end has arrived for New England, but are we seeing the beginning of the end?  Like I always say, watch but don't bet.

And a word about Mike Tomlin, whom the vast majority of yinzers in Steelers nation (not to mention Steelers Legend Rocky Bleier) wanted fired after the loss to Oakland last week.  He will get little, if any, credit for yesterday's win, but he obviously held that team together during what was a seemingly turmoil filled week as the team's (and, to be honest, his) greatest nemesis was coming to town.  He obviously did something right in preparing the team for this game.  Of course, there will be a lot of people who will never admit that.

That win also assured the Steelers of a winning season.  They can finish no worse that 8-7-1.  That will be twelve winning/non-losing seasons in Tomlin's twelve seasons at the helm.  Yeah, that's a guy who deserves to be fired, alright. Pffft!!!!

Finally, on personal note, I made a friendly wager with my cousin Jan Spencer, a resident of Maine and a New England fan.  The wager involved photos that we would have to post on Facebook if our team lost.  To her credit, before both teams left the field after the final gun last night, she posted the following photo on Facebook:

#goSteelers

She certainly was a good sport about the whole thing.  However, there exists a very real possibility that the Steelers and Patriots could meet up in the post-season, so I am sure that she will want another crack at me should a rematch take place.  To which I say...You're on, Janice!

As I type this, it is a little over twenty-four hours since the end of last night's game, and to my knowledge, there has as yet been no pronouncement from Rocky Bleier.  Stay tuned.

Fly Eagles Fly!!!!!

You may wonder why it has taken five days for The Grandstander to give his thoughts, comments, and opinions on last Sunday's Super Bowl victory for the Philadelphia Eagles.  It seems that along about late Sunday night/early Monday morning, a little bit of "real life" drama kicked in for Yours Truly.  Nothing major, as it turned out, and I will invoke HIPAA privilege and spare you all the details, but rest assured that all is well and I shall be cranking out Grandstander posts well into the future.

Now, as to those thoughts, comments, and opinions....

• Great game.  All those people who so high-mindedly decided to not watch missed one entertaining and terrific football game.
• Was glad to see the Eagles win, even though I DIDN'T have that. I finished 6-5 in post-season predictions, 7-5 if you count the Alabama win in the CFP.
• How about the onions on Doug Pederson  on that fourth and goal gadget play call that resulted in a touchdown pass TO quarterback Nick Foles?  Of course, coaches are only geniuses when such plays actually work.
• My absolutely, positively favorite moment of the entire game came immediately after the critical strip-sack-fumble by Tom Brady late in the game and deep in New England territory that, effectively, sealed the deal for the Eagles.  The TV cameras, as they appear to be obligated to do, switched immediately to the NE owner's box to catch the expression on Bob Kraft's face.  It looked like he had just defecated a large cinder block.  It was priceless, and I am only sorry that I was unable to capture a picture of the TV screen at the time so as to preserve the moment forever. I know that everyone is supposed to dislike Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, but the New England Patriot who chaps my ass the most is Robert Kraft.
• The Halftime Show.  In the immediate aftermath of Justin Timberlake's performance, I said "Four Stars".  Upon further reflection, I'm going to downgrade that to Three Stars.  I like Timberlake, and he is an undoubtedly talented performer.  I loved the dancing and the choreography, but like most of these halftime shows, it is just TOO MUCH production, too many bells and whistles.  I would be lying if I told you that I could understand the words of any of the songs Timberlake was singing.  Too loud, too noisy.  Is that what it's all about?  And what does the NFL do next year to top this one? More noise, more fireworks, a couple of thousand more dancers on the field around the stage?  Where does it all end?

• The Commercials.  Again, like the halftime shows, I feel like the day of the Mega-memorable Commercial may be past.  I really think that these people are trying too hard.  If the trend continues, I will soon be using these commercials for what God intended: breaks to go get something to eat and to use the bathroom.
• That said, the Eli Manning - Odell Beckham, Jr celebration commercial was not just a home run, it was a BobbyThomson-BillMazeroski-JoeCarter Home Run rolled into one.  Just brilliant!  And did you notice who the sponsor of that ad was?  It was the National Football League itself that gave its full imprimatur on end zone touchdown celebrations with that commercial.  So all you cranky old guys who deplore such celebrations, brace yourself, because they are only going to become bigger, better and more wide spread come 2019.
• One more comment on Commercials.  I counted at least five Tide detergent commercials.  Really, detergent commercials on the Super Bowl.  What is up with that?
• I will close out this commentary with two contrasting pictures of the opposing quarterbacks.

Pitchers and catchers report next week.

Championship Sunday Reflections

Comments and thoughts from yesterday's games.....

• In this space yesterday, I predicted victories for the Patriots and Eagles, so, I BELIEVE I HAD THAT!
• True, I did predict that the Pats would "crush" the Jaguars.  That didn't happen, but, somehow, the manner in which New England did win had to be far more soul crushing to the Jags and their supporters than a 30 point blow out would have been.
• When Jacksonville kicked a field goal to go up 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, I posted the following on Facebook (I really did; you can look it up): Jax up by 10, 14:52 to play. I’m STILL saying New England wins this.
• Say it with me....I believe I had that.  
• Actually, and I didn't post this, when NE scored at the end of the first half to cut the Jags lead to 14-10, I figured that Brady and Co. were going to do it again, which is why I made that post at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
• For some perverse reason, I found myself rooting for New England in that game.  Maybe it was because of the way Jacksonville handed it to the Steelers last week, or maybe it was because it seemed that the Jags were overly chesty early in in the game, or maybe it's because you just have to admire sustained greatness over time, which is what the Belichick-Brady Patriots are, or maybe because it's because my recently discovered cousin and friend Jan Spencer lives in Maine and roots for them.  That said, I still can't stand the constant shots of Bob Kraft and his blue shirts-with-white-collars in the owner's box.
• As bad as it was seeing the Steelers get beat by Jacksonville last week - and that was really bad - would it have been worse to see them go to Foxboro yesterday and lose to New England yet again (which you know would have been the result)?  That's your existential question for the day.
• By the time the Eagles-Vikings game came on at 6:40 PM, I was pretty well spent, and the Eagles took all of the excitement out of that one fairly quickly.  In fact, I was amazed at the relative ease in which the Vikings were dispatched in that one.  I even switched to the SAG Awards in the fourth quarter.
• The hand-wringing and woe-is-us talk is already starting among Steelers fans about how the Patriots may now equal the Steelers' total of six Super Bowl Championships.  Oh, the humanity!  If something like that is really that important to you, I suppose I should envy you, because you just must not have any real problems in your life.

I will end on a serious note.  Rob Gronkowski left the game in the second quarter after being concussed after taking an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit from a Jacksonville defensive back.  New England lost perhaps the best position player in the NFL for the rest of the game, and, who knows, maybe for the Super Bowl in two weeks.  Jacksonville lost 15 yards.  We have seen these kinds of hits take place week after week in NFL games.  If the NFL is serious, really serious, about player safety and trying to prevent concussions as much as possible, a 15 yard wrist slap is not enough.  The player delivering the illegal hit needs to be ejected from the game immediately.  No questions asked.  Apologists will say "but not all of those hits are deliberate", and that is no doubt true, but it shouldn't matter.  The player making the hit needs to be kicked out of the game. That is, if the NFL really means what it says about player safety.

Patriots 27 - Steelers 24

Some thoughts on yesterday's "Game of the Century" (until, that is, the next "Game of the Century" takes place)....

• This should not be construed as sour grapes, because the Steelers had ample opportunities to win that game, but when some Suit from the NFL has to dominate the post-game pressers with a power point presentation to define what constitutes a "Catch", something is seriously wrong.
• As for those other ample opportunities, here are just two.  (1) If the Steelers make only one first down when they got the ball in the fourth quarter with around three minutes left, they probably win the game; instead they go three and out for the only time in the game, and (2) if Sean Davis holds onto that pass of Brady's for an interception, they definitely win the game.  If, if, if....
• Oh, and if Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski get into a car wreck on the way to the stadium and have to be hospitalized, then the Steelers probably win that game.
• How many more Super Bowls might the Steelers have won in this century had they not been playing in the same era as the Belichick-Brady-Patriots Era?  How many  more Majors would Phil Mickelson have won had he not been playing in the Tiger Woods Era?  Same kind of question.
• Just as the Tomlin-Roethlisberger Steelers are kryptonite to the Cincy Bengals, so too are the Belichick-Brady Patriots to the Steelers.  Hate to say it, but until the Steelers actually, you know, BEAT the Pats as they are currently constituted, it will be hard to predict that they will.  
• Still, should the two teams meet in Foxboro next month for the AFC Championship, as seems inevitable, I do have hope.  The Pats defense isn't what it used to be, so they can be beaten.  All you have to do is outscore Tom Brady and keep him off the field.  They came THIS CLOSE to doing it yesterday, so maybe they can do it if they get the chance next month. 
• Probably not the way to bet, though.

It's Steelers/Patriots Week

Well, the week that we have all been anticipating since the NFL schedule was released back in April is now upon us.  The 11-2 Steelers take on the 10-3 Patriots this coming Sunday at Heinz Field.  At stake, in all likelihood, will be the overall Number One seed in the AFC and home field advantage in the AFC Championship game should both teams advance to that game.

The Steelers have certainly taken us on a thrilling ride over the course of this eight game winning streak.  Fourth quarter comebacks that have resulted in four victories that have culminated in three last-play-of-the-game field goals, and one FG in the last minute of a game.  Some people have said that the Steelers drive you crazy, but in all honesty, over the course of these come from behind wins over the Colts, Packers, Bengals, and Ravens, I have never felt that they were ever out of those games, and was not at all surprised that they ended up winning them.  Okay, when they were down 31-20 in the fourth quarter to the Ravens on Sunday night, maybe, possibly, I had just a teensy bit of doubt, but in the end, I wasn't surprised by the eventual outcome. As long as Ben Roethlisberger is leading that team, the Steelers are NEVER out of the game.

So, what happens this Sunday?  Well, I have always said that I would never pick the Marvin Lewis-led Bengals to beat the Steelers until such time as they actually would beat the Steelers (hasn't happened lately).  I fear that I must apply the same logic to a contest between the Steelers and the Patriots.  The Pats of Belichick and Brady have certainly had the the Steelers number over 

the years, winning the last four games that they have played. That makes it hard to imagine that the Patriots will not prevail once again.  Plus, New England should be plenty ticked off after losing to Miami last night, and while Tom Brady may be forty years old, he is still Tom Brady.   Still, I expect that the Steelers will show up on Sunday and play that game, and as I said, as long as #7 is throwing it to #84, the Steelers will never be out of that game.  I don't expect that they will be overwhelmed as they were in the AFC title game in Foxboro this past January.

Isn't there a saying in sports along the lines of "Something is always true until all of a sudden it isn't."  Perhaps this will be the Sunday where Patriots dominance over the Steelers will suddenly not be there any more.  Let's hope.

Then all that the Steelers will then have to do is beat the Pats  again in January when a trip to the Super Bowl will be at stake.

As I always say, games and situations like this is why we follow sports.