When the Chiefs took possession of the ball deep in their own territory with about eight minutes remaining in the game and trailing San Francisco 20-10, Joe Buck made the comment "Well, the Chiefs have the 49'ers right where they want them", referring to how the Chiefs had come back from double digit deficits in their prior two playoff wins. It was a throwaway line for a cheap chuckle, but it seems that everybody's favorite play-by-play guy Buck was rather prescient, as the Chiefs proceeded to score a TD, force a three and out by San Francisco, score another TD, force the Niners to turn it over on downs, and then score another TD. Presto change, a 10-20 deficit was now a 31-20 lead for Kansas City. All in the space of about five or six minutes of game time. It was pretty amazing as you watched it unfold.
In case you missed it, my Grandstander prediction post on Saturday ended with these words:
"Oh, yeah, the Chiefs to win it in a high scoring affair. An MVP for Mahomes, and good Guy Andy Reid finally gets a win in the Big One."
I believe I had that!
Some other quick comments.....
Mahomes was not as sharp and spectacular as we have become used to seeing. He was off target early, and he did throw two interceptions, but then there were those final eight minutes. It reminded me of John Facenda's line about the Steelers in the Super Bowl IV highlight film. Allow me to paraphrase.....(imagine Facenda's Voice-of-God tones with NFL Films music playing in background) "Patrick Mahomes wasn't always great. He was only great when he had to be."
Commercials. To be honest, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention. I liked the "Pahk the Cah" commercial for some self-parking car. I didn't realize until I read in the paper this morning that Molly Ringwald was in the avocado commercial (need to look that one up). It seems that MC Hammer is going to finance his entire retirement by playing the washed-up, forgotten, 15-minutes-of-fame guy in Super Bowl commercials; nice work if you can get it.
After watching Shakira bumping-and-grinding and J-Lo pole dancing, I made the following comment on Facebook: "Next year the NFL should just hire fifty or so people from the porn film industry and let them have at it on the stage for the half-time show." Four seconds of Janet Jackson's exposed bosom seems so long ago...and so innocent!
The Chiefs not only won the game, but they easily covered the 1.5 point spread, which gave me a winning ticket. In football wager that I made at the Rivers Casino this football season, I finished with a record of 27-18, a winning percentage .600. If only those wagers were for $500 or $1,000 each, instead of my usual five or ten bucks (twenty on the Super Bowl!), I'd be leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning. It was a fun experience making these legalized wagers throughout the season. It certainly added to my interest in many of the games, even with my penny ante wagers. I'll look forward to doing it again come next season, although I am under no illusions that I will be able to duplicate such successes come 2020.
Despite the travails of the Steelers this year, I cannot recall enjoying a football season quite as much as I enjoyed this one. I will miss it now that it is over. True, the XFL opens up this coming weekend, and I suppose that I will give it a shot, but, C'MON, MAN, I have no high expectations for that.
I will end this post as I usually end my Super Bowl wrap-up posts.....Pirates pitchers and catchers report in nine days!!
