Super Bowl Diary

5:24pm

We’re coming to you live from Gaddis’ Apartment in lovely Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The weather is overcast, a little pea-soupy, but my view is excellent, because our good friend Nicole is sitting in my peripheral. Anyway, we are joined by our buddies, Janke, Andy, and Brent, and we will be enjoying a variety of beers; Goose Island, Miller Lite, Bud Light, Full Tilt IPA, and an assortment of chips, dips, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, and Italian Sausages.

Why is Michael Douglas out on the field?

5:26pm

First joke of the night as former Presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton come onto the field, Gaddis states, “What is this, a SNL skit?”

5:28pm

Star Spangled Banner. The room is silent except for my inconsiderate typing. What? I’m not there. Quote overheard from Janke as T.O. makes a screen appearance, “I hope he gets hurt on his first play.” It kind of tainted the National Anthem, but no one seemed to care.

5:35pm

The coin flip was great. However, how would you feel if you were the kid in the number 24 jersey? Isn’t this going to be the biggest moment of his life? It’s all downhill for him from here. Unless he eventually plays in the Super Bowl, he will never top that moment.

5:38pm

Last year I couldn’t stop saying how much I hated Phil Simms and Greg Gumbel; this year, I hate Pan Oliver. She doesn’t bring anything to the game.

Kickoff to Philly; out to the 38, the first series needs to be good for the Eagles. Well, T.O. started; I guess we don’t need to watch the game now, since that’s what was talked about.

5:40pm
14:41 1st quarter

T.O. is thrown to and catches it, awesome. Third down now, though. Ooh, Philly caught a break. Great challenge by Reid, leads to a punt instead of great field position for the Patriots.


5:48pm
11:39 1st quarter

Two series; two punts. This Super Bowl is strangely similar to Super 38 of last season.

5:52pm

We see footage of Belichick going to the wrong bench after leading his team out of the tunnel. Bad omen; we’ll see.

5:58pm
7:38 1st quarter

3 and out for both the Eagles and the Patriots. I swear to God if someone doesn’t have at least a little bit of a drive soon, I may fall asleep.

6:10pm
3:14 1st quarter

The fourth penalty against the Patriots may become the most costly as not only did it negate an interception; but the Eagles also got a first down.

6:13pm
3:06 1st quarter

Well, horrible pass by McNabb and an interception that stands for New England (by the way; it is the first red zone interception thrown by McNabb all season). At least we had a sustained drive, so I may be awake for the entire first quarter.

6:16pm
2:11 1st quarter

Huge stand by the Patriots; Eagles should get excellent field position. Brent is hoping the Patriots defense can hold for the final 1:35 so he can win $5 in our pool.

6:20pm
:42 1st quarter

Patriots come up with their second turnover of the game. If the offense doesn’t start doing something soon, Rodney Harrison may start destroying players on his own team. Gaddis believes a big play is coming for New England. So far, Dillon has not had much of an impact on the game.

6:22pm
End of 1st quarter

Thank God, only the 6th scoreless first quarter in Super Bowl History! I’ll give the first quarter to the Patriots though, based on the way their defense has created turnovers.

6:33pm
9:55 2nd quarter

Touchdown by the Eagles puts them up 7-0. A good looking drive, but what was even better was the comment made just before the touchdown. Gaddis stated, “Hey, is Rae Carruth in the remake of The Longest Yard as one of the prisoners?”

6:42pm
7:12 2nd quarter

A huge challenge coming here for the Eagles. The knee looked down, but we’ll see if the refs overturn the call. If Philly gets the ball back, look out. I stated just before the “fumble” that the Eagles touchdown seems to have woken the Patriots up, as this is there best drive by far. If the Eagles can stop them (if this play isn’t overturned), it will be a huge lift for the team, and may be the turning point in the game. We’ll have to watch and see what happens.

6:48pm
5:29 2nd quarter

There’s something that the Patriots don’t do very often, especially in big games, a turnover inside their opponent’s 10 yard line. Now, it’s New England that needs a big defensive stand, like 3 and out to get good field position for one last first half drive. If Philly gets another score here before halftime, game over.

6:50pm
4:35 2nd quarter

There it is, 3 and out. Anything but a touchdown for New England will be a small victory for Philadelphia.

7:00pm
1:10 2nd quarter

Touchdown catch by Givens and the Patriots are right back in this game, tying it at 7. I don’t see the Eagles scoring before halftime, and with the Patriots getting the ball to start the second half, New England may be ready to show why they have won 2 out of the past 3 Super Bowls. Warning to all Philly fans; this is why the Patriots are a dynasty.

7:10pm
Halftime

As good as Philly has looked in this game; I still have to give the first half to the Patriots. They didn’t play all that well and still came out tied and get the ball to start the second half. The Pats need to score on the first possession to keep pressure on the Eagles. Let’s see how they play coming from behind in the biggest game of their careers. The Eagles should look to just keep doing what they have been doing all game. Look for Todd Pinkston and Philly to keep attacking the middle of the field. If not for the turnovers, this game could be in hand for Philly. If they keep driving on New England, and stop turning it over; we will have a new champion. Not looking forward to the halftime show at all; so don’t expect to hear from me for a while.

Don Mischer put on a great halftime show. Amazing thing though, is that all of the music came from a Pepsi cap.

7:41pm
Start of the second half hey; let’s see if anything I said in my halftime analysis comes true.

7:47pm
11:04 3rd quarter

Uh-oh. Mike Vrabel catches a touchdown pass for the second straight Super Bowl and the Patriots picked up two huge 1st downs on 3rd and over 8 during that drive to score the go ahead touchdown; 14-7. That drive was exactly why I picked the Patriots to win the game in the first place. The Eagles need a score here. Not just a good drive, not a field goal, a touchdown.

7:56pm
9:03 3rd quarter

This game is really close to getting out of hand for the Eagles. They looked terrible in their first series of the half. The penalty on the kick return helps a little bit, but New England could just march farther and take more time off of the clock now. It just seems to me like New England is about to completely take over this game.

8:01pm
8:00 3rd quarter

Well, I may be wrong as the Patriots go 3 and out. An interesting call to throw the ball 30 yards down field on third down; so the defense will need to come up big again.

8:10pm
3:35 3rd quarter

Tie game after a superb drive by the Eagles. A great pass to make it 14-14. As bad as they looked in their first drive of the half; they looked that good in this drive. The Patriots went the other way with their first two drives of the half. This is an interesting game; how it has worked like that. Interesting, but a pretty boring game so far, hopefully it picks up in the fourth quarter like last year’s game. On a brighter note, the Eagles are now covering my bet and I am also in position to win the $5 here for the quarter if there are no more scores.

8:20pm
End of 3rd quarter

The best thing about the last 10 minutes was the fact I won $5 in our pool. Also, does anyone else feel an Adam Vinatieri 42 yard field goal winning this, or am I alone?

8:24pm
13:44 4th quarter

All I am going to say about this score is that Dillon has finally scored a Super Bowl touchdown. 21-14 Patriots, and if the Eagles don’t score on this drive, or at least pin the Eagles deep in their own territory, I have no problem saying the game is over.

8:31pm
12:29 4th quarter

So, this isn’t looking good for the Eagles. The Patriots are about 47 yards away from really putting this one away.

8:40pm
9:14 4th quarter

It was kind of obvious with the pass call on second down that the Patriots were trying to wrap up Brady’s 3rd MVP. Because of this, they come away with only 3 points to take a 24-14 lead. And, if this score holds up, I will win another $10 in our pool, but lose on my Eagles +6 ½ bet.

8:45pm
7:20 4th quarter

Devastating pick thrown by Donovan McNabb; it’s OVER, welcome to the Patriots dynasty.

8:58pm
2:15 4th quarter

Even though this game is kind of within reach for the Eagles, it doesn’t really seem like they believe they can win. People are just walking around with no sense of urgency out on the field. They are down by 10 points in the SUPER BOWL!!! What are they waiting for?!?!? This is making me very angry.

To pass the time during this boring game, we tried to answer the following questions:

Who were the five members of Michigan’s “Fab Five” and what were their numbers?

Name the four Major League Baseball players who started and ended their careers in the same city, but with two different teams.

(Answers are at the bottom of the column)
9:04pm
1:48 4th quarter

Well, a good throw, great catch and suddenly it’s 24-21. We’ll see an onside kick which matters for the first time I can remember. I know the Steelers succeeded with an onside kick in Super Bowl 30 against the Cowboys, but it was earlier in the game, and didn’t really have an impact on the outcome. A Patriots recovery and a first down sews it up.

9:06pm
1:47 4th quarter

Patriots recover and now need a first down to wrap up this game.

9:09pm
1:39 4th quarter

Final time out for the Eagles, 3rd & 5 for the Patriots, the Super Bowl basically hangs in the balance, one play, and I’m not even that excited. What is wrong with me? Well, it’s fourth down after a great stand by the Eagles’ defense. A punt here, trying to pin the Eagles deep and resting his Super Bowl hopes on his big play defense. By the way, I’m still not excited, no one in the room is really excited. This is kind of sad.

9:12pm
:46 4th quarter

The two greatest drives in post season history were 92 and 98 yards, and involved Jerry Rice and Joe Montana and John Elway, respectively. The Eagles have to go 96 yards and now the clock is still running. No chance. Congratulations to the Patriots.

Game Over

It’s official; 24-21 Patriots and Deion Branch is the MVP with 11 catches for 133 yards. The team of the decade is pretty much set and we’re only half way through it. A few final thoughts; I can’t wait to see how Super Bowl week in Detroit plays out next year after all of the things we heard about this year in Jacksonville, is there any reason why we shouldn’t expect the Patriots to be back in the Super Bowl next year, I complained about the halftime show but it turned out pretty good and the Hey Jude thing was pretty nice, finally, how many people were actually excited at any point in that game?


Here are the answers to the questions:
Jimmy King- 24
Jalen Rose- 5
Chris Weber- 4
Juwan Howard- 25
Ray Jackson- 21

Babe Ruth- Boston Red Sox and Braves
Willy Mays- New York Giants and Mets
Henry (Hank) Aaron- Milwaukee Braves and Brewers
Ron Santo- Chicago Cubs and White Sox

-Until next time…