Super Bowl Summary



OK, so perhaps my forecast of a 172 point margin was a little optimistic, but all that anyone is going to remember 100 years from now is that the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers, 32-29 yesterday, and that CSTB correctly predicted the outcome (not necessarily in that order).



Aerosmith really could've used another 2 hours to soundcheck. It sounded like the worst CBGB board tape ever --- all vocals. Scary vocals, too.

Anyhow, it was a pretty schizophrenic game , defense struggles as advertised for quarters 1 and 3 and all but two minutes of quarter 2, totally explosive offensive production for both teams at the end of the both halves. The supposedly patchwork NE offensive line performed brilliantly ; no sacks whatsoever for Carolina as Tom Brady went untouched for the post-season.



Antowain Smith isn't gonna be mistaken for JIm Brown or Barry Sanders anytime soon, but he and FB colleague Kevin Faulk were just effective enough to get the job done and help Brady spread things out. The MVP QB was 10 for 13 on New England's final two drives and even after making what could've been a catastrophic error with Reggie Howard's 4th quarter interception, showed the sort of poise we normally associate with uh, Joe Montana, John Elway, you name it.

Way too many dopey penalties on both sides, at least two blown calls (bad placement on a 4th down try for the Pats in the 2nd quarter, a Christian Fauria TD catch that was nullified after he clearly had one foot inbounds), one of which was irrelevant. Regardless, this supplanted Super Bowl XXXVI as the best to date and I'm not just saying that because I neither lost money or suffered food poisoning.

Hard to decide which was the bigger goof, the Patriots' squib kickoff with under a minute left in the 1st half or Carolina's John Kasay kicking the ball out of bounds at the end of the 4th, giving New England excellent field position for their final drive. I guess we know which blunder was the more costly. The former was an intentional move, the latter a killer mistake. I'd sooner take a chance on He Hate Me running it back 90 yards than giving Jake Gyllenhaal enough time to run two or 3 plays.

And enough already about the halftime show controversy. So the whole thing is crass and overblown, that's a modern development? An intermission side dish of sex to go along the big entree of violence --- and through all the moaning and groaning from the predictable parties, said staged incident accomplishes its very goal ; getting people talking about an artist who is otherwise overshadowed by her brother's legal problems.

Way back in the stoneage, before corporate synergy brought Viacom, MTV and CBS together, the Tiffany network would show a Saturday night variety program called "Super Night At The Super Bowl". The first year, the opening musical act was Smoking Joe Frazier. Musically, this was much more interesting than Kid Rock, P. Diddy or Toby Keith, but I might be the only person on earth who would make this claim.

P. Diddy tearing off his coat to unveil a Panthers jersey should've make it pretty clear that this wasn't Carolina's day. How's that for a "wardrobe malfunction", even a casual endorsement from a guy whose sports acumen makes James Dolan look smart has to be considered the kiss of death.

Rob Dibble, that esteemed pop culture commentator, wondered aloud whether or not Justin Timberlake is a big enough name to be the surprise guest on a Super Bowl halftime show. Well, perhaps not, meathead, but who would you have prefered, Great White?

I've been searching all over the sports pages for any news about who won the Lingerie Bowl, but to no avail.

The other good news is that Robert Kraft's post-game speech did not this time, include a line about how "we're all Patriots".

In the Boston area, excited fans kept this historic event in perspective, as only one person was killed.

Posted: Mon - February 2, 2004 at 12:38 PM      

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