I guess it's no secret that I've been known to wager on a Sporting Event or two. I've won and lost, but I can't even imagine second guessing myself to the tune of $400,000. Via The 700 Level...

I love how Charles Barkley came out last year saying he bet too much at Casinos and on Sports, and said he was going to slow down. $400K? "That's terribull."

Charles Barkley drops "about $400,000" on the Super Bowl (The 700 Level)

When I first posted the David Tyree catch and proclaimed how terrible Joe Buck's call was, I asked you to imagine Gus Johnson (or anyone for that matter with emotion) calling that same play. Well thanks to LBMS I was able to take Marv Albert's radio call of the play and add it in with the video.

Let's watch that play again....

I'm not even going to post the Joe Buck call again because it will just make me mad, but here's Bill Simmons' take on the call....

If you're a play-by-play announcer and you can't get excited for a play like that, then why are you doing this for a living? Only Pat Summerall could get away with deadpan calls for miracle plays, and I have to say, even Pat's voice might have cracked on that one. Over everything else, a play-by-play guy should be able to match the excitement of a particular game, right? How could Buck feel good about himself after that call? Imagine him doing the last seconds of the USA-USSR hockey game in 1980? "And the clock winds down ... and the Americans have done it."

Yep, that about sums it up.

Did Marv out-perform Buck on 'The Snatch'? YESSSS! (Lord, Beer Me Strength)
Greatest. Super Bowl Catch. Ever. (Awful Announcing)

We all had a great time arguing whether David Tyree's third down grab was the Greatest Super Bowl history. This is obviously as subjective as it gets buy my vote was a resounding yes and a few of you disagreed. Well Steve Sabol of NFL Films has come out with his opinion and from someone who has watching every Super Bowl about 8,000 times, I think he's a good a judge as any....

I was sitting around with some people after Super Bowl XLII, talking about the dramatic finish and, in particular, the winning drive. We still were marveling over the catch David Tyree made, leaping high in the air and wrestling the ball away from New England's Rodney Harrison, to keep the drive alive.

Someone said it might go down as the greatest catch in Super Bowl history, better than Max McGee's one-handed stab in Super Bowl I, better than Butch Johnson's tumbling touchdown grab for Dallas in Super Bowl XII, better even than Lynn Swann's balletic leap for Pittsburgh in Super Bowl X.

I took it a step further. I said I thought it was the greatest PLAY in Super Bowl history.

That's right everyone. Better than Vinatieri, better than Riggins' run, better than the Mike Jones tackle, and better than Elway's helicopter run. After thinking them all through I'm inclined to agree. Thinking back to how I reacted to all of those plays (minus the Riggins play) I've never going that crazy for a play in the Super Bowl ever. Not even for any play during the two Redskins Super Bowl wins I watched as a kid.

So that's my two cents. I hope some of you that are a little older can share some other highlights that us youngins may not understand the gravity of, but my vote's for Tyree.

Tyree's catch goes down as best play in Super Bowl history (NFL.com)

Tiki Barber was oddly quiet the past week. He had that awkward interview with Eli Manning in the tunnel following the game and then nothing. Well now he's coming out and saying that he's happy for them and that he knows he "helped a lot of guys on that team". Seriously....

“I feel great joy for them because I know in a lot of ways I helped a lot of guys on that team,” Barber said. “I know Brandon was someone who benefited from me being there; even criticizing someone is a way of getting them to think about themselves.”

Are you serious?!? Come on Tiki....even someone with the biggest ego couldn't possibly begin to believe that crap. I can understand being happy for the guys, but saying you helped is beyond ridiculous.

So there you have it folks. It was his plan all along. It wasn't to try and make a splash in the media and to make a name for himself. No it was to motivate his former teammates. You are a special one Tiki...I can't wait until next year.

For Barber and Giants, a Parting, Then an Embrace (NY Times)

So what Eli Manning was on Letterman and Michael Strahan was on Conan....David Tyree is the real winner in the Talk Show rounds. One of the unlikely heros of Super Bowl XLII gets to follow his appearance on First Take the other day with a trip to Ellen!

SUPER BOWL CHAMPION DAVID TYREE OF THE NEW YORK GIANTS WILL MAKE AN APPEARANCE ON THE ELLEN DEGENRES SHOW FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8th

New York Giant, David Tyree will make an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (check your local listings) on Friday, February 8th. David’s spectacular catch (utilizing his helmet to stabilize the ball while he was being tackled) helped lead the New York Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII on Sunday night. David Tyree was a wide receiver who had not caught touchdown pass all season until there were 11 minutes left to play in the Super Bowl.

Take that Eli and Michael! David gets to dance with Ellen!!!

(Source: The Ellen Show)

I have no reason for posting this video other than that this was a pretty fun interview and I thought I'd share.

Good times.

If you are in the market for a away white New England Patriots jersey worn once by a writer for ESPN, then do I have the auction for you. Bill Simmons apparently forgot his lucky Wes Welker jersey and had to purchase a Randy Moss one and you know how the game turned out.

Obviously Bill is heart-broken and has put this jersey spawned by Satan for auction on Ebay....

My name is Bill Simmons and I write the "Sports Guy" column for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. As I described in my post-Super Bowl column, I forgot to bring my lucky Wes Welker jersey to Arizona for the Pats-Giants game, so I ended up spending $85 on a white replica XL Randy Moss No. 81 jersey at one of the merchandise stands inside the stadium to represent my beloved Pats because so many fans were wearing jerseys at the game. Why Moss? Because it was the last Pats jersey they had available.

You know the rest: The Giants ended up pulling off one of the great upsets in sports history, and as I wrote in that post-game column, "You can currently find that jersey sitting at the bottom of the garbage can in my hotel room. I might take it home and burn it. I haven't decided yet."

After we posted the column, a number of readers e-mailed asking if they could have the jersey instead of me burning it or throwing it away. That's when I decided that there was a way this Moss jersey - this evil, unlucky, possibly-possessed- by-the-devil jersey that I never want to see again -- could actually do some good. I'm putting it up for auction, and instead of the money going to me, I'm going to have the winner of the auction donate the winning bid to The Jimmy Fund. I will pay for shipping and handling of the jersey. If you win the bid, we'll connect by e-mail, and then, you'll donate that money to the Jimmy Fund online and forward me a receipt of that donation. Once I see the receipt, I will send the jersey along.

Well at least he's doing it for charity so that's good. I put my bid of $6.78 but the thin is magically already at $350 (and it has 9 days left!). Oh and if you win the auction you also get a signed copy of the book he wrote as well. Unless Bill is going to show up at my house to do chores and/or the jersey has visible tears on it....I'm going to pass.

Bill Simmons' Randy Moss Jersey (Ebay)

Before the Super Bowl you would have thought it was going to be a war of words between the Patriots and the 1972 Dolphins but that's not the case after the Giants shocked the world. Instead it's the 1968 Jets that are taking umbrage with the Giants win being considered the biggest upset ever in a Super Bowl.

"People said that there would be no contest between us and the Baltimore Colts back then," former Jets defensive back and kick returner Earl Christy said from his home in Tampa. "In the case of the Patriots and the Giants ... they played at the end of the regular season and people could see that the Giants played them tough and only lost by three points.

"But the way the Baltimore Colts were so dominant over almost every team in 1968 ... and we had never played them ... people thought they were going to kill us.

"I still think our win was a bigger upset than what the Giants did Sunday. We still hold that edge."

I don't really think it's a comparison, but it's an interesting discussion. The Jets really shocked the world, and they should still be proud, but why does everyone feel the need to speak up when a debate is raised.

Upset talk rankles former Jet Christy (Chicago Sports)

I watched the better part of the late edition of Sports Center, and between Sean Salisbury spitting on people (he nailed Emmitt at one point), and hearing the phrase "punch them in the face/mouth" about 100 times....I was done for the evening.

But not before pulling all of the Emmitt clips and turning them into one great video that describes this Giants upset better than anything out there. Enjoy!

I/We have a lot of fun with Emmitt, but like I've said before...I don't think he's all that bad. He starts along this path of making a perfect point and one word or phrase just trips him up. I know what he wants to say and I'm almost rooting for him to get it right.

He's just not live TV material at the moment and this collection of clips illustrates that pretty well. I'm not sure he'll be back or not, but let's hope he doesn't get "debacled" in the offseason and that we can "tilt our caps" to him again for years to come.

Thanks for a great NFL Season Emmitt!

(Firefox isn't playing videos for me for some reason. It works in IE if you want to watch.)

I know many of you think that I don't have a nice thing to say about Joe Buck, and you're right. Just kidding. I think that our good friend Joseph did an admirable job last night and I was shocked at FOX's overall production of Super Bowl XLII.

Sure it was a close game and that had a lot to do with the record numbers of people that watched, but since I was probably the only person who watched from 2pm until close I wanted to break the whole thing down as in years (or year) past.
_______________________

Pregame: I was actually dreading the "red carpet" stuff before the game more than Joe Buck's call during the game. I couldn't think of any possible way they could pull this off, and they really didn't. Instead they pulled an Eli Manning (or Rex Grossman last year), but managing the game and almost making it tolerable.

Ryan Seacrest's interviews never went longer than they should, Terry and the gang were pretty funny throughout, and they didn't focus every piece on the New England Patriots. Sure the guests were terrible (outside of Marissa Miller), the promos were ridiculous, and Paula Abdul was dreadful, but everything else was mildly entertaining. For someone like David Hill, who gave us all of the band shots during Bowl Season, to make something NOT completely annoying was a major coup.

Grade: C+

During The Game: If you had told me before the game that I would have actually enjoyed Joe Buck and wouldn't be able to stand Troy Aikman I would have called you crazy. In the end though that's exactly how it played out. I poked fun at Buck briefly when I posted the Tyree catch and I think that led people to believe I didn't enjoy him. It was the exact opposite. I couldn't believe he was really calling such a great game given the boring nature of the first three quarters and with Troy Aikman stumbling all over him. His one un-energetic call didn't diminish from a great game.

This isn't the first Super Bowl for Aikman so I really don't know what went wrong. I think the ex-QB was just nervous for some reason. He mixed up names, lost the English language at times and for the most part just didn't make much sense. This was highlighted by his explanation of the "Giants wanting to hold the Pats at Half" explanation and his "Eli threwed it in there" quote.

It wasn't the worst job an analyst has done, but I expected more. If he was on par with how he normally is in the booth that might have been one of the best called Super Bowls in quite some time. Actually it probably still was.

Grade: B-

Postgame: I think they went out the same way they went in. Terry Bradshaw was great talking to everyone after the game and the interview by Chris Meyers with Bill Belichick was priceless (via Sports Wrap)...

Grade: B

Overall: Great game and great broadcast. I don't think I could ever give a Pregame Show higher than a "C" when it has Nick Lachey featured, but I was surprised it didn't even come close to an "F". Great broadcast FOX, and great job Joseph. I'm proud of you....now let's see if you can keep it up during Baseball season.

Overall Grade: B+

Top 10 Quotes:

10. "If he'd had to held the ball any longer than he did there."- Troy Aikman

9. "Maroney set it up with a 43 yard kick return.......What set it up, the pass interference on Pierce. Patriots lead by four."- Joe Buck

8. "I've had enough of it. I want to give these New England Patriots that trophy tonight to shut that bunch up down in Miami up."- Terry Bradshaw

7. "Mark this down in your diary."- Joe Buck on the Giants' twelve men on the field penalty (he actually made me laugh with this one)

6. "He throwed it up there."- Troy Aikman

5. "We may not be the best announcers out there but our truck does that stuff the best."- Joe Buck

4. "Pretend you're going after Tom Brady's girlfriend back there. Whatever helps."- Jimmy Johnson

3. "When looking at that piece of tape one thing is apparent. Just how butt ugly I am."- Terry Bradshaw

2. "Another Malibu's Most Wanted."- Howie Long when describing the pregame rapper

1. "Hey Seacrest, the only time I thought I'd see you at a Super Bowl man would be as a cheerleader."- Terry Bradshaw

It's a shame that I never bought one of those 19-0 shirts ahead of time and the site is down today, but this could be better. You can buy your very own throw blanket for the Super Bowl XLII Champion Giants only there's one problem....
I'm pretty sure that score is wrong right? I mean without checking I think Home Shopping Network gave the Giants a few extra points there. Oh well what's 4 points here and there, and it's only $29.95!!!

Giants Super Bowl XLII Champs Tapestry Throw by Northwest (HSN)

I guess people stuck around for the whole thing last night because the early reports are that Super Bowl XLII has surpassed the 1996 Super Bowl with 94.1 million viewers.

Very preliminary findings from 49 of the nation's biggest markets showed that ratings for the New York Giants' thrilling Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots were up 9 percent over last year's big game, according to Nielsen Media Research on Monday.

Experts say those numbers indicate the game has a strong shot at being the most-watched Super Bowl of all time, and the second most-watched broadcast ever.

The game had a 43.3 rating and 63 share, Nielsen said. That's up from the 42.7 rating and 62 share in metered markets last year. Nielsen did not immediately have an estimate of how many people watched the game.

The most watched program of all time is the MASH finale with 106 million people, and while Super Bowl XLII might not beat that mark it might come pretty close. It's amazing what a close game does for ratings.

Super Bowl May Be Most-Watched Ever (Brietbart)

I really hoped for a way that both of these two individuals could have been stopped, but I guess in the end it just wasn't meant to be. First up is Bill Belichick, and while I understand competition I think the only true members of that Patriots team were the ones who stayed on the field at the end of that game. Tedy Bruschi, you have the utmost respect from me sir.....

At least Randy Moss thought about it for a second before he ran off. So classless. I know it's one second but there's no other coach that would pull that.

Second up, Mercury Morris. He tries to sound classy but ruins it in the end. I'm happy that the Dolphins still have the undefeated season moniker, but it's not because of him.



Thanks for letting America celebrate Mercury. You ass.

Eli Manning may be unstoppable but David Tyree is a magician!

I love the hurt in Joe Buck's voice as he says this one is caught. Imagine Gus Johnson on that call for a second.

Eli to Plax....

Unbelievable. (Videos to follow shortly)

Everything this guy does cracks me up....

Hugh Laurie AND Alycia Keys! This must be a pregame show for the Super Bowl!!! Good afternoon everyone. Hopefully you skipped Sunday Countdown because it was pretty uneventful at best. Not bad...not good. Hopefully Seacrest and the crew will give us some gems during FOX's coverage.

I'll be in and out of this spot until about 5pm and then I'll be jumping over to The Sporting Blog for the rest of the night. Break out your drinks and someone come up with a drinking game stat.
___________________________

Pam Oliver informs us that the Giants watched a 2 minute 30 second movie of their playoff highlights set to "I hope you had the time of your life" by Green Day. That's nice.

"You know she was talking about the music of Green Days, it's like being Kasey Kasem here."- Curt Menafee

Pretty sure that's not supposed to be plural Curt.

"It takes two of you guys to wand me?"- Ryan Seacrest

Eww. I already can't stand this crap. Jimmy Johnson with a nice Writer's Strike joke. What is this two months ago?

"Pretend you're going after Tom Brady's girlfriend back there. Whatever helps."- Jimmy Johnson

Yep....this guy just said that....



"I've had enough of it. I want to give these New England Patriots that trophy tonight to shut that bunch up down in Miami up."- Terry Bradshaw

Whoa TB....settle my friend. And a Brady Quinn commercial on voting....yes!!!

"Hey Seacrest, the only time I thought I'd see you at a Super Bowl man would be as a cheerleader."- Terry Bradshaw

Ouch...Terry is feisty today. Our first red carpet guests are Alycia Keys and Jordin Sparks. I think they're singers.

Ooooh Joe Buck with a nice chip shot in the FBR Open Pro-Am. Ryan Seacrest interviewing Roger Goddell was pretty dreadful...."Thanks man! Have a good one."- RS

It's actually refreshing that FOX is doing spots on the Giants unlike another pregame show earlier today that only focused on the Patriots.

Good job people! You got annoyed by Chris Meyers for countless hours and you powered a 30 second commercial for Amp energy drink. You should be proud. Oh and Air Bud is on in the loacl DC area if Ryan Seacrest isn't exciting enough.

Oooh...Larry Fishburne. Now that's a star.....and Giants VP Steve Tisch. They're pulling out all the big guns early.

"Cowboys aren't easy to looooove and theeeeeey're harder to holllllllllllllld."

Best. Pregame. Ever. Isn't Sara Evans the chick who's ex-husband was watching porn in front of their kids? Or is that another ample breasted country singer???

Jillian Barberie, er Reynolds is on the carpet now...can she even be considered a guest and/or star? Now House is definitely a star! Oooh Jim from The Office....now we're talking!!!

"Signing Randy Moss this past season had the NFL scratching their heads."- Howie Long

Ummm, he wasn't signed Howie....he was traded for.

"Another Malibu's Most Wanted."- Howie Long

And then you say something like that after a crappy rapper does a cheesy spot....AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOUSELF!

Add Kevin Everett, Cal Ripken, and Marissa Miller to the red carpet list. DO IT PAULA! Dance like there's no tomorrow!!!

And Randy Jackson on Bass! Nice!!! Play some Journey next. Rock it Paul Brogan....

Add Nick Lachey and Jimmy Johnson to the "stars" list.....and Sam Jackson.

Okay everyone I'm heading over to the Sporting Blog. Same rules apply over there, so sign up for a commenter account and get your name in lights.

Super Bowl Broadcast: Pregame (Sporting News)

So we have a 3 Hour edition of Countdown and Emmitt to start our day off today and I couldn't think of a better way to start a Super Bowl Sunday. I'll be in and out of this place for the better part of the show and if you hear anything fishy be sure to leave it in the comments (I don't think TSH has ever made a more appropriate photo).

Oooh Tom Osborne gets some face time on the intro for this perfection thing. Don Shula seems particularly excited to be doing this.

Haha...Chris Berman just coughed something up on the intro that'll be up shortly.

"If they go 19-0, this team will be in an elite class by itself for this season and this season only."- Emmitt Smith

I think I know what you were trying to say there Emmitt, but you didn't say it quite right. We know they were elite of the NFL this season.

Someone needs to tell Berman that the Patriots lost two preseason games. He said they were undefeated in the presason, regular season and now playoffs. (Via Steve)

Great point Steve. I've heard multiple people say this over the past week. Also his tie is just amazing...I can't stop staring at it. Whoa is Arlen Specter's head really that big, or his body that small? That's scary.

Nice Emmitt! He got through a whole minute of commentary about Spygate without messing up. Great job. Ron Jaworski just said he was okay with the Patriots video tapping and that he was involved in sign stealing himself. Steve Young did not look happy. Here's the vid....

Go Rodrigo y Gabriela! Whoa....they are pretty badass.

Guitar players??? Bring on Bonerama!! (Via Mal)

Here's your Berman vid....too funny....



"If you're the Giants you have to prepare for a 100% Tom Brady"- Tom Jackson

Umm...okay. Great insight Tom. Whoa Mike Ditka is yelling at people now....and Keyshawn talks to little birdies. Why did they have to do that on the mini field?

"Here we go....don't be afraid to come over here now."- Chris Berman to the camera when it didn't immediately come to him when he was talking.

Uh oh....he's going to go ballistic during the break.

Wow....Belichick has one hell of a herp outbreak going on during this Navy sketch.

Bill Belichick's cold sore in HD = the Cloverfield Monster. (Via Mez)

If you're bored with ESPN you can head over to FOX for the Alec Baldwin hour. He's on the Packers for some reason now and I keep waiting for him to say, "You ask me if Brett Favre has a god complex. Let me tell you something....Brett Favre is God."

"Junior Seau to perhaps on Special Team get a Touchdown if the situation dictates itself."- Chris Berman

WTF is he talking about?!?! Like a fumble recovery for a score? I'm also pretty sure that Seau doesn't play on Special Teams.

Just wanted to put up a quick post that the collective unit over at the Sporting News will be covering the game in full force tomorrow. While I'm not entirely sure of the format, I will probably be floating back and forth from here to there for the better part of the evening. I'll be kicking things off tomorrow with Countdown at 11am, and if you're watching the big game from the comfort of your home alone or the only loser at the party with a laptop (like myself).....join me won't you?

I have the FOX schedule up over at TSB (below) and be sure to check out what Will learned in Glendale and Chris stalking various people throughout the weekend (I'm almost glad I stayed home). Good times.

All You Need To Know: FOX's Super Bowl Coverage (Sporting News)

I don't have anything to post for the day yet (I mean I'm watching Rider play Siena for some reason), so I thought I'd just share this photo of Evil Peyton. Maybe someone can explain why he decided to show up his brother with this facial hair....