Monday, February 04, 2008

Giants Shock Pats: The Morning After

Three reads this morning:
Today's Sporting News column.
Last night's DS.com instant reaction.
My in-game Twitter experiment.

8 comments:

John said...

Sorry Shanoff...I know you and your wife are the world's greatest parents ever, but blaming Brady's play on his "less-than-admirable attitude toward his new son" is completely unwarranted. Keep the analysis to what you actually see on the field instead of assuming what goes on in someone's family life.

Unknown said...

Best Super Bowl ever? No.

Best non-Cincinnati/San Francisco super bowl ever?

I think you could give it that.

Dan Shanoff said...

What Cincy/SF lacked was two key ingredients this had: (1) The historic stakes of 19-0, and (2) The fact last night's game was an upset.

If the Pats win, this morning we're talking "19-0," but also, "Wow, that game was very interesting, but hardly a 'best-ever' contender."

Unknown said...

I can concede those two points, but for pure football action, the two CIN/SFs were my favorite.

Disclosure: Bears fan

Sean Doherty said...

How about "the rest of us" as a "loser" from this game for having to suffer through more of the 79 Dolphins for who knows how much longer?

Erik Huntoon said...

I don't think anyone has a problem with the 79 Dolphins...

I just have to say as a fan from Indianapolis. This is the best runner-up prize I could have ever hoped for when my Colts went down. To see the hated Pats march into the Superbowl and just hear the gloating from New England already starting.. I wonder if New Englanders are going to start having nightmares about facing Mannings in the playoffs from now on?

Larry said...

There's been something rubbing me the wrong way in some of your posts lately (and it's not just confined to NE, but the Super Bowl will serve as an example):

12/28 DS: "I appreciate that the Giants have to prepare for the playoffs, but does any fan really think that the Giants have a chance to win the NFC, let alone the Super Bowl? And even if they do win the NFC title, who cares? Like they wouldn't get mowed down in the Super Bowl?"

1/3: DS: "The air of inevitability surrounding the Patriots has turned Wild Card Weekend into Wild Dud Weekend. This ain't like a few years ago when the 6-seed Steelers went on a championship run via the Wild Card."

1/3 DS: In the NFC, "Things are even bleaker, with the playoff winner considered nothing more than a straw man, a tomato can that will be -- if fans are lucky -- anticlimax to a decent Pats-Colts AFC title game and the final step in a perfect 19-0 season for the Pats. Does it matter who that 19th win is against? No."

1/14 DS: "I'll dig into this more later this week, but given the expectation that the Pats can't be stopped, being AFC runner-up this season is about as big a prize as any team besides the Pats can or will claim."

1/18 DS: "NFC C.G. Preview: It's the Moral Victory Bowl. In this season defined by the sense of inevitability surrounding the Pats, winning the NFC is a prize in and of itself."

1/21 DS: "NFC C.G. Review: Tell you what: This game was a hell of a lot more intense and exciting than the AFC C.G. -- even though the winner of this game was playing for little more than the moral victory of an NFC title (and the right to get spanked in the Super Bowl)."

2/1 DS: "Quickie jinx is NOT in effect. That's how obvious it is that the Pats are going to win."

I could go on, but I doubt it's necessary. And it's not the wrong picks that rub me the wrong way; it's that by buying into the "air of inevitability", you have come across as something of a fuddyduddy of sports, as if the magical, the unlikely, the surprising COULDN'T happen. You have reminded me of my dad, who declares, "Game's over" anytime a baseball team falls behind by five runs.

But Dan--and this should be no minor point to someone who is as interested in defining "fandom" as you are--the magical/unlikely/surprising is precisely what makes sports compelling. There is never, EVER, a "sure-thing" in sports.

JW Stringer said...

It being the best Super Bowl ever can be debated, but apparently it being the worst day for sports books in Las Vegas in the history of the Super Bowl is a FACT.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-betting4feb04,1,4221125.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

"The big underdog payoff for the Giants money-line backers meant a huge loss for Vegas," R.J. Bell of Pregame.com said.

"Some reports had over 90% of the money-line bets backing the Giants."