Shocking the World

Super Tuesday folks and what did I do? I watched the TV coverage of the New York football Giants ride floats down the Canyon of Heroes. This is coming from a former political junkie, but these last couple of campaigns have really turned me off of politics. It’s not that the bad guys won (or I should say the worst guys beat the bad guys, cause they’re all full of shit far as I’m concerned), it just feels like the presidential campaign has turned into something Paddy Cheyevsky might have created. At least it would be fun.

Worse, I hadn’t even decided who to vote for when I discovered today that my registration got screwed up and my polling station location was 30 Pico Blvd. In Santa Monica. As in 500 miles away from where I live now.

The problem has been corrected but not in time for me to vote in the primaries. I’d be okay with either Obama and Clinton. Shoot, I kind of liked Edwards too. Which is to say after eight years of George W. Bush, I’ve really lowered my expectations. As I write this, it looks like Clinton is slightly ahead in the 10-state primary race, having been declared winner in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee and is holding on by a percentage point in the Show Me State, while Obama looks to have taken Georgia, his home state of Illinois and has a pretty good lead in Colorado with 63 percent of the vote counted. Still out is Arizona (59 percent votes counted as of this posting) and California (14 percent) with Clinton ahead by double-digits in both so far.

But the two of you who dropped in to read this, can surely find a better place on the web to check in on political pontification. For right now, I’ll stick with something I know. Seriously, the world would be a better place if it were more like sports. How about a presidential election where intelligence and ability counted for more than how much money you spent? Where we could see candidates perform under pressure and witness the depth (or lack thereof) of their character? I’m just saying...or should I say dreaming?

Back to my New York Giants. Who I picked to win the Super Bowl. Shyonelung is proud of herself, I tell you.

I admit to still being as stunned as Michael Strahan, who told the crowd at the Giants victory parade this morning that he’s been floating in a haze since his team shocked the world by busting up the previous undefeated New England Patriots and winning the Super Bowl 17-14.

To be honest, the fact that they won didn’t even set in for me until I watched the last six minutes of the game again late last night. Even watching it knowing how it all turned out, I was still nervous. It’s like us Mets fans watching a reply of Ron Swoboda making that sensational catch in the ’69 World Series. You can watch him lope (and he was loping) across the outfield grass 1000 times and still be sure he’ll never get to that ball. And yet he does.

It’s the same feeling I had watching the Third-and-Five Miracle when Eli somehow some way manages to get out of the grasp of the Patriots’ rush to unload a 32-yard pass to David Tyree who somehow, some way manages to hold onto the ball with his hands, his helmet, whatever.

It’s not just that play. There’s dozens of moments in the last four minutes of the game where the Giants could have easily lost. Dozens of moments that in this season of dominance, have more often than not come down in favor of the Patriots.

Not this day. This day belonged to the Giants and the football world is still trying to figure out what the hell happened.

Damned if I know.

I do think the weight of expectations may have finally caught up to the Patriots. Andyet even as I say that I give them credit for playing so hard even when it was pretty clear they couldn’t match the intensity or physicalness of the Giants. I mean people say this game exposed Tom Brady. Yeah, it exposed how good he is. The guy spent half his time looking over his shoulder or up from the turf. His running game was non-existent and his vaunted front line was getting whupped on but good. Still, Pretty Boy took hit after hit after hit and he got up after each one and he led his team to what would have been the game-winning TD if 1000 things that could’ve have gone wrong, didn’t go right for New York.

Seriously, all props to the Patriots. An upset win isn’t worth shit if the other team isn’t a worthy opponent. Who needs to gloat on the Patriots when the magnitude of the accomplishment itself is enough. I hope my fellow Giants fans will remember that. Win with grace.

Losing with grace, however, doesn’t seem to be the forte of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. You can count me as a fan of this surly, miserable, freakishly focused genius of a football coach. To be dominant in the NFL in this Era of Parity is an accomplishment that puts Belichick at or near the top of any list of all-time great football coaches. He has molded a dominating franchise by being smarter and working harder than everybody else. Until Spygate is proven to have given them a real advantage, I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to Belichick’s genius.

His bush league performance at the end of the Super Bowl Sunday when he ran off the field when there was still one second on the clock, and kept on running off like a petulant teenager and then afterward in the post-game press conference, dealt a serious blow to my high opinion of him.

It’s a tradition to get a few quiet words from the losing coach after the Big Game. They usually say something like “we played hard, all props to the other guys etc.” The point being it smarts like hell to lose and I’m bummed but I tip my hat to the winners. I remember watching head coach Lovie Smith last year, for example, after his Bears lost to Indy and the other Manning. One hundred percent class.

Belichick didn’t have any of that. “Disappointed,” was but one of the barrage of single-word sentences the Hoodie uttered through gritted teeth as if he were spitting up like the E-Trade baby. His congratulations to the Giants was so flat, so unbelievably disingenuous -- spoken like a man in the throws of post-traumatic stress disorder. Count magnanimous as not a word in Belichick’s dictionary.

It’s not that I expect him to be all smiles but he should have taken a cue from one of his players, linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who made it a point to personally search out Giants coach Tom Coughlin and offer his sincere congratulations.

A true example of the best in sports, just like the game itself, which apparently was just too damned difficult for Belichick to stomach. What a serious bummer. Really, when the loser acts like, well, a fucking loser, it really diminishes the whole affair. And that’s not just wrong, it makes me wonder if maybe old Bill needs to take some time off and get a life.

Giant Upset?

It’s really hard to find someone who is picking the Giants to win the Super Bowl on Sunday. Oh, sure if you surf on over to the website of the New York Mets (and who would except me, the world's nuttiest Mets fan), there’s a video featuring the Mets players’ predictions. Not one of them picked the undefeated juggernaut that is the New England Patriots. Not a one. Those boys are smart enough to know not to pick against the hometown team. Even the King himself isn’t immune to that sort of backlash.

Before I make a fool out of myself by trying to predict the outcome of tomorrow's Super Bowl XLII (that's 42 for those of you who do not speak Roman Numeral), let me give a shout out to cool cat who I only know by his moniker Oliver 62 at Flickr.com and his fabulous photography. Oliver lent me the use of the photo on this page. Please check out his other great photos by clicking on the image above or going here.

Okay, now for my bold prediction, as in boldly going where no sane sports prognosticator would dare go. But hey, I'm a nut, remember?

Really, how can you not pick the Patriots? No team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins has run the table in the regular season and few have been as dominant in the NFL's current Era of Parity as New England, winners of three Super Bowls this decade. They have one of the most dominant receivers in Randy Moss and another receiver, Wes Welker, who may be the best offensive player nobody’s heard of. A strong running game, a small but disciplined front line and a defense that is underrated, mostly because the offense is so freaking good. They have the consummate field general in Tom Brady, a player who seems to do nothing but win and they have the best coach of our generation, a man that is not only freakishly focused on football (say that 10 times fast) but has somehow imprinted his personality on his team so that they are as freakishly focused on football as he is.

Everybody expects the Patriots to win because they just keep on winning. And they’ve been winning every which way and then some. Close games, crazy games, high scoring, low scoring, defensive, offensive, ugly, pretty, whatever, whenever, however, these guys find a way to get the W. And no matter what happens with the renewal of Spygate, it’s surely not going to rattle this team. Fact is, controversy makes them play even harder. Seriously, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team play so well and have such a ginormous chip on its shoulder.

From what’s been said and written, maybe the Giants would do better to not even show up.

I do think the Patriots are the better team. I think as a general rule, they’re better coached. I think giving Belichick two weeks to prepare for a team is like letting the Patriots play with 12 men on the field. I think the Giants, as loose as they appear, are not prepared for the glare of the game’s biggest stage. I think they will have to play near perfect football to even have a shot at winning tomorrow.

I think they're basically outmatched, outgunned, out everything. And yet.

And yet.

Ah, hell. And yet, you know what? I think they’re going to win.

There. I said it. It's out there in cyberspace. The Giants are going to win the damn Super Bowl.

I’ve had a feeling since the final game of the regular season between these two teams that they would be facing each other again in the Super Bowl. I think the Giants, even though they knew they’d be underdogs, were secretly hoping to get another shot at the team they led by 12 points going into the fourth quarter.

Because that game, which I wrote about here, was THE game for the Giants, the moment in their season when they measured themselves up against the best and played as if they belonged on the same field. It was a loss that showed them how much they had to gain. It was the defining game that sent them on a rampage straight to Glendale, Arizona and a date with destiny. (Man, don't ya just love sports?)

I also think the Patriots are human. The pressure is on them. Almost going undefeated isn’t going to look so hot when the reward is finishing second. There’s a weight on their shoulders and its name is History and right about game-time tomorrow who would blame them if running out on the field feels like they’re lugging an 8,000-pound guerrilla on their shoulder pads?

Tom Brady is not 100 percent. Randy Moss has proven in the past that he doesn’t play well with distractions. The Patriots’ defense is vulnerable to a team that can pass and run, and the Giants have been the most balanced team during the playoffs.

My two X-factors in this game are Eli Manning, the Giants young and until this last month, mostly disappointing quarterback and Michael Strahan, the Giants veteran leader and captain and defense end.

Manning has a knack of rising to the occasion and has consistently played well in big games. He just seems to sparkle in meaningful moments, a player who seems to play to the level of his competition, an even-keeled kind of guy who almost never gets rattled. He’s playing the best football of his life and I expect Sunday will be his moment in the sun. Manning will lead the Giants to victory.

Strahan is at the end of his career and even considered retiring before this season. He is one of only two current Giants who were on New York’s last Super Bowl team (a dispiriting loss in 2000 to Baltimore) and he has been waiting his entire career to have a second shot at glory. I really don’t think you can put too much emphasis on this fact and I think Strahan, a certain Hall of Famer, will leave everything on the field and then some to stop Brady and his boys.

If there’s any position on defense that can be a difference-maker, it’s the defense end, a player who is charged with rushing the passer and disrupting the line of scrimmage. Strahan won't be the youngest DE on the field on Sunday but he'll be the best.

If there’s any will involved, Strahan has the strength of his to overcome any obstacles New England throws in his way. He knows what it’s like to lose a Super Bowl and he doesn’t want that bitter taste in his mouth in this, is last chance for the crowning moment of his career.

I think it’s going to be a great game, with both teams scoring points early before it settles into a struggle of defenses. And I think the Giants will win time-of-possession behind a disciplined offense and its one-two punch of a running game.

In the end, it’s gonna be the upset of the century, kids.

Giants 30, Patriots 24

Enjoy the game.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I'm a Giants fan. Been a Giants fan since I knew what a football was. My favorite players were named Ron Johnson and Spider Lockhart. I was a Giants fan when Joe P. at QB muffed a last-second play that the Eagles Herm Edwards ran back for a game-winning touchdown. Before Tuna and L.T. and Phil Simms. Before there was even an endzone at the Meadowlands to bury Jimmy Hoffa in.

You get it? I'm a BIG fan. And yet. And yet, the Super Bowl hype is boring me to fucking tears. So little of interest, it's killing me. Let's just play the damn game already.

I can't move up the game but I can provide some intermission from the boredom. Here then are a few recent photos from my hood.

I'll be back before Sunday to offer my Super Bowl predictions.

The first photo is out my back door, taken around 7 a.m. PST. Yep, that's a sun RISE folks. Pretty awesome, ain't it? The second one is the same view later in the date, taken during a lull from recent storms. And the third was taken Tuesday morning around 2:30 a.m., of the moon as it was disappearing behind some clouds.

Super!!

It's been so crazy here with the strike and work and post-New Year's nonsense that I haven't had time to mosey over here to post anything. So much to post about, too. Still, I guess I needed a serious kick in the ass to get going again.

Who knew it would come from my formerly hapless hometown Giants?

A brief recap for those of you who don't know what ESPN means:

The New York (football) Giants began the season with a highly-touted, under-performing quarterback who happened to be the son and younger brother of world beaters at his position. In fact, said QB Eli Manning's older bro, Peyton, the QB of the Indianapolis Colts, won last year's Super Bowl. Eli, though, was this close to be considered a wash out. The Giants number one rusher had retired and then criticized the team and the coach. The coach, Tom Coughlin, was hanging by the tips of his finger nails, his dour, unsunny disposition having worn out its welcome long ago in his locker room.

On top of all that, the Giants dropped the first two games of the season, giving up nearly 100 points in the process. Here they were at halftime of Game 3 in the visitor's locker room at Fed Ex Field in Landover, Maryland, down 17-3 to the as yet unscathed Washington Redskins.

Ah, but it was about that time that the plot began to thicken.

Somehow, the Giants defense found itself and Eli Manning led the offensive to 21 unanswered points to turn the hopeless deficit into a win and set the stage for what is turning into a dream season. For one, the Giants ended the game with an inspired goal-line stand to seal the win, stuffing Washington RB Ladell Betts on fourth-and-goal in the final minute.

But there was something else even more important about that game, though less obvious. It was played on the road. Since that game, the Giants have won nine more games on the road -- a total of 10 straight including the playoffs which is a new NFL record. At one time during the season they even played the Dallas Cowboys for position of first place in the NFC. But along the way, the Giants lost some key games -- all at home ironically. There was the drubbing by the Vikings, for example, the nadir of Eli's worst, where he threw four interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.

Still, their season remained in doubt up until the second-to-the-last game of the year when they went up to Buffalo following an awful loss to Washington in New York. They even trailed against the mediocre Bills, until something clicked and they ran away with the fourth quarter in the 38-21 victory. That game officially won them a playoff spot, rendering the last game of the season meaningless, right? Not so fast, sports fans.

That game, which I talked about here, turned out to be a huge boost for a team that was, even in its 16th and final regular season game, was still searching for an identity. Improbably, they found themselves in a game they lost on national television before one of the biggest audiences of the year.

That game, against the then 15-0 New England Patriots started the Giants on this unlikely run to the Super Bowl. The Patriots used most of their starters that day. They had something to play for -- being the first team since the 1972 Dolphins to finish a season undefeated. The Giants had nothing, really. Playing their starters would be risky -- there’s always the possibility someone important would be injured and since their first-round opponent was already decided (Tampa Bay, which rested its starters once the team secured the postseason), they were giving them more information about their formations and plays.

But Coach Tom Coughlin, who had shown a surprising ability to change his coaching ways from the start of training camp, decided to go for the win against the Patriots. His team wanted it, the fans wanted it and, as he later admitted, he thought that playing the Patriots would show his team where they stood in relation to the best in the NFL.

What it showed in a fabulous back-and-forth game in which the Giants held a late 12-point lead before falling 38-35, is that they could more than hold their own. They realized as a team that they weren’t that far behind the elite teams.

In the NFL, confidence is often understated. The game is physical yes, but it’s emotional too and it requires tremendous mental focus and controlled emotions to withstand the physical intensity on the field. We’ve seen so-called lessor teams beat better ones time and time again because they were more focused, more intense (hell, we saw it last week when the Giants beat the Cowboys).

The Giants have gone on to win three intensely physical games in the last three weeks -- beating a tough defense down in Tampa Bay, a very, very good team in the Cowboys and then yesterday, matching the physical, mano y mano style of the Packers with their own, tougher mentality.

On one of the first plays by the Giants offense, 6-4, 265-pound running back Brandon Jacobs literally ran over cornerback Charles Woodson, putting him on his wallet. It was a statement of the Giants willingness to be more physical than the Packers in their own house in conditions that everybody seemed to think favored Green Bay.

In that game, the Giants dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, and only their own mistakes kept the game close. Once the two teams took the field and the game began to unfold, it was the Giants game to lose. And they nearly lost it too. But they didn’t and now they’re heading to Arizona to play in the Super Bowl.

Over the next two weeks leading up to the big game, I’ll be posting about the Giants and football in general and other odds and ends.