SUPER BOWL- I know I'm more than 2 months behind on this, but WOW.
All you need to know about Super Bowl XLIX took place in the second half. After the Patriots defense gave up an 11 yard TD pass from Russell Wilson to WR Chris Matthews in the closing seconds of the first half, Seattle and New England headed into the 3rd quarter tied at 14-14.
Glendale, AZ's University of Phoenix Stadium has been home to some cringe-worthy moment for Patriots fans in the past and in the 3rd quarter, it appeared to be happening again as the Seahawks took a 24-14 lead.
About 7 minutes into the 4th quarter, the Patriots cut Seattle's lead to 3 point thanks to a TD pass from Brady to Danny Amendola to make it 24-21. Just before the two minute warning, New England would take a 28-24 lead thanks to Brady connecting to Julian Edelman for a 4 yard TD pass.
However, Patriots fans had that sinking feeling when Seahawks QB Russel Wilson connecting with WR Jermaine Kearse for a 33 yard completion- it was bobbled and appeared to be incomplete as Kearse scooped it up, but a video review from the officials showed that the ball had never touched the ground, giving the Seahawks the ball on the Patriots 5 yard line with 1:06 to go in regulation. After a timeout, Wilson handed off the ball to RB Marshawn Lynch to put the ball on New England's 1-yard line and giving the Seahawks no fewer than three shots at the end zone as the clock ticked down.
For whatever reason, Pats head coach Bill Belichick declined to take a timeout as the clocked ticked down to less than 30 seconds. Instead of handing the ball off to Lynch, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll opted for a short pass with 20 seconds remaining in the game. It would not turn out well for Seattle.
Obscure and unheralded cornerback Malcom Butler singlehandedly sealed the win for New England thanks to his pick of Wilson's short pass attempt to give New England the ball back at a pivotal juncture in the game. The Patriots were flagged for excessive celebration and penalized half the distance to the end zone- basically putting the ball on the one foot line and giving the Seahawks a pretty good shot at a safety, but after a scrum between Bruce Irvin and Rob Gronkowski, the Seahawks were penalized fifteen yards, which gave New England some more wiggle room. After a kneeldown by Brady, the Patriots 28-24 win was official.
Tom Brady was named the Super Bowl MVP [the third time he garnered the award in the four Super Bowl titles New England has won in the Brady/Belicheck era- NANESB!]. After the game, Brady gifted Butler a brand new pickup truck from a Chevrolet dealership in Butler's Mississippi hometown.
Carroll- who was the Patriots head coach before his USC tenure- was questioned for his decision to go for a pass play after Marshawn Lynch had easily picked up four yards on the previous play. Some less-than-kind Patriots fans joked that at long last Carroll had followed through on winning a championship for New England some 15 years after he left.
While some sour grapes Seahawks fans wanted to use New England's championship to gripe about 'Deflategate', the Super Bowl XLIX shold be considered by many NFL fans to ba an 'instant classic'.
MLB OPENING DAY- The Red Sox got it done with the longball and a solid outing from Clay Buchholz in his first-ever opening day start as Boston opened up the 2015 MLB season on the road in Philadelphia.
The Red Sox got on the board early with a 362ft solo shot off the bat of Dustin Pedroia to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Outfielder Mookie Betts belted another solo homer to deep left field off of Phillies starter Cole Hammels in the top of the 3rd. Buchholz would go on to throw even complete shutout innings as the Red Sox added to their lead with solo homers from Pedroia and offseason acquisition Hanley Ramirez in the fifth inning.
Junichi Tazawa would come on and get all three of the Phillies batters he faced out in order in the 8th inning and Hanley Ramirez would belt a grand slam to give Boston an 8-0 lead and Tommy Layne closed things out in the bottom of the 9th.
Through his 7 innings of work, Buchholz allowed a total of three hits and struck out nine while walking one batter. Meanwhile, Hammels only lasted five innings, giving up four earned runs on five hits.
With Tuesday off, the Red Sox will put their undefeated record on the line against the Phillies on Wednesday. Offseason acquisition Rick Porcello will get the start for Boston against Philly's Aaron Harang. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and ESPN2.
NFL- Well....at least one of the Championship games was an instant classic.
Surprisingly the NFC title game on the West Coast got underway first, with the Green Bay Packers jumping out to an early 16-0 lead over the Seahawks up in Seattle in the first half thanks to three first half interceptions. However, Seattle's defense stiffened after those turnovers and more than once the Packers had to settle for a FG instead of getting 7 points.
In the seconds half, the Seahawks came roaring back and with just 1:25 to go in regulation they managed to take their first lead of the day on a 24 yard Marshawn Lynch TD run to put Seattle up 22-19 before the Packers managed to tie the contest up with 14 seconds to go on a 48 yard Mason Crosby field goal, forcing overtime.
After winning the coin toss, the Seahawks took the ball and won the game on a 35 yard TD pass from Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse, sending the Seahawks to their second consecutive Superbowl.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- The late game on Championship Sunday wasn't quite as close.
For the first time since 2006 and the first time since Manning departed for Denver, the Patriots and the Colts faced off in the postseason. In what would be the start of a trend, LeGarette Blount put New England on the board early after Josh Cribbs fumbled a punt that was recovered by New England inside the Colts 30 yard line.
The Patriots would get out to a quick 14-0 lead before the Colts got on the board with about five minutes to go in the first half from a short TD run from Zurlon Tipton to make it 14-7. However, the Patriots would add to their lead thanks to a Gostkowski FG with 9 seconds left in the half.
The second half was all New England as they would go on to score 28 unanswered points in the second half, including two more TD runs from Legarette Blount. The Patriots go on to win by a 45-7 final and advance to face the Seahawks in the Superbowl.
However, in the weeks leading up to Superbowl 49, the talk amongst the media has been about how the footballs used in the AFC title game were examined by the NFL and found to be underinflated. This created a unusually protracted media firestorm dubbing the scandal 'deflate-gate'- as though slightly underinflated balls were somehow responsible for the Colts defense collapsing like a house of cards whenever LeGarette Blount was carrying the ball.
Anywhoo, I've pretty much been embargoing the media and their vapid fixation on deflated balls in the runup to Superbowl 49. What I do know is that the big game kicks off Sunday night at 6:30 and will be televised on NBC
NHL- From one defending national champion going up against a New England team to another. After stumbling out of the gate, the Boston Bruins are having a pretty good 2015 so far.
Coming off a 5-2 win on the road against the Islanders on Thursday, Saturday night saw the Bruins hosting the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. It looked as though the Bruins got on the board early in the closing seconds of the first period, but that goal was waved off when officials determined the clock was at 00:00 before the puck was in the net.
Even with the goal waved off, the Bruins managed to get on the board thanks to a Brad Marchand goal in the closing minutes of the second period to give Boston the 1-0 lead. Seven minutes into the third, Jordan Nolan got Los Angeles on the board and tied the game with a goal. However, 90 seconds later Chris Kelly put the Bruins back on top with a goal to make it 2-1 Boston and as the Kings pulled goalie Jonathan Quick late in the 3rd for an extra attacker, Marchand would get an empty-netter, his second of the night to make it 3-1 in favor of Boston.
The Bruins go on to win by the final of 3-1 with Rask stopping 30 of the 31 shots he faced on Saturday night while Quick ended up turning aside 30 of 32.
Boston will get the next couple of days off, with play resuming on Thursday night when they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Puck drops at 8:00 ET and the game will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
SUPER BOWL XLVIII- Wow. Here I was thinking that it was against federal law to slaughter Broncos en masse.
This one was pretty much over on the first play from scrimmage, and I mean literally. Although it didn't necessarily decide the game right then and there, Denver started out the game on their own 14 with a botched snap that flew over Manning's head and into the end zone for a safety, giving Seattle an early 2-0 lead.
Right away, Broncos fans were fretting whether or not that safety would come back to haunt them later on in the game. As it turned out, that was a non-issue as that would be as close as the game would get. Although the Broncos defense would manage to keep the Seahawks out of the end zone in the first quarter, Seattle did manage to get two FGs from kicker Steven Hauschka to make it an 8-0 game- still a one score game, but one that seemed increasingly out of reach with each offensive drive by Denver that sputtered and couldn't get past the 50 yard marker.
Still, Seattle didn't make the lead seem truly insurmountable until the second quarter when Hawks RB Marshawn Lynch capped a drive that began on the Broncos 37 with a one yard TD run- the first of the day- to put Seattle in front 15-0. The Broncos looked like they had managed to regain their composure and after starting out on their own 16, got as far as the Seahawks 44 before LB Malcolm Smith picked off Peyton Manning and returned it 69 yards for the second Seahawks TD with just under 3 and a half minutes to go in the half.
A shellshocked Denver headed into the locker room down 22-0 and things wouldn't get any better for them in the second half, when Seattle return man Percy Harvin returned the opening kickoff 87 yards for another Hawks TD to put them up by a score of 29-0. After adding on with a 21 yard TD pass from QB Russell Wilson to WR Jermaine Kearse to make it 36-0, the Broncos finally got on the board with a 14 yard TD pass from Manning to Demaryius Thomas and a successful 2 point conversion to make it 36-8.
However, it wasn't even that close- and to emphasize that point, the Hawks got another TD on their opening possession of the 4th quarter to make it 43-8, and that would be the final for Super Bowl XLVIII. Don't let the score fool you, though- it wasn't even that close. Malcom Smith was named Super Bowl MVP while Seahawks QB Russell Wilson went 18 for 25 with 206 yards and 2 TDs
Sunday's Super Bowl win marked the first big league sports championship to come to Seattle since the 1979 Supersonics brought home an NBA title after beating the Washington Bullets 4 games to one.
On Wednesday, the city of Seattle held a parade in which about 700,000 fans and revelers crammed into the downtown area of the Emerald City to honor the newly-crowned Super Bowl champions- something that was probably unthinkable when this July 2013 Forbes article crowning Seattle as America's Worst Sports City was published.
BOSTON BRUINS- In a rematch of the 2011 Stanley Cup final at the TD Garden on Tuesday night, the Boston Bruins came out on top, handing the Vancouver Canucks their 5th straight loss- quite a reversal of fortune when the Canucks blew away Boston by a 6-2 final on Boston's western Canada road trip back in December.
Milan Lucic opened up the scoring a little over 5 minutes into the first while Jarome Iginla would give Boston a 2-0 lead on a power play tally 8 minutes into the second. Rafael Diaz would make it a one-goal game for Vancouver with a goal at the 11 and a half minute mark,, but Danny Paille would give the Bruins some insurance with about 3 minutes to go in the second to make it 3-1- and that would be the final after a scoreless 3rd period.
Tukka Rask stopped 27 of 28 shots faced and the Bruins were 1 for 3 on their power play opportunities.
Wednesday is a travel day for Boston and on Thursday, they will face off against the St Louis Blues. The Blues come into Thursday night's game with a 37-12-6 record, good for 2nd place in the Central Division. Puck is scheduled to drop at 8:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
RED SOX- Former Red Sox and Diamondbacks ace Curt Schilling announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer. Schilling pitched in the big leagues for 20 years with the Orioles, Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox. His career highlights came in huge postseason games against the Yankees- such as Game one of the 2001 World Series when he was with the Diamondbacks and Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Undoubtedly, Schilling's most famous moment with the Red Sox was game 2 of the 2004 World Series against St Louis- better known as the 'bloody sock game' after injuring his tendon earlier in the ALDS before having it surgically stabilized.
Schilling- along with then-teammates Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar and Jason Varitek- became affectionately known as the 'Idiots' and the team became the first to win an MLB postseason series after losing the first three game.
Schilling would struggle with injuries later on in his tenure with Boston but was still effective during the 2007 postseason when the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS and swept the Colorado Rockies to win their second World Series in three years. In March 2009, Schilling announced his retirement from baseball and took on work as a analyst for ESPN and started up his own gaming studio. As a player, Curt Shilling also started up an organization that provided support for sufferers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS- AKA Lou Gherig's disease) called Curt's pitch for ALS.
There was no immediate word from Schilling of ESPN on the type of cancer or his prognosis. ESPN has reportedly given Schilling medical leave.
I know I'm about a week late with this, but this without a doubt had to be the highlight of the much ballyhooed Super Bowl Sunday TV advertisements. The two minute spot from Dodge featured a monologue from the late radio personality Paul Harvey called "God Made a Farmer". While the product did make an appearence, the emphasis was firmly placed on the individual likely to use the Dodge [or Ford or Chevy].
But now that some time has passed I figured it was worth revisiting- I did plan on waiting a few days after the Super Bowl to revisit this, but not an entire week.
Despite the expensive nature of advertising during the big game, Dodge's 2-minute ad is actually a slightly abbreviated version of a 1978 speech that Harvey gave to the Future Farmers of America. My first reaction upon seeing the ad in its entirety was "That was money well spent on Dodge's part".
The full text is below.
And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.
"God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.
"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.
"God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.
"God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.
"God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.
"Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer."
SUPER BOWL XLVII- Wow- who that plunging the stadium into darkness mid-game would turn out to be a winning formula? That's exactly what happened on Super Bowl Sunday when the Louisiana Superdome experinced a 34 minute power outage in the 3rd quarter of the championship contest between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.
It was probably a blessing in disguise, though, since up until the Superdome was plunged into darkness, the Ravens were firmly in charge with a commanding 28-6 lead.
By the close of the 3rd quarter, the 49ers had managed to whittle the Ravens lead down to 5 points thanks to a 31 yard reception and TD run from Kaepernick to Crabtree, a Frank Gore rushing TD and a 34 yard David Akers FG. What once had all the appearences of a Ravens blowout was now a 28-23 game heading into the fourth quarter.
Baltimore would get some of their mojo back early in the 4th, starting off the quarter in the 49ers red zone and getting as far as the 1, but the Ravens would have to settle for a short FG after getting stopped on 3rd and goal. While they managed to extend their lead and burn precious time off the clock, San Francisco appeared to have the momentum going their way.
On their next posession, the 49ers got big plays from Frank Gore and Randy Moss to move the ball deep into Baltimore territory before Kaepernick took off for a 15 yard TD run with just under 10 minutes to go in the 4th. However, San Francisco's 2 point attempt failed and Baltimore still led by a score of 31-29.
Upon getting the ball back, the Ravens started off on their own 21 and thanks to some penalties by the 49ers that kept the drive going, took more than five and a half minutes to move the ball down the field. Baltimore was stopped on 3rd and 2 at the 49ers 20 yard line, but that suited them just fine as they got three points off the boot of Justin Tucker to put them up 34-29.
The 49ers had one more drive in them and thanks to some big plays by Gore and Crabtree, they made it inside the Baltimore 7 yard line with less than 2:40 remaining in the game. However, San Francisco ended up turning the ball over on downs after Kaepernick's 4th down pass fell incomplete. This was not without controversey as Crabtree and Ravens CB Jimmy Smith pushed off of each other as the 49ers WR was going for Karpernick's pass. The pass landed out of bounds and there was no call from the officials.
By this point, Baltimore's main concern was running out the clock and they were willing to cede a few points to San Francisco- so long as it wasn't a TD. After going three and out deep in their own territory and with the game clock winding down, Ravens punter Sam Koch actually held onto the ball for a few seconds, scrambling around in the end zone before almost casually sauntering out of the end zone for a safety with 4 seconds remaining in the game. San Francisco now trailed by a 34-31 margin and needed less than 4 seconds to come up with some sort of score on the kickoff- but that wasn't going to happen as the ball was lateraled to the Ravens bench on the ensuing kickoff.
The Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII by a final of 34-31, their second Super Bowl since moving to Maryland from Cleveland in the 1990s. Their first was a 34-7 rout of the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV in 2001.
Baltimore QB Joe Flacco went 22-33 for 287 yards and 3 TDs and was also named Super Bowl MVP. San Francisco's Colin Kaepaernick went 16-28 with 302 yards, an interception, a TD pass, a rushing TD as well as 62 yards rushing. And in case you missed it earlier in the postseason, this was Ravens LB Ray Lewis' final NFL game- he had announced this would be his final NFL season heading into the playoffs in late December.
Beyonce- reportedly NOT the cause of Sunday's blackout. Christopher Polk/Getty Images
OTHER SUPER BOWL NEWS- The 3rd quarter blackout left both the city of New Orleans and Louisiana-based utility Entergy [NYSE- ETR] red-faced and officials are still trying to determine what caused the power failure.
The memo said Entergy and the Superdome's engineering staff "had concerns regarding the reliability of the Dome service from Entergy's connection point to the Dome."
The memo was prepared for the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District, the state body responsible for the Superdome.
Authorities subsequently authorized spending nearly $1 million on Superdome improvements, including more than $600,000 for upgrading the dome's electrical feeder cable system, work that was done in December.
"As discussed in previous board meetings, this enhancement is necessary to maintain both the Superdome and the New Orleans Arena as top tier facilities, and to ensure that we do not experience any electrical issues during the Super Bowl," said an LSED document dated Dec. 19.
Superdome commission records show a $513,250 contract to replace feeder cables was awarded to Louisiana-based Allstar Electric. Arthur Westbrook, Allstar's project manager for the job, referred all questions to the management company.
A lawyer for the LSED, Larry Roedel, said a preliminary investigation found the replacement work in December did not appear to have caused Sunday's outage.
And meters showed the 76,000-seat stadium was drawing no more electricity than it does during a typical New Orleans Saints game, according to Doug Thornton, vice president for the Superdome's management company, SMG
Apparently Beyonce's halftime show was NOT to blame, accoring to the NFL. The singer reportedly used a seperate generator that was not connected to the Superdome's grid for her performance.
Canadian Press, Frank Gunn
NHL- The Bruins got off to a less than stellar start against the Northeast Division after squandering a 3-1 lead against the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night. After heading into the 3rd period tied at 3-3, the Bruins briefly pulled ahead on a David Krejci goal before the Sabres tallied three unanswered goals to make it a 7-4 Buffalo victory [this included a Thomas Vanek hat trick- NANESB!]. The loss was the Bruins' first regulation loss all season.
Saturday night went a little better for Boston as the travelled north of the border for the first time this season, taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs. A number of fairly notworthy firsts took place during Saturday's game as well. LW Chris Bourque, son of legendary Bruins defenseman and Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, notched his first Bruins goal at 8:54 in the first [contrary to what some on social media was saying, it was not his first NHL goal. That came during the 2008-2009 season when he was coming up through the Washington Capitals system- NANESB!]. That would be the only tally that Leafs netminder James Reimer would allow on Saturday, stopping 33 of 24 shots, but that would be enough for Boston as G Tukka Rask had his first successful shutout bid of the season, turning aside all 21 shots faced in the 1-0 win.
So Bourque made his first goal with Boston count, and the Bruins get their first win against a Northeast Division opponent on the season [despite the loss, Reimer was actually named the #1 star of Saturday's game- NANESB!]. Currently, the Bruins are in sole posession of first place in the Northeast Division at 6-1-1 and will take on the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center on Wednesday Night. Puck drops at 7:30 ET and the game will be televised on NBC Sports and TSN. Coming into Wednesday night's contest, Montreal has a 6-2-0 record and is in 3rd place in the Northeast Division behind Boston and Ottawa.
Singer Whitney Houston was found unresponsive in her Beverly Hills hotel room on Saturday afternoon and pronounced dead shortly after paramedics arrived.
The 48 year old singer has been described as having a voice for the ages, tarnished by addiction and an abusive relationship with ex-husband Bobby Brown.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Houston followed in her mother's footsteps and began performing in a gospel choir in Newark's New Hope Baptist Church.
Houston first achieved noteriety in the late 1980s- sports fans will best remember Houston's flawless performance of 'The Star Spangled Banner' before Super Bowl XXV in 1991.
Her rendition of the national anthem was so successful, it was re-released as a single and enjoyed great commercial success. Houston then reportedly donated the proceeds from the single's sales to the American Red Cross.
Houston also appeared in a number of movies throughout the 1990s and married Bobby Brown, although by the late 1990s a number of missed performances and rapid wieight loss led to reports of drug use. The trainwreck that was her marriage to Bobby Brown was the subject of a 2004 reality show on the Bravo Network.
Brown and Houston seperated in 2006 and Houston enjoyed something of a comeback in recent years. She was scheduled to perform at a gathering for music executives before the Grammys this weekend.
SUPERBOWL XLVI: Well, this was a tough one to take even though it more or less came down to the final play.
After the weeks of hype and speculation over seemingly everything but the actual game, it was at long last time to play the damn game on Sunday and Superbowl XLVI kicked off on time.
The Giants got the ball to open up the big game, but were unable to score on the opening possession- their opening possession, at least. After getting as far as the Patriots 42, the Giants punted and managed to pin New England deep in their own end. The Patriots offense would have to start off on their own 6 yard line and on the first play, a pressured Brady would be flagged for intentional grounding in his own end zone, resulting in a safety and a 2-0 Giants lead.
The Giants managed to take a 9-0 lead after starting off on their own 22 and capping off the drive inside the Patriots 2 with a pass from Giants QB Eli Manning to WR Victor Cruz.
On their next possession, New England managed to get on the board after getting as far as the Giants 11 yard line early in the 2nd quarter and having to settle for a Gostkowski FG to make it 9-3 Giants.
As the clock was winding down in the 1st half, the Patriots were once again pinned deep in their own territory, starting out from their own 2 yard line with 4:03 left. They managed to move the ball all the way down to the Giants 3 yard line in just under 4 minutes before RB Danny Woodhead caught a short pass from Brady to put the Pats on top with 8 seconds left in the half.
The second half got off to a promising start as well, with the Patriots taking their opening possession of the 2nd half and moving the ball to the Giants 12 yard line before Brady connected with TE Aaron Hernandez to put the Patriots up 17-9.
Although not as quick as the Patriots, the Giants methodically began chipping away at the Patriots lead, coming away with FG's from Lawrence Tynes on their next two possessions to make it a one-point game.
Things didn't start to get really strange until late in the 4th quarter when the Giants started out from their own 12 yard line with 3:46 and on the first play, Manning heaved the ball to midfield only to have it connect with WR Mario Manningham by the narrowest of margins for a pickup of 38 yards. The play was under review for several minutes before the drive resumed at the 50.
After getting the ball inside the New England 10 yard line with about a minute to go in regulation and the Patriots losing a timeout on that challenge, the Giants were content to run one more play on 2nd and goal before bleeding out the clock and bringing out Lawrence Tynes to put the Giants up by one with virtually no time remaining in the game.
Instead, on 2nd and goal, Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw inadvertently stumbled into the end zone after trying to throw himself down on the 1 yard line and let the clock run out. Although it did net the Giants 6 points, giving them the 21-17 lead, head coach Tom Coughlin was well aware that it would give New England the ball back with just under a minute left in regulation.
With the clock ticking down, two passes from Brady were dropped and he was sacked by DE Justin Tuck with 48 seconds left to bring up 4th and 16. Normally, most people would be thinking 'it's ovah', but Brady found WR Deion Branch for 19 yards and Branch in turn found the sidelines to stop the clock with 39 seconds left. Brady then found Hernandez for another 11 yards with 32 seconds remaining before snapping the ball while the Giants were still getting personnel off the field, killing the clock and moving the ball up five yards.
With five seconds left in SuperBowl XLVI, there was enough time for a Hail Mary that Brady heaved from the 50 yard line into the end zone. Alas, there was no 'Hand of Myra' to be seen that would somehow miraculously save the Patriots at the penultimate second. Instead, the ball jumped harmlessly off the fingertips of some Giants defenders in the end zone and fell to the turf just out of the reach of Rob Gronkowski.
The Giants win their 2nd Super Bowl in 4 years, once again getting past the Patriots in a game that was decided in the final minute. Giants QB Eli Manning was named the Super Bowl MVP and, to the surprise of many, now has more titles than older brother Peyton.
NHL: Virtually undetected on Superbowl Sunday was a series of afternoon games in the NHL [so as not to coincide with the kickoff of the the Superbowl- NANESB!]. The Boston Bruins were on the road at Washington D.C.'s Verizon Center for the first time since Tim Thomas' snub of President Obama.
Unlike the Bruins last trip to D.C., Thomas was actually between the pipes on Sunday and the Bruins actually came away victorious in Sunday's contest. The Bruins got out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals by Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand. After a scoreless 2nd, Tyler Seguin put the Bruins up 3-0 in the 3rd before the Caps got on the board late with a tally from Marcus Johansson to make it 3-1. Rich Peverly would get the empty netter in the final minute of regulation to make it a 4-1 Boston final.
The Bruins next travel to upstate New York to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday evening. The game will be televised on the NBC Sports network (formerly Versus) and gets underway at 7:30 PM ET.
NCAA HOCKEY: Well- one good thing about the Patriots losing the Superbowl is that we don't have to worry about traffic to and from the Beanpot getting snarled by the inevitable victory parade.
Hard to believe, but the Beanpot college hockey tournament turns 60 this year. The doubleheader got underway on Monday with the BU Terriers dropping Harvard by a 3-1 final while Boston College took care of Northeastern by a 7-1 final.
This sets up the 21st meeting between BC and BU for the Beanpot with the Terriers holding a 12-8 advantage in the history of the tournament.
NBA: Don't look now [Lord knows I haven't- NANESB!] but the Celtics have been able to string together a modest win streak to put them now at 13-10. After squeaking past the Knicks on Friday, the C's handled the Memphis Grizzlies pretty easliy by a 98-80 final at home on Superbowl Sunday. The Celtics have two games remaining in their lengthy homestand including a game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday and Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday before hitting the road.
Well, here we are- less than 24 hours to go before the big game. When the NFC championship went final, my first thought was that two weeks was a fairly reaonable amount of time between Championship Sunday and the Super Bowl. If there were any injuries [such as Gronkowski's, let's say- NANESB!] two weeks is a pretty reasonable time to convalesce.
Heck, I even thought that during the Pro Bowl last week.
However, as the hype that's been building up around the Super Bowl, Media Day and the halftime show performane over the past week, I felt compelled to paraphrase Monty Python: 'Get on With It!'. So if you've noticed a distinct lack of pre-game coverage on my part, chalk it up to a lack of interest in these pre-game rituals and traditionds that I think cross the line into absurd.
Even though they're not heading into the Super Bowl undefeated like the last time, I like New England's chances. Yet just like Vancouver's 2 meetings with Boston in the regular season prior to last season's Stanley Cup Final, I don't think we can take away too much from a regular season meeting between the Patriots and Giants in Foxborough.
Supebowl XLVI between the New England Patriots and New York Giants gets underway at 6:30 PM ET on NBC.
NFL: Holy crap, what a day! Two Championship games coming down to the wire (and then some!) for the right to play in Superbowl XLVI. Neither one of them disappointed.
PATRIOTS: Unlike some of the AFC Championship games involving New England in the prior decade, today's affair in Foxborough was a taut, down-to-the wire affair.
For the first half, both teams seemed by be fostering a 'bend but don't break' mindset. However, for every score that New England managed to put up, Baltimore seemed to come right back. Stephen Gostkowski got the Pats on the board first with a chip-shot FG to make it 3-0. Baltimore would then tie the contest up at 3-3 early in the 2nd.
New England got the ball back on their own 25 and move the ball down the field in less than four minutes, with RB Ben Jarvus Green Ellis punching it in from the Ravens 7 before pointing to the MHK patch on his jersey.
The Ravens, however, would answer right back with some deep passes from QB Joe Flacco and passing the ball to Dennis Pitta for the TD to tie the contest up at 10-10.
New England would get another Gostkowski FG before the half to make it 13-10. However, in the second half, after the Patriots had to settle for another Gostkowski FG, Baltimore took the lead for the first time on the day late in the 3rd when Flacco found WR Torrey Smith on 3rd down and Smith scrambled for 29 yards to hit paydirt and the 17-16 lead.
New England managed to re-take the lead early in the 4th after Baltimore thwarted two previous attempts to punch the ball into the end zone from inside the Ravens 1-yard line. Finally, Tom Brady managed to break the plane to put New England up 23-17.
With just over 7 minutes to go in regulation, it appeared as though the Patriots could put the game away once and for all when LB Brandon Spikes picked off Joe Flacco and returned the ball to mid-field. However, on New England's first play after the INT, Brady went deep and after an impressive tip drill by Bernie Pollard in the end zone to keep the ball aloft, CB Jimmy Smith came up with the ball for Baltimore and returned it to the Ravens own 39, giving Baltimore excellent field position with 7:07 to go in the 4th. However, while the Ravens managed to get the ball as far as the Patriots 33 yard line, they turned it over thanks to an incompletion on 4th and 6 with 2:33 to go.
While the turnover on downs gave New England great field position, the Patriots weren't able to do anything more than go 3 and out, giving the Ravens the ball back on their own 21 with 1:44 in regulation while trailing 23-20.
In that short timeframe, Flacco and the Baltimore offense seemed to be able to move the ball at will, at times carefully painting the sideline to preserve the clock. This was accomplished with such apparent ease on the part of the Ravens that it looked as though they would score the go-ahead TD inside of a minute, let alone notch the game tying FG. This was made abundantly clear when the Ravens advanced as far as the Patriots 14 yard line with less than 30 seconds to go.
On 2nd and 1, Flacco found WR Lee Evans open in the end zone, only to have Patriots CB Sterling Moore rip the ball out of Evans' grip to bring up 3rd and 1 (also incomplete, but well short of the end zone) so with 15 seconds remaining, the Ravens went for the tie with what was considered a chip shot FG from the 32 yard line. Baltimore Kicker Billy Cundiff had already hit a pair from the 20 and 39 earlier on the game.
With all eyes fully expecting the contest to OT, Cundiff's kick inexplicably sailed wide left of the uprights, giving New England the ball back with 11 seconds. Brady simply took a knee and that was the ballgame.
Patriots survive a late scare from the Ravens to win 23-20 and the more superstitious among us think that the late Myra Kraft might've sent an opportune gust of wind to aid her husband's team in the final seconds of the 4th.
By his own admission in the postgame comments, Tom Brady 'sucked'- going 22 for 36 with 239 yards, two interceptions, one sack and that quarterback sneak on 4th an goal form the Ravens 1 yard line [is it REALLY a sneak when the whole world knows what's going to happen?- NANESB!]. Eerily enough, Joe Flacco also went 22 for 36 but had 306 yards, two TDs three sacks and an interception on Sunday. RB Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had 15 carries for 68 yards and the TD on Sunday.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nose Tackle Vince Wilfork came up huge [come on now- you think that dude does ANYTHING small?- NANESB!], pressuring Flacco and coming away with 6 tackles- including a sack- on the day. No interceptions run back on Sunday, but hey! There's still one more game for New England.
Ten years after making his final playoff appearence for the New England Patriots [coming in for injured then-rookie Tom Brady of the 2nd Quarter of the 2001-02 AFC CHampionship game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to lead New England to a 24-17 win over the Steelers- NANESB!] for Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe was on hand to award the Lamar Hunt trophy to New England owner Robert Kraft.
OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: Of some concern to the Patriots are apparent injuries to TE Rob Gronkowski and CB Kyle Arrington. Arrington left Sunday's game in the 2nd quarter with an apparent eye injury while Gronkowski departed in the 3rd to have an ankle injury examined, although he would later return to the sidelines.
Reports are circulating that Gronkowski will be cleared to play in time for the Superbowl.
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: While the Patriots were celebrating after dodging OT and winning the AFC title, the game to determine who would face New England in Superbowl XLVI got underway from a rainy Candlestick Park in San Francisco between the NY Giants and the host 49ers.
After a first half in which Giants QB Eli Manning was starting to pick apart the 49ers defense, San Francisco would come out in the 2nd half and take the 14-10 lead on a 29 yard pass play from QB Alex Smith to WR Vernon Davis.
The Giants would then take a 17-14 lead after WR Kyle Williams had the Giants punt graze his leg, resulting in a live ball that the Giants return team pounced on- giving Manning and the offense a short field to work with at the 49ers 29 yard line. It appread as though San Francisco was set to dodge a bullet when when Eli Manning found WR Mario Manningham on 3rd and 15 and Manningham was able to run it in for the go ahead TD.
Williams would then return the subsequent Giants kickoff to mid-field, and the 49ers would get tantilizingly close to the Giants end zone before settling for a FG on 4th and 2 from the Giants 7 yard line.
That tied the contest up and unlike the earlier contest in Foxborough, MA, sent the NFC Championship game into OT. After each team had the ball and was seemingly unable to do anything with it, the Giants once again punted and once again, Kyle Williams turned it over, this time LB Jacquain Williams managed to punch the ball out and Giants reciever Devin Thomas fell on it at the 49ers 24 yard line. Although the 49ers stopped them on 3rd and goal from their own 8 (and the Giants got a 5 yard penalty afterwards), unlike earlier in the day, this crucial FG attempt was good, sending the Giants to Superbowl XLVI in Indianapolis and setting up a rematch of Superbowl XLII against the Patriots where the Giants last-minute drive put them on top 17-14.
Interestingly, this is the second consecutive NFC Championship game the Giants have appeared in that went to OT and the third NFC Title game in the last 5 years to go to OT.
NCAA FOOBALL: Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno passed away from complications from lung cancer at the Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, PA over the weekend. The 85 year old Paterno played collegiate football at Brown University in the early 1950s and had been the Nittany Lions head coach from 1966 until November 2011 when he was forced to step down amid a child sex-abuse scandal involving his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. While Paterno was accused of no wrongdoing himself, many accused the head coach of attempting to protect the Nittany Lions reputation by ignoring the more serious allegations against Sandusky.
On the field, Paterno is college football's all-time winningest coach, with a career record of 409-136-3 and going 24-12-1 in Bowl games. Joe Paterno is also the only coach to have won each of the 'major' Bowls- Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar. In 2006, Paterno was named to the College Football Hall of Fame as a head coach.
In November, amid the media coverage of Penn State when the Sandusky scandal was breaking, Paterno's family reported that he was diagnosed with lung cancer. His health had been deteriorating in recent days and friends and family were called to his bedside.
Paterno leaves behind his wife Susan, five children and seventeen grandchildren.
RED SOX: The Boston Red Sox have dealt SS Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies for pitcher Clayton Mortenson. Mortenson alternated between duty in the bullpen and as a starter for Colorado, going 2-4 with a 3.86 ERA last season.
The move gives the Rockies a veteran player in the middle infielder and frees up some money for Boston to pursue free agent starting pitcher Roy Oswalt or Outfielder Cody Ross, both of whom the organization has reportedly been aggressively courting in the past couple of days.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Red Sox and Reliever Daniel Bard have avoided arbitration and reached an agreement to terms on a 1-year contract over the weekend.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB: The Texas Rangers have signed highly sought-after Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish to a 6 year contract thats worth a guaranteed $56 million.
Darvish has played for the Nippon-Ham Fighters since 2005 and has also appeared in the World Baseball Classic twice for Team Japan, closing out the final inning of the 2009 Championship game against South Korea to help Japan win it's second WBC tournament.
Last season, Darvish went 18-6 with an ERA of 1.44 for the Ham-Fighters of the Japanese Pacific League.
BRUINS: After a 3-2 loss in the dying sceonds of OT at home against the NY Rangers, braking a 7-game drought where the blueshirts went scoreless on the power play. Less than 24 hours later, the Bruins were heading for Philly for a Sunday afternoon game that was taking plast the same time as the AFC Championship match.
So while all eyes were seeminlgy elsewhere, there was plenty of this going on early in Philadelphia:
When all was said and done, 66 penalty minutes were assesed in Sunday's game [altho' some of them for more mundane infractions like too many men on the ice- NANESB!]/ The Bruins got out to the quick 1-0 lead 50 seconds in on a Patrice Bergeron goal while Maxime Talbot tied things up at 1 not quite 90 seconds later.
Tyler Seguin would get a PP goal at the 9 minute mark while Milan Lucic would get the puck past Bryzgalov some three and a half minutes later to make it 3-1 Boston.
Unlike the last time these two teams met at Philly, The Flyers weren't content to just roll over and die. The second period was all Philly, with them outshooting the Bruins 15-6 and Scott Hartnell getting the natural hat trick to put Philly up 4-3.
David Krejci would knot the contest up at 4-4 early in the 3rd while Greg Campbell would put the Bruins back on top a few minutes later to make it 5-4. However, Maxime Talbot would strike again and once again knot things up, this time at 5-5.
After a scoreless OT in which the B's were unable to take advantage of a holding penalty assessed to Kimmo Timonenen 3:20 in, the game went to a shootout where Tyler Seguin would tally the winning goal and Tim Thomas made the save on Wayne Simmonds to give Boston the 6-5 shootout win while everybody else was watching the Pats and Ravens, apparently [guilty!- NANESB!].
So once again, Boston is credited with 6 goals on the Flyers, but unlike their last meeting at the Wells Fargo Center, the Bruins needed every last one of them. Tim Thomas stopped 33 of 38 shots faced in regulation and OT while Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 32 of 37 faced.
From there, the Bruins will travel to Washington D.C. where they will face the Capitals in their final game before the All-Star Break. This will actually be the first meeting between the two teams this season. The puck will drop at 7PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS: With the Bruins in Washington D.C., the team was scheduled to visit the White House and meet with President Obama on Monday, as is customary for championship teams to do.
However, Tim Thomas has declined to join the team on the visit citing political differences with President Obama. Thomas is staunchly conservative and has donated to conservative candidates and political action committees in 2010 and wears a variation of the Gadsden Flag [an unofficial symbol of the Tea Party] on his mask.
Thomas is not the first outspoken conservative to have played for a championship team in Boston. Shortly after winning the 2004 World Series, starting pitcher Curt Schilling threw his support behind President George W Bush who was running for re-election against Massachusetts Senator John Kerry at the time. Other players for the Bruins, Red Sox or Patriots have hinted at more conservative or libertarian political views, but otherwise held their political leanings pretty close to the vest while playing in dark-blue Massachusetts.
Thomas is one of two Americans on the current Bruins roster (Joe Corvo being the other). The overwhelming majority of players hail from Canada.
On a side note, knowing Bay State liberals like I do, I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before somebody starts digging up some dirt about Thomas [allegations of cheating on his wife, taking steroids, puppy-drowning and so on- NANESB!] now that he's dared to slight their god with the 44% approval rating.
OTHER NHL NEWS: Edmonton Oilers LW Taylor hall is back on the ice after suffering a rather gruesome injury where his face was acceidentally stepped on by the skate of teammate Corey Potter during warm-ups before a game agaist the Columbus Blue Jackets last week.
The gash required 30 stitches and a specially insulated helmet that wouldn't rub against or aggravate the stitches as well as a tinted visor, since one of his eyes is almost swolen shut.
Hall has 15 goals and 16 assists in 37 games played this season. Both Hall and the Bruins' Tyler Segiun were the top two picks in the 2010 NHL Entry draft.
NBA: After being held to their lowest total all season in Firday night's 71-79 home loss against the Phoenix Suns, the Boston Celtics hit the road for a quick 1-game trip down to Washington D.C. to take on the woeful Wizards on Sunday in a contest that got even LESS attention than the Bruins and Flyers.
Paul Pierce carried the C's with 34 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists for the Celtics in their 100-94 win over the Wizards, who are now 2-14.
Boston will next take on Orlando Monday and Thursday night in a home and away series. Monday Night's game will tip off at the Garden and be televised on Comcast sports New England and NBA-TV. Thursday night's road game will get underway at 8PM ET and be televised nationally on TNT.
But as it turned out, there was a game to be played and it turned out to be a nearly prototypical 'tale of two halves' [and not just because I caught the 1st half on a fading AM radio station and the second half in (sort of) glorious hi-def on a plasma screen- NANESB!].
The Packers got out to a 21-3 lead (two of those the end result of turnovers from Ben Roethlisberger) late in the 2nd quarter before the Steelers were able to find the end zone on an 8 yard Roethlisberger to Heinz Ward TD pass to make it a 21-10 game at the half.
However, the Packers would have to continue in the second half without star cornerback Rod Woodson, who went down in the second quarter with what was initially classified as a 'left shoulder injury' but turned out to be a broken left collarbone.
The Packers would open up the second half by going three and out deep in their own territory, leaving the Steelers with the ball at mid-field on the ensuing punt. From there, the Steelers closed the gap to make it a 21-17 game with a quick-strike drive that relied exclusively on the rushing game.
While the Green Bay offense would continue to sputter, the Packers D would limit the Steelers to a missed 52 yard FG attempt from midfield after Roethlisberger was sacked on a lengthy drive of 4 and a half minutes. Green Bay wasn't able to do much with the ball at midfield other than pin the Steelers deep in their own territory on the ensuing punt.
The two teams would close out the 3rd quarter by trading 3 and outs. Pittsburgh got the ball back in good field position at the very end of the 3rd, but on the first play of the 4th quarter RB Rashard Mendenhall fumbled the ball and Green Bay linebacker Desmond Bishop recovered on the Packer's own 33 yard line (the runback gave Green Bay the ball on their 45 yard line). The Packers took advantage by marching down the field and going up by 6 when Aaron Rogers connected with WR Greg Jennings- this came after Rogers made key completions of 12 and 38 yards on 3rd and 7and 3rd and 10.
The Steelers would come right back with a lengthy drive and cash in on 3rd and 3 from the GB 25 yard line (after picking up 15 on 2nd and 18) before successfully completing a 2 point conversion to make it a 3-point game, with the Packers still on top 28-25 with just over 7 minutes left in regulation.
Green Bay would respond with a lengthy, time consuming drive that took a little over 5 minutes off the clock and put them deep in the red zone before deciding to kick a FG and make it a 31-25 advantage.
Pittsburgh would be assessed a penatly on the ensuing kickoff and have to start from deep in their own territory. Roethlisberger would be able to get the ball out to the Steelers 33 yard line, but that's as far as they would go because after failing to convert on 4th and 5 with 49 seconds remaining in the game.
So the Green Bay Packers come away victorious in their first Superbowl appearance since 1998- when it was Favre against Ellway.
Packers QB Aaron Rogers went 24 for 39 with 304 yards and 3 TDs and was named Superbowl XLV MVP....I'm not sure if they still do the 'I'm going to Disneyworld' thing, tho'.
Pretty good game, all in all. I thought it would be a complete blowout after the first half, but the Steelers made it interesting for a while in the second. The turnovers simply killed the Steelers, with 21 points coming off of turnovers.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Shannon Sharpe, Deion Sanders and Marshall Faulk have been named to the NFL Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee this weekend.
Tom Brady was named the regular-season MVP by all 50 panelists since the AP began using a nationwide panel of media members who cover the league. This is the first time ever a player had been unanimously selected for the MVP award.
NHL: The Bruins were dealt their first loss since the All-Star break on Saturday when they hosted the San Jose Sharks. Sharks netminder Antti Niemi stopped all 26 shots faced while Tim Thomas stopped 16 of 17 shots faced in the 2-0 loss (the 2nd San Jose goal came on an empty-netter later in the game).
Boston's next game will be on Wednesday at home against the Canadiens- this one will be televised on VS at 7PM Eastern, 4PM Pacific. The Habs are coming into TD Banknorth Garden off of a 4-1 loss to New Jersey on Sunday.
NBA: The Celtics didn't do much better on Friday night in Dallas, falling to the Mavericks 101-97 after a late rally by Dallas.
All in all, Sunday afternoon was a pretty good day for the Rajon Rondo, scoring 26 points in Boston's 91-80 win over the Orlando Magic. Paul Pierce had 18 points and Kevin Garnett had 16 on Sunday while Dwight Howard had 28 of his own in a losing effort for Orlando.
The Celtics will travel to Charlotte for a Monday Night tipoff against the Bobcats at 7PM Eastern.
