Superbowl!!!

[Serenity Vixen]

Ok, who do you want to win?

For me, I am and have been for well over 10 years a Patriots Fan, and I hope they finish off their perfect season in the perfect way, with a Superbowl win :)

[Sherona]

I wonder if there is a way for either team (I dont care which one) to win it in like..5 mins..>.> lol I hate football..and Superbowl is the worse of them all ...hubby loves football which just makes me want to go hang myself ...lol. Though some of the commercials are mildly amusing..

[Hunter]

SPORTS BAD!!

[Amberghylles]

I have a mild interest in seeing the Patriots win just to have a perfect season occur.  But I don't really follow any sport so I won't be watching. 

[Bliss]

Go Pats!

[Cherri Tart]

patriots!  Tom Brady is a local boy AND he's super cute!  plus, all my favorite people are pats fans :D

[Trieste]

*does the Pats dance* It will make me insanely, ludicrously happy if the Pats win. I don't mind watching football, more fun to play it, but as the season's gone on and the people around me have all gotten more excited, I can't help it. It's infectious. Which means if the Pats win, it'll be like an empathygasm! And those are great! :D

[Serenity Vixen]

Something scary, at least to me. I saw Tom Brady on TMZ wearing an ankle brace
I sincerely hope it is not something serious

[King_Furby]

The pats are by far the better team though the giants have had great success lately. Anything can happen and nothing goes undefeated for too long but i do think the pats will win. I honestly do hope that tom's ankle really will be fine by sunday, and i think it will. Everyone including him are saying it will be fine and it's nothing serious. but tom is a tough guy as long as he can walk he will be playing in that game.

I just want it to be a good game which it will be.

Go pats for the perfect season.

[Elandra]

Go Pats!

But the real question is....will there be any decent commercials this year or will we be inundated with too many political ads?

[Spookie Monster]

I'm a big fan of the Patriots, so I'd love to see them win.  It's become really strange to reflect back to the early '90s, when I first got into football; things seemed grim indeed back then for the whole franchise.  Now the Patriots are returning to the Super Bowl again?  Pretty amazing...

Oh, and I still get a kick out of that commercial involving cat herding...

Spel

[King_Furby]

i hope to at least see one long catch by randy moss. i love the long pass.

[Lancis]

Tom announced that the ankle is fine and that he is now engaged...


I am with Spel, I to have followed the Pats and been a fan when they were and almost as bad as the Dolphins team... (tho they have NEVER been that bad)alot of "close" games under Bledsoe, ever since Brady took over as head QB the Pats seem to have the Golden touch.


GO PATS 19-0!

[TonyWoods]

As a neutral, I'm going to be rooting for the underdogs here and placing my support with the Giants (and after hearing about six or so of their players have come down with flu this week, I think they are going to need it even more).

Just need to start racking up a few early nights so I'll actually be able to stay awake until it finishes at 3am or so here on Monday morning...

[Apple of Eris]

Go Packers!

Oh wait.... they aren't playing? Well go Pack anyway!

Uhm... and Giants too. I distrust anything with the word 'Patriot' in it.

[Serenity Vixen]

A little Patriot Act Paranoia? 

Can't really blame you there. It is kind of scary that people can take away freedoms in the name of protecting freedoms, and not a hint of laughter in their voice...   I suppose this is something for a different thread in a different forum though :P

[Apple of Eris]

Yeah, and Tom Brady scares me. I don't think he's human. He's like a really attractive andriod created for some nefarious purpose.

Maybe to encourage women to watch football... obviously I'm still developing this conspiracy theory

[Trieste]

Yes! He must be ... thoroughly observed. And everyone knows observation goes best with chips + salsa + beer.

Unless my mom makes her margaritas, in which case it's all about the strong driks and the singing. Oh man, I love superbowl sundays. :D

[Kazyth]

I am working.  No Superbowl for me.  Sad Kylepanda.

[Serenity Vixen]

Hmmmmmmmmm....

Using Tom Brady for Nefarious purposes...

Going to put that in the vault with the special fantasies :)

[Trieste]

Poor Kazyth. I'm sorry!

... The Quarterback: Return to Stepford. Brilliant!

[Sugarman (hal)]

SPORTS BAD!!

oh Hunter... come on it's all in fun.

as for me, Giants but not holding my breath.

[Sugarman (hal)]

Go Packers!

Oh wait.... they aren't playing? Well go Pack anyway!

Uhm... and Giants too. I distrust anything with the word 'Patriot' in it.

A lady after my heart

[Hunter]

oh Hunter... come on it's all in fun.

as for me, Giants but not holding my breath.

SPORTS BAD!!!

[King_Furby]

The pats will probably rape the giants.

[Spookie Monster]

It's good to see that there are some Giants supporters here after all.  I've been genuinely impressed by these Giants in particular and I believe that they've earned their place in Super Bowl XLII.  As I said above, I do want to see the Patriots win -- goodness yes.  If they lose, though, I won't feel ashamed, because the Giants are a talented and passionate team.  Anyway, here's to a good, clean, injury-free game!

Oh, and sorry to hear that you'll be working, Kazyth... :(

Uhm... and Giants too. I distrust anything with the word 'Patriot' in it.

Hey, giants are as dangerous as jingoes!  According to my copy of Monster Manual, even the lowly hill giant is able "to hurl rocks from 1" to 20" distances, inflicting 2-16 hit points of damage"!

(*cough*)

Besides, the Giants are the G-Men! ;D

Incidentally, would anybody like to venture a guess as to the final score?  It's a little cheap of me to ask, granted -- I myself always try to avoid predicting scores -- but I imagine that somebody here will be willing to give it a shot...

Spel

[Serenity Vixen]

The Giants have my respect, and they have indeed earned their place in the surperbowl. They gave the Patriots one of their hardest games of the season, and though I do not think they will, it is certainly within their ability to hand the Patriots an upset. I sincerely hope they do not do this though as I have a rather steep bet with my room mates over the winner :P

[Kazyth]

Ooooh, 'Slave For A Week' kind of bets?   ;D

[King_Furby]

21 - 28 pats. i expect it to be close.

[Serenity Vixen]

Wow Kazyth, you hit that one right on the head *Blush*

Thing is, it is a good bet since I know how the slave would be used, and even if I lose I win :P

[Vekseid]

The pats will probably rape the giants.

I think our female audience would pay for that.

[Elvi]

Errrr....not really, though I am sure some of the males would..... 

[Serenity Vixen]

*agrees with Elvi*

:P

[Serenity Vixen]

Interesting Quote from Laurence Fishburne on the Superbowl

"How do you choose between the Undefeated and the Underdog?"

I just liked that quote :)

[King_Furby]

here are some of the things people are betting on about the game, i found it interesting.
http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/7735484/Breaking-down-some-wild-Super-Bowl-bets?MSNHPHCP&GT1=10937

[Sugarman (hal)]

HALF TIME 7/3 New England

Go Gaints

[Bliss]

Go Pats!

[King_Furby]

at 7 - 10 it does not look good for the pats at the moment. I fear i may lose some money now =) only 20 bucks but still damn.

pats need to just play better and protect tom brady if they hope to win.

once the 5 minute mark hit NE seemed to have found their grove, i hope they keep it up for the last 3 minutes of the game. w

[Sugarman (hal)]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Giants upset them  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[King_Furby]

yep 64% of the nation was wrong.

NE just could not get much going, their offensive line messed up play after play after play. This goes to show you noone is perfect forever.

though i still consider NE the best team this year based on they only lost once though it just happened to be the final game. I give alot of credit to the giants for taking the game they played great.

CRY..i not only lost 20 bucks but football season is pretty much over.

just the pro bowl is left which is on next sunday. don't forget about that one football fans

[Bliss]

AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*gets up, dusts self off, goes and puts on BoSox jersey*

[Serenity Vixen]

*Sigh*

I guess I get to learn what it means to play slave-girl :P

[Trieste]

Damn. Well, at least I had fun at the Superbowl party.

[Apple of Eris]

I think I only really noticed the last quarter since I was mostly drunk and sleepy, but god what a game. I was so happy the giants won! Hee!

And House was goooooooood.

[Cherri Tart]

*Sigh*

I guess I get to learn what it means to play slave-girl :P

*smiles* take it from me, there's nothing better! :D

[Spookie Monster]

Many congratulations to the Giants and to their fans.  It's been a wild season and you guys most certainly earned that trophy.  Hoist it high! :)

I'm not sure whether I should be offering you condolences or congratulations, Serenity Vixen.  Whichever you prefer... ;D

Spel

[King_Furby]

the pats are being sore losers. I expected their coach to be and i figured moss might be but not brady. Moss and Brady have pulled out of the pro bowl which i find lame. i understand how loseing after being pretty much perfect would take away some drive to play for a bit but this is too much. If the pats act like this after a loss then i am glad the giants won

[MagicalPen]

I've seen a lot of PATS fans complaining about the officiating. Like on that play by Tyree (aka Amazing Catch after Manning Scrambled)...they're all crying about HOLDING on that play. I didn't see anything close that could have been called. I thought the game was very well officiated - they let them play and there were very few penalties.

Its funny that PAT fans are complaining about the officiating though...you can go back to the 2nd half of this season and see so many calls that went in the PATS favor so that they had a chance at the perfect season (a few notable plays from the Baltime game, for instance, and the last game of the season against the Gaints where Whilfork purposely poked Jacobs in the eye).


All in all, definitely one of the most exciting, if not the best, superbowl I have ever seen. The better team won, no doubt about it. Only downside is now those '72 Dolphins still have bragging rights. *grumble*

[Serenity Vixen]

That isn't completely fair. From what I understand, only two of the Patriots players pulled out of the Probowl, and both had injuries. Given their performance in the Superbowl, that may have been the proper call to make

[MagicalPen]

Brady and Moss are not injured! The reason they both did poorly in the superbowl is because of the pressure the Giants got on Brady. Never gave him a chance to throw downfield. And with those hell-mary's at the end of the game, his ankle was perfectly fine. The player replacing Moss has been injured most of the season but is putting off surgery until after the Pro-Bow. At not one point during the game did we see either of them getting medical attention.

Burress, on the other hand, played the entire season injured. Didn't practice at all during the week before the Bowl because of his Knee and Ankle injuries. Don't see him wimping out of anything.

[Serenity Vixen]

How could you possibly know if they are injured or not? I am just saying what I read on the matter, but I am willing to accept the explanation. I watched the game too, and I saw allot of passes go awry that I was surprised did not connect, and I can see injuries being the reason.

I am not discounting the Giants defensive line. They were awesome, and the team that deserved to win did. But, it makes me a bit angry that you can be so angry because you think one thing happens without even allowing for the possibility that you may not know everything.

Fact, the Patriots played superbly all season against allot of extremely good teams. They have played time and again against aggressive defensive lines, but this time, they just fell apart.

You don't think injuries could have had anything to do with that>? Not even the possibility of being a factor?

[MagicalPen]

They didn't play perfectly all season. Several games were close contests (vs. Colts, Eagles, Ravens, Giants) and in a few of those instances (mainly the Ravens game) the officiating allowed the Pats to win. The Pressure of the defense was what made those passes hurried and off target. Brady never got into a Rhythm with pressure in his face most of the game. His completions did come when he had some time to set himself and throw the ball.  Yeah, the Pats Offensive line went out the window in the biggest game of the season, and the Giants managed to shut down Moss who was double-covered most of the game. But it was the frontline that disrupted the passing game the most. Hard to be accurate when you are hit as you're throwing the ball (that one case they tried Moss deep - he had beaten the coverage but the pass was under thrown as Brady was hit as he released).

Good teams all season? 8 of their games were against teams who finished with more losses then wins (Jets, Dolphins, Ravens finishing in the bottom 6 overall, Buffalo and Bengals finishing well below the .500 mark). Very few teams lost to those first 3. Elis interception in the last game of the season is what sunk the Giants then (the only turnover in the game) in a game the Giants lost by 3.

Pats definitely struggled in the post-season. Giants played far better in January then the Pats did, and in the end thats when it matters the most.

EDIT: Brady has possible injury, didn't show in game. Speculation with Moss is that he just doesnt want to play in the meaningless Pro-Bowl.

[Sugarman (hal)]

Silvestine is spot on correct. But that one pass and amazing reception did it for the Giants. Remember the score was 14 to 10 and the Giants need something big being still in their own side of the 50.

[rainshadow]

That Eli scramble/toss and Tyree snag was simply phenominal... and ESPN agrees with me that it was the most amazing play in Super Bowl history. It saved the Giants SB lives and they vaulted to the top of the football world because of it. So much Boston success... all shattered in the most amazing two minute drive I have personally ever seen (Super Bowl or not). It's not like they heaved a prayer in the last second (well, I honestly don't consider that kind of play a "drive"), but the Giants literally willed themselves down the field against what had been a pretty solid defense that just got worn down.

Props to the G-Men. They were given essentially no opportunity and those who said they had a chance were literally laughed at. I'm a fan of neither but preferred a Pats loss over a perfect season... not because I like the '72 Dolphins but because I needed a reason to smile. Never felt happier for the Giants, and never will again... unless they help out my teams in some way down the line... or pick up some players from my alma mater. I was never a Cowboys fan until they drafted Terrance Newman.

Sensational Super Bowl. Great finish. Glad it's over.

Let's move on to baseball season! :D

[MagicalPen]

lol...when Eli broke free and tossed that up, i thought it was going to get intercepted for sure! Tyree - not my first choice (would have thrown it to Plexico) - looked like he was surrounded by 4 Pats when he came down with it. I'm a Jets fan, so was clearly cheering on the Giants.

[Caustic]

It wasn't the prettiest play I've ever seen, that's for sure-- but it was one of the most exciting... I mean, catching it on his HELMET with one hand?  I'd never have believed it if I didn't see it. 

Most importantly, though, it gave me the satisfaction of hearing the Pats fans' collective egos shattering.  *malicious grin*  j/k.  I don't hate all of Boston... just the upper-middle class and above.

[rainshadow]

Pretty and sensational are two entirely different things. The offensive line crumbled and Manning was certainly one lucky SOB for not going down or not simply being downed for being "in the grasp"... a rule meant to protect QBs.

One thing that bothered me... the announcers and all the analysts kept talking about how Tyree did a sensational job not letting the ball hit the ground. I beg to differ... the nose of the ball DID touch the ground. However, according to the rule the ball can touch the ground on a catch so long as reciever maintains possession (in as it doesn't jostle around after touching). It takes a hell of a lot of strength to not drop the ball when 1) it was being pushed through his hands like that by an All-Pro defensive back (that helmet against the ball can't allow for the best control; amazing it didn't slip out of there) and 2) it touches the ground when you're falling BACKWARDS. Good stick'em on those gloves, Tyree!

[MagicalPen]

I read an article the other day about the Ref on that play and how he was about to call a sack (the grab rule or whatever) but somehow Eli managed to break free (the ref motioned that he hadn't been sacked). Close call, either way. Today, headline on Y! front page is something that made me laugh.

You want to know how stuck up Pats fans are? Look at this: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/nfl_experts/post/We-must-stop-the-unfair-treatment-of-the-New-Eng?urn=nfl%2C65863

Its 100% serious. If you look at the people who have signed the petition, half of them are people making fun of the Pats and the Petition itself. I mean, come on now? PATS FANS WANT TO TALK ABOUT CHEATING? They must have been sleeping these past 7 years...

[rainshadow]

Eli may just have been very lucky in his positioning during that play. The ref was literally behind that mass of humanity with Eli was on the other side. I think had he been able to see he may have called "in the grasp"... but even refs are human. They can't see everything. It's a part of that human error that belongs in these games. Of course, I've never really agreed with the "in the grasp" rule myself; it's just another copout rule like the "tuck" rule that allowed the Pats to advance toward their first Super Bowl.

[King_Furby]

Don't forget about the pro bowl people.

I hope the pats come back strong next year, i still would like brady to get a 4th super bowl.

[rainshadow]

Pro Bowl? Eh... I find it boring every year. Don't think I've watched a whole PB since Derrick Thomas passed away.

[MagicalPen]

WOW! PATRIOTS HAVE BEEN CHEATING SINCE 2000!

Latest News from when Goodell talked to Specter about SPYGATE:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-goodell-specter&prov=ap&type=lgns

I think its time to get rid of the 'Dynasty' tag and the 'Best Team Ever' tag...they need to make an example out of Belicheat and the Patriots as far as this goes.

More then likely, nothing will happen - kinda like when Merriman got caught doing 'roids.

[King_Furby]

I guess i don't really understand what was being filmed, so i can't make a judgement on it yet.

Can someone clear this up for me?

[Apple of Eris]

Apparently practices and the opponents signal calling.

[Serenity Vixen]

So that they would know what plays were being sent in and could therefore counter them much more easily

assuming I understand

[King_Furby]

I think it's low but i personally don't consider it cheating. I say this because of how many signals teams use and how often they switch plays in game. It would be very very hard to memorise and know every signal

[Apple of Eris]

I'm pretty sure that it's specifically forbidden to do that by NFL rules, hence, it IS cheating.

[King_Furby]

I just said in my personal view, i never said it isn't cheating. Big difference there.

My thing is i don't really know how useful that information would have been. Thats the thing i will never know. And to me there is no proof out there.

but reguardless t's shameful and wrong of them.

[MagicalPen]

Its not like Baseball where they change the signals each game. NFL players have HUNDREDS of plays and signals to memorize. If they did change the signals, its on a weekly basis and they'd spend all week learning them but I doubt thats the case.

Taping the last practice before the Superbowl (first one against St. Louis) is beyond cheating. That last practice is when the team runs each play they plan on using in the Superbowl in slow-mo so the players know exactly what they are doing. Clearly that gives the Taping Team a HUGE advantage.

It is LEGAL to ask for permission to Tape the games from the Endzone, but that is no different then what we see on TV. It is ILLEGAL to Tape other teams practices and it is also ILLEGAL to Tape the Offensive/Defensive Coordinators and the signals they are making.

Personally, I think the NFL is going to try and cover this up and make it go away as quickly as possible (like Spygate earlier in the season) because of what the whole 'roid thing is doing to baseball atm.

[MagicalPen]

And the plot thickens....

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_ylt=AmN6lvL0zMdFJtOcRRd0gI85nYcB?slug=ap-t25-indiana-sampson&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Hunter]

OMG!  I can't BELIEVE that you're STILL babbling about THAT!.   :-\

[MagicalPen]

Hmm...thats not the article I linked too...what happened?

The link is supposed to take you to an article about the Pats being sued for ~$100 Million by a former St. Louis Rams player (and a bunch of other people) because the Pats taped their superbowl practice.