The biggest game in all of sports is now upon us. Super Bowl XLII will kick off Sunday night between the undefeated New England Patriots, and the New York Giants. The Patriots (18-0) come into the game as the first undefeated team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The Giants (13-6) come into the game riding a ten game win streak.
Tuesday kicked off Super Bowl Media Day, a day devoted to thousands of reporters asking the same questions over and over to players, with a mix of random non-important questions. That being said lets take a look at the most overdone stories from Super Bowl XLII:
1.Tom Brady’s Injured Ankle- Enough with talking about Brady and his “injury”. If Brady thought that the ankle would be enough of a problem to affect how he was going to play, he would take himself out of the game. We are, after all, talking about the quarterback who has been listed on the injury report for pretty much the last two years straight. When will reporters start understanding that this is all part of Belichick’s plan? He wants other teams to worry about every possible scenario, in hopes of distracting them. He wants his team to have every possible advantage to win the game, which is also the reason for “Spy Gate”. Tom Brady will be the quarterback, come Sunday night, and I am willing to bet he will be the same Tom Brady that has led his team to the most impressive season in history this year.
2. New York vs. Boston- Sure, these are two of the most historic sports cities in the world, but this Giants/Patriots game is no Red Sox/Yankees. The Red Sox/ Yankees rivalry is arguably the best rivalry in all of sports. The Giants aren’t even the Patriots biggest rivals from “Ne w York”. Now that I say it, The Giants are from New Jersey, and the Patriots are from Foxborough, making this storyline completely irrelevant.
3. Plaxico Predicts Score- So Plaxico Burress predicted a Giants’ win by a score of 23-17. So what? Would people rather him say that he doesn’t expect his team to win? My problem is that he is not confident enough to say that the Giants will dominate the Patriots. The worst part of this storyline is that analysts think that the Patriots will use this as “bulletin board material”. Do you think the Patriots need another form of motivation to win this game? I think having the best season in history, and winning a Super Bowl is more than enough motivation.
4. The Giants Almost Beat The Patriots in Week 17- Key word? Almost. It is absurd that I have even had to listen to the argument of who gained the most from that final regular season game. To quote Coach Herm Edwards, “You play to win the games!” Who in their right mind thinks that before the game the Giants players were hoping they would lose in a close, hard fought game? I give the Giants credit for playing their starters the whole game, and I think it helped them in their playoff run, but the Patriots won that game.
5. The Giants Are On a Hot Steak- Yes, the Giants have won ten road straight games, but the Patriots are 18-0. If you were in the Super Bowl, whose momentum would scare you more? The Pats or the Giants? In my opinion, I would rather not play the best team in football history.
The Super Bowl is the greatest spectacle in all of sports, and I cannot wait to see history made. I’ll post more thoughts at the end of the week, and will give my prediction. (Hint- I’m not agreeing with Plax.)
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2 comments:
I have to admit, that’s a really interesting post. Perhaps those “classes” you are taking as part of your mass communication “education” are paying off after all.
In any case, I do have bones to pick:
1) Don’t you think that the Patriots’ responses to Plaxico’s comment have helped the story maintain newsworthiness? If I am correct (and I usually am), Brady retaliated by asking why Plax didn’t at least predict more points scored.
I like Media Day; its fun. But the sports fan in me really wishes that it would just cease to exist. Nothing but trouble can come of it.
2) I don’t think that the Giants’ hot streak can be overemphasized any more than can the Patriots’. Moreover, you have some inconsistency in your article because I don’t see how the Giants could have “won ten straight games,” yet lost to the Patriots in their last. This is obviously not an “overdone” story if the main facts of it aren’t even thoroughly drilled in yet.
But my point, really, is this: It’s true that the Giants did not beat the Patriots this season. However, in coming close, they found ways that the Patriots COULD be beaten. Therefore, that loss was an important one. In fact, I GUAR-RAN-DAMN-TEE that if New York does pull a victory at the Super Bowl out their asses, they will cite their final loss of the regular season as the main reason they eventually won the championship.
By the way: you forgot the single most overdone story of the Superbowl: Boston’s “dominance” in sports this year. I am tired of hearing it. A Boston area team choked in college football and, with any luck, so will their professional team and, then, this whole tired discourse can come to a thankful end!
The Eagles will see you in Tampa next year!!
Steve-
I appreciate your comment. Thank you for reading. Now if I may address your issues...
1. If you listened to Brady and other Patriots respond, they pretty much replied with the statement that the Patriots do not predict, they let there play do all the talking. In Brady's case, when told of the prediction that Plaxico made Brady just laughed and said, "We're only going to score 17 points?" and then he laughed. And also asked if Plaxico was playing defense on Sunday. I agree that this story was a noteworthy one, but by Sunday night don't you think that you will be sick of hearing about it?
I also like media day, and think it is a good addition. Without the Media Day "break" we would have had to listen about Brady's ankle for 2 more days.
2. I agreed that the Giants' loss to the Pats in Week 17 gave them something to work upon, but I would never call a loss a win. Secondly, the Giants won 10 straight road games. Which also includes the game held in London at a neutral site against the Dolphins.
I agree with the Boston dominance storyline as being overdone also, but it is amazing to see the success of these "Boston" teams. Heck, even Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, is having success in the Republican primaries.
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