‘Super’ Bowl?

By Kristian Garic

Nah, not really … but, hey, it wasn’t all that bad

Saints fans, feel any vindication? Well, I know, I know it isn’t as sweet as seeing the Saints win the World Championship but seeing Peyton Manning do it is a nice silver lining. Going into this game you got the feeling that it would be a game of firsts, and it certainly was. Start with the opening kickoff when rookie sensation Devin Hester took the opening drive 92 yards to paydirt and put the Bears ahead 7-0, marking the first time in Super Bowl history a play like this had been made.

Tony Dungy and the Colts remained calm, didn’t panic, and just got it done.

Most teams might have crumbled after Hester streaked down the sideline on the first play of the game, but not the Colts – not Tony Dungy’s team, a man who suffered tremendous personal tragedy in his family with the death of his son last year.

After the opening kick-off the Colts dominated in just about every facet of the game.

While Manning wasn’t stellar, he was steady and executed the game plan to perfection.

Bears defense, great but not good enough

The Colts gave the Bears a steady dose of the run keeping the Bears’ defense off balance with play-action underneath passes.

The Colts ran almost three times as many offensive plays as the Bears did, and until about 12 minutes were left in the fourth quarter the Bears still had a chance to win.

Enter Rex Grossman, enough said – yep “Wrecks Gross Man” showed up and as if on cue threw two fourth-quarter interceptions.

Both interceptions resulted in points for the Colts.

I have said it many times in discussions around the water cooler, you can’t hide your quarterback in a game like this, not with all this on the line.

I think it is a shame that Grossman even got a chance to play in this game, simply because I think he’ll be fighting for his job in two years!

While Grossman played bad, Manning was methodical and consistent in a steady downpour.

The favorite son of New Orleans turned in a performance that earned him Super Bowl XLI and the Most Valuable Player title.

Ironically Manning didn’t play one of his best games and the Colts still came out with a victory.

Most of us didn’t see a Super Bowl appearance in the Colts future during the regular season, and if they were to make it to the big game and win you would insist Manning would have to throw for 400 yards and four touchdowns in order for the Colts to win.

People are still trying to figure out where the Colts found their defense, but make no mistake they found a good one.

Was the weather a factor?

Nope, just like it wasn’t a factor when the Bears won the NFC championship game in the snow at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The Colts were the better team, on a wet field, a dry field, a dome stadium, on the beach or at the north pole, Indy wasn’t going to lose this game.

While the Saints loss in the NFC Championship game still stings, it was nice to see Manning get his championship that he so desperately wanted.

Manning can now play with “house money” for the rest of his career, no longer will he hear ‘he can’t win the big one.’

No longer will he be compared to Dan Marino, and his bust is already being formed for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Let’s talk about firsts and a great coach

While it was a historic Super Bowl in terms of firsts, the most important first was Dungy becoming the first African-American head Coach to win a Super Bowl in the history of the NFL.

What was Dungy’s response on the accomplishment?

“I wasn’t the first black coach with the ability to win, I was just the first with the opportunity.”

Wow! How could you not like this guy, I wonder if Tampa wishes they had him back?

Dungy is a class act, and good things happen to good people.

Did you like the feeling? Did you like seeing a part of New Orleans win a Super Bowl?

It was nice, but not as nice as it would have been if the black and gold were holding up the Lombardi trophy in Miami!

Well, it took Manning almost a decade to win his first championship, let’s hope it isn’t that long for Drew Brees and company!

How ‘bout them TV commercials … !

This year there were some good ones, some bad ones and some smutty ones.

The best: I loved the Budweiser commercial where two men approach the ice-chest to retrieve a beer only to find one left in the cooler.

They look at each other and come up with a way to decide who gets the last beer. It will be a game of “paper, rock, and scissors” and the count begins 1-2-3.

One guy shows paper, the other guy throws a rock and hits the guy that showed paper in the head with a real rock and calmly takes the beer from the cooler and walks off. That was hilarious.

The worst also comes from Budweiser with a dog that eventually turns into a Dalmatian when covered with mud. It just took too long to develop the plot.

The smuttiest: The Doritos “check out sex”, I won’t even describe it, it was raunchy and featured two of the most unattractive people on the face of this earth.

I am already scarred for life after that commercial.