Thursday, February 09, 2012
Super Bowl, a pleasure
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
In this world of dismal politics, economy and war threats it is a distinct relief to report on a joyful event that stresses initiative, self-reliance, cooperation, dedication and straight talking.. and should give us New Yorkers a good feeling. The Super Bowl game at Indianapolis on Sunday February 5 had all of the above attributes.
This was a rematch of the steady champion, New England Patriots, against the sporadically brilliant New York Giants. The Pats, led by the reliable quarterback Tom Brady (12), under the guidance of super coach Bill Belichick, had a record of `17 wins and two losses this season. The Giants had a spotty 14 game split season (half wins, half losses) until December 24, when they initiated an outburst of five wins, starting with a 29-14 success against the New York Jets and leading to their participation in The Game. Our team, coached by Tom Coughlin, Bill Parcells’ successor, and quarterbacked by tall, boyish looking quarterback, Eli Manning (10), a scion of a distinguished family (his brother Peyton was the Indianapolis Colts star) were the winners of the 2007 Patriots/Giants Super Bowl, with the same leaders on both sides – but not the same teams.
On the record, the Giants were destined to lose in 2012, but nobody told them, and they started with a bang, scoring and barely letting the Patriots hold the ball, until the closing minutes of the first half. The Giants had the wide receiver Victor Cruz (80), a major threat, known to catch any ball tossed approximately in his direction, and twist away from defenders with incredible agility. He was holding off the Patriots’ defensive tackles, while the indefatigable running back Ahmad Bradshaw (44) and the huge Brandon Jacobs (27) gained yardage off a porous line of defenders. But then Tom Brady won control, and in ten plays marched his team 97 yards, the length of the field, with a mix of short and long passes, interspersed by runs by Danny Woodhead (39), who seemed to be everywhere, until his team scored a touchdown..
In the second half Tom Brady continued his sequence of plays, in succession, until scoring again, 17 - 9, But Eli Manning was not defeated, and continued, with intermittent gains on both sides, to get to 17-15, until the last minutes, again. Then he resumed command and moved the Giants downfield 88 yards , starting with a 38 yard pass to Mario Manningham (82). Manning was sure to gain a touchdown or at least a field goal, and slowed down the game to leave no time for the Patriots to retaliate. With one minute to go, Brady’s men had to practically push Ahmad Bradshaw over the goal line, for the 17-21 score (that’s a pretty rare sight to put in our memory books), to gain control of the ball and try for another miracle effort. Only a touchdown would help, a field goal would lose. But the Giants were on to the nervous Pats, Brady was either wrestled down or has his pass deflected in three tries , until, at 51 yards and fourth down, he tossed a Hail Mary pass over the goal line, the area teeming with players, with the ball barely eluding the grasp of his stellar tight end Bob Gronkowski (87).
This game will be remembered a long time, with several record breaking scores, for both Eli Manning, the games Most Valuable Player who completed 30 pass attempts for 296 yards and earned his second Super Bowl title, and Tom Brady, with 14consecutive completions, also a Super Bowl record.
The Super Bowl is a factor in US economy. To begin with, an unprecedented number of giant size TV sets was sold to increase the game’s fantasy experience, including 80 inch and larger, alas almost all made abroad, not helping the US import overhead and the production employment picture. There was a run on beer, pizza and hors d’oeuvres trays sold by supermarkets, and several of the weekend comic strip characters (yes, there are such in out-of-town papers) such as Blondie and Zits were shown deep into overeating.
The famous Super Bowl TV ads reached a price ticket high, for a recession economy, of a $3.25M charge for 30 seconds (that’s $116,667 a second), vastly beyond the steady pay scale of Goldman-Sachs or any mayor bank rulers, although it may match their one-time commissions). Some of the unique ads may have cost as much in production expenses, e.g. the Pepsi-Cola opera scene, the thirsty polar bear scrabbling for a Coke, in two scenes, rivaling Walt Disney’s movie announcements. Automobile events were everywhere, from a stately thank you from cooperating Detroit carmakers (a nice touch), to a truly funny one, of undergraduates in caps and gowns jumping for joy at a gift of a really peachy Chevrolet . And I have finally unearthed why and how the mysterious Go-Daddy firm can afford two say-nothing ads. It turns out they register domain names on internet, and have 45 million domain names under management, authorized and four times larger than their nearest competitor. Alas, I still cannot understand Madonna’s halftime show.
Wally Dobelis thanks NYTimes and TV and internet sources.
In this world of dismal politics, economy and war threats it is a distinct relief to report on a joyful event that stresses initiative, self-reliance, cooperation, dedication and straight talking.. and should give us New Yorkers a good feeling. The Super Bowl game at Indianapolis on Sunday February 5 had all of the above attributes.
This was a rematch of the steady champion, New England Patriots, against the sporadically brilliant New York Giants. The Pats, led by the reliable quarterback Tom Brady (12), under the guidance of super coach Bill Belichick, had a record of `17 wins and two losses this season. The Giants had a spotty 14 game split season (half wins, half losses) until December 24, when they initiated an outburst of five wins, starting with a 29-14 success against the New York Jets and leading to their participation in The Game. Our team, coached by Tom Coughlin, Bill Parcells’ successor, and quarterbacked by tall, boyish looking quarterback, Eli Manning (10), a scion of a distinguished family (his brother Peyton was the Indianapolis Colts star) were the winners of the 2007 Patriots/Giants Super Bowl, with the same leaders on both sides – but not the same teams.
On the record, the Giants were destined to lose in 2012, but nobody told them, and they started with a bang, scoring and barely letting the Patriots hold the ball, until the closing minutes of the first half. The Giants had the wide receiver Victor Cruz (80), a major threat, known to catch any ball tossed approximately in his direction, and twist away from defenders with incredible agility. He was holding off the Patriots’ defensive tackles, while the indefatigable running back Ahmad Bradshaw (44) and the huge Brandon Jacobs (27) gained yardage off a porous line of defenders. But then Tom Brady won control, and in ten plays marched his team 97 yards, the length of the field, with a mix of short and long passes, interspersed by runs by Danny Woodhead (39), who seemed to be everywhere, until his team scored a touchdown..
In the second half Tom Brady continued his sequence of plays, in succession, until scoring again, 17 - 9, But Eli Manning was not defeated, and continued, with intermittent gains on both sides, to get to 17-15, until the last minutes, again. Then he resumed command and moved the Giants downfield 88 yards , starting with a 38 yard pass to Mario Manningham (82). Manning was sure to gain a touchdown or at least a field goal, and slowed down the game to leave no time for the Patriots to retaliate. With one minute to go, Brady’s men had to practically push Ahmad Bradshaw over the goal line, for the 17-21 score (that’s a pretty rare sight to put in our memory books), to gain control of the ball and try for another miracle effort. Only a touchdown would help, a field goal would lose. But the Giants were on to the nervous Pats, Brady was either wrestled down or has his pass deflected in three tries , until, at 51 yards and fourth down, he tossed a Hail Mary pass over the goal line, the area teeming with players, with the ball barely eluding the grasp of his stellar tight end Bob Gronkowski (87).
This game will be remembered a long time, with several record breaking scores, for both Eli Manning, the games Most Valuable Player who completed 30 pass attempts for 296 yards and earned his second Super Bowl title, and Tom Brady, with 14consecutive completions, also a Super Bowl record.
The Super Bowl is a factor in US economy. To begin with, an unprecedented number of giant size TV sets was sold to increase the game’s fantasy experience, including 80 inch and larger, alas almost all made abroad, not helping the US import overhead and the production employment picture. There was a run on beer, pizza and hors d’oeuvres trays sold by supermarkets, and several of the weekend comic strip characters (yes, there are such in out-of-town papers) such as Blondie and Zits were shown deep into overeating.
The famous Super Bowl TV ads reached a price ticket high, for a recession economy, of a $3.25M charge for 30 seconds (that’s $116,667 a second), vastly beyond the steady pay scale of Goldman-Sachs or any mayor bank rulers, although it may match their one-time commissions). Some of the unique ads may have cost as much in production expenses, e.g. the Pepsi-Cola opera scene, the thirsty polar bear scrabbling for a Coke, in two scenes, rivaling Walt Disney’s movie announcements. Automobile events were everywhere, from a stately thank you from cooperating Detroit carmakers (a nice touch), to a truly funny one, of undergraduates in caps and gowns jumping for joy at a gift of a really peachy Chevrolet . And I have finally unearthed why and how the mysterious Go-Daddy firm can afford two say-nothing ads. It turns out they register domain names on internet, and have 45 million domain names under management, authorized and four times larger than their nearest competitor. Alas, I still cannot understand Madonna’s halftime show.
Wally Dobelis thanks NYTimes and TV and internet sources.
