Packers Won the Super Bowl. Wooo!

Hat tip to Deadspin.  Yes, I confess, I rooted for the cheeseheads.  Woo!

Well, damn.

I really thought Larry Fitzgerald had won it for the Cardinals. My first NFL team is and always will be the Bears, but the Cardinals, since their St. Louis days, have been a close second. So, I was delirious when the Cardinals came from a 20-7 deficit to take a 23-20 lead with under three minutes to go.

Give it to Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes (pictured above - courtesy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), they made spectacular plays down the stretch, ending with what may be the greatest throw and catch in the history of the National Football League, and just like that, it was gone and the Steelers had won Super Bowl number 6, more than any other franchise. (Note, the Bears and the Packers still have won more NFL championships than anyone else.)

Well, congratulations to the Steelers, they won it out right.

At least we're less than two weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training!

WOW. Yeah, I saw it, and I'm not sure I believe it...

Photo courtesy AP/Newsday

Under normal circumstances, I would have rooted for the Giants; after the Bears and the Cardinals, they are my favorite team, and they have been since Fran Tarkenton went there.  

However, the Patriots were going for perfection and history and all that, and I STILL believe that Bill Belichick deserves to be discussed in the same realm as Bill Walsh and Chuck Noll.  What he has done is remarkable, and he deserves accolades and a trip to Canton when it's all said and done.  And don't hand me any bullshit about "cheating"; we live in a world where Al Davis once coached, so Spygate ain't hittin' on nothin' with the Cracker.

All that having been said, the Giants flat out WHOOPED the Patriots on Sunday night, winning the war on BOTH sides of the line of scrimmage.   The Giant defense was in Tom Brady's face, ass and other regions up until the last New England TD drive, when they were clearly gassed.

Then, despite the fact that, until this season, Eli Manning had been a joke in the New York region, he stepped up and delivered the type of game-winning drive that Brady and his brother Peyton were better known for providing.  He capped the drive with a TD pass to the man whose injuries had kept him out of much of the Giants' season, Plaxico Burress.

Bravo to Eli, and to Tom Coughlin, who made the changes he had to make in style to keep his job, regaining his players' trust and support in the process.  Most of all, bravo to Steve Spagnolo, Giants DC, who came up with the plan to harass Brady and got his players to execute it to perfection.  Bravo to Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and last but not least, Michael Strahan, who finally gets a ring before his eventual induction in Canton.

I feel sad for Belichick, who made sure he hugged and congratulated Coughlin, as they had worked together under Bill Parcells with these Giants years ago.  I feel saddest of all for Randy Moss, who did everything the Patriots asked of him, shedding his clubhouse-cancer reputation in the process.

However, they will be back, rebuilt and ready for blood next year.  And as for the Giants, they've earned their parade in Manhattan on Tuesday.  Especially Eli Manning,  who is now the toast of New York, maybe even more than Derek Jeter!

Ah well, we'll always have 1985, I guess.

Chicago Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo

Well, after Devin Hester (pictured above) ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown, it was pretty much downhill for the NFC Champion Chicago Bears, as the Super Bowl was won convincingly by the Indianapolis Colts, 29-17.

Peyton Manning won the MVP in the same manner some Hollywood actors win an Oscar, as a lifetime achievement award. Oh, Peyton outplayed Rex Grossman, but the game was truly won by the Colts DEFENSE, which was the joke of the AFC in the regular season but the TOAST of the AFC in the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Tony Dungy, a fine and classy individual, Bill Polian (4 SB losses with the Bills) and Manning all have the giant Ls removed from their foreheads, and they deserve this championship. They and their Colts were the last team standing, and that's what counts.

Congratulations to the Champions of Super Bowl XLI, the Indianapolis Colts.

SIDE NOTE: This makes my final record 9-2 for the playoffs, not too shabby. My two losses were when the Colts beat the Ravens and the Bears.

The time has come...

For my Super Bowl pick....

Super Bowl XLI, Miami, Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears, 5:21 PM, CBS (WREG -3)

Let me tell you a story that I think is a parallel to this year's game. When the Colts first played in this game, in January 1969, they came to Miami as prohibitive favorites. Just as this year, they were the champions of the conference or league that was perceived to be clearly superior to the other one.

Just as this year, the Colts had a legendary QB who was thought to be one of the best all-time, with a great head coach who was also thought to be among the elite.

Just as this year, the other team had a quarterback from the North who went to a SEC school to play under a legendary coach, who helped prepare him for the road ahead..

Just as this year, that QB, who had struggled in the pros prior to that season, enraged the mighty Colts by guaranteeing victory for the upstarts.

Before that earlier game, the Al DeRogatis of NBC stunned the world by predicting that if the New York Jets got over 100 yards on the ground, they would win the game.

Behind Matt Snell and Emerson Boozer, Joe Namath led the upstart Jets to the Super Bowl title by not making any mistakes.

So, if Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson can run for a combined 100 yards, I believe that Rex Grossman will manage this game efficiently, keeping the legendary Peyton Manning off the field and winning the game for the Bears.

I am confident in the Bears' defense, and I think they will shut down Harrison and Wayne, and that will be enough.

PICK: Bears 23, Colts 10