Welcome back to the blog! Well, it's been a few days since my last entry, and with good cause! Over the weekend we had our good friend Jeroen over for the Super Bowl. I'll get to the game later. For now, I just want to say that we had a great time with Jeroen. The guy is the coolest guy you could meet and sound as a pound, as they say. The trip for him included a visit to the Leisureplex for bowling and pool, going to see the Book of Kells and seeing Avatar last night. His words at the end of the movie were "Amazing!" in summing up James Cameron's multi-million dollar piece of cinematic genius.
Jeroen is heading home now, so I hope he has a safe trip! :)
Now onto the Super Bowl! The New Orleans Saints captured the Vince Lombardi trophy after a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. There were plenty of great storylines coming into the game. The Colts were 4 point favourites entering the game. They got off to a great start and seemed to have the Saints' number in the first half. In the first quarter, the Colts led 10-0 after a Pierre Garcon TD catch. The Saints, to their credit, battled back and really keyed on getting the ball down the seam to Marques Colston and Jeremy Shockey among others. Brees tried to go deep on many occasions, but the Colts always had it covered. The Cover 2 defense they run is more of a Tampa 2 from the days on Tony Dungy - fast, aggressive players are needed to execute the scheme. When the Colts stopped a run on 4th and goal from the 1 yard line, the momentum swung their way, but the Saints managed to put up six points before the half to make it 10-6.
At halftime, the discussion in our sitting room at home was rather low key when it came to the game. It was a strange game in that way. It had so many great players and great moments, but these teams are businesslike in their approach. They stayed out of the spotlight during the weeks leading up to the game. At Media Day, neither set of players spoke out except to say the cliched expressions like "We're ready for a tough game" and so on.
The beginning of the 3rd quarter was a massive turning point for me. The Saints' kicker Thomas Morstead lined up to the kick off, but executed a sneaky onside kick on instruction from ballsy coach Sean Payton - and it worked to perfection! There was a scramble for the pigskin, but the Saints came away with it. They had already garnered momentum from the 2nd quarter, despite only putting up 6 points. The Saints took the initiative after the onside kick and took the lead. I have to give credit to Payton. He is a brilliant offensive mind who sometimes takes risks, but if you live by the sword, you die by the sword and sometimes that sword is the very thing that could lead you to victory. This time it did.
I would like to point out that I predicted only moments before the game-clincing pick six that it would happen. I believe my exact words were "There is going to be a defensive TD or some big defensive play coming up!". New Orleans CB Tracy Porter picked off a slant pass intended for Reggie Wayne and ran it back. I'm a defense kind of guy, so I love to see defensive TDs in high profile games. In any games, really. What a thrilling way to essentially kill off the game. There's just something about a defensive play that steals momentum, and the Saints did that with that interception. Manning and the Colts were down 31-17 and couldn't recover.
Unfortunately this also means the end of the football season, always a sad time for me. I've got exams to focus on, however, and then the summer of work/play, so it comes around faster than you think. I'll be keeping you all up to date with my thoughts on the Panthers movements during the offseason and indeed general NFL activity. I'll also bore you with my dynasty league updates.
That's all for today. I've got three lectures now, so I have to get my concentration hat on.
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