Giants, 31-29.
MVP? LB Antonio Pierce.
Yeah, it'll certainly help if the Giants can get to Tom Brady and help him get familiar with the pristine turf of University of Phoenix Stadium. But I agree with Mitch Albom: it'll be better if the Giants can keep Tom Brady off the field. Long drives, solid running game, tough defense, no turnovers.
Seems easy enough, right?
Enjoy the game, kiddies.
I'm not going to blather on tonight. I'm far too dizzy to make any possible sense (and, yes, dizzier than usual, I agree.) Fuckin' amazing game. As I'm sure will be said many many many times in the coming days, across the TV box and the internet tubes, this was an Instant Classic. Here are some early thoughts from some sports blogs I particularly dig:
The Sports Frog gets the award for ShortnSweet, certainly echoing my sentiments regarding Tiki Barber.
Can't Stop The Bleeding had this to say about the NFC and AFC Championship games (the AFC take is particularly sharp), both written by Gerard Cosloy, co-head of Matador Records.
Predictions later (perhaps, and more thoughts as well), but I'll say this: I think the spread is gonna open at Pats by 9. 18-0 aside, I'd be very surprised if the oddsmakers give the Pats a double-digit spread. They made that mistake giving the Rams -14 back in 2002 (final score: 20-17, Patriots). Whether the Giants win or lose, it's gonna be a close game. They only lost by 3, back on December 29th, and they hung 35 points on that defense.
Fuck. I haven't cared this much about football in general or specifically for years.
(UPDATE 01/21/08: Bodoglife.com has the line today at Pats -12. The AP is reporting that Vegas sports books are going as high as -13 or -14. Sigh...oh well.)
The Brady-Manning Man-Moment You've Been Clamoring For.
I'm not necessarily a Pats fan; I'm not a hater, either. (Same way I feel about the Yanks/Red Sox - indifferent, still fun to watch.) Surprised just how many are autopicking the Colts, due respect, but I don't see Indy bringing anything that New England has not seen this season. Pats are gonna sit on the Colts, just like they've sat on top of everyone else.
Could be wrong.
I could be right.
mahalo.
j.r.e.
Don't listen to the haters. (Or, hell, go and judge for yourself.) The Sopranos finale was brilliant. From Start to Finish. Yes, the ending, too. Especially the ending. Tony got shot and was killed. Instantly. Right in front of his family. End of Story, kids. No way Tony somehow survives that scene and lives to see another day. As to the question of, "why not just show it?", well, what is it that you were hoping to see? If Carmela, Meadow and AJ got shot, too? I doubt it. Phil Leotardo got taken out in front of his daughter and his grandkids and nothing happened to them; you know the Mafia doesn't touch family when performing a hit. Or did you want to see the three of them crying over Tony's body? You've seen that already, at the very beginning of the season when Uncle Junior shot Tony. Oh, and this: "But he looked up and saw Meadow come in." Really? Did he? How do you know? He looked up and saw something, I'm guessing the barrel of a gun. As the recently-late Bobby Bacallieri foreshadowed at the end of last week's episode (itself, a flashback to when he said it in the first episode of this mini-season), "you probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?" Instant death. CUT to black.
Anyway, Tim Goodman, of the San Francisco Chronicle, sums it up and doesn't miss a thing. Good read.
No disrespect to the East (go Rangers!), but the two Western Conference Semis are going to be some serious fun to watch. Detroit v. San Jose. Anaheim v. Vancouver. These were the best four teams from the West this season, hands down, no question, g'night kid. Congrats to the 'nucks. Luongo v. Giguere - all right.
Being the product of two coasts, I'm pulling for a Ducks/Rangers Cup Final. Wha'boutchu? Predict away, knuckleheads.
Glad that they pulled these. Gotta admit, I certainly was, em, taken with the ad (thank you, thank you) when I first encountered it at the intersection of Hollywood/Prospect and Vermont the other day. Tasteless, to say the least. Strangely tho, the ad was also making me think of 80's metal album covers, like Anthrax's Fistful of Metal...
or (gawd) Quiet Riot...
If you ever find yourself newly broken up with someone (and I hope that you don't, but if you do...), might I recommend the South Park episode "Raisins" (2003). I'm just out of a relationship, feeling pretty down, and seeing this episode tonight for the first time, I don't quite know where to begin. This episode of South Park was so funny, in so many different ways, I laughed so hard, and what made each laugh just that much better was that every written and delivered word rang as absolutely true. From the great Say Anything/Peter Gabriel joke that I knew was comin' but I howled with laughter anyway to the fucking spot-ON fatalism of the Goth Kids, just hangin' out, preying on a lovesick Stan, itself another Say Anything joke. And, then, there is the great joke that is the Raisins restaurant chain itself - which Cartman won't endorse until he gets to try the food, natch. Much needed and appreciated, Trey and Matt, I was a smilin' mofo by the time this one was over. Quoth the Goth Kids:
"If you want to be one of the non-conformists, all you have to do is dress just like us and listen to the same music we do..."Yeah, man. Yeah.
