Well, it was a disappointing Super Bowl. The team I root for always loses. Except for the Giants' wins in 1986 and 1990, the team I have rooted for has won something like four of 20 times.
But I would've at least settled for a decent game, which we may have gotten if the Raiders had not been kidnapped before kickoff. This was like a sci-fi movie come true. Did Rich Gannon even play in the Super Bowl? Does this really count as a Super Bowl appearance for Tim Brown? Was that coach Bill Callahan on the sideline or did they grab a corporate exec out of the stands?
Ultimately, I am not all that saddened by the result, certainly not as much as the gay man pictured, who is drowning his sorrows in a pitcher of ice water. I'm most upset that football won't be back till September and that the main sporting event in February is the Daytona 500. Great, someone get me a tin of dip.
Other Super Bowl Thoughts:
All week long, I felt as if the Bucs were there to cement their place in history, and the Raiders were there because the NFL told them they had a game scheduled Sunday.
The Patriots ruined my favorite Super Bowl tradition, the pregame announcements of individual players. After everyone applauded New England's selfless act last year of being introduced as a team, both the Bucs and Raiders did the same. No more Michael Irvin kung-fu. No more steely-eyed quarterbacks looking as focused to a plan as astronauts. No more Ray Lewis prison dances or whatever the hell he did in January 2001.
Shania Twain: What a piece of ass. After reading her comeback interviews, though, I'm convinced she's from outer space and even more of a programmed pop brand than any boy group.
The Bud commercial with the real-life zebra reviewing a replay was a classic Super Bowl spot. A funny punchline in a commercial that had absolutely nothing to do with the product. And the retro-Michael Jordan one was good, too. Other than that, the commercials were less memorable than the game, and that was hard to do in this case.
The lack of disclosure about what happened to Raiders Pro Bowl center Barret Robbins was intriguing. This is the most-covered event in all of sports, and not one reporter could get a credible source to crack? Wow. My money is that he OD'ed and had something stuck up his ass that required surgery.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Robbins forgot to take medicine for his bipolar condition for two consecutive days. That's the most detail I've read on the matter.
Posted by Joe DiGiovanni at January 27, 2003 10:53 AM