Too many Super Bowl superlatives
All right, everybody inhale. Yes, that was a great Super Bowl, but before spitting proclamations of being the "best ever", could we please let the game percolate for, I don't know, at least a year.
While everyone knows that sports pundits enjoy spitting out a little hyperbole every now and then, to call it the best Super Bowl ever is just plain ridiculous.
We only have to look back to last year's Super Bowl to make an argument against this year's game as being the "best ever". We had the New York Giants trying to win four straight playoff games on the road, with a coach everyone apparently hated, a quarterback living in the shadow of an older brother while at the same time having the glaring spotlight of the New York media.
All of that while going up against an undefeated team in the New England Patriots, that was being crowned by many as the "best team ever". Toss in all of the those juicy storylines and add another crazy catch from a wide receiver who was also recovering from the drug scene and had the case of the drops during Super Bowl week practices, you also have a great game.
Yes, Harrison's record return was exciting. And yes, Holmes' catch is certainly up there as one of the best clutch catches (and throws) I've seen in my short 24 years. It was a very exciting finish, but going into the fourth quarter, more people were still talking about Springsteen's halftime crotch shot than the game.
The game, as a whole, wasn't that great, marred with penalties, one costing the eventual champs a safety. Other footnotes to the game include the failure to eject a player for punching another player, not reviewing the questionable fumble on the final play of the game and not throwing a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration (using the ball as a prop) on that oh-so-wonderful touchdown reception.
Again, it was an exciting game and the penalties sure added a lot of drama, but in the truest sense of the word "game", I don't see how you can call it the "greatest ever".
It's the media's job to interpret sports for us and put it into some sort of professional and historic context, albeit, in a hurry. In this instance, while every writer and commentator is clamoring to get an opinion on to consumers, it seems like a rush to judgment was made in handing down the verdict as this game being the "best ever". Just report on the game, the players' emotions and... exhale.
