satisfaction

I very nearly didn't watch the Super Bowl this year. It seemed like a recipe for frustration and disappointment: mix one part strong dislike of the Patriots with one part lack of confidence in the Giants and one part jaded feelings about incompetent officiation in several recent Super Bowls; let stew for three to four hours until reaches screeching point.

I decided to suck it up, ignore the game and enjoy the company and smorgasbord of junk food. I spent the first half of the game only half watching, giving most of my attention to catching up with acquaintances and limiting myself to "reasonable" consumption of pizza and spinach dip.

The second half, however, found me glued to the screen. Somehow the surprisingly low-scoring first half had mutated the gathering's ambivalence about the game into a tangible excitement. We were a room devoid of Giants fans (most of us were still sore the Packers didn't make it), but we became Giants fans-for-an-hour. (I actually do happen to like the Giants, but I wouldn't qualify as a committed fan.)

My favorite defensive play among a lot of fine defensive playing had to be Michael Strahan flying over the line to sack Brady. Neither offense managed to have tons going on, but the Eli Manning/David Tyree feat in the last minute of the game was one to remember. For once Eli scrambled! And that catch by Tyree -- jumping into the air, catching it against his helmet and managing to maintain possession (and keep the ball from making contact with the ground) while being bent backwards over the lap of the defensive player. I don't know that any of this merits the exorbitant paychecks these guys receive, but today the Giants certainly earned their dough.

(And, of course, Belupchuck's lack of sportsmanship in the final second of the game...just another example of his class-act leadership.)