SPORTS

First Down 'n Durty

by 'Durty' Reid Dennis 

Thursday, February 5, 2004

Durty Reid signs off another NFL season with his impressions of a gripping Superbowl showdown.

It was a great Super Bowl. But you certainly don't need me to tell you that.

In case you were sleeping, like Alan Bush, Super Bowl XXXVIII came down to the final four seconds when New England Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri sailed a 41-yarder through the uprights to give the Pats a 32-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Some of the media, and you know they all have opinions, are saying "greatest" and "best-ever" but like ESPN's Lee Corso says, "Not so fast there my friend." How about Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers comeback over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII or the infamous "wide right" kick which cost the Buffalo Bills a victory over the New York Giants? 

Or how about Super Bowl X when the Las Vegas betting establishments and numerous bookies got "middled" by bettors when the oddsmakers kept changing the line between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys?

I don't pretend to be an NFL historian, but let's hold off on "the greatest-ever" for a while.

Likewise, let's not jump to conclusions too fast and say this Patriot team is the greatest team ever. Maybe we could go with "one of the greatest-ever." After all they are on a 15-game winning streak, second only to the Miami Dolphins 17-game streak 30 years ago when the "Fish" had their undefeated season.

This Patriot team is a well-coached, finesse type of team which finds different ways to win. It isn't a team that dominates the opponent like say the '85 Chicago Bears or some of the Steelers teams of the Seventies or the 49er teams of the Eighties. Everyone has a favourite team which he, or she, will say is the best ever. How about the '91 Washington Redskins?

We also hear comparisons between Pats quarterback Tom Brady and Joe Montana, where some are saying that Brady, with his two Super Bowl MVPs including this one, is already the better QB. Here again, hold off. Brady is only 26 years old, so maybe time will prove he is better; but not now.

But what a great game, especially for one that started out with no-one being able to score and ending up with no-one being able stop anybody. The momentum went back and forth until the final team with possession kicked the field goal.

I still can't get used to the great game of football with magnificent runs by speed merchants, rainbow touchdown passes like the 85-yarder Panther QB Jake Delhomme tossed to Muhsin Muhammad, behemoths slugging it out in the trenches and then you have to bring in a guy who doesn't even look like he belongs on a football field to seal the deal. I know it's always been that way and it is an entirely separate subject but kickers for the win - aaagh…

I'll give you another aaagh. I'm a football fan, so the next day when I want to talk about the game, nearly everyone had to start off with Janet Jackson's right breast being exposed when Justin Timberlake grabbed at her clothing. Also, that international streaker got out on the field, although this time he had some sort of jockstrap on. But with all the bragging everyone has done about security, and all the time that was taken for security checks, this guy was on the field for about 40 seconds doing some kind of dance before the law got to him.

Oh, well. Only about 10 more days until pitchers and catchers report. Baseball is just around the corner.

Watch all the exciting NFL games at Durty Reid's on Shamrock Road in Red Bay

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