All you Warner-Worshipers welcome to reality !

U2 ? McCartney ? great singers, but couldn't they find any American entertainment ?

GOOOOOOO PATS !!!!!!!!

Pats playing lights out defense.

Welcome to reality; Cleveland ain't playing.

What the hell is wrong with Warner?

It's over; Rams beat themselves.

I don't know tzeile, but you are right. This game is over. The Rams hit the self destruct button. At least it wasn't a runaway blowout though. Pat thanks for all your memories. You are the best!

It gets uglier by the minute...

OMG! OMG! OMG!!!!!!!

17-17

Wow! Adam Vinatieri!!!

There's still time to vote for the MVP... Brady? Vinatieri! Woo-hoo!

Is Warner going to thank Jesus today ?

Where's the 50-spot 90% of the populace predicted ?

I want to be in the hottub with Vinatieri and Brady after the game !

Oh my God!!
No more 2 week breaks before Super Bowls. 1 week break games are more exciting.
Oh my God!!
The Patriots absolutely DID NOT WANT Kurt Warner touching the ball again.
Oh my God!!
Tom Brady is John Elway.
Oh my God!!
Pat Summerall made tons of mistakes. At one point when Warner got sacked he called him Favre.
Oh my God!!
I'm in shock.
No one ever knows definitely what will happen in sports.

[quote]Originally posted by osufan:
Is Warner going to thank Jesus today ?

---

C'mon, that's mean!

BTW, Adam is mine! You can have Tommy!

[ January 03, 2003: Message edited by: Ump25 ]

I got home in time to watch the second half.

I believe in magic again.

I'm very happy to be wrong in my prediction, but now I'm a little more frustrated than I was a week ago, wondering why the Eagles didn't beat the Rams.

You're wrong Tzeile, the Rams didn't beat themselves - the PATRIOTS beat them. The New England defense confused Warner and they played out of their asses. The Rams were beaten today by another team.

The Rams were outcoached, plain and simple. The defensive genius edged the offensive genius. Kudos to Belichik and his coaching staff for having the Pats ready to play.

As a reasonably disinterested and unbiased observer, I have to say that Kurt Warner beat the Rams. Aside from the two foolish interceptions (neither of which involved an astute DB outperforming the WR), Warner had too many scambling possessions where he held the ball thinking he would get away or an assignment would be blown.
I screamed at him, as if it would do any good, to get rid of the ball. It was rather painful to watch...not that I'm a Rams fan. I just despise seeing a QB flounder. A championship QB, which he is, should know his limits. Dump the ball when the play has taken that long to develop!
In the end, all that can be said is that Warner's 2 interceptions led to double-digit points. Without that, the Pats would have lost.

Side note: Congratulations to the folks in metro Boston. Enjoy your title. You get to say that all of your teams have won a title now.

I agree with Cyd. The Patriots just showed everyone how to shut the arrogant Rams up. It was the one of the best damned Super Bowl I have seen. It rivals the Second edition of the Super Bowl between the Niners and Bengals (the winning Montana-to-John Taylor TD pass with 34 seconds to go). Unfortunately, this is probably the last game for Bledsoe as a Patriot.

At the beginning of the season I told a Patriot fan that Belichick didn't know how to win a Super Bowl. He was a damn good coach up to the league championships but can't close the deal. Now, he has the ring.

Congrats to the Super Patriots!

Just gotta say how sweet this was. I was in tech rehearsals for a show that opens next Friday all day & only got to see the game in flashes, but AHHHHH! There's nothing more satisfying to me than to see smugness punctured & this was ALMOST as sweet as having my boy Luis bloop in the winning run in the Series. I'm a happy man (just wish this damn show I'm in was functioning as well as the Pats). Thanks, boys.

After going absolutely lunatic crazy in my favorite sports bar watching the game, then racing home so I could watch hours and hours and hours of interviews and post-game analysis, my heart is still racing like Secretariat. I can't believe this. I know the Pats won, but it's still not real yet.

I thought one of the reasons Warner was holding onto the ball too long was that the NE was actually able to keep up with the speedy Rams receivers. I don't really know how they did this, since if you look at the one-on-one match-ups, the Rams are waaaaaay faster. I kept thinking that the Pats D would get tired, that there's no way they could go all-out for so long, but they held on.

I'm absolutely amazed by Brady's last drive with 1:37 left on the clock. All the Brady supporters keep talking about his poise and leadership, which he's shown in flashes here and there during the season. He definitely showed both in the game against Oakland, and he proved himself to all doubters after that final drive. Also, while everyone always talks about the superiority of Bledsoe's arm and Warner's accuracy, but that laser strike to Troy Brown was the best pass of the whole game.

I think the what's most impressive is that the Pats, with a bunch of good players but no great players, managed to win the Super Bowl. It says a lot about Belichik as a coach, and it says a lot about just how powerful teamwork really is. An extra special tip of the hat goes to Bledsoe again, who put his ego aside and really did do everything he could to help Brady all season long. Two really ballsy calls long before this game also made this victory possible: Kraft's decision to trade a #1 pick to get Belichik, and Belichik's decision earlier in the season to retain Brady as starting QB. Both were roundly criticized at the time, but they were both proved right in the end.

Wait, I take it back: Adam Vinatieri is a **great** kicker ... that 45-yard game winner in the pouring snow, then this 48-yarder (that probably would have made it in from 58 yards). Those two clutch kicks, plus terrific play all season long, in my mind make Vinatieri the best kicker in the league. He's a free agent after this season, and I'm praying the Pats have the big $$$ he'll be commanding. Granted, my motivations are not altogether pure, but that's another story.

It's wicked late, I'm totally exhausted, but I still can't get to sleep. I really thought it would be a looooooooooong wait before a New England team won a championship. But I guess not, huh?

I have been a Pats fan since the days of Grogan, Eason, and Craig James (woof!). So you know I'm enjoying this. The boys played a great game. But I'm not too sure about Brady being MVP.For some strange reason, I was hoping they would name either the defense as MVP or maybe even the entire team. Better yet, naming Belichick would have been pretty cool. He was a pure genius with his plans for Warner. And to have Brady bring the ball down the field when all the commentators were saying to just play for overtime...VERY BRAVE!!

After the class he showed this year, I really hope Drew Bledsoe gets a shot at winning a Super Bowl of his own before he retires. As much as he seemed happy for Brady and his teammates, you know he had to be wishing he were the one out there. But he never let it get in the way of the team goal. True class! Best of luck to Drew, wherever he ends up.

Drew didn't look too happy and excited in last night's post-game celebration. Understandble. It must be painful as hell to watch your teamates kick butt on the field.

Hat's off to Drew. He's a class act.

The Rams are arrogant pricks. After the game, several of them were still claiming that the only team that could beat the Rams were the Rams. Not one of them said they lost to a better team, which they did.

Throughout the playoffs, the Rams' offense was less than spectacular. They beat GB because Favre threw 6 interceptions. They squeaked by the Eagles but for this game, the wheels fell completely off.

They deserved to lose.

[ February 04, 2002: Message edited by: PCC ]

[quote]Originally posted by tzeile29:
Hat's off to Drew. He's a class act.

---

Yep - that man has it all - looks - talent class - nice buns-

Amazing. I'm still (very happily) stunned.

That was brilliant thinking to have New England come out b/4 the game as a group - - made St. Louis with their individual intro's (including Mr. Modest Christian Warner) look like egotistical snobs - sounds dumb but I think it took some zest out of the Rams at the start.

What a great game! As far as excitement goes, it definitely ranks near the top of Super Bowls past. I didn't give the Pats any shot to win this. I also kept thinking back to early in the season when my Colts were playing the Pats right after Bledsoe was hurt. It was going to be Brady's first start, they were a struggling team, and the Colts were hot and expected to win the division at the least. Everyone thought the Pats' season was over. I doubt if ANYBODY expected it to end with a Super Bowl victory. Congrats to them.

Heard on a sports talk radio station that this Super Bowl marks the first time two teams from the same cities have met for the title in all four major sports -- 1946 Baseball, 1950's Basketball, 1970 Stanley Cup and now the Super Bowl. Although I guess technically, "New England" does not equal "Boston".

Don't know if its true - but if it is, its an astute observation.

The MVP definitely should have gone to the whole team.

If it had to be an individual, it should have been Bledsoe.

If it had to be someone who played, it should have been someone (anyone) in the Patriots defensive backfield (an aspect of the game not sufficiently focused on by the cameras - not sexy enough I suppose).

Tom Brady would run a close second, but his heroism would have been useless without the play of the backfield throughout the game.

Unselfishness was definitely the winner in this game and would have allowed them to loose with the same dignity and respect.

Congratulations to the Patriots organization for a job well done.

Nice to know some Boston fans still have perspective. Saw a report that in the postgame celebrations, fans were chanting ``Yankees suck.''

Go Pats!!! Way overdue!! Being a fan for my whole life this is great!! Finally New England has another championship. Not since the Celtics have we had one. and never in football.

Might live in MN but I am from and always loyal to the home town teams!!! Way to go Pats!!!

Cyd and Jim - Great recap of yesterday's game. I too will never forget this great season even though my favorite team (Steelers) was ousted by the Patriots.

Any Ram fan that pronounces their team of beating themselves is in denial. The Rams could not live up to the big time hype bestowed upon their team and further perpetuated by themselves.

I also enjoyed the Declaration of Independence segement at pregame and found myself watching it again last night when replayed by Fox Sports Net. I thought something was weird or strange in how Madden and Summeral did their jobs last night. Madden was abnormally subdued and not his usual hyper self. It also seemed to me that when Summeral signed off for his final broadcast, it lacked sincerity or much sentimentalism at all. Almost as if he felt he was being shoved out of the booth by Fox and not by his own accord.

The turnovers were not caused by Ram carelessness; they were forced by excellent NE defense. The better team won and the Patriots deserve the title.

[I thought one of the reasons Warner was holding onto the ball too long was that the NE was actually able to keep up with the speedy Rams receivers. I don't really know how they did this, since if you look at the one-on-one match-ups, the Rams are waaaaaay faster.]

BoSoxRudy

I think it was not necessarily the speed of the Patriot defenders that attrituted to their effectivness against their receivers, but more how well they bumped them at the line of scrimmage to throw off their timing routes that the Rams emply so successfully.

If the NFL had the BCS instead of playoffs, St. Louis would have played Pittsburgh and New England (like Oregon) would have been told to deal with it.

[quote] The MVP definitely should have gone to the whole team

---

Absolutely. I can't believe Brady was named MVP. Yeah, he was effective, but not spectacular. The two players that really made a diffrence were Ty Law and Adam Vinatieri.

Ty Law's interception early in the game that resulted on a touchdown completely changed the tenor of the game. The Rams panicked and never really got their rhythm til the final minutes.

Kicker Adam Vinatier's winning FG alone deserves the MVP plum. Had the game gone into overtime, the Rams probably would've won the game.

Ty Law, Adam Vinatieri or the Pats D should've been the MVP. Pat's sticky, pressing defense forced Warner to panick and hold onto the ball longer than usual.

That was really a fun game to watch. I was so happy that the Rams had their horns handed to them. Pompus jerks

I know the play got called back on a penalty, but I loved it when Warner fumbled the ball when he tried to run it in and it was returned for a TD. I was cheering and laughing so hard I think I scared the neighbors.

I thought the whole deal was a pretty good show. I thought U2 rocked the house, and Larry Mullens was looking really good.

I also liked the living tableaus of the Iwo Jima fighters and the NYFD holding the flags during the National Anthem. They used the actual flag from the WTC. I got kinda chocked up when they showed the fire fighters holding the flag.

Overall, a great time.

Gee...Looks like the "Greatest show on turf" stubbed it's toe. Totally out hit, out muscled, out coached, out hustled. for 3 quarters Fox was showing "Silence of the Rams"...they weren't just a wee bit cocky, or over confident were they...since everyone told them they were gonna win easily...couldn't be that, could it?

P.S. Wasn't it the "speedy" Rams who play all their home games on a rug suppose to dominate the no-names from New England who play all their home games on grass?...and wasn't it great to see a "team" give true meaning to the word, from their selfless opening entrance...that act alone elevated them over the pompous NFC champs...and wasn't it refreshing to hear the humble humility of their moron coach refusing to acknowledge that his Rams got their butts kicked... so many questions...

Late night Super Bowl jokes:

Leno:
"Security in New Orleans was unbelievable. The Rams had to wait almost two hours to get into the end zone. ...

Did you all watch the Superbowl? The Patriots are calling it the 'Silence of the Rams.' ...

This Superbowl had something special most Superbowls don't have -- a fourth quarter. ...

Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri got an invitations today from Congress. They want him to come to Washington to kick Kenneth Lay in the ass. ...

Letterman: "Not only did the Patriots win the Super Bowl, they are holding the Rams as detainees ...

Do you like watching the Super Bowl commercials? My favorite was the 'We're the Axis of Evil' spot produced by Iran, Iraq and North Korea ...

How about that powerful anti-drug commercial paid for by the U.S. government. Very powerful message. It ran right between the seventh and eighth Budweiser commercial ...

President Bush got through the Super Bowl without event. The Secret Service pre-chewed his pretzels. President Bush's father actually took part in the pre-game tossing of the coin. Coincidentally, that's how they decided his son's election"

TOP TEN SUPER BOWL MOMENTS
10. A bored John Madden puts Pat Summerall's head in his mouth.
9. Victorious New England players dump scalding clam chowder on coach.
8. Security officers frisk Rams cheerleaders for half an hour.
7. My mom chugged a beer every time the Patriots scored.
6. Half-time musical number performed by the Camp X-Ray detainees.
5. Drunk, desperate deposed Enron CEO Kenneth Lay steals commemorative coin used in opening toss.
4. Caught off-guard, NFL makes Patriots championship hats out of newspapers.
3. For once a sporting event that doesn't end up with Mike Tyson biting somebody.
2. My Jumbotron marriage proposal to Britney Spears.
1. Rambling phone call to winning locker room from Osama Bin Laden (CBS)

SuperBowl XXXVI was most entertaining. I too picked the Rams to win but was hoping for a minor miracle. I don't like the prick, Mike Martz. Warner, Faulk, and company are likeable guys but I too think they became a bit overly confident, basked in the glow of the media as the first dynasty team of the new millenium, and didn't prepare for what the Pats would have in store for them on Sunday. What amazes me the most is that the Patriots came into the game ranked 24th in total defense playing against the #1 ranked offense. Go figure!

Did anyone see the pregrame interview with Terry Bradshaw, Bledsoe, and Brady? In comparing the two, Bradshaw confirmed that Bledsoe drove a Mercedes. Brady said he drives a pickup truck. As MVP of the game, Brady was given keys to a new Cadillac Escalade XT.

Last night's jokes:

Letterman: Congratulations to the Patriots. It's kind of strange, the last winning team I think they had up there in Boston was the Continental Army. ... They pulled out all the stops with the parade, the grand marshal was that hockey dad. ...

Leno: "I was at K-Mart today. I got a great deal. For 99 cents, you can buy Rams Superbowl Champion T-shirts. They have got a pile of them. ...

President Bush called the New England Patriots after the Superbowl to congratulate them. It shows you what a nice guy Bush is; he also called the Rams locker room and offered them advice on what to do after you choke. ...

The Patriots win was so unexpected. Nobody saw it coming. In fact, they had to take the hookers out of the Rams locker room and move them to the Patriots locker room. ...

It's been so long since Boston has won anything, they had to bring people in to teach the fans how to riot. ...

They said today on the news that security for this Superbowl was the tightest it has ever been. During halftime, some guys came to my house and patted me down. ...

O'Brien: "People are still talking about the Superbowl. Big upset. Huge upset. Today the New England Patriots had a parade to celebrate their Superbowl victory. Apparently the Patriots win was so unexpected, the parade took place in St. Louis.

Lots of hateful anti-Rams comments on this list, which is unfortunate. Yes, the Rams' coach, Mike Martz, is obnoxious, and met his superior in Bill Belichick, who really did throw Kurt Warner off with his shifting DB coverages. The Patriots didn't need much offense this time through, and figured out how to neutralize the Rams long enough to win it on that final FG, which was brilliant.

But the Rams also defeated themselves. Martz could have thrown a wrench into Belichick's operation by running Faulk more, but INEXPLICABLY he only gave last year's MVP 17 TOUCHES! What was he thinking? The Patriots also scared the hell out of the Rams receivers, who were catching the ball then dropping to the turf! They were scared of getting hit. I mean, it's the freaking Super Bowl! Take the hit, but keep running. The defense also played more like it was facing Carolina than the AFC champions. Why didn't they shut the Patriots down at the end? Shades of the pre-Lovie Smith 2001 defense.

I hope Marshall Faulk has somebody to console him, since he's not born again like Warner, who showed considerable graciousness by congratulating Brady after the game rather than running off to the lockerroom. Faulk should have been league MVP, but...

Well, that's two thrilling Super Bowls the St. Louis Rams have given fans. In both cases it came down to their defense on the final play--in 2000, they held off the Titans, but this time, they INEXPLICABLY slacked off, and Brady took full advantage.... Here's to an 18-0 Rams season in 2002-2003!