An editorial I wrote during my senior year as a co-EIC for the Mount Tabor Dorian Scroll on the Super Bowl, a staple of the portfolio that helped me win my journalism scholarship.
2007 was a year fraught with turmoil, conspiracy, deceit, scandal, and lies in the sporting world. Prominent figures fell from respectability; America’s pastime came under investigation by Congress; professional referees were caught gambling on the very games they officiated. Yet in a world where Jessica Simpson can allegedly cause the downfall of the Dallas Cowboys (twice) and where Tim Hardaway publicly denounces homosexuals, the New York Giants still managed, for at least one night, to create their own fairytale so inundated with feel-good stories to make Walt Disney green with envy.
The New England Patriots entered Sunday night with many more accolades than their scrappy opponents. Not only did they boast a perfect 18-0 record and the number one seed in the AFC, they were also led by league golden boy and MVP Tom Brady, who had recently broken one of the highest-regarded passing records: touchdowns thrown in a single season. His hot-handed receiving corps included Randy Moss, who caught nearly half of those touchdowns to set his own record, and his offensive line was anchored by three Pro Bowlers. Super Bowl XLII was advertised as a David versus Goliath match-up, as shown by the 12-point spread on the game, and Goliath was certainly not a team to be trifled with.
Yet after sixty minutes of football, it was not the giant that was left standing but rather the Giants who felled him. After three quarters of pressuring Brady into frustration with an energized pass rush, New York presented quarterback Eli Manning with a script more perfect than that of any classic sports movie. The young quarterback had been thrown under the bus by former teammates and the hometown media; father Archie had been a star at the same college where Eli played college ball (Ole Miss); older brother Peyton won the previous Super Bowl, earning MVP honors, and is one of the NFL’s most elite quarterbacks. The team was down by four with little more than two minutes remaining and little more than eighty yards to go.
One circus catch and several hurried plays later, Eli lofted a spiral to the left corner of the end zone, which top receiver Plaxico Burress hauled in with ease. The game would be over after thirty seconds’ worth of attempted Hail Mary’s and fade passes by New England, and the win was complete. In the most-watched Super Bowl telecast in history, the Giants pulled off an upset for the ages by standing in the way of perfection and, for at least one night, were able to illuminate a sporting world so mired in conflict.
Super Bowl XLII did little to change or alleviate the scandals that plague professional sports today. The Patriots return to Boston to enter a media storm surrounding the latest allegation that they videotaped opponents’ practices; depositions in the Congressional hearings on steroid use in baseball continued the next day; Tim Hardaway still hates gay people. What it did do was create a new classic game to look back on and prove that parity and competition are still alive and well-- key tenets of the game itself. A feel-good story has emerged unblemished from the tarnished world of professional sports, and given many a reason to keep watching:
the simple love of the game.
15 years ago
