Pass the Alka Seltzer

The Super Bowl and the Super Bowl party (not in that order) took its toll on the BBR staff.  Here’s ten observations from afar.

  1.   You have to be sick of watching Brady and his pearly whites accept the MVP Trophy by now don’t you?
  2.   Tampa Bay won with Brady, but they won because of their defense.  That side of the ball has been ferocious for two months now.
  3.   The commercials used to help during a boring game.  Used to…..
  4.   Twenty five thousand fans and thirty thousand cut outs watched the game live.  What do the cutouts do really?  Weird times.
  5.   Did you bet the prop that KC would score no touchdowns in the game?  If you did, a one buck wager paid you back 500 of them.
  6.   There was a lot of maskless celebration going on post game.  The New Orleans Saints will get fined for it.  They always do.  It’s like Jerry Tarkanian once     said, “every time North Carolina recruits illegally Cleveland St gets put on probation.”
  7.   Maybe a great defense can still beat a great offense.  If so, look out for the LA Rams next year.  Stafford just needs throw some game management passes    and an occasional zinger or two.
  8.   The Waste Management Phoenix Open never disappoints the day of the SB.  The blue sky and green grass contrasted againsted the desert tan sand        makes most of the rest of the U.S. yearn for warmer days.
  9.  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lori Locust and Maral Javadifar become the first female assistant coaches to win a Super Bowl.  While referee Sarah Thomas became the first female official to work a Super Bowl.   One of our overserved guests remarked upon learning this, and we quote, “whoop tee do.”  Our government is likely using facial recognition to out him(or her) as we speak.
  10.  Who’s going to win the SB next year?  The Chiefs, listed at +550 at Caesars Sportsbook, are the favorite to win Super Bowl LVI. The Green Bay Packers are next at +900, followed by the champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers at +1100.  But, before you drop too much coin on one of them realize that Tampa Bay was +5000 this time last year.

Plop, plop.  Fizz, fizz.

When It Was a Game

It’s been a while since we served up some Ten Piece Nuggets for your consumption.  As sports and the “real world” continue to collide we decided to take you back to a simpler time when the games were about the games.  Take a trip down Super Bowl memory lane.

  1.  With Super Bowl LV upon us, we thought we’d visit an old adage.  In order to be effective in this league you have to be able to run the ball and stop the run.  Can you name the last Super Bowl winner to lead the league in regular-season rushing yards?  It’s been a while actually.  It’s the 1985 Chicago Bears.  On their Super Bowl Shuffle way, they amassed a league-leading 2761 yards.
  2. And, they could stop the run as well. In their three post-season games that year they gave up a total of 125 yards rushing.  In the 85′ Super Bowl beatdown of NE, the Patriots gained exactly 7 net rushing yards.
  3. Guess who completed the longest pass play in Super Bowl history.  Montana? Nope.  Marino?  Nope.  Elway? Nope.  Give up?  You should.  It’s Jake “The Cajun Snake” Delhomme.  The Carolina Panther’s QB completed an 85-yard pass to Muhsin Muhammad against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
  4. Guess who is the only running back to gain over 200 yards in any Super Bowl.  Payton? Nope.  Riggins?  Nope.  Faulk? Nope.  It’s Redskin Timmy Smith who went off for an all-time Super Bowl record with 204 rushing yards in Super Bowl XXII as his Washington Redskins ran roughshod over the Denver Broncos.  Who?
  5. Hello Friends!  Jim Nantz might catch him one day, but for now, Pat Summerall has provided the play by play on TV for more Super Bowls (11) than any of his contemporaries.
  6. Eleven seems to be the lucky number for Summerall and for Miami.  The Magic City as it’s known has hosted the most Super Bowls with 11.
  7. The 2011 (there’s that number again) New York Football Giants own the distinction of having the worst regular-season record at 9-7 of any SB winner.  It’s important to get hot at the right time they(whoever they are) say.  Super Bowl XLII(42) was the one that had the greatest and most important catch as well.  It’s considered the greatest catch in SB history.  It’s important to get lucky at the right time as well.
  8. Pennsylvania is known as the hotbed of QBs.  It’s produced Namath, Marino, Montana, Kelly, and many more.  But, California has produced the most Super Bowl winners with five: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Trent Dilfer, Troy Aikman and Jim Plunkett.
  9. It is one thing to get to the biggest of them all.  It’s yet another to win it.  It’s yet another to get there multiple times and never lose.  But, that accomplishment is rare.  Only the Baltimore Ravens have won more than one and not lost any.  And, they are only 2-0.
  10. And finally, Dallas and Pittsburgh have met the most times(3) for the Lombardi Trophy in NFL history.  But, it has been a while since they have.  The contests ended the 1975, 1978, and 1995 seasons.

Tampa Bay becomes the first team to host a Super Bowl this coming Sunday.

Friday the winners of the prop bets and the game will be available for you right here on BBR on Al Gore’s Internet.

 

SB LV is the New SB I

Six weeks ago BBR asked if we were headed to a rematch of Super Bowl One where Green Bay and Kansas City kicked of what has become the greatest championship in all of sports.

And then there were four.  And KC and GB are both favored to make it to Tampa for Super Bowl Roman numeral LV.

Abby sez:

Buffalo at Kansas City -3  –  The obvious is that Mahomes is going to miss.  What should also be obvious by now is that KC looks like a determined team to go back to back.   It won’t be easy.  And, remember,  “nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills, ” said Chris Berman 500 times in the past.  Buffalo has had a hell of a run.  Abby likes the politically incorrect.  And the nickname “Chiefs” is one of the few left standing.

Tampa Bay at Green Bay -3.5 – The battle of the Bays is what Berman used to call this twice a year meeting when these two teams were in the same division together years ago.  Back then one was bad and the other was worse.  No more.  Brady and Rodgers will be great theater.  The GOAT of them all v the GOAT of 2020.   Rodgers is on the same mission that KC is.

Picking chalk has a way of feeling like a dog bite at times.  We’ll see.

Woof!