some notable close calls

1970 Orioles world series champs
1970 Colts won SB V in Jan '71
70/71 Bullets lost in NBA finals

1980 Phillis world series champs
1980 Eagles lost SB XV in '81
79/80 Sixers lost NBA final
79/80 Flyers lost Stanley Cup Finals

85/86 Celtics won NBA final
86 Redsox lost World Series
85 Patriots lost SB in '86

'79 Steelers & '79 Pirates

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I also posted this in another thread, but has anyone heard if/when Petty's going to do a performance "press Conference" on NFL Network like Prince did last year?

Patriots 38, Giants 14.

Giants 27, Patriots 24 (Brady fumble during sack is the difference-maker).

Has anyone found out what Lisa Simpson's prediction is?????

Don't believe any old farts who say this is only the second biggest
upset in Super Bowl history. Nobody in January 1969 was saying the
Colts were better than Lombardi's Packers, the Browns of the 50's or
the great Bears teams of the 40's. Nobody was saying that they were
the greatest team of all time---only that the AFL Champion had no
business being on the same field as the NFL.

This is the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. And the Giants played
such a great game, I don't mind that the Dolphins are popping their
champagne corks again. This only shows how difficult it is to go
undefeated in the NFL. The Patriots may yet win another Super Bowl
before Brady retires, but there may not be another 18-0 team heading
into Super Sunday.

Hope the New York mayor doesn't be an @$$hole about the Giants playing
in New Jersey again. Let BOTH N.J. and N.Y. have the parade. It can start
at Giants Stadium where the team will board buses (Port Authority, naturally),
wind through the streets of Newark before heading into the Lincoln Tunnel
and then FINALLY down the streets of Broadway, as they should have done
in 1986 and 1990.

I also hope as a Redskins fan that the same thing happens next year as has
happened every time the Giants won a Super Bowl. Doubt it, though.

But I'm talking too much. The most important thing is that

NEW YORK GIANTS

2007 WORLD CHAMPIONS

Sorry, not the biggest upset, but a great one nonetheless. I thought it would be a good game and the 12 points was too easy. So, I hate the Giants, but they won me money and Coughlin and Manning were fantastic (although I truly believe the Giants MVP is Spagnuolo who used to coach with the Eagles-what a genius he is, and he is head coach material for sure-his defense was amazing the last 10 games or so).
As I said earlier, when Coughlin decided to play all the regulars in the final game in December, Manning's confidence skyrocketed from that game and the team believed they could beat anybody. And, they did. I truly believe they won the Super Bowl thanks largely to that game.

As for the Pats? Ha-ha-ha! I despise the hooded weirdo, Moss, etc. so this was great. Oh, the arrogance. Going for it on 4th and 13 instead of kicking a 48 yard field goal? Why? Because you did it all year long against the Dolphins, Bills, Jets and other bums you ran the score up on? Please-a horrid decision and it cost them the game, or at least being tied. The undefeated season is now worthless. I still love Brady, Welker, Maroney, Bruschi, Troy Brown and a lot of those players, but I'm glad they lost.
P.S.
Tom Petty & Heartbreakers were great, although the songs had to be cut short. Mike Campbell ripped through his solos quite nicely! The mix could've been better, but the performance was stellar and Petty really seemed to enjoy himself alot.

It is the biggest upset because the Patriots were considered a much better team than
the '68 Colts. The fact that a LOT of people were rooting (and thus betting) on the Giants
makes it irrelevant. Nobody was saying the Colts were the best team of all time. People
WERE saying that about the Patriots.

I wouldn't describe this the greatest upset ever because the Giants had a real chance of winning this game.
That's where my money went.
They started the season at 0-2, made it into the playoffs as a wild-card team, and won EVERY playoff game on the road.
Like them or not... that is an impressive feat! (No less a feat than the Pats winning 18 games in a row.)

That improbable 4th quarter pass by Eli Manning, and subsequent TD will be remembered and replayed for years...but the Giants defense really won this game, as they had Tom Brady rattled for much of the game.

Just a superlative game from beginning to end (it's about time we had an really awesome Super Bowl game), with Tom Petty & The Heaartbreakers providing the best SB performance yet. We watched it on a large 60" screen with surround-sound, and Tom & the boys rocked!!!
Only thing lacking were the commercials... a little better than last year but not much, with too many FOX promos shown.

1968 was a long time ago and people tend to forget but the colts were champs in 58 & 59 and finalists in 64

in 67 they were 11-0-2 and missed the playoffs by losing the last game of the regular season to the 10-1-2 Rams (LA then got smoked by Green Bay in the playoffs)
in 68 theye were 13-1, so for 67/68 the were 24-2-2 outscoring their opponents 800 - 340 a 28 to 12 average game, this in a league with Green Bay, Dallas, LA & Cleveland, it was a very competitive NFL.

look at the '68 colts strech run

Week 9 Nov 3 W 26-0 at New York Giants
Week 10 Nov 10 W 27-10 at Detroit Lions
Week 11 Nov 17 W 27-0 vs St. Louis Cardinals
Week 12 Nov 24 W 21-9 vs Minnesota Vikings
Week 13 Dec 1 W 44-0 vs Atlanta Falcons
Week 14 Dec 7 W 16-3 at Green Bay Packers
Week 15 Dec 15 W 28-24 at Los Angeles Rams


Post Season
Conference
Championship Dec 22 W 24-14 vs Minnesota Vikings
League
Championship Dec 29 W 34-0 at Cleveland Browns


247-60 over 9 games ave score 27 - 6

Great game.
TP was awesome...he seemed a little stiff the first couple of verses to "American Girl", which surprised me, but he definately warmed up and what a show. A stroke of marketing genius that his tour tickets go on sale today - at least for the Chicago show. I still think Prince's show last year takes dibs as 'best' - but Tom and the boys definately put on a helluva a show.

That sounds like the definition of monumental upset to me! No way this beats Jets-Colts. The Giants had already played the Patriots in a very close game, and the Patriots had seemed to be running out of steam over the last several weeks. More than a few people in the media (for example, SI's Paul Zimmerman a/k/a Dr. Z) had been predicting a Giants' victory.

Since I have never watched Idol, I had no idea that her father was former Giants' cornerback Phillipi Sparks. Kind of nice actually to see a sports connection in the anthem choice!

David Tyree caught the ball with his head!

DanO: Hard to believe in some ways, but the dream is realized! The whole season must seem quite hollow for them right now. One does have to wonder what lingering effect this loss will have on the Pats. The cloak of invincibility has been pierced, and there are quite a few core veterans on defense who are long in the tooth. I feel particularly bad for Junior Seau after the fantastic year he had.

As a Cowboy fan, I get the sense that the Patriots somehow peaked too soon (although their peak certainly lasted far longer than the Cowboys' this year). They set such a high standard early on that the string of recent close games must have made them seem less imposing to the opposition, especially a foe whom they'd faced only a few weeks earlier.



Walter: I tend to agree regarding Shula and Mercury Morris. Quite obnoxious. Unfortunately, they will take the loss as further validation.

All in all, it was quite a slugfest. It was bittersweet missing out on seeing the capping moment on a perfect season, but seeing the Giants' defense play a near perfect game when it mattered most will make this a very memorable Super Bowl for a long time to come. Plus, when do you think we'll see another set of quarterbacking brothers win Super Bowl MVPs in back to back years? Pretty amazing! And to think that Archie never even made the playoffs . . . .

Jim,

That was definitely the play of the game in so many ways. When Eli threw a lob up in the middle of the field after the Houdini-esque escape from the pass rush, I thought it would be intercepted for sure. Looked like an ill-advised Brett Favre-type play.

When you put the New York media together with such an unlikely hero as Tyree, you can be sure to expect the legend to grow.

David Tyree = Max McGee!

Jay: After that catch, I just knew the Giants would have to win. How could you pull off that play to keep the drive alive and then lose? You couldn't write a better script.

Jim,

I couldn't agree more. As soon as he came down with that catch, I felt like the Patriot's goose was cooked.

4 catches all year, and he comes through with a TD catch to give them their first lead since the opening drive and then a circus catch on the clinching drive that will go down just behind Lynn Swann's (in)famous catch against the Cowboys as the most amazing in Super Bowl history. Unreal!

Jay

Hey, not too bad, eh??

Incredible game! Considering the circumstance, that Manning escape/Tyree catch was without a doubt one of the greatest plays I've seen in my 41 years of football-watching.

I had to love watching BeliCheat scurry off the field with a second still on the clock.

Greatest Super Bowl upset ever?

Not even close.

When the Jets beat the Colts, they were LITERALLY not even in the same league as Baltimore. The Colts defense was monstrous and the only team they lost to all season (Cleveland), was demolished by them 34-0 in the playoffs. The point spread fluctuated from 17 to 21 for heaven's sake! That game is what prompted the NFL to recognize the "other league" as more than an entity they previously toyed with. That game forced the merger we have today.

Maybe I'm one of those "old farts" at age 48, but the Giants and Pats played a few weeks ago and the game was decided by 3 points. How can this Super Bowl be compared to one that featured two different LEAGUES?

Remember also, that the "lowly" 1968 AFL Jets soundly beat the mighty Colts. Leading 16-0 until a late Colts TD.

But alas, it doesn't matter really. What matters is that the 2007 New England Patriots are now just like the 2007 New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and everyone that is NOT a New York Giant: Also-rans

Amazing game! When Plaxico caught that .35 second to go TD, I jumped off my couch and yelled THEY WIN!

To knockoff the undeafted Pats is quite a feat.

What a Giant pass rush, Brady was running for his life all game.

Congrats to Eli & Co. Great job and well deserved.