Was Everything Super?

     The build up to the Super Bowl has been…boring. We had to endure Roger Goodell’s sad excuses for the blown call in the Rams-Saints game. 

     The local papers have done pieces on the Mc Courty twin brothers from Rutgers and Spring Valley, NY. Jason can stop being a jinx for Devon if they win this game, because Jason had been banished from the stadium after Devon lost with the Patriots, with Jason present, in Devon’s first Super Bowl. Devon now has mentioned that at age 31 he is thinking about retirement; wouldn’t that logic apply to Jason, since they are of the same age?

     We have been exposed to the son of Hillsborough native Ricky Proehl, a former Ram and a Super Bowl winner, whose son Austin is experiencing his first Super Bowl as a practice squad player for Los Angeles. 

     Then there are the Slaters. Jackie is a Rams Hall of Fame offensive lineman. His son Matthew is in his 11th season as a special teams player for New England. Either way, Jackie can’t lose here, although one expects his loyalties to remain with his son.

     Of course there has been the litany of comparisons between Tom Brady and Jared Goff. Or the fact that only four Rams have been to the Super Bowl and running back C.J. Anderson is the only one to play in more than one. Meanwhile, 38 of the 53 New England players on the active roster have played in one Super Bowl, while 27 have been to multiple games.

     How many Sean Mc Vay tales must I read or hear about? Is The Gronk going to retire or is he going to continue with New England as long as Tom Brady plays? And when is Brady going to receive an extension? For how much and how long? Will the roof to the Mercedes Benz Stadium be open on game day? What kind of exotic prop bets will be discussed? (According to that renowned source for information, Wikipedia, a proposition bet is a bet made regarding the occurrence or non-occurrence during a game of an event not directly affecting its outcome.) Too bad NBC isn’t broadcasting the game—we would have appearances by The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore and Al Roker from The Today Show. Maybe together? Or will we continually hear from those in St. Louis who used to root for the Rams until the team abandoned Missouri for a return to Southern California? ( I doubt that there are many Cleveland Rams fans—the franchise left Ohio after the 1945 season) What is the song list for Maroon 5?

     So many questions, so many answers. But as a sage masquerading as a football coach,  Vince Lombardi, for whom the Super Bowl Trophy is named after, said: “Winning isn’t everything. It is the only thing.” Which is why they play these games—ask the Patriots about the Super Bowls against Seattle and Atlanta. Ask the New York Giants about their huge win against Buffalo.

     Which is why the controversy of selecting only Gladys Knight, a Georgia native to sing “The National Anthem” without further acknowledging  the Georgia music scene will matter little in the long run. Sure, the TV commercials will be new, novel and hopefully memorable. In the end, however, amid the spectacle that the event has become, it is football game between two teams that are among the best in pro football. Only one will emerge as the champion. Let’s hope that the officiating is better than two weekends ago, otherwise the NFL will have even more to answer for which they are loathe to do. 

     The bigger stories this week have involved the NBA. NBA All-Star Anthony Davis, an elite big man currently playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, will not sign a contract extension and wants to move on to another team. The thought is that he hopes to go to the Lakers and LeBron James, with whom he shares the same agent (collusion?). 

     Davis said he has done everything he can in New Orleans, and he wants to cement his legacy, which is apparently something he can do elsewhere. I must suffer some kind of cognitive memory deficiency, but I haven’t seen the Pelicans raising the trophy at the end of the season, signifying that they have been the best team in the NBA. That has belonged to the Golden State Warriors or the Cleveland Cavaliers. So it is about Davis and the money. The rings he believes will come with his shallow corporate ties and association with James & crew on the basketball floor.

     It is about putting Davis in a place whereby playing with Lebron and “The Brow” can attract another formidable player with defining skills like a Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson or even Kyrie Irving. The latter made a phone call to James to mend their relationship. For Irving it is placing himself in the right environment and winning championships, securing his rightful place in the Basketball Hall of Fame—undoubtedly his motivation. Isn’t the timing just a bit curious—this is the week that Davis set the pro basketball world afire on social media? His taking back his October promise to stay in Boston when courted by the New York media and the fan at Madison Square Garden on Friday night when the Celtics came in.

     Then the New York Knicks explode the NBA by engaging in a huge deal with the Dallas Mavericks. The key here was New York moving Kristaps Porzingis, their injured 7’3” Latvian star. Others were included in the deals, where New York took on expiring contracts from Dallas which will be jettisoned at the end of the season. Additionally, New York received disgruntled young and talented point guard Dennis Smith, Jr., along with two future first round picks from the Mavs.

     This stunning event took place because Porzingis spoke with management about their designs for the future, given that the Knicks have only won 10 games this season. Those talks must have been really interesting, for the Knicks almost immediately consummated this deal with Dallas.

     What the Knicks have done is given themselves enough cap space to sign two mega free agents like Durant and Irving, placing the team in a favorable position in the NBA Draft Lottery, with the hope that they can draft Zion Williamson, the monster freshman at Duke. Or they can try to compete with the Lakers in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes, still draft Williamson and secure a player like Irving. 

     The possibilities are rich. Knicks fans worry that management will muck this up, as they have historically done by obtaining very good players like Carmelo Anthony or Amar’e Stoudemire, who could not lead the Knicks to the NBA title. It has been 25 years now since Patrick Ewing led the Knicks to the NBA Finals, where Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets prevailed in seven games. It is over 45 years ago that the Knicks won the crown. In a town starved for winners at the Garden—witness the Rangers finally winning the Stanley Cup in 1994, 54 years after having last been champions—Knicks supporters like my buddy, Fan X, are impatient and distrustful about their team’s prospects. For good reason.

     What this earthquake in NBA land has produced is tremendous chatter in advance of the February 7 trade deadline. In this regard, it is a lot like the MLB trade deadline, where every pundit reports on rumors and innuendos. The NBA has different priorities as alluded to with making salary cap room and avoiding luxury tax consequences. A lot of names are being floated about, mostly from non-contending teams, and it has created a buzz unseen in a number of years. That so many superstars are in play, including New Orleans moving Davis and New York having traded Porzingis, the trade deadline has become that much more interesting.

     Yet the most compelling story of the weekend is always my rodent friend, Punxsutawney Phil. The top-hat and tuxedo-clad members of the Inner Circle brought Phil out for his customary prediction. Early in the morning, with the glare of media lights and thousands in attendance, Phil can get a tad grumpy. Would you want to be yanked out of your comfortable surroundings at the town library for this human extravaganza? Phil muttered a few choice grunts and predicted an early spring. Given that we just finished with a brutal second Polar Vortex, Phil’s prognostication was comforting. Even though Phil gets it only right about 35-40%, that’s still a lot better than my predictions.

     Rutgers played like it didn’t see its shadow Saturday, as the Scarlet Knights ended their modest three game winning streak (modest for most teams, huge for RU) in a 14 loss at Ohio State. At least the women continue to thrive, as their record sits at 17-4, with only one loss in conference play.

     Meanwhile, the same must be true for F&M. The long bus ride to Chestertown, Maryland resulted in a 74-69 defeat by the Washington College Shoremen. This was Washington’s second victory over the Diplomats, which is the first time in 13 years that the Shoremen have swept F&M. More misery in a cold and dreary winter for the F&M squad.

     The Golden State Warriors, coming off a loss to Philadelphia at home on Thursday night, entertained the energized Lakers with LeBron returned from his injury but not in the lineup. Klay Thompson, who was ill on Thursday, played and scored 28 points as the Warriors began a new winning streak after the Sixers halted the Dubs’ 11 game streak. Good national TV theater for ABC.

     As much as the Western PA denizen was the show on February 2, President Trump escaped D.C. for a round of golf with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. I wonder who won this matchup? Or did the President see his shadow? Not even P-tawney Phil has the answer to that, for I am sure that no notes were taken.

     So much for Pennsylvania Dutch lore and enough about the prognosticating prowess of P-tawney Phil and his impact on my teams. I guess that I can make a bold prediction on tomorrow’s game without having seen one of my favorite movies, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie Mc Dowell. Such a classic movie with a great premise.

     Here it is: Los Angeles 37 New England 30. I don’t know if it is because I detest the Patriots, yet I have so much respect for Brady’s playing abilities. I just think that LA is a better team, younger and hungrier that the veterans on New England. The Rams play aggressive defensive schemes. I also don’t think that the Patriots’ defensive secondary is that good. Remember, they are only winners over KC because they won the coin flip in overtime and kept possession of the ball while overwhelming a tired KC defense. I wonder if Bettor X, who won a net of $25 million from Las Vegas sports books on the 2017 World Series  and then the Super Bowl, is going with the Rams, too.

     Tomorrow night, I will look back on this week and weekend and wonder this: Was everything Super?