Easily the best Superbowl in a long time!
Updated Standings and Balances
Well that was exciting. Who would ever have thought that Arizona would be in the Superbowl, never mind that that might actually be IN the game and even have the lead in the final seconds. This was easily the most interesting and the most exciting Superbowl that we’ve seen in a long time. And aside from a few minor officiating controversies, and a close-up on Bruce Springsteen’s crotch that I wasn’t expecting, it was a very entertaining game to watch.
Congratulations to all of our winners in the Superbowl pool this year! Because of a 4 way tie for third, there are a lot of us:
1st – $155 Joe
2nd – $65 Tino
3rd – $10 Aaron
3rd – $10 Adrian
3rd – $10 Bob
3rd – $10 Sean
Pittsburgh vs. Arizona?
So we have a situation here. An unheard of, unexpected, and damn near unbelievable situation. Arizona is going to the Superbowl! Wow.
And our little pool is yet to be decided… It’s down to the battle of the brothers. If Pittsburgh wins then brother Joe will win the pool. If Arizona wins (is that even possible?) then brother Tino will win. Good luck to both of you!
Obviously the loser of this little battle will finish second.
In third we have another unheard of situation. A four way tie. Wow! No matter what happens next week, Aaron, Adrian, Bob, and Sean will split the $40 third place prize! Congratulations all of you!!
To the rest, good luck next year!
Divisional Champions
Probably the biggest surprise in a weekend of upsets is that the only favorite to hold up was Pittsburgh. Although the Steelers had the highest ranked defence in the league this year, they seemed very beatable most of the season. Even still they managed to make the Chargers look like a college team, and they look very good going into the AFC Championship next weekend.
The other upsets were all reasonably predictable, especially Baltimore holding off the Titans (who never really seemed to deserve their amazing record), and in particular I don’t think anyone was surprised that the Giants lost to the Eagles (who beat them in Philly in week 14) as their season ending skid (they lost 3 of their last 4) was particularly ugly (can anyone say Plaxico?).
Jake Delhomme personally managed to ensure that the Panthers would not be able to stand up to the streaking Cardinals by allowing 6 (yes, six) turnovers (5 INT, 1 FUM). On the other hand Kurt Warner looked solid and made some very nice touch passes to lead Arizona to an easy win. Who could ever have imagined that Arizona would be hosting the NFC Championship game?? I wonder what the Vegas odds were on that back in September??
So the lineup for the Conference Championship round will be:
NFC
(Jan 18 @ 3:00 ET)
Philadelphia vs Arizona
AFC
(Jan 18 @ 6:30 ET)
Baltimore vs Pittsburgh
