Tuesday, February 6, 2007

The "Purple Rain" Game

So the Colts won SuperBowl XLI - going against my prediction making me 8-3 for the postseason. Not bad - not great, definitely not enough to make me want to wager real money next year.

To be honest, I fell asleep during the SuperBowl. I was watching it about 2 hours tape delayed on my PVR after getting the kids to bed. Started watching and was really excited about the Bears scoring an opening kickoff touchdown return. Devin Hester (if that's how you spell his name) is a really special player. Hopefully he will continue to excite throughout his career rather than fall off the map like Dante 'X Factor' Hall of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Following that play, I found the opening quarter to be predictable. Manning struggled early - probably getting use to the feel for the ball in the rain. Apparantly there was more rain during that SuperBowl than in all previous outdoor SuperBowls combined (8/9th of an inch fell during the game). The Colts seemed to adapt to the conditions much better than the Bears. They pretty much stopped going for the deep ball - which is always trickier to complete in bad weather and concentrated on short passes (mainly swing passes and flare outs to Addai on 3rd down) and the running game. The Bears on the other hand kept letting Grossman throw the ball deep - which led to no big plays.

Prince - one of my favourite musicians played the show at half time on a stage shaped like his former symbol. The diminutive Minnesotan looked like a cross between Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix strutting around the stage in a teal suit with a bright orange suit (Miami Dolphin colours - an homage to the home town fans). He didn't look thrilled to be performing in a downpour - but went through his set professionally although he didn't acknowledge the crowd at all.

The combination of Prince performing at half time plus the deluge of rain throughout the contest has led some in the media to dub SuperBowl XLI the "Purple Rain Game". Not sure if it will stick like the "Ice Bowl", or the "Catch", or the "Drive", or the "Immaculate Reception"...but I sure hope it does.

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