NBA

The Super Bowl may be over, but that just means that the NBA comes front and center.  Last night, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers traveled to New York to take on the Knicks in Madison Square Garden.  Normally this would be a marquee game, but the Knicks have been abysmal this decade.  David Lee put up a nice game for New York with 22 points, but it was Kobe that took center stage.  He scored 61 POINTS on the night.  Incredible!  And by getting to sixty-’ONE’, Kobe broke the record for most points ever scored by one player in Madison Square.  He is truly playing on another level right now.  LA Lakers 126, New York 117.

The bad news for the Lakerks, Andrew Bynum is definitely out, and hopefully Kobe and Pau Gasol can carry them through to nab the top spot in the West.  The good news for the Lakers:  Bynum will only be out for a maximum of 12 weeks.  That brings them to the playoffs, but many thought Bynum was the missing link in last year’s finals.  With him in the line-up, the Lakers are a very tough team to beat.  So if you’re the Lakers right now hearing the Bynum news, you’re thinking “Hey… it could be worse”.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The UCONN Huskies were named as the #1 seed this week, and it seems to now be a weekly tradition, they had a tough, high-ranked match up right way.   Teams have been getting the top slot, then losing right away.  In UCONN’s case, it was #7 Louisville waiting to bring them down.  However, UCONN wasn’t going to fall prey to this formula.  They absolutely crushed Louisville behind another terrific game from their dominant center Hasheem Thabeet.  He had 14 points and 11 rebounds.  Their forward Jeff Adrien also came to play with a team high 18 points.  The Huskies look great, but the Big East is full of talent, and UCONN will have to watch their back each and every night.

Finally, some more college b-ball news.  The Georgia Bulldogs are definitely most known for their football program, but occasionally they pop-up as a competitive basketball program in the SEC.  In the late 90s, they had some pretty good rankings in the NCAA tourney.  Well, they just fired their coach Dennis Felton after he started the season 9-12, but more importantly, went 0-6 in the SEC.  And anybody who understands Southern sports knows that the SEC is viciously competitive.   Now, there is a rumor that Georgia might be interested in none other than the inimitable Bobby Knight.  Knight had a pretty good run at Texas Tech, getting them decent seedings in the tourney during his tenure.  Well, Georgia’s recruiting is pretty good, and with Knight at the helm, they could really return to prominence.  They just better make sure all their bench chairs are bolted to the floor.

Well, Super Bowl XLIII is officially in the books:

The game got off to a rapid start with an explosive, don’t-mess-with-us drive from the Pittsburgh Steelers.  They marched down the field, and plunged into the end zone with almost no resistance from Arizona.  However, their first touchdown was called back after a replay showed that Ben Roethlisberger’s knee was down before the goal line.  So… the Steelers had to settle for a field goal.  3-0 Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals couldn’t do anything offensively, and the Steelers tacked on another touchdown with a 1-yard run by fullback Gary Russell.  10-0 Steelers.  It looked like this was going to be a defensive display all game, as Arizona’s offense just couldn’t get it going.  But then, in the second quarter, the Cardinals had a beautiful drive down the field, marked by a 45-yard pass from Kurt Warner to Anquan Boldin.  This set up a short, play-action 1-yard touchdown pass to TE Ben Patrick.  This was also Ben Patrick’s first touchdown catch of the season.  10-7.

The second quarter appeared to be going the Cardinals way.  And in the closing few minutes, the Cards marched the ball easily down the field.  It appeared that they would score again before the half as they were inside the Pittsburgh 10-yard line.  But… Warner was picked off by the Steelers James Harrison, who ran it back for a record-setting 100-yard touchdown.  Harrison got some clutch blocks on the play, and as it played out the announcers thought there was a penalty so they didn’t get excited as they normally would.  In the end, no penalty — touchdown Steelers, and it was 17-7 heading into the Bruce Springsteen halftime show.

In the third quarter, it was theoretically comeback time for the Cardinals, but their offense couldn’t get anything going again.  However, their defense stepped up.  The Steelers had several red-zone opportunities for touchdowns, but the Cardinals came up strong, and held the Steelers to just a field goal in the 3rd quarter.

So, heading into the fourth, Arizona needed some offense… and FAST.  Well, that’s exactly what they made happen.  Kurt Warner led them down the field with a beautiful 28-yard pass to 3rd string running back J.J. Arrington.  He capped off the drive with a gorgeous lob pass to the immortal Larry Fitzgerald, who somewhat caught the pass against his helmet similar to the now famous “Helmet Catch” made by the Giants David Tyree in last year’s Super Bowl.  20-14 Cardinals.

Later in the quarter, the Cards pinned the Steelers on their one-yard line on 3rd down.  If the Steelers picked up a first, it would almost seal their victory.  And Ben Roethlisberger scrambled to throw an amazing pass to Santonio Holmes.  But — the play was called back for a holding call — AND, it was in the end zone, so it was ruled as a SAFETY.  Arizona got two points, and the ball back.  20-16.

And boy did they make the most of it, as Kurt Warner connected on a short slant pass to Larry Fitzgerald, who then ran it 64 yards down the field for a touchdown.  He even watched himself run it in on the jumbotron.  And, miraculously, the Arizona Cardinals were ahead in the Super Bowl with just 2:58 to play.  Who would have imagined that scenario back in September.

So — the Steelers had one last chance to win the game.  And, unfortunately for Cardinals fans, Ben Roethlisberger was ‘Joe Montana’ brilliant on this drive, as the Steelers offense was anything but conservative.  They didn’t want a field goal to send it to overtime — they wanted to WIN the game. Ben hit Santonio Holmes for a 40 yard pass, and then… it happened.  He lobed a pass to the back corner of the end zone, where Santonio Holmes made an Oh-My-God catch, planted both feet down, and gave the Steelers their 6th Super Bowl victory in franchise history.

Santonio Holmes was named the MVP, and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin became the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl.   It was simply an amazing game, and will be remembered as one of the top Super Bowls of all-time.  Just a riveting fourth quarter, marked by some heroic plays in the game’s final minutes.  This one will be talked about for years to come.  Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23.

SUPER BOWL XVIII

Finally today is the DAY.  It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the game everyone’s been talking about for two weeks is finally here.  Arizona has been an underdog all season, but many actually expect them to win — and the Cardinals don’t do too well as the favorite.  Also, people have talked about Pittsburgh’s ‘D’, however, they don’t discuss how GREAT this defense actually is.  It’s very possible that the Steelers completely shut down the Cards.  This could be a real blowout.  Either way, we’ll find out at 6:00 ET.  Anyway, if you’re just a casual football fan, here’s something you can root for:  Arizona Cardinals QB, Kurt Warner, told his kids they could get a puppy if he won the Super Bowl.  Thus, cheering on the Cardinals = cheering for puppies. And how can you root against puppies?

In other sports news……

NBA

Some VERY bad news for Laker fans.  The Lakers traveled to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies in what should have been a beat ‘em and leave unharmed game.  Well, the Lakeshow did take care of the first part of that equation, with Kobe putting up 25, and Pau Gasol 24 — but, in the first quarter, Kobe collided HARD with Andrew Bynum.  Bynum hit the ground, and clutched his knee.  He had to be helped off the court, and there is no indication how much time he will miss.  Could be a couple of games, could be the rest of the season.  Kobe was visibly furious with himself, as many thought with a healthy Bynum, the Lakers could beat the Celtics if they had a finals rematch.  The city of Los Angeles is crossing their fingers right now for an optimistic MRI.  LA Lakers 115, Memphis 98.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

In college basketball, #2 UCONN was hoping to claim the #1 seed with Duke’s loss to Wake Forest earlier this week.  A convincing win over Providence should do the trick.  Well, they did just that.  Behind their star center Hasheem Thabeet’s 15 points and 11 rebounds, the UCONN Huskies destroyed Providence, and hopefully convinced the voting committee that they deserve the #1 seed.  UCONN 94, Providence 61.

Meanwhile, Wake Forest, the team that just beat #1 Duke, was looking to prove that they are in fact a dominate team to be reckoned with.  They had a Saturday showdown with the unranked Georgia Tech Yellowjackets — and it did not go well for Wake.  Their star guard, Jeff Teague had a nice showing with 16 points, but it was Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal that stole the show.  He had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  And in the end, Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert hit a beautiful shot with 1 second remaining to give his team the upset.  So, if you’re looking for early round upsets come March, don’t be too afraid to pick against Wake Forest.  Georgia Tech 76, Wake Forest 74.