I swear if I hear the name Brett Favre one more time I’m going to walk into the kitchen, open the top drawer, lift out the first spoon that comes to hand and gouge out my eye balls, walk down the hall open a cupboard, find anything that resembles a knitting needle and jab out my ear drums. I am not the biggest NFL fan in the world, and I never had anything against Brett Favre until a few years ago when he decided to retire then un-retire seemingly multiple times on a annual basis right up until this year.

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… If indeed they were expected to win the thing at all?

I didn’t think New Orleans would win. They were the team I wanted to win, but when push came to shove and I had to pick who I actually thought would win, I went for the Colts. Thankfully though I didn’t actually put any hard cash on my pick and so was happy enough to be wrong when the playing was done and New Orleans picked up their first ever Vince Lombardi trophy.

Overall the Saints were the better team and good for their win. The game was tighter than the final score suggests but I didn’t (and I don’t think many did) expect the Saints to have it as comfortable as they did by the end. Trailing 10-0 early the Saints worked their way back into the game, taking a brief lead before giving it up again and then fighting their way back with two touchdowns that put them fourteen points clear. When they took that fourteen point lead, even I as a passive viewer, knew that the game was up for Indy. A true NFL fan would have informed me that there was lots of time left but I just didn’t see some crazy comeback that NFL fans have been seeing in Super Bowls of late. The past two Super Bowls have been so dramatic and decided right at the death that everyone expected much of the same this year and it was reflected in the fact that this game became the most watched television event in American history. It wasn’t as if the 100+ million that tuned in were let down, the game was riveting, but it just kind of faded out at the end when Payton Manning failed to connect on a pass into the end zone with less than a minute to go that would have cut the score to seven giving them a slim chance at something incredible.

As it turned out the score stayed at fourteen and the Colts kind of just called it a day allowing the clock to run down and the celebrations in New Orleans to begin. I enjoyed the game, as I am sure everyone outside of Colts fans did regardless of the lack of drama in the final minute.

New Orleans as a city needed something like this – and it’s a reason why so many neutrals were wanting them to win. The town is still recovering after the crippling Hurricane Katrina that blew through there a few years back and this kind of thing really lifts a town. That was evident by the celebrations that ran long into the wee hours of the morning and will be followed up by street parades that will blend into Mardi Gras that beings in just a weeks time.

NY Jets 17-30 Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings 28-31 New Orleans Saints

I spent quite a lot of yesterday watching the NFL playoff games, the games that had the winners booking their place in the Super Bowl. In the end the two teams favored to win, did indeed win and now NFL fans will get to see the two best teams in the game go head to head for the big prize. That should make it an exciting game in two weeks time.

In the first game between the Jets and the Colts I was backing the Jets, though form and talent clearly said the Colts would get the win. The Jets put in a good effort and lead for a long portion of the game putting a bit of fear into the hearts of Colts fans but in the end the cream rose to the top and Payton Manning lead his team to Super Bowl. They’ll go into that contest as slight favorites.

I didn’t see a lot of the second game, though I did catch the bit that really mattered – the overtime that seen a couple of play reviews, a few time-outs and a few botched chances to get control of the ball by Minnesota and in the end the field goal that won the game for New Orleans. Minnesota had the ball in their hands at the end of the forth quarter but their 40-something-year-old quarter back, legend, Brett Favre tossed an interception in what could prove to be his final play in the sport – if he indeed retires for good this time – and it ensured the game went into overtime.

The way overtime in the NFL works is a bit strange. It is almost as if the toss of a coin dictates the winner, or at least it certainly gives the winner of the toss a huge advantage. Win the toss and you get the ball and all you really need to do is advance it far enough up the field to kick a field goal and you win the game thanks to being the first team to score a point. The opposition doesn’t get a go themselves.

Personally the Vikings should have got a shot to better the points mark set by New Orleans or even still play the full length of time and the leader at the end of that time goes on to win.

Anyway, the result is in stone now and New Orleans moves on. The Saints will be slight underdogs against the Colts but it’ll be hard not go to for them. Just a few years back that city was hit by Hurricane Katrina and the team was on its knees but what a story it would be for it to bounce back and win a Super Bowl. Just getting there is a huge achievement for the city in itself.

It was the 97th Grey Cup and possibly my first (I think I watched a bit of last years final so I’m not sure if ‘a bit of…’ counts). Anyway, if my reputation of watching American Football finals is anything to go by, I should watch many more. The last two Superbowls and this Grey Cup Final are possibly the only three American Football games I have watched from start to finish and them two Superbowls went down in history as two of the best while this CFL Grey Cup Final must surely be ranked as one of the most incredible also.

I thought last second winning field goals was the stuff of which movies were made and that these movies that depicted the kicker in slow motion sending the ball between the posts to win the game was romantic but unrealistic in the real professional sports world. Well after last night I learned the truth: It does happen.

The Montreal Alouettes, pre-game favorites, scored a 33-yard field-goal from the boot of Damon Duval with zero seconds on the clock on his second attempt to cap an incredible forth-quarter rally to win 28-27 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

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…is an institution in the United States and par my excellent timing I write this article on the very day, twenty-nine years on from its first ever broadcast. One look at the ratings it attracts and that it has been on air for 29-years on a weekly basis throughout the NFL season and you get an idea what it means to the fans and the TV companies. Monday Night Football is one game per week that is played on the Monday night rather than the typical Sunday games and it’s broadcast nationally. Having your team picked for a Monday night game is a big deal for fans and some teams can go years without such an honor. Many fans use it as a good excuse to get down to the pub for the evening to watch the big game.

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Is this a case of déjà vu? It seems like it. I am sure I have wrote in the past how I would try to get into the NFL at the start of the season and give it a good go. I said I would sit down, try watch games from start to finish, learn who was who, who was good, pick a team and watch the thing all the way to the Superbowl before making judgement on a sport I never rated too much before hand. It was only fair, I have always believed the only way to really judge a sport is to attend it, or at the very least watch a full season from start to finish. Well I tried all that last year but somewhere about halfway through I stopped watching games, I just didn’t have time to follow so many sports and the NFL had to go though I did tune in and watch the entire Superbowl from start to finish.

Well, this year it is back again and it’s time to give it one more go.

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Before this whole thing began I had said I would sit down and give it a watch as I have always tried to do over the years. Before this year though I always had the excuse that it was on so late at night so that when I got bored I could just say I got tired and went to bed. This year though with me being in Canada it was on at a sensible time of the night and I had no excuse but to watch it and only quit if I really couldn’t face it any longer. My worries were the length of the game, could I really last 3-4 hours watching a sport I didn’t know much about and a sport that during that 3-4 hours would only be playing an hours worth at best. There were all these supposed expensive T.V. commercials to deal with but with Bruce Springsteen, one of my favourite musicians playing the half-time show, I knew I would at least make the halfway mark.

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