Round up the usual suspects

Mike Burke
Cumberland Times-News

February 06, 2008 11:17 am

— Sunday's Super Bowl was certainly one for little brothers everywhere as the New York Giants' Eli Manning not only joined his big brother Peyton as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, but apparently defeated Big Brother in the process as we haven't heard the last of Spygate by a long shot.
The NFL has an antitrust exemption, so Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), unsatisfied with the manner in which the league dealt with and settled Spygate, is pursuing the New England Patriots cheating scandal to the point that it could result in Senate hearings. He has a meeting planned with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
One would believe with all that's going on in the world, there would be more pressing issues than Spygate to deal with on Capitol Hill, but an antitrust exemption is an antitrust exemption.
Nonetheless, here's hoping Sen. Specter never finds out about the 1951 National League pennant race, a.k.a. "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff," when, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, the baseball New York Giants used a telescope and a buzzer system created by electrician Abraham Chadwick to steal opposing teams' signs from their clubhouse in center field of the Polo Grounds.
For what it's worth, the Giants' Bobby Thomson says he never received a signal about the pitch the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ralph Branca served up to him when he hit "The Shot Heard 'Round The World."
Belichick
I don't understand the fuss concerning Patriots coach Bill Belichick's exit from the field Sunday night when there was one second left in the game with the Giants in possession of the ball, nor do I understand why everybody's up in arms over his terse press conference after the Super Bowl.
Obviously, Belichick believed the clock was going to run out when he ran out on to the field just as Giants coach Tom Coughlin must have as he was out on the field as well. With one second left and given Belichick was conceding the game at that point, I don't think many of us would have run back to the sideline to wait for the final second to tick off.
As for his press conference, terse, evasive and annoyed is usually how Belichick is with the media even after a Patriots win, so I thought his performance Sunday night was pretty consistent. He gave the Giants credit. What else did you want him to say?
Somebody's likely to make that known some day soon on Capitol Hill.
Where does XLII rank?
Having been a Baltimore Colts fan, having lived through the nightmare of Super Bowl III, and having the misfortune of thinking about that game at least once a week all these years later, I would like to rank the Giants' win over the Patriots as the biggest Super Bowl upset of all time, but, sadly, I can't.
The '68 Colts were an 18-point favorite over the Jets. The Colts were 15-1, and avenged their only loss by whipping the Browns in Cleveland, 34-0, in the NFL championship game. They had the No. 2-ranked offense and the No. 1-ranked defense in the established NFL that had never lost to the AFL.
The Jets were from that upstart league that likely would have gone out of business had the Colts won Super Bowl III.
At the most, the two games will forever be linked as the two biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, but only because New York teams won both of them (Thbbbt!) after being double-figure underdogs - the Giants were 12-point 'dogs last Sunday even though they lost to New England by only three points in the regular season.
So, sure, the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but the NFL returns to business as usual. Had the Colts beaten the Jets in Super Bowl III, though, there would have been no merger between the AFL and the NFL, there would have been no enormous television contracts, and there would be no NFL as we know it today.
For a lot of reasons, the Jets had to win, and somehow they did.
Super Bowl III. Now there's a sporting happening that could be just downright fascinating to investigate as well. Probably wouldn't hurt to look into Super Bowl IV either, when the Chiefs beat the heavily-favored Vikings to even the AFL with the NFL in the Super Bowl at 2-2, one year before the merger took place.
Hail to the Redskins
Saturday was a big day for the Washington Redskins as cornerback Darrell Green was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and after too many years of being left out, wide receiver Art Monk was finally included as well (must have been an investigation). Green was a lock, and Monk should have been seven years ago when he was first-ballot eligible. But the important thing is he's in now.
Now, if offensive linemen Russ Grimm, who did not make the vote this year in his first year of eligibility, and Joe Jacoby can soon be elected, those great Redskins teams of the 1980s and early '90s will be appropriately represented in Canton, as Grimm and Jacoby would join Coach Joe Gibbs, John Riggins, Green and Monk.
Other than Gibbs, the heart of those Redskins teams was the offensive line, a.k.a. the Hogs, with Grimm and Jacoby being the constants. Along with Mark May, Jeff Bostic, George Starke, Fred Dean, R.C. Thielmann and Jim Lachey, the Redskins, under the tutelage of coaches Joe Bugel and Jim Hanifan, changed the way offensive lines are still viewed and developed today.
Grimm will eventually be elected. Jacoby will likely be a reach, but both should be in the Hall of Fame.
Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.

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