Vinatieri kicked it off to Hester. He took it up the field, but then appeared to get cornered around the 20-yard line. However, using a double move reminiscent of Desmond Howard when he captured the Super Bowl MVP for the Packers, Hester weaved his way through the Colts KO coverage, and sprinted around Mr. Golden Foot to put the Bears up 7-0. Right there I noted that:
1. Devin Hester is the man.
2. He's from The "U"
3. He was the (unreleased) Sporting Itis Special Teams Player of the Year
and most importantly 4. I announced to the crowd at that moment that the Colts would win in a convincing fashion (I actually said blowout) as soon as he scored, because the same exact thing happened to Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game and I was still realllllllly bitter. People thought I was crazy, especially after Peyton Manning got picked on their 2nd drive.
Speaking of the INT, I noted after the first two drives that the recipe for success for playing against a team playing deep cover 2 coverage is to control the ball thru the run and occasionally try to exploit the middle - not the sideline! Well, they must've also noticed this because Joseph Addai ended up with 10 receptions, even though he split snaps with Dominic Rhodes.
The first time the Colts decided to attack the middle of the field, the Bears happened to have a breakdown in coverage, and left Reggie Wayne wide open 30 yards down the field. He caught it and trotted for an easy touchdown. What was most impressive about this play is that Peyton Manning's pocket presence was incredible. He moved in and out of the pocket to buy time while still looking downfield and got the ball off just before a lineman got to him. Also, what school did Reggie Wayne go to? Moving on...
The first quarter was sloppy, but really entertaining. It featured the aforementioned kickoff return for a touchdown, then a Manning INT, the Manning-to-Wayne TD, consecutive fumbles by the Bears and the Colts, a long run by Thomas Jones, a Bears TD, and to top it off one more fumble. I thought we were all in for a pretty exciting back-and-forth contest, but thats when the game started to be a drag. You could tell because the announcers started putting their own flair into conversation to spice things up. When one of the Chicago defenders batted down a Manning pass, one of them said, "A Bear got a paw on it." One of the announcers also felt it worth noting to advise people not to watch the "movements and gyrations" of Peyton Manning. Suffice to say, I was not looking for these gyrations, but I appreciated the concern. My favorite announcer quote, at least for the first half, was after Mr. Manning scrambled outside the pocket and threw across his body to Dallas Clark and one of the guys started getting pissed at people who would criticize that throw. "You can't throw across your body? Who said that!? And WRONG -- you can!!" Sadly, they missed out on a golden opportunity to point out that Manning and Dominic "Don't call me Dominique" Rhodes used the option late in the 2nd Quarter better than Quincy Carter ever could.
Once again, two consecutive plays, two fumbles, Vinatieri misses! and it's halftime.
The Prince concert was very...Prince. That's the best way I can describe it. If you're a fan of Prince, you would've loved it. It at least had its humorous moments with Prince making many of those classic looks that Dave Chappelle perfected. He also had a guitar shaped like his name/symbol and played behind a veil that made him look like a more than well-endowed gentleman. And now I sort of like "Purple Rain." Back to the game...
As the Colts continued to dominate Da Bears (Chicago only had 5 first downs and Indy led in offensive yards 370-96 toward the end of the 3rd quarter), a strange request was passed on to the booth from Nathan Vasher (which was my favorite announcer moment of the game), whose question was, "Oprah, Will You Marry Me?" Oprah, when else could you marry the man who is 2nd all-time on the list for longest play from scrimmage in an NFL game! And another thing, he's a millionaire, but you could still look down on him like he were a peasant.
Throughout the game, many references had been made regarding the Rex Grossman split personality factor. Was he going to be Good Rex, who put up outstanding numbers in half of his games or Bad Rex, where he could give you a 0.0 QB rating (whatever that means). As we entered the 4th Quarter of XLI, I was wondering if Good Rex would emerge from the rubble. Once again, I announced to the crowd that we would see Good Rex bring the Bears back into contention. I should've done a little more research. He completed one pass to Mushin Muhammad, and then threw a pop up fly to Colts Corner, Kelvin Hayden, who promptly took the ball to Da House. And the next time he got the ball, I had a feeling Good Rex HAD to come out. He drops back for a deep pass, throws the ball with confidence, has an open Bernard Berrian, and then Pro Bowl Safety, Bob Sanders suddenly appears in the picture and picks it off. Two Grossman INTs plus two bad sacks earlier and it was officially Bad Rex time.
As the Colts grinded it out towards the end of the game, I could see the monkey slipping off of Peyton's back, run over to the sideline and start to strangle Grossman. Bad Rex's ineptitude has made people forget about any nasty Tony Romo references lined up (for now at least) and he will have to live with people making fun of him for another...well, let's say he should probably keep a low profile for a while and not go partying on South Beach.
I rated the Super Bowl commercials, but most of them were terrible. There was rumored to be a spoof of the overused Dodge Ram "Rock-Em Sock-Em" commercial, but it never showed. I blame Carlos Mencia. Nevertheless, the best three commercials were:
1. Nationwide - Kevin Federline
2. Snickers Kiss
3. Bud Light Slap
And since I have nothing else to say on the matter, the Browns are winning the Super Bowl in 2008 (you can really rely on those predictions from the Sporting Itis)!
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