Ploafmaster General

Tonight I’m watching my VCU Rams take on the UCLA Bruins in round 1 of the NCAA tournament. We’re seeded 11 to UCLA’s 6, but a good variety of fans and commentators (not to mention the POTUS) have picked VCU for an upset in this round.

Tip-off is tonight at 9:50 on CBS.

Consider this my requisite “I’m so excited about the upcoming football season which starts tonight that I just have to write about it even though every major sports outlet in the country already has something far more in depth and insightful than I could hope to pen” blog post.

Kickoff is at 7 pm, EDT, in Giants Stadium.

Well it seems, heading into the 2008-9 NFL season, that my Giants are dropping like flies. We lost a number of key starters over the summer, and Osi Umenyiora is out for the season with a serious knee injury.

And now we’ll be without Super Bowl show stopper David Tyree for at least six weeks…

Let’s hope Tom Coughlin and Steve Spagnuolo can hold it together – it’d be a shame to fall apart after such a brilliant finish last season.

After yet another brutal manhandling of the opposition, can we stop using the feeble appellation of “Redeem Team” for our men’s Olympic basketball team? Sure, we don’t have the gold yet, but with our worst performance so far a 21-point victory over Angola (and our best a thorough trouncing of Germany by 49 points), do we really have much to fear for the semi-final or final rounds?

Well, Brett, you had a good run.

I think this picture of Justin Tuck causing a fumble sums up the trouble my Giants gave Tom Brady on Sunday:

Against the odds, my New York Giants have defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII!!!!!

Eli Manning deserved his MVP, with his only interception the result of a bobbled reception, and an otherwise strong game that made Tom Brady look like, well…Eli Manning

In addition, the defense for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew played as hard as any defense could, stuffing run after run and putting so much pressure on Brady that he looked like he was about to blow. Now we go into the books as having shut down the almost perfect season of the Patriots, allowing the ‘72 Dolphins to breath easier. Eli gets to feel like a real quarter back, and Tom Coughlin proved his value as coach.

What a fantastic end to an unexpected playoff run, too! Excepting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round, every team we defeated in the post season beat us during the regular season, so it’s nice to payback for those earlier losses.

I suppose I’ll be wearing my Giants jersey to work on Tuesday (I’m taking tomorrow off…too wiped out), if I don’t get called out on it…

UPDATE: For anyone interested, here’s the INCREDIBLE play where Eli broke the tackle and tossed it to David Tyree for the helmet catch.