THE TOP FIVE SUPER BOWLS OF ALL TIME

By English Paul…

Well it’s finally here.  As we get ready for the Super Bowl this weekend, it always takes me back to when I first started watching football as a twelve year old.  Back in those days, I could watch the Super Bowl live, go to bed at three o’clock in the morning and still be able to get up for school.  Now though, I have to book the next day off work.

In any event, I thought it would be a good idea to count down what I consider are the top five Super Bowls I have ever watched.  You may not agree with me, but that’s part of the fun.  Hence I give honourable mentions to Super Bowl XXXIV (St Louis 23-16 Tennessee) and Super Bowl XXLI (N.Y. Giants 17-14 New England), but ultimately, they miss out on the top five.

Okay, here we go:

5)    Super Bowl XXXIV    New England 20-17 St Louis

The result which heralded the dawn of the latest dynasty in the NFL and the birth of Tom Brady as the latest quarterback attempting to challenge Joe Montana’s position as the best in the history of Super Bowl play (even if Brady does go on to win more rings, it won’t change the fact that Montana never threw any interceptions or lost a game on the big stage.)

The Patriots started out as the third biggest underdogs in the history of the Super Bowl.  By the end, they had secured its second biggest upset.

This was a game, which captivated the audience from start to finish.  No one really believed that the Rams could lose and yet at one point, it looked like they were going to be blown out.  Trailing 17-3 and driving inside the ten, Kurt Warner fumbled and the ball was returned for a touchdown that apparently put the Pats up 24-3.  However, a penalty overturned the play and the Rams went on to score two fourth quarter touchdowns to tie the game at 17-17.

Everyone thought New England had lost their opportunity, but Brady went on to drive the team down the field, setting the stage for Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time expired.

4)    Super Bowl XXIII    S.F. 49ers 20-16 Cincinnati

This is the game that cemented Joe Montana’s position as the ultimate big-game quarterback.  It also gave heart to a young boy as I finally got to witness a close Super Bowl, which lived up to the hype.

I admit that at the time, I hated the 49ers, because they were always winning.  It’s only now that I can fully appreciate what a complete football team they were.  Apart from Montana, there was Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Harris Barton, Ronnie Lott, Charles Hayley and so on.  This team was loaded.

Having said that, the Bengals gave the 49ers all they could handle.  Ironically enough, as their number one rated offence struggled on the big stage, it was the Cincinnati defence, which kept them in the game.  And this was despite losing their top defender, Tim Krumrie, with a sickening injury in the first quarter.  (I can still see his leg twisting around 180 degrees.)

A little known fact was that Boomer Esiason had a shoulder injury, which hampered him throughout the postseason.  To this day, I’m convinced that Cincinnati would have won the game with a fully fit Esiason, who had enjoyed a league MVP winning campaign.

In any event, Cincinnati actually took a three-point lead with under four minutes to go and had the 49ers backed up on their own eight-yard line.  Someone on the Bengals sideline was heard to remark ‘we’ve got them right where we want them’, to which Chris Collingsworth replied ‘have you seen whose on the other side?’

Unfortunately for Cincinnati, Collingsworth proved to be right.  Montana calmly lead the 49ers down the field, before finding John Taylor for the winning touchdown, with thirty-four seconds to go.  Game over.

3)    Super Bowl XXX    Dallas 27-17 Pittsburgh

It had gotten to a point where I was beyond desperate to see the AFC win a Super Bowl (eleven straight losses going into this game.)

If it wasn’t for Neil O’Donnell, this is the game where it would have finally happened.  The guy who entered the game with the lowest percentage of passes intercepted in the history of the NFL, managed to throw three, including two boneheaded ones in the fourth quarter.

The Cowboys entered this Super Bowl as favourites and the game started out along these lines.  They were up 13-0 as halftime approached.  However, Pittsburgh put a late drive together to score a touchdown right before halftime, making the game more interesting.

As the third quarter began, O’Donnell threw his first interception, resulting in Dallas going up 20-7.  Everyone thought it was over.  However, in the fourth quarter O’Donnell finally started to find some form, Bam Morris began to run the ball with authority and the Steelers made their move.

Pittsburgh scored a field goal in the fourth to make it 20-10 and then fooled everyone by attempting and recovering an onside kick.  This resulted in a touchdown to make it 20-17.  A three and out by the Steel Curtain defence got me finally believing the NFC win streak was about to end.  However, O’Donnell then literally threw the game away with those two late interceptions.  An Emmitt Smith touchdown run finished the Steelers off.

When it was all said and done, it didn’t matter than Pittsburgh had gained more yards and first downs than Dallas.  They helped Larry Brown get a big-money move to the Raiders with his MVP award and managed to fool people into thinking that Barry Switzer was a good coach.

2)    Super Bowl XXV    N.Y. Giants 20-19 Buffalo

In the midst of the NFCs’ thirteen game winning streak, we were lucky enough to witness the closest ever (figuratively speaking) Super Bowl.

Everyone recalls the words ‘wide right’ as Scott Norwood missed a 47 yard field goal at the end of the game, which would have won the game for the Bills and saved them from the ever-lasting infamy of four straight Super Bowls losses.

However, this game will always be remembered as it took place during the Gulf War.  A lot of players, fans and media in the stadium were directly affected, as they had loved ones away fighting the war.  Security was at an all-time high.

The Bills were actually favourites going into this game, a rarity for an AFC team back in those days.  What followed was a classic, as the Bills explosive offence was mostly held in check by Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks and the rest of the Giants vaunted defence.

Buffalo looked like they might run away with the game early on, taking a 12-3 lead halfway through the second quarter.  However, the Giants, led by career backup Jeff Hostetler, got a touchdown just before halftime to make a game of it.

The Giants offence would go on to set a Super Bowl record for time of possession, (with over 40 minutes, including 22 in the second half) as they went on to score ten more points and ultimately hold on for the win.

1)    Super Bowl XXXII    Denver 31-24 Green Bay

Come on, you all knew this was going to be my top pick.  Finally, the AFC ended the NFCs’ thirteen-year winning streak and who better to do it than the Broncos.  More importantly, John Elway was guaranteed to leave the game with a ring.  Admittedly though, this was Terrell Davis’s Super Bowl.

T.D. was unbelievable, rushing for 157 yards and three touchdowns.  And don’t forget he missed nearly all of the second quarter with a migrane headache.  He would have challenged Timmy Smiths rushing record of 204 yards (yes, I know, against the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII) if he’d been able to play the full game.

Despite an average showing statistically, Elway still had the biggest play of the game.  His third quarter helicopter spin into the air on third and six gained a first down and galvanised the team.  I know I’m biased, but in my opinion this is the best Super Bowl in the history of the game.  A close, hard fought battle, with numerous lead changes and momentum swings, not decided until the final minute.  John Mobley knocked down Brett Favre’s fourth down pass in Denver territory and sent me to bed a very happy man.

Let’s all hope that this Sunday’s game can match the excitement of the above match-ups and give us all a memorable encounter.

Paul Taylor can be contacted at [email protected]

Kelly Pavlik: Paperback Hero or Paper Champion?

by Stoker Dafire… Bernard Hopkins recently fought a non-title fight against World Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik. It was such a master class of boxing that it should only be sold exclusively as an instructional video to all the young men out there who wish to pursue a career in the pugilistic arts.

Bernard Hopkins can be compared to a great 43-year-old architect who is about to build a temple with a specific set of blue prints. B-Hop is given the assignment, and then he begins to build his game plan and future performance from the ground skywards.

He knows that the basic tools for building any beautiful structure are a square and a level; in fighting it’s the jab and footwork. With those simplistic tools, and the right material, it’s possible to build yourself an architectural boxing monolith.

The jab is one of the most basic weapons in combat sports, but it’s very much underrepresented and often ignored. Bernard Hopkins’ brilliant left jab is one of the main reasons the 43-year-old fighter is ranked fourth on boxing’s top 10 pound for pound list.

In his most recent fight, Bernard was able to measure and control the much younger—but slower—Pavlik with constant pressure from his head snapping left jab.

Also, by circling to his right—away from his opponent’s power hand—B-Hop was able to nullify and rob Kelly Pavlik of his greatest weapon, the big right hand bomb.

Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik is the middleweight champion of the world. He is undoubtedly a championship level fighter with tremendous knockout power; however, I feel he also takes far too many punches, and Kelly has had moments where he has barely survived.

He hit the canvas in the second round of his title fight against Jermaine Taylor, and it looked for all intents and purposes that the six feet two inch Ohioan was about to fall apart; but later in the seventh round, two uppercuts and a solid left hook from Pavlik floored Jermaine Taylor.

Getting up off the canvas and coming back to win the middleweight championship of the world shows tremendous heart, and it’s the stuff that our Champions are supposed to be made of, but in this writer’s opinion Kelly Pavlik is now nothing more than a “paper champion.”

This recent humiliating loss to Bernard Hopkins showed us boxing fans that the young champion has some huge fundamental flaws.

Pavlik’s punches are prodding and slow, and in some cases he seems to be fighting to keep his balance.

How long will it be before some new contender follows the same blueprints that Bernard Hopkins used?

Kelly Pavlik has an upcoming mandatory middleweight title defense against Marco Antonio Rubio on Feb. 21.

Rubio isn’t supposed to give him any trouble, and it is said to be an easy win for Pavlik, but nowadays in the boxing world Murphy’s law applies, which means anything can and will happen at the worst possible time.

I’m not Mother Teresa, but I’m not Charles Manson, either.

Mike Tyson