Even a Blind Squirrel...

So we did get home from the movie just in time to see the Patriots' final drive and the Giants' improbable answer. So I got to see a great movie and the exciting part of the Super Bowl. And really, had I missed seeing The Pass, I would have kicked myself later on.

I don't know what they're going to call it in the years to come, but if you saw it, you know what I mean when I say The Pass. And they will give that play a name. Actually, I think "The Pass" might stick, as it's one of the few football terms that hasn't already been capitalized, and the moment is iconic enough to deserve it. The Catch is taken - Joe Montana to Dwight Clark to clinch the 1982 NFC Championship game. The Play will forever be Cal's improbable last-second victory over Stanford, also in 1982 ("The band is on the field! He's gonna go into the end zone!"). The Drive is John Elway leading the Denver Broncos 98 yards in the final minutes to send the 1987 AFC Championship to overtime. And Immaculate Reception is also taken, of course, but it could work here, too. I could also see it being called the "Oh My God, Eli Manning Didn't Fuck Up in the Clutch," or the "Wait, Are You Sure That Was Eli Manning?"

Anyway, whatever you decide to call it, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in a football game. And it was bigger and better than The Catch or The Drive or the Immaculate Reception, because it was in the Super Bowl. If you saw The Pass in a sports movie, you would scoff because it seems so cliché: the improbable underdog making their last-ditch effort to come back against the undefeated, seemingly unbeatable opponents (around whom accusations of cheating are swirling, just to make them extra-villainous), they're playing for all the marbles, it's 3rd down on their own 43-yard-line, do or die, the QB drops back, he's sacked for sure, but no, he squirms away from the defenders, heaves a no-hope pass downfield to a receiver who's got a safety draped on him like a blanket, there's no chance, it's going to be intercepted for sure, but somehow, against all odds, the receiver comes down with the ball! Amazing! The underdog's hopes are still alive! If you saw that in a sports movie, you'd roll your eyes and think, "That never happens in real life!" But it did. Here, take a look:



I'm still not going to claim to be wildly thrilled about the New York Giants winning the Super Bowl. But I won't deny a bit of schadenfreude, either. I'm still smarting about the World Series, and there's something really satisfying about seeing the smug asshole Boston sports fans of the world taken down a peg (which is not to say that all Boston sports fans are smug assholes, but those that are have become as bad or worse than the smug asshole New York fans).

The only other part of the Super Bowl I wish I'd seen is the Iron Man trailer.