Before revisiting the Super Bowl one last time, I have two things that I
need to get off my chest:
First, I have zero interest in the Winter Olympics, as usual. I know that
opinion puts me in the minority, but I'd rather watch David Wells undergo a
prostate exam than one minute of the luge competition. Guess it's just the
baseball writer in me.
Second, as a University of Maryland graduate, I'm growing a little
concerned about the length of time it could take Gary Williams to obtain
another victory and pass Lefty Driesell. How long until Athletes in
Action appear on the schedule again?
I filed my last entry to The Sun copy desk at halftime of the Super Bowl
-- hence the title of it -- and didn't get it sent back to me for posting
on our Web site until after Willie Parker's 75-yard touchdown run. I was so
tempted to blow out the paragraph where I recommended more Bus, less
Willie, but I didn't want to deceive my loyal readers. And hey, how was I
to know that Parker had one long run in him? Anyway, my prediction stunk,
but I want bonus points for my honesty.
The Seahawks must still be wondering how they lost this game after
dominating the first half. But isn't that always the case when a team piles
up huge stats and doesn't build a big lead? It always ends up losing. I've
seen it happen countless times. And Joey Porter shouldn't have any gripes
with the officiating in this one. The Steelers got all the breaks.
Now we can finally end all the nonsense about Bill Cowher's inability to
win the big game. There are a lot of big ones played if your team is going
deep into the postseason, or even qualifying, and Cowher has done it plenty
of times. But now he can drown out his critics by holding the Lombardi
Trophy to his ear.
I loved seeing Cowher hugging his family with tears in his eyes after the
game. Anyone who watches ESPN's replay of the Steelers' loss to the
Cowboys, when Neil O'Donnell twice force-fed the ball to cornerback Larry
Brown, should remember Cowher's wife embracing him as he headed to the
locker room, telling him how sorry she was and where they'd meet up later,
and Cowher bending down to hug and kiss his young daughter and telling her,
while choking back tears, "You win some and you lose some, right?" He won
one yesterday. Good for him.
By the way, Phil Niekro led the National League in losses four straight
seasons. I'll toss out another trivia question: Reliever Rich "Goose"
Gossage went on another rant after being excluded from the Hall of Fame. He
deserves to be there. Among his accomplishments, he represented four
different teams at the All-Star Game. Can you name them?
I spoke with Orioles pitcher Bruce Chen over the weekend, after he
finally returned my calls. I'll give you his reason for the delay, and his
thoughts on Leo Mazzone replacing Ray Miller as pitching coach, later
today. Stay tuned.
