WASHINGTON, 5 February 2008 — Sunday’s Super Bowl was a legend maker. The upset, the tension, the score within the final seconds of the game, and the cheers and the tears — all made it super football.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. It was supposed to be a coronation, a glittering moment in a perfect season for the New England Patriots.
Then the New York Giants stole the crown.
With a bullying defense and a last-minute touchdown drive, the underdogs Giants engineered one of the most shocking upsets in football history, defeating New England, 17-14, in the 42nd Super Bowl. The Glendale, Ariz., desert duel wasn’t decided until the final minute of the fourth quarter, when New England’s failure to protect star quarterback Tom Brady proved the decisive factor as the Patriots lost their chance of a perfect 19-0 season and Super Bowl glory.
Brady has weaved his magic behind an all but impregnable offensive. But Sunday, the Giants came after Brady like a hoard of sidewalk paparazzi. They harassed him, rattled him, and pounced on him. He was trapped in the pocket, and his aura of invincibility stripped Sunday night.
Instead, it was New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning who led his teammates to the giant upset, with the 27-year-old finishing his rival’s previously undefeated season with one simple, perfect spiral throw. “It feels good,” Manning said today on “Good Morning America.” “You can’t describe it. You jump up for joy and that’s what we did.” For Manning, who was voted the game’s most valuable player, the thrill of being at the Super Bowl and watching a team grab the championship was a familiar feeling. Last year he watched his older brother, Peyton Manning, lead the Indianapolis Colts to the title. In New York, the Super Bowl celebrations Sunday night were like New Year’s Eve all over again. Strangers danced together, streets were lined with folks singing “New York, New York.” In Times Square and across the New York region, screaming fans jammed bars and after the Giants beat the New England Patriots, boisterous throngs of New Yorkers filled the streets. The police deployed squad cars and mounted patrols to keep the exuberance under control across the city.
“Everybody’s a Giants fan tonight,” said John Johnson, 55, a native Floridian exhuberantly told reporters.
“We knew there was going to be pandemonium, and we wanted to be a part of it.” Scores of sports fans stampeded Times Square from neighboring hotels and restaurants, lining many of the intersections. Officers on horseback struggled to hold back the raucous crowd.
“This was one of the greatest football games I ever saw,” Greg Svitchan, 50, a fan from Detroit who coached high school football for 22 years, told reporters. He joined the masses at Times Square watching on the outdoor Panasonic JumboTron as Eli Manning accepted his trophy for most valuable player.
After a day of respite and sobriety, the city will stage a ticker-tape parade on Tuesday. It will start at Battery Place, at the southern tip of Manhattan, proceed north up Broadway and culminate with a ceremony at City Hall Plaza.
