Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Best. Result. Ever.

By Dan Shanoff
Today’s Calls: Super Bowl XLII vs. History, Steve Spagnuolo vs. Bill Belichick, Eli Manning vs. Tom Brady, Tom Petty vs. Paula Abdul, The NFL vs. Salesgenie, Perfection vs. Imperfection.
The Opening Pitch: Oh. My. God. I’ll bet you had a similar reaction. I’m not sure Americans have gone through a shared sports moment like the one we all experienced last night in a long time.
Anyway, I live in superlatives, and this game delivered:
Biggest Super Bowl Upset Ever? Yes.
Best Performance Ever by a D in a Super Bowl? Yes.
Most Thrilling 4th Quarter Ever? Yes.
Best Play (Eli-to-Tyree) Ever in a Super Bowl? Yes.
Biggest Perfection-Killer Ever? Yes.
Like many of you, I had no personal stake in either team, and I think many of you would join me in saying this was, of any superlative, the most exciting result of a championship game of our generation, in any sport.
As we realize just how dominant these “perfect” Pats were this season and just how little chance anyone gave the Giants, I have a feeling that the game’s legend will only grow over time.
(For a crazy real-time analysis of the game, revealed in reverse-chronological order, check out my Twitter coverage. And don’t forget to check out the Sporting Blog’s THREE live-blogs, too, from Brian Powell, Spencer Hall and Vinnie Iyer and Chris Littmann, plus a column from Will Leitch.)
Now, the Super Bowl’s REAL Winners and Losers:
Winner: Steve Spagnuolo. The architect of the Giants breath-taking defensive performance (Justin Tuck: Co-MVP) just added a few million bucks to his inevitable head-coaching offer. (Hmm: Redskins?)
Loser: Bill Belichick. I guess he and secretive strategist Ernie Adams didn’t have any walkthrough videotape of the Giants D. (But the lingering memory of Belichick from this Super Bowl is the walk-OFF ... off the field before the game was over.)
Winner: “The Manning Dynasty,” back-to-back Super Bowl titles (and two MVP awards) for the Manning family. Eli will never, ever have to answer a question about his championship mettle again.
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Loser: Tom Brady. My wife posited that this loss was karmic payback for his less-than-admirable attitude toward his new son with Bridget Moynahan. You got a better theory why the Pats lost?
Winner: Wide receivers. David Tyree just displaced Frank Gifford as the most beloved receiver in Giants history. Plaxico Burress made up for a terrible game with the winning TD -- not to mention the most accurate score prediction of any “expert.” Steve Smith and Amani Toomer made huge catches.
(Even on the other side: Wes Welker had among the most prolific receiving days in Super Bowl history, and Randy Moss had what everyone figured was the perfection-clinching TD. Those just capped sick seasons for the first-year Pats.)
Winner: Tom Petty. Put on a solid, rocking set of Petty classics.
Loser: Paula Abdul. If she auditioned for “American Idol,” she wouldn’t get to Hollywood.
Winner: The NFL. Beyond an instant-classic game, they had the best TV ad, the story of Chester Pitts’ unlikely NFL career, my favorite ad of the game. (Runner-up: FedEx, with the carrier pigeons.)

Loser: Salesgenie, with what might have been the most racist Super Bowl ad of all time. (Runner-up: Career Builder. Went with gross; shoulda stuck with monkeys.)
Winner: Imperfection. I never thought a mere upset could eclipse the historic potential of witnessing “perfection.” But imperfection trumped perfection, the Pats losing was far more exciting than the Pats winning could have been.
Loser: Perfection. So much for the Pats’ application to trademark “19-0.” And ain’t it a beautiful thing?
Pats Cheating Scandal, Cont’d: The best thing that could have happened to the Pats related to this new scandal was to lose this game. It mutes the dominance of the dynasty; why kick them when they’re down? (Even if it seems likely their dynasty began in Super Bowl 36 on a tarnished note).
Here’s one of the greatest ironies of last night’s result: The ‘07 Pats become the best Super Bowl runner-up of all time. But rather than the perfection -- the immortality -- of 19-0, they are “merely” 18-1. And the team they displace as “greatest runner-up?” The Rams of Super Bowl 36, the very team enmeshed in the Pats’ latest scandal.
College Basketball Weekend Wrap: UNC needed OT to stave off FSU? ... Michigan State is the best the Big Ten has to offer? ... If Florida got obliterated at Arkansas, Tennessee will trounce them Tuesday ... Kevin Love (26 points/11 rebounds) is still my national player of the year ... Maybe UConn should suspend a few more players ... Will Eddie Sutton leave San Fran hanging now that he used them to get his 800th W?... Yeah, I’m kind of off the K-State bandwagon (quick even by my standards).
NBA Weekend Wrap: No Pau Gasol in the lineup for the Lakers on Sunday, but an obviously newly jazzed Kobe didn’t need him, scoring 30 en route to an easy W over the Wiz ... Rasheed Wallace to Mavs bench during Pistons win, about Dirk: “He can’t guard me!”... I’m betting “Yao vs. Yi” drew more twice as many viewers in China than the Super Bowl did in the United States ... Welcome back, Carmelo: 25 and 10 in a Nuggets win over the Bobcats ... I’ll see your 12: Gerald Green challenges Dwight Howard and Rudy Gay to raise the Dunk Conest rim to 13 feet...
Mets sign Johan Santana: 6Y/$137.5M. Is $23 million a year too much to pay for the best pitcher in baseball and instant “top contender” status? No. Five seasons from now, Santana might not be the “best-in-baseball” pitcher he is today, but he will still be very, very good -- and the Mets will still be contenders. (Meanwhile, the Twins insist they got exactly what they wanted: Value for the future.)
Andy Pettitte talks to Congress today: I don’t think they’ll be asking him how he did in his Super Bowl party “squares” pool.
Pro Football Hall of Fame: If Art Monk getting in signals anything, it should hearten the snubbed Cris Carter, who might be starting the process of getting “Monked”: Rejected for a few years, but ultimately admitted. (Hmm: Can Paul Tagliabue expect the same treatment?)
UFC: Brock Lesnar loses his UFC debut. Former champ Frank Mir got the best of the former NCAA wrestling champ, but it was yet another bellweather “crossover” moment for UFC, which is attracting “name” competitors from wrestling, boxing and more.
The Last Word: What’s next? The Super Bowl is behind us (even if the Pats scandal is still ahead). What’s next this month? CFB Signing Day this week, NBA All-Star Game in two weeks, NFL Draft Combine at the end of the month and CBB bracket-scouting (how about UNC-Duke this week?). And on Feb. 14, baseball’s most recognizable 4-word phrase: “Pitchers and catchers report.” But, yes, it’s still a long way until your NFL fantasy draft next August.
Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.↵