Giants Make Sure Champagne Flows In Miami

In Super Bowl 7 (we don't do Roman numerals here) at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team in the modern era to go undefeated for an entire season, beating the Washington Redskins 14-7. Every year since then, some former members of that team get together and break out the champagne whenever the last team to challenge their record falls to defeat.

In Super Bowl 42 at University of Phoenix Stadium (probably the only venue in the country where the school in question doesn't have a football team) in Glendale, Arizona, the New England Patriots tried to crash the 1972 Dolphins' party.

They didn't. The New York Giants, a fifth-seeded wild card team for whom few people outside East Rutherford, New Jersey thought were championship caliber, scored one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history by defeating the Patriots 17-14 on a last-minute touchdown.

This reminds us of another shocking Super Bowl upset, the one in 1969 where quarterback Joe Namath made good on his "guarantee" that his New York Jets would defeat the Baltimore Colts.
Also the following year, when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the favored Minnesota Vikings, in the final matchup between the champions of the NFL and the American Football League.

But Giants quarterback Eli Manning (the game's MVP) is no Namath, nor is he as consistent and media savvy as his brother Peyton (who also has won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts). Why, the Giants themselves weren't very consistent for much of the regular season, leading to speculation that coach Tom Coughlin's job was on the line. What Eli did do was to rally his troops to road playoff wins in the heat of Tampa Bay, the bright lights of Dallas, and the subzero cold of Green Bay.

The Patriots? From glamour-boy, supermodel-dating quarterbackTom Brady (who really deserves the Namath analogy) to supposedly mellowed receiver Randy Moss to hooded genius coach Bill Belichick, New England was the talk of pro football this season. They ran down their opponents with little mercy. They were caught spying on other teams, with a slap on the wrist to show for it. They were in a league of their own.

That is, until Brady was caught on tape wearing a boot over his allegedly injured foot, paying a visit to girlfriend Gisele Bundchen in the two week break before the Super Bowl. Spygate returned to the headlines when a couple of former staffers claimed they saw the Patriots record moves of past Super Bowl opponents. Key players were injured.

Halftime musical guests Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (who were great, by the way. No wardrobe malfunctions or phallic guitar symbols from these gentlemen.) once recorded a song called "I Won't Back Down". It turns out the Giants didn't, and the '72 Dolphins can break out the bubbly. And for once, the game was far more interesting than the commercials.

The city of Boston may have gotten great years from the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. But they can't win everything.