Super Bowl Observations from a Nipple Medallion Novice

Notes on the Super Bowl while feeling decidedly un-hip for not knowing that there is something called a “nipple medallion”. That halftime show wasn’t exactly U2 and the listing of the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, was it?

• Even more remarkable than the Patriots winning 15 consecutive games is the way they’ve won the games, often in non-dominant fashion. Half of those contests were one play away from going the other way. Yet they’ve continued to win every single week.
• New England won’t be in salary cap hell, they’ve managed their roster well and will be financially nimble enough to re-sign Ty Law. It’ll be tough for them to retain Damien Woody, however. The offensive line didn’t miss a beat after plugging in unproven no-names to replace Woody. Then again, they lead the league in guys 30 and up.
• The Patriots have seven picks in the first four rounds of the draft this year and will likely have more, based on their penchant for trading down.
• The Panthers are set for several years if they can keep their heads on straight. Lots of quality young players, a ferocious defense, and John Fox as your head coach. Not a bad combination.
• Only two Patriots in the Pro Bowl, neither one of them named Tom Brady.
• The Panthers offense was extraordinary in their quick strike capability. New England hadn’t given up a touchdown play of 30+ yards all season long and the Panthers had three such plays.
• The Panthers success over the top will certainly be noticed by New England’s opponents next season. Injuries, especially Rodney Harrison’s broken arm, were critical to New England’s defensive breakdown, however.
• Injuries were nothing new for New England of course; they had the most games lost to injury in the league and started 42 different players over the course of the season as a result.
• Teams have kickoff specialists and place kicking specialists, so should New England get a kicker who can split the uprights in the first three quarters and keep Adam Vinatieri around strictly for crunch time?
• A breakdown of college graduates in the NFL showed that the three most educated teams were likely the leagues three best. New England had the most graduates, Indianapolis was second, Carolina third.
• Nipple exposure aside, was there even a thimbleful of talent on the stage at halftime? If the “talent” actually brought much to the table they wouldn’t have to be crotch grabbing and ass rubbing, would they?
• Four or five years ago when Nelly hit the scene with that “Its getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes” single of his, it seemed like a fun little gadget of a song. Kind of like “Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo or “867-5309” by Tommy Tutone. Now it is played at the Super Bowl like it is some sort of cultural icon.
• Looking forward to the Paul Anka halftime show next year.
• Sean “P. Diddy” Combs was not content to be a focus of attention at halftime. Combs, who has likely been a Panthers fan for about two weeks or so, spent the second half taunting Patriots fans from the luxury box reserved for entertainers. It led to derisive chants from the fans below. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler attempted to settle down his fellow Bostonians, who were less intimidated by Combs’ posse than they would have been if passing through metal detectors hadn’t been the order of the day.
• Tyler seemed legitimately thrilled at the game winning field goal, though it would be fun to ask him if he could name a defensive starter for the Patriots.
• Tough not to take a shot at Aerosmith for donning space suits in their video montage on the first anniversary of the space shuttle disaster last year. But let’s remember that it was filmed at the Johnson Space Center with the full cooperation of NASA.
• Despite a soft corporate market, the influx of fans hoping to pick up a ticket for the game sent prices soaring over the weekend. Poorer seats that could be had for just over $1000 on Friday and early Saturday were $2500 outside Reliant Stadium.
• The price rise seemed to have a lot to do with New Englanders who knew of friends who got into the game for $200 two years ago in New Orleans thinking that they could do the same thing in Houston.
• Security consisted of a long wait followed by a pretty shoddy search.
• Continental canceled an East Coast flight into Houston that would have arrived halfway through the game based on some intelligence information.
• If you’re an Al Queda operative laying low waiting patiently for the right time to carry out then next mega-attack, which party do you hope people vote for this fall?
• Barbara Mandrell would be a good supplement to Paul Anka at halftime next year.
• That comment two bullet points back will get me some nasty email from those who aren’t happy with the obvious answer to the question. Always does.
• Why does it appear that Jake Delhomme is studying at the Tom Brady School of clutch performers of modest statistical achievement?
• Did any potential suitors say “never mind” after watching soon to be ex-Buc Warren Sapp make an ass of himself all week long?
• The end of football season means that the NCAA tourney and the Kentucky Derby really aren’t all that far away.

Huge Win for Vegas: After hovering around $70 million for the past decade, wagering volume on the Super Bowl exploded in Las Vegas. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reports that sports books handled $81,242,191 and won $12,440,698 from bettors. The increase was a surprise to Nevada books that expected volume to be modest due to a matchup that was seen as less than marquee. The 15.3% hold was huge, and came on a day where the books were largely on the wrong side of the pointspread. Despite the preponderance of Carolina bettors, the high score of the game was a boon to the books as players bet the under and proposition bets were huge moneymakers.

With the huge migration of wagering to offshore sports books and two defensively-oriented teams, the high volume stunned everyone. Nobody expected the handle to eclipse the Raiders-Bucs game of last year, both of which are seen as more attractive and exciting teams, yet the Patriots-Panthers game did $10 million more. We’ll have some confidential offshore results next week.

Recruiting Weekend or Sex Farm? The sleazy world of football recruiting came to an end of its annual cycle this week with National Letter of Intent Day. There has been considerable focus of exactly what is going on behind closed doors in the world of recruiting and the unseemliness of having grown men begging 17 year olds to spend the next four years with them.

How are these kids wooed? Sex and booze parties are surely a staple at major schools like Colorado, and three women report having been raped at a Buffaloes recruiting party recently. Whiskey and women are even present on BYU recruiting weekends, which are serious honor code violations in Mormonville.

We’ve touched on this already, but simply can’t say enough about Manny Navarro’s series on the nation’s premier high school football recruit Willie Williams and his recruiting visit diaries. They were a scream, though Willie probably doesn’t realize why. The final installment runs here:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/high_school/7857927.htm

Interestingly, Williams doesn’t mention the three separate criminal charges he is now facing as a result of his recruiting visit to Gainesville. He was in an altercation at 11PM at his hotel, reportedly punched a man several times at a nightclub at 2:30PM, and then emptied the contents of three fire extinguishers at his hotel at 4AM. Tampering with a fire extinguisher can be charged as a felony at the discretion of the prosecutors.

Williams signed with Miami after playing with the crowd at his high school by earlier wearing a Florida State shirt. The Herald series was an illuminating look at the ridiculous lengths that schools go to when recruiting, including private jets, lavish meals, promising to unretire numbers, and more.

Hoops: We’re going for our fifth straight winning week in basketball and the NBA has been particularly sound, as we’re hitting nearly 65% on the season after going 60% last year. If you’re interested in our basketball you can follow along on our free hotline at 770-618-8700. We’ve got a fresh play up there every day and on Sunday will have a proposition bet for the Super Bowl. If you’re interested in basketball make that free call a part of your daily routine.

Here’s an early look at a basketball game for Saturday. We used Vanderbilt a couple of weeks ago in their home win over Florida due to the home court advantages that these teams have. Vandy has been poor away from home and solid in their quirky Nashville digs. Florida has been disappointing at home thus far but there is no shame in losing to Mississippi State and Kentucky no matter where you play. Off the UK loss and playing with revenge against a less talented club, look for terrific focus from the Gators as they run the Commodores off the court.

Pro Bowl Prop: Let’s take a look at a proposition wager in the Pro Bowl. I know that some of you are amazed that people bet the Pro Bowl but hey, it’s the last game of the year, right? Anyhow, our play is to play the “players who give a #%*@ who wins the game” prop under 7½.

Special Offer: If you’re interested in obtaining our free report Profit Strategies of Professional Gamblers you can sign up to receive that report at http://www.consumerbet.com/signup.html

Kevin O’Neill is the director of content for www.consumerbet.com. His 24-hour free telephone selection hotline can be accessed by calling 1-770-618-8700.