Super Bowl Sunday

So, I started off on Sunday afternoon by losing a bunch of pots and going down $580 before stopping to watch the Super Bowl. The SB was tough to watch knowing I'd had such a bad day, but in the end the game was so damn spectacular so as to make me forget. I make a point of rooting for whoever is playing against the Patriots, and I've always liked the Giants. More than anything, though, it was just a spectacular game; people seem to like games with tons of offense, but this was a perfect, tense battle, staying 7-3 for most of the game before explosions in offense.

I also love that it was an imbecilic call by Belicheat that cost his team the game. I'd say that his decision to go for it on 4th and 13 would be second-guessed for a long time, except that there is no second-guessing whatsoever. It's first-guessing that tells me that that will go down as one of the dumbest calls in Super Bowl history. 4th and 13 on the 32 yard line in a low-scoring game where your offense hasn't been clicking AT ALL, you've been gifted good field position on a turnover, and you have a chance to make it a 7 point game, and you GO FOR IT? I don't think teams go for it enough on 4th down as a rule, but it's 4th and freaking 13 for Chrissake, you're in field goal range (albeit long field goal range), take the shot at 3 points and be happy.

But he went for it, and I think that will be seen for a long time as a moment where Belicheat's arrogance got the better of him, as though he honestly felt that his offense was so good that he had plays that would reliably gain him 13 yards. Instead Brady throws a duck to a covered receiver and has it sail out of bounds. That was the moment, I felt, when the Giants realized they could win, like the moment in "Searching for Bobby Fischer" where Ben Kingsley's character looks at the monitor out of the corner of his eye, perks up, and says "That was a mistake!"

And then, of course, there was that final drive, and that single play that will go down in Super Bowl history as one of the greats.



After the game, I was bereft of things to do and so eventually decided to hop back online and play a little more. I had a good session, winning about $300 back and, combined with a random $75 bonus, only losing $100 or so on the day. That's a manageable loss, although I'm a bit perturbed that I've been breaking more or less even at NL200. My play hasn't been particularly good, but at least most of my mistakes have been aggressive ones.

One of the best football games I've ever seen, followed by a decent recovery. Not a bad day.