SUPER BOWL REACTION

It's hard to remember a better Super Bowl game. It was hard fought and well played, with few penalties and more than its fair share of big plays. But most of the emphasis will undoubtedly be placed on Seattle's decision to throw the ball on second down and goal from inside the two yard line with over twenty seconds left and one timeout remaining. Sure, Seahawk head coach Pete Carroll made a great case for why they called the play, but this was clearly a case of over thinking the moment. It happens to everyone, from the kid who pulls down the ball from three-point range when he's been hitting that shot since he was eight years old, to the manager who decides to pull a dominant pitcher so he can get the reliever in there to go after the lefthander. And admit it, you've probably done it yourself in whatever line of work you're in or whatever situation you've found yourself when a split second choice can really make a difference.

But we're not a coach in the NFL, whose decision was played out in front of 150 million worldwide viewers. Nothing that Carroll said in the post-game interview will convince me and the other 149,999,999 viewers that he didn't totally blow the call. Are you kidding me? Patton's 3rd army couldn't stop Marshawn Lynch from inside the two, and everyone from Sardinia to Berlin knew that tonight. Don't get me wrong here, I'm a big Pete Carroll fan. But it doesn't matter how big you are, sometimes the moment can overwhelm you. But enough about that, which has been the topic of conversation since 9:00 pm last night.

We all have heard about the Belichick - Brady era and the three previous Super Bowl wins and five previous appearances, but what hasn't been mentioned enough is that there were 52 other guys on that team (counting the practice squad) that had never been a member of a Patriots' Super Bowl Championship team. Not Gronk, not Edelman, not Amirola, not Blount, not Revis and definitely not Malcolm Butler, the free agent rookie and hero of the moment. Sure, Brady rode into the history book when Butler jumped the route and preserved the New England victory. But it had been eleven long years between titles for the dynamic duo, punctuated by disappointing losses on freakishly crazy pass completions by the Giants.

So here's a big shout out for all of those other guys, the supporting cast, so to speak. They got their moment in the confetti, their time to watch Katy Perry fly off to the stars and a night of terrific football to remember.

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Roughing the Passer - A PK Frazier Novel" and my first, "Illegal Procedure - A PK Frazier Novel", available in print and e-formats at Amazon.com, iBooks and Smashwords.