“My Super Bowl was never the first;
He was not even the second.
But I play it every day,
I do not want to part with it.
I reserve the right to it
My Super Bowl! My!"
In those days, I probably could have been found in the snowdrifts near the pub, I rested there and came to my senses. I was hard pressed for the defeat of New Orleans. Around some sort of strange tension was accumulating. Sports stress. I could not forgive myself that for the second year in a row New Orleans lost in some complicated scenario. It was more dramatic than the Titanic, more dramatic than the story of Kevin Spacey. New Orleans lost in the playoffs for the second time in a row in the game, a few minutes before the end of which, you would not give their opponent a 10 percent chance. I commented on both matches. Both matches with me were commented by Alexander Eremiev. Some of us are definitely to blame for these defeats. Well, Marcus Williams (in the first case) and the referees of the match with Rams are not to blame. Of course not! One of the commentators is to blame. Like Gusev in the defeats of the Russian team. This is all his fault! It was inconvenient to blame Sasha, especially considering that he works for Match TV, so I pushed myself. But what does lacrimology teach us? The fact that you must grow on your own suffering is to become stronger by shedding old skin. I thought to hell with him. In the end, I'm going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps. I am going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps. I am going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps. I am going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps.
So, then my chief editor wrote to me. He said that it would be necessary to make an article about how I see the upcoming Super Bowl. How do I see him? There will be many people who truly love American football, there will be a whole gang of NFL Therapy , there will be a lot of beer, I will either be in Iverson's shirt or in jack sparrows sweater, I will try to be calm, the main thing is not to tell anyone that, what will I be ashamed of the next day. It’s also important not to fall asleep! As it was two years ago. But I'm going with the most positive intentions, and rested in Izhevsk snowdrifts - so everything should be fine.
I decided to write about what happened. I can not predict the future. And to talk about what has already happened is much easier. It’s like Hegel’s dialectic. People don’t understand it just because they put a lot of labels from experience on things. Things become voluminous and complex. And they should be simple. Like there: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. So let's start with the thesis - I am. Super Bowl is! He was still then - 18 years ago.
I want to recall all the most interesting moments that pop up in my memory when I think of the Super Bowl. This will be my personal excursion into the past. Let me do this?
They say, again sparrow indulged in memories. Surrendered. Like the hero of the third season of the True Detective, I want to remember everything until my memory started to fail me, and at night the bloody quarterbacks and toothless tough guys started to come to me. Consider this very personal material about nostalgia and the desire to understand the world. Moreover, we are often asked - which Super Bowl is best to see? I will tell you about my favorites with your permission now.
Many do not even remember those times. People then just got off the trees. There were many dangers around. Mammoths and saber-toothed tigers, representatives of other genera, constant survival on the verge of extinction. Only then will people begin to engage in slash-and-burn farming and everything will change.
In general, somewhere at that time - in the late 90s - no one knew about Tom Brady yet. I don’t remember what I argued with my parents. Probably for grades at the end of the next school year. I remember that I promised to work hard in my studies, and they promised to pay for the installation of the NTV-Plus satellite dish. I passed the exams with a bang, which incredibly surprised school teachers, and received the promised parental present.
All this was done for the sake of football - European football. For the sake of the Champions League, the championship of Italy, La Liga, and for the sake of Manchester United. Roy Keen, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were my damn idols.
Autumn has come, and I suddenly threw European fun into second roles. I discovered North America. No, don’t think that I didn’t like the NBA and the NHL - just the soker was much more popular. But the green plate gave me almost unlimited access to American sport. Before that, I had seen Michael Jordan and perceived him as a Deity, and now I joined Shak with Hakim, Hardaway with Drexler, and Barkley with Miller. Jordan, Pippen, Ewing and Kemp finished the league, and Iverson, Carter, McGrady and Bryant started - it was a good time.
Our hockey players burned in the NHL - Fedorov and the company took the Cups, Bure teamed up with Mogilny, Yashin had not yet sold himself to New York, Khabibullin terrified Tampa's rivals, and Kasparaitis terrified everyone.
Around the same time, Roy Jones laid angular bags on the ring floor, and Oscar De La Hoya, Arturo Gatti and Diego Corrales were superstars.
And here I plunged into the world of American football. For some reason, it seems to me that I did not see a single Super Bowl then. Or maybe he did. It seems to me that I even remember the smell of chips that I ate that day when I saw the first broadcast of American football. These were definitely Pringles (guys, I advertised - you know the card number!). The NFL also had some cool review films for each week. Current reviews are not suited to him out of hand. The level of broadcasts, entourage, athleticism of players - the new wonderful world of American football fascinated and fascinated.
The world of American football ruled 40-year-old John Alway. The quarterback Patriots was Drew Bladsoe.
Super Bowl Patriots - Rams
Times have changed. The world almost ended with the onset of the millennium. Everyone expected that now, when the year 2000 comes, something terrible will happen. We talked about the predictions of Nostradamus, the coming of the Antichrist, that all computer systems would be reset to zero. But nothing happened. However, fans of American football, who later hate the Patriots for the predictability of results in their favorite sport, will probably believe that it was then that the coming of the Antichrist took place. And for the numerous fans who appeared later, all the same Patriots - it was a divine phenomenon.
I moved to Moscow in order to get a worthless crust on higher education. In fact, I simply did not want to join the army. I studied in Mytishchi, lived in the South-West, spent a lot of time moving around Moscow and its suburbs, and forgot about sports. Later I got a lot of other interests. Student life is intoxicating with freedom and offers many temptations. I was tempted by fair-haired freshman Muscovites, cheap alcohol and a lot of other things, which I will not write about, because the editor-in-chief will not miss it. Read about it in the novels of Hunter S. Thompson, Irwin Welch and William Burroughs.
We had a bad apartment on Losinoostrovskaya, where we spent more time than at the university. The entrance to the entrance was attacked by huge, well-fed rats (I'm talking about animals now), and I took a huge ice, threw it into a swarm, and city animals looted in different directions, like waves from a stone thrown into the water - then you could go into the entrance . It was a real ghetto. Everything in the apartment smelled of nicotine, the floor was littered with beer cans, and the smoke always stood in the kitchen. There we expanded our consciousness until it finally narrowed.
The NFL was ruled by Rams from St. Louis. Perhaps they had the best team in the League. Especially the attack. Kurt Warner - a man with a heavy athletic fate and great talent - played quarterback. Isaac Bruce worked brilliantly at the reception. And Marshall Folk was the best back running NFL. In 2000, they won the NFL championship, then there was a problem season with a final defeat from the Saints in the wild card round. But in 2002, they again went to the Super Bowl, where they were to meet with New England.
My comrades in a strange apartment did not really like sports, but when in early 2002 NTV Plus suddenly appeared on one of the first TV buttons, everyone was interested. It was, however, unexpected and interesting. In my opinion, then ordered the TV-6 channel to live for a long time, and their combined place in the broadcasting grid for some time was taken by the combined sports channel. It was a real present. Everyone watched NTV-Plus. And many watched the same Super Bowl between the Patriots and Rams.
Rams were clear favorites. Kurt Warner, who had returned from Europe a little earlier (he had to start his career there because the NFL did not believe him at first), led the team to fantastic performance for the second year in a row, and the team’s attack was called “The Best Show on Earth”. They led the league in yards in attack, in yards in takeaway and in the pass.
The chances of the Patriots to win were much less. They started the season monstrously. Quarterback coach Dick Rehbein died before the start of the season (he was only 45 years old and had a heart attack). The team lost the first two games of the season, in one of which was injured shoulder Drew Bladsoe. As a result, Tom Brady became the starting quarterback of the Patriots, the choice of the sixth round of the draft, which threw only 3 passes in 2000. No one believed in Tom. Except Bill Belichick. Despite all the mistrust, Tom Brady delivered almost 70 percent of the passes to 2843 yards (with 18 touchdowns) to his partners, and was selected to the Pro Bowl. But the main factor in the success of the Patriots was the defense. The Patiot Defense proved to be the sixth best in the league. Great line players - Bobby Hamilton, Richard Seymour, a brilliant linebacker line - Mike Vrabel, Willie McGinest and Teddy Bruschi,
Tom Brady was injured in the conference finals match, Drew Bladsoe missed almost the entire season. Rams were fine. But in the final, which took place in New Orleans, Tom Brady was in order. Although it all started with the successes of St. Louis and Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner started with 6 of 7 exact passes and brought his team the opportunity to break the field goal. Jeff Wilkins was accurate with 50 yards. Then Rams had another decent drive, but Wilkins was inaccurate with 53 yards. And then there was the interception of Kurt Warner by Ty Lowe. Then Low also scored a 47-yard return, and Tom Brady had the coolest drive and brought the Patriots 11 points difference.
In the third quarter, Adam Vinatieri scored 37 yards and the score was 17-3. And then the Patriots nearly came forward 20 points after Warner lost the ball at the 1-yard mark and Jones scored a 97-yard touchdown. But the referees saw the holding at Willie McGinest. And through an attempt, Kurt Warner distinguished himself as an external touchdown.
The defense took up the matter, in the end, Warner had a great drive and equalized. That was great. We sat on a leaky sofa and had difficulty restraining our emotions. We clearly understood: American football is cool.
A minute and a half before the end, without timeouts, Pats conduct a winning drive, which ends with the exact field goal of Adam Vinatieri. Thus began the era! Tom Brady got the MVP, and the Patriots won the first league title.
After 17 years, everything will loop.
Pittsburgh Championship
Then again there was football timelessness. Watching American football was not very common. But these were the times of the Peyton Manning and Tom Brady duel - it was wonderful. I followed them. I saw the Patriots win over Carolina, but it was not so impressive. Then the Patriots beat Philadelphia with McNabb and Terell Owens. I definitely remember the protective Tampa of Gruden. I remember Walter Sapp, who was the best player on that team. And I remember their rear running - Cadillac Williams. Well, how not to remember the “Cadillac”?
After graduation, I returned to Izhevsk. I became a certified forestry engineer, although I could hardly distinguish oak from aspen. Long live Russian education! I exaggerate, of course, but I can definitely say that I was not going to work in the profession. They said: get a diploma - I got it! While I was deciding what to do next, I had to restore my health and go in for sports. I can’t explain to you what dragged me into weightlifting, but something dragged me on.
It is well remembered that on the morning of February 6, 2006, I had a training session. I recall that by that night there was a Super Bowl between Steelers and Seahawks. I struggled with sleep. It was necessary to sleep a little, but the dream did not come. With him - with sleep - it always happens. When you want to sleep, nothing happens. And so, when you have to stay awake - a dream begins to cut you down. So it was this time. I decided - well, since I can’t fall asleep, I’ll wait for the game, and then I will go to training (I’ll sleep sometime later!). But at the very moment when the teams began to enter the football field, the kingdom of Morpheus attacked me with all his might. I fought back as I could. Uppercut sleep on the jaw, left on the liver. And the dream answered with short jabs, and then I fell into small knockdowns. I woke up and already ran on the field,
Seattle led 3-0. Then Pittsburgh came forward at first 7, and then 14-3, thanks to the magnificent removal of Willie Parker. And then Hines Ward appeared on the field and smashed Seahawks completely. The Pittsburgh receiver caught 5 Big Ben passes for 123 yards, was recognized as Super Bowl profit center, and the Stillers won.
By the way, I just recently noticed that Hines Ward played in the last installment of Batman’s Nolan trilogy. Remember, there was a football match in Gotham when Bane blew up a football field. It was Ward who escaped in the student’s record on the return, and behind him the earth left. By the way, Ward was also written on the shirt. In general, later in his career, Ward will move from Pittsburgh to Gotham.
In the morning I went to training. I've never been so good. I wasn't good at weightlifting at all - it's too hard for lazy asses. But at that training I was inimitable, football made me stronger. Then I slept for a day and again reviewed the replay of that finale, no longer going to sleep during the broadcast.
After a year, Peyton Manning will finally win the league title. There will be wild rain and Adam Vinatieri.
Then there will be a great match, where the Giants will win in the final against the Patriots. No one will expect this. Even Eli Manning and David Tyree, even Placseco Burres, who eventually rolls so hard that next season he shoots himself in the foot and ends his career.
Finally there will be 2009 and the best, in my opinion, Super Bowl in history.
It was a great match with an incredible denouement. Yes, then there will be the last two last Super Bowls with Pats, but it is the Steelers-Cardinals match that stands apart for me. Arizona was an upstart, dark horse that made it to the finals with a 9–7 regular season result. But in Arizona, the great old man Kurt Warner returned to the Super Bowl 7 years later, and his main playmaker was the phenomenal Larry Fitzgerald. Pittsburgh was on Everest the success of its terrific team. A grand defense consisting of James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Clark, Ike Taylor, Lamar Woodley and others. Great attack led by Big Ben - that Pittsburgh was incredibly good.
I will not go into the details of that match. Whoever has not seen him is obliged to watch. Well, how can you forget about James Harrison's 100-yard touchdown? Or how Larry Fitzgerald caught a pass from Kurt Warner and brought in a 64-yard touchdown?
During the match, Pittsburgh confidently led with the score 20-7, confirming the status of the favorite. But in the fourth quarter, Arizona scored 16 points, and came forward two and a half minutes before the end of the meeting with a score of 23-20.
35 seconds before the end of the regular meeting time, Santonio Holmes (who is later recognized by the Super Bowl MVP) will catch a pass from Big Ben on the edge of the set-off, miraculously keeping his legs in the field. And Pittsburgh will win its sixth league title in history! Just watch that game, it's unique!
Saints and onside kick
For a long time I was left without my favorite NFL team. I have long decided on my preferences. My whole family was rooting for Moscow CSKA. This is all due to the fact that my grandfather served in the army for a long time. He was a devoted army fan and did not even allow the thought that at home someone could let him down and choose another club. That would be a betrayal. So there was nothing left for the next generations of our family. My father and I continued the fan traditions of my grandfather.
I recalled my grandfather that day when in a match with Ramensky Saturn a plastic chair fell on top of me. Then the army fans smashed the stadium near Moscow. In my opinion it was in 2002. Yes, for sure - it was 2002, because a week earlier CSKA played with Parma in the UEFA Cup at the same Ramen stadium. Then the plastic seats remained intact, and the most memorable moment of the trip to the city near Moscow was the pastime in the bar before the game. I remember we went there three or four. There were already 10 people, without flowers. They viciously glanced at us from the next table, and then with every minute the bar began to fill more and more with red and blue flowers. And this disgusting dozen somewhere evaporated. CSKA! CSKA! - was distributed throughout Ramensky, and beer poured in. That was before
In the NBA, I empathized with the Lakers, in the NHL, the red and blue Canadian antagonist from Montreal. And in the NFL, I was somehow completely vague. I played Madden for the Bengals. Exactly for the Bengals. They had a cool attack led by Chad Johnson. Damn, I loved Chad Johnson - he was a gangster. Terell Owens was also a gangster, but he didn't want to root for Philadelphia at all. And Bengals had Khushmansad. And this is not a curse. But the Bengals were as if from a Greenpeace wildlife advocacy.
In 2005, the entire league empathized with one team. Hurricane Katrina hit the southern US states. He brought with him destruction and death. He carried with him horror and fear. Louisiana suffered the most. The state capital, New Orleans, was attacked by marauders. In addition to the fear of being left homeless, the surviving residents of the city feared for their lives. The shelter for the destitute and intimidated was the Super Dome. The largest building in New Orleans has shelled tens of thousands of people in its bowels, rescuing from bad weather and unbridled street gangs. The infrastructure of the city was completely destroyed.
The local team, New Orleans Saints, helped the distressed fellow citizens as much as they could. Still, the Saints for Louisiana were more than a team. They were and remain a huge part of the community. But the Saints themselves were destitute. Play in New Orleans in the upcoming season was impossible. The team became a wanderer, like Jean Valjean of the Les Miserables.
The 2005 season, the Saints were forced to play in San Antonio and Baton Rouge. They returned to the Superdome only the following year. The entire league was rooting for the Saints in their first home game against the Falcons. Film crews from a dozen different countries traveled to the reigning New Orleans to talk about this match. Like it was a Super Bowl. I remember the broadcast of English TV, in which crazy fans appeared on the screen, Drew Breeze, Reggie Bush - the main young hope of the Saints. The correspondent walked around New Orleans, and everything around was decorated with the symbols of the Saints. All this was interspersed with shots from the legendary film “Easy Rider”, where the characters of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson go to New Orleans for the celebration of Mardi Gras. One of them does not reach.
The Saints beat their main rival, Atlanta Falcons. And it was a match of the century for them. The team, led by novice trainer Sean Payton and new quarterback Drew Breeze, presented New Orleans with a new sporting destiny and another holiday, this time the city walked again until the morning.
Drew Brees, Marquis Colston, Duc McAllister, Reggie Bush - for a long time became my football identity. But note that these are all attack players. Drew Breeze, who was abandoned in San Diego, believing that he would not be able to move away from a serious shoulder injury, was able to take his Saints attack game to a new level. Ever since Drew Brees was injured and a metal spoke in his shoulder, he has been struggling with metal control at airports, and the defenses of the Saints rivals have suffered from a passive attack by the Saints.
But the Saints, although they were one of the main attacking threats of the League, could not find themselves in defense. And so, when in 2009 New Orleans got a really interesting defense - the Saints took off. There were two teams in the League that year that played perfectly — Indianapolis with Peyton Manning and New Orleans — somewhere around now, gray-bearded Brett from Minnesota was aging. Both teams almost perfectly passed the regular season, losing only at the end of the season, when their places in the decisive meetings were not questioned. Later, they burst into the Super Bowl like two sprint runners tearing a ribbon at the finish of a 100-meter fast and aggressive. Although both teams had a little torment in the preliminary rounds, and still in the strength of the Colts and Saints no one doubted.
In the final, the Colts were considered to be small favorites - they recently won the Super Bowl, their quartermaker was Peyton Manning, who broke the difficulties of his career in the playoffs (before defeating Chicago, it was believed that Manning could not play decisive matches). Moreover, Manning had to play against the team of his childhood - Payton's father was a star in New Orleans. Even the Saints fans kind of empathized with Peyton. But the Saints for these family drama were completely indifferent.
The Colts had better started the Super Bowl and Peyton seemed confidently walking behind his second ring. But the Saints had their Peyton - Sean Peyton.
After the first half, the score was 10-6 in favor of the Colts, and the Saints started the second half with an initial strike. That is, the ball in the first attack was to be with Indy, if only ... If only the Saints somehow did not bring possession. Sean Payton decided to start the second half with onside kick. Lord Sean Payton has huge sonorous testicles, ringing from them is still heard. “Evening ringing - a bomb! “Not only did the Saints head coach start with onside kick, but he was also successful. The ball was in the hands of Drew Brees and his attack. And the Saints no longer gave the opponent a chance.
The Saints won 31–17, and Drew Breeze and Sean Peyton became great. I was completely alone in my rented apartment and jumped so that the plaster fell from the neighbors below. I was lonely but happy!
Later we learn that this victory was not entirely honest. A Bounty Gate breaks out, revealing a shameful boil inside Champions Super Bowl XLIV - team defense coordinator Gregg Williams encouraged his players to injure opponents. They say they almost killed Brett Farv, or Favre, or Faun. "They killed Kenny! Bastards! ”But that will not change anything!
In 2005, when I began to worry about the Saints, Moscow CSKA won the UEFA Cup. My grandfather took a mean male tear when he realized that his whole life devoted to one team was not lived in vain. In 2009, stingy men's tears almost flooded my face, although I had to wait much less than my whole life.
After that, there will be a second Patriots defeat from the Giants, the victory of Green Aaron, Baltimore, Seattle and Denver. And then two reckless blockbusters with the participation of the Patriots, who will first make a grand comeback against Atlanta, and then allow the Philadelphia underdogs to make the city of brotherly love champion, and Kevin Hart and Dmitry Sidorenko to be firewood with happiness.
But these matches meant a little less to me. The grass must have been greener in the past decade, but it's just my grass. However, as always, I am ready for new experiences. And let the upcoming Super Bowl be in my next top after years. I wish this to myself and to you!
This is only the first part of the Super Bowl narrative, the second will be waiting for you very soon - gonzo journalists get on the train and go to Moscow to write material about the Super Bowl party. And he will definitely be 18+. And this material is the main thing that my colleagues from 36 Studios read it and search the snowdrifts adjacent to the venue of the super-bowl party.
In the meantime ... Round! ... My train is ringing its way through the Super Bowl era, and I jump on its bandwagon while I am haunted by bloodied quarterbacks and toothless tough guys of the past.
He was not even the second.
But I play it every day,
I do not want to part with it.
I reserve the right to it
My Super Bowl! My!"
In those days, I probably could have been found in the snowdrifts near the pub, I rested there and came to my senses. I was hard pressed for the defeat of New Orleans. Around some sort of strange tension was accumulating. Sports stress. I could not forgive myself that for the second year in a row New Orleans lost in some complicated scenario. It was more dramatic than the Titanic, more dramatic than the story of Kevin Spacey. New Orleans lost in the playoffs for the second time in a row in the game, a few minutes before the end of which, you would not give their opponent a 10 percent chance. I commented on both matches. Both matches with me were commented by Alexander Eremiev. Some of us are definitely to blame for these defeats. Well, Marcus Williams (in the first case) and the referees of the match with Rams are not to blame. Of course not! One of the commentators is to blame. Like Gusev in the defeats of the Russian team. This is all his fault! It was inconvenient to blame Sasha, especially considering that he works for Match TV, so I pushed myself. But what does lacrimology teach us? The fact that you must grow on your own suffering is to become stronger by shedding old skin. I thought to hell with him. In the end, I'm going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps. I am going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps. I am going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps. I am going to the Super Bowl Party in the capital and I can calmly drink beer there, without getting upset and not nervous about what will happen in the final game of the NFL season. Everything - my nerves for this season are exhausted. I got out of the snowdrift and went home, crunching Izhevsk snow, illuminated by the electric light of night lamps.
So, then my chief editor wrote to me. He said that it would be necessary to make an article about how I see the upcoming Super Bowl. How do I see him? There will be many people who truly love American football, there will be a whole gang of NFL Therapy , there will be a lot of beer, I will either be in Iverson's shirt or in jack sparrows sweater, I will try to be calm, the main thing is not to tell anyone that, what will I be ashamed of the next day. It’s also important not to fall asleep! As it was two years ago. But I'm going with the most positive intentions, and rested in Izhevsk snowdrifts - so everything should be fine.
I decided to write about what happened. I can not predict the future. And to talk about what has already happened is much easier. It’s like Hegel’s dialectic. People don’t understand it just because they put a lot of labels from experience on things. Things become voluminous and complex. And they should be simple. Like there: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. So let's start with the thesis - I am. Super Bowl is! He was still then - 18 years ago.
I want to recall all the most interesting moments that pop up in my memory when I think of the Super Bowl. This will be my personal excursion into the past. Let me do this?
They say, again sparrow indulged in memories. Surrendered. Like the hero of the third season of the True Detective, I want to remember everything until my memory started to fail me, and at night the bloody quarterbacks and toothless tough guys started to come to me. Consider this very personal material about nostalgia and the desire to understand the world. Moreover, we are often asked - which Super Bowl is best to see? I will tell you about my favorites with your permission now.
Many do not even remember those times. People then just got off the trees. There were many dangers around. Mammoths and saber-toothed tigers, representatives of other genera, constant survival on the verge of extinction. Only then will people begin to engage in slash-and-burn farming and everything will change.
In general, somewhere at that time - in the late 90s - no one knew about Tom Brady yet. I don’t remember what I argued with my parents. Probably for grades at the end of the next school year. I remember that I promised to work hard in my studies, and they promised to pay for the installation of the NTV-Plus satellite dish. I passed the exams with a bang, which incredibly surprised school teachers, and received the promised parental present.
All this was done for the sake of football - European football. For the sake of the Champions League, the championship of Italy, La Liga, and for the sake of Manchester United. Roy Keen, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes were my damn idols.
Autumn has come, and I suddenly threw European fun into second roles. I discovered North America. No, don’t think that I didn’t like the NBA and the NHL - just the soker was much more popular. But the green plate gave me almost unlimited access to American sport. Before that, I had seen Michael Jordan and perceived him as a Deity, and now I joined Shak with Hakim, Hardaway with Drexler, and Barkley with Miller. Jordan, Pippen, Ewing and Kemp finished the league, and Iverson, Carter, McGrady and Bryant started - it was a good time.
Our hockey players burned in the NHL - Fedorov and the company took the Cups, Bure teamed up with Mogilny, Yashin had not yet sold himself to New York, Khabibullin terrified Tampa's rivals, and Kasparaitis terrified everyone.
Around the same time, Roy Jones laid angular bags on the ring floor, and Oscar De La Hoya, Arturo Gatti and Diego Corrales were superstars.
And here I plunged into the world of American football. For some reason, it seems to me that I did not see a single Super Bowl then. Or maybe he did. It seems to me that I even remember the smell of chips that I ate that day when I saw the first broadcast of American football. These were definitely Pringles (guys, I advertised - you know the card number!). The NFL also had some cool review films for each week. Current reviews are not suited to him out of hand. The level of broadcasts, entourage, athleticism of players - the new wonderful world of American football fascinated and fascinated.
The world of American football ruled 40-year-old John Alway. The quarterback Patriots was Drew Bladsoe.
Super Bowl Patriots - Rams
Times have changed. The world almost ended with the onset of the millennium. Everyone expected that now, when the year 2000 comes, something terrible will happen. We talked about the predictions of Nostradamus, the coming of the Antichrist, that all computer systems would be reset to zero. But nothing happened. However, fans of American football, who later hate the Patriots for the predictability of results in their favorite sport, will probably believe that it was then that the coming of the Antichrist took place. And for the numerous fans who appeared later, all the same Patriots - it was a divine phenomenon.
I moved to Moscow in order to get a worthless crust on higher education. In fact, I simply did not want to join the army. I studied in Mytishchi, lived in the South-West, spent a lot of time moving around Moscow and its suburbs, and forgot about sports. Later I got a lot of other interests. Student life is intoxicating with freedom and offers many temptations. I was tempted by fair-haired freshman Muscovites, cheap alcohol and a lot of other things, which I will not write about, because the editor-in-chief will not miss it. Read about it in the novels of Hunter S. Thompson, Irwin Welch and William Burroughs.
We had a bad apartment on Losinoostrovskaya, where we spent more time than at the university. The entrance to the entrance was attacked by huge, well-fed rats (I'm talking about animals now), and I took a huge ice, threw it into a swarm, and city animals looted in different directions, like waves from a stone thrown into the water - then you could go into the entrance . It was a real ghetto. Everything in the apartment smelled of nicotine, the floor was littered with beer cans, and the smoke always stood in the kitchen. There we expanded our consciousness until it finally narrowed.
The NFL was ruled by Rams from St. Louis. Perhaps they had the best team in the League. Especially the attack. Kurt Warner - a man with a heavy athletic fate and great talent - played quarterback. Isaac Bruce worked brilliantly at the reception. And Marshall Folk was the best back running NFL. In 2000, they won the NFL championship, then there was a problem season with a final defeat from the Saints in the wild card round. But in 2002, they again went to the Super Bowl, where they were to meet with New England.
My comrades in a strange apartment did not really like sports, but when in early 2002 NTV Plus suddenly appeared on one of the first TV buttons, everyone was interested. It was, however, unexpected and interesting. In my opinion, then ordered the TV-6 channel to live for a long time, and their combined place in the broadcasting grid for some time was taken by the combined sports channel. It was a real present. Everyone watched NTV-Plus. And many watched the same Super Bowl between the Patriots and Rams.
Rams were clear favorites. Kurt Warner, who had returned from Europe a little earlier (he had to start his career there because the NFL did not believe him at first), led the team to fantastic performance for the second year in a row, and the team’s attack was called “The Best Show on Earth”. They led the league in yards in attack, in yards in takeaway and in the pass.
The chances of the Patriots to win were much less. They started the season monstrously. Quarterback coach Dick Rehbein died before the start of the season (he was only 45 years old and had a heart attack). The team lost the first two games of the season, in one of which was injured shoulder Drew Bladsoe. As a result, Tom Brady became the starting quarterback of the Patriots, the choice of the sixth round of the draft, which threw only 3 passes in 2000. No one believed in Tom. Except Bill Belichick. Despite all the mistrust, Tom Brady delivered almost 70 percent of the passes to 2843 yards (with 18 touchdowns) to his partners, and was selected to the Pro Bowl. But the main factor in the success of the Patriots was the defense. The Patiot Defense proved to be the sixth best in the league. Great line players - Bobby Hamilton, Richard Seymour, a brilliant linebacker line - Mike Vrabel, Willie McGinest and Teddy Bruschi,
Tom Brady was injured in the conference finals match, Drew Bladsoe missed almost the entire season. Rams were fine. But in the final, which took place in New Orleans, Tom Brady was in order. Although it all started with the successes of St. Louis and Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner started with 6 of 7 exact passes and brought his team the opportunity to break the field goal. Jeff Wilkins was accurate with 50 yards. Then Rams had another decent drive, but Wilkins was inaccurate with 53 yards. And then there was the interception of Kurt Warner by Ty Lowe. Then Low also scored a 47-yard return, and Tom Brady had the coolest drive and brought the Patriots 11 points difference.
In the third quarter, Adam Vinatieri scored 37 yards and the score was 17-3. And then the Patriots nearly came forward 20 points after Warner lost the ball at the 1-yard mark and Jones scored a 97-yard touchdown. But the referees saw the holding at Willie McGinest. And through an attempt, Kurt Warner distinguished himself as an external touchdown.
The defense took up the matter, in the end, Warner had a great drive and equalized. That was great. We sat on a leaky sofa and had difficulty restraining our emotions. We clearly understood: American football is cool.
A minute and a half before the end, without timeouts, Pats conduct a winning drive, which ends with the exact field goal of Adam Vinatieri. Thus began the era! Tom Brady got the MVP, and the Patriots won the first league title.
After 17 years, everything will loop.
Pittsburgh Championship
Then again there was football timelessness. Watching American football was not very common. But these were the times of the Peyton Manning and Tom Brady duel - it was wonderful. I followed them. I saw the Patriots win over Carolina, but it was not so impressive. Then the Patriots beat Philadelphia with McNabb and Terell Owens. I definitely remember the protective Tampa of Gruden. I remember Walter Sapp, who was the best player on that team. And I remember their rear running - Cadillac Williams. Well, how not to remember the “Cadillac”?
After graduation, I returned to Izhevsk. I became a certified forestry engineer, although I could hardly distinguish oak from aspen. Long live Russian education! I exaggerate, of course, but I can definitely say that I was not going to work in the profession. They said: get a diploma - I got it! While I was deciding what to do next, I had to restore my health and go in for sports. I can’t explain to you what dragged me into weightlifting, but something dragged me on.
It is well remembered that on the morning of February 6, 2006, I had a training session. I recall that by that night there was a Super Bowl between Steelers and Seahawks. I struggled with sleep. It was necessary to sleep a little, but the dream did not come. With him - with sleep - it always happens. When you want to sleep, nothing happens. And so, when you have to stay awake - a dream begins to cut you down. So it was this time. I decided - well, since I can’t fall asleep, I’ll wait for the game, and then I will go to training (I’ll sleep sometime later!). But at the very moment when the teams began to enter the football field, the kingdom of Morpheus attacked me with all his might. I fought back as I could. Uppercut sleep on the jaw, left on the liver. And the dream answered with short jabs, and then I fell into small knockdowns. I woke up and already ran on the field,
Seattle led 3-0. Then Pittsburgh came forward at first 7, and then 14-3, thanks to the magnificent removal of Willie Parker. And then Hines Ward appeared on the field and smashed Seahawks completely. The Pittsburgh receiver caught 5 Big Ben passes for 123 yards, was recognized as Super Bowl profit center, and the Stillers won.
By the way, I just recently noticed that Hines Ward played in the last installment of Batman’s Nolan trilogy. Remember, there was a football match in Gotham when Bane blew up a football field. It was Ward who escaped in the student’s record on the return, and behind him the earth left. By the way, Ward was also written on the shirt. In general, later in his career, Ward will move from Pittsburgh to Gotham.
In the morning I went to training. I've never been so good. I wasn't good at weightlifting at all - it's too hard for lazy asses. But at that training I was inimitable, football made me stronger. Then I slept for a day and again reviewed the replay of that finale, no longer going to sleep during the broadcast.
After a year, Peyton Manning will finally win the league title. There will be wild rain and Adam Vinatieri.
Then there will be a great match, where the Giants will win in the final against the Patriots. No one will expect this. Even Eli Manning and David Tyree, even Placseco Burres, who eventually rolls so hard that next season he shoots himself in the foot and ends his career.
Finally there will be 2009 and the best, in my opinion, Super Bowl in history.
It was a great match with an incredible denouement. Yes, then there will be the last two last Super Bowls with Pats, but it is the Steelers-Cardinals match that stands apart for me. Arizona was an upstart, dark horse that made it to the finals with a 9–7 regular season result. But in Arizona, the great old man Kurt Warner returned to the Super Bowl 7 years later, and his main playmaker was the phenomenal Larry Fitzgerald. Pittsburgh was on Everest the success of its terrific team. A grand defense consisting of James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Clark, Ike Taylor, Lamar Woodley and others. Great attack led by Big Ben - that Pittsburgh was incredibly good.
I will not go into the details of that match. Whoever has not seen him is obliged to watch. Well, how can you forget about James Harrison's 100-yard touchdown? Or how Larry Fitzgerald caught a pass from Kurt Warner and brought in a 64-yard touchdown?
During the match, Pittsburgh confidently led with the score 20-7, confirming the status of the favorite. But in the fourth quarter, Arizona scored 16 points, and came forward two and a half minutes before the end of the meeting with a score of 23-20.
35 seconds before the end of the regular meeting time, Santonio Holmes (who is later recognized by the Super Bowl MVP) will catch a pass from Big Ben on the edge of the set-off, miraculously keeping his legs in the field. And Pittsburgh will win its sixth league title in history! Just watch that game, it's unique!
Saints and onside kick
For a long time I was left without my favorite NFL team. I have long decided on my preferences. My whole family was rooting for Moscow CSKA. This is all due to the fact that my grandfather served in the army for a long time. He was a devoted army fan and did not even allow the thought that at home someone could let him down and choose another club. That would be a betrayal. So there was nothing left for the next generations of our family. My father and I continued the fan traditions of my grandfather.
I recalled my grandfather that day when in a match with Ramensky Saturn a plastic chair fell on top of me. Then the army fans smashed the stadium near Moscow. In my opinion it was in 2002. Yes, for sure - it was 2002, because a week earlier CSKA played with Parma in the UEFA Cup at the same Ramen stadium. Then the plastic seats remained intact, and the most memorable moment of the trip to the city near Moscow was the pastime in the bar before the game. I remember we went there three or four. There were already 10 people, without flowers. They viciously glanced at us from the next table, and then with every minute the bar began to fill more and more with red and blue flowers. And this disgusting dozen somewhere evaporated. CSKA! CSKA! - was distributed throughout Ramensky, and beer poured in. That was before
In the NBA, I empathized with the Lakers, in the NHL, the red and blue Canadian antagonist from Montreal. And in the NFL, I was somehow completely vague. I played Madden for the Bengals. Exactly for the Bengals. They had a cool attack led by Chad Johnson. Damn, I loved Chad Johnson - he was a gangster. Terell Owens was also a gangster, but he didn't want to root for Philadelphia at all. And Bengals had Khushmansad. And this is not a curse. But the Bengals were as if from a Greenpeace wildlife advocacy.
In 2005, the entire league empathized with one team. Hurricane Katrina hit the southern US states. He brought with him destruction and death. He carried with him horror and fear. Louisiana suffered the most. The state capital, New Orleans, was attacked by marauders. In addition to the fear of being left homeless, the surviving residents of the city feared for their lives. The shelter for the destitute and intimidated was the Super Dome. The largest building in New Orleans has shelled tens of thousands of people in its bowels, rescuing from bad weather and unbridled street gangs. The infrastructure of the city was completely destroyed.
The local team, New Orleans Saints, helped the distressed fellow citizens as much as they could. Still, the Saints for Louisiana were more than a team. They were and remain a huge part of the community. But the Saints themselves were destitute. Play in New Orleans in the upcoming season was impossible. The team became a wanderer, like Jean Valjean of the Les Miserables.
The 2005 season, the Saints were forced to play in San Antonio and Baton Rouge. They returned to the Superdome only the following year. The entire league was rooting for the Saints in their first home game against the Falcons. Film crews from a dozen different countries traveled to the reigning New Orleans to talk about this match. Like it was a Super Bowl. I remember the broadcast of English TV, in which crazy fans appeared on the screen, Drew Breeze, Reggie Bush - the main young hope of the Saints. The correspondent walked around New Orleans, and everything around was decorated with the symbols of the Saints. All this was interspersed with shots from the legendary film “Easy Rider”, where the characters of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson go to New Orleans for the celebration of Mardi Gras. One of them does not reach.
The Saints beat their main rival, Atlanta Falcons. And it was a match of the century for them. The team, led by novice trainer Sean Payton and new quarterback Drew Breeze, presented New Orleans with a new sporting destiny and another holiday, this time the city walked again until the morning.
Drew Brees, Marquis Colston, Duc McAllister, Reggie Bush - for a long time became my football identity. But note that these are all attack players. Drew Breeze, who was abandoned in San Diego, believing that he would not be able to move away from a serious shoulder injury, was able to take his Saints attack game to a new level. Ever since Drew Brees was injured and a metal spoke in his shoulder, he has been struggling with metal control at airports, and the defenses of the Saints rivals have suffered from a passive attack by the Saints.
But the Saints, although they were one of the main attacking threats of the League, could not find themselves in defense. And so, when in 2009 New Orleans got a really interesting defense - the Saints took off. There were two teams in the League that year that played perfectly — Indianapolis with Peyton Manning and New Orleans — somewhere around now, gray-bearded Brett from Minnesota was aging. Both teams almost perfectly passed the regular season, losing only at the end of the season, when their places in the decisive meetings were not questioned. Later, they burst into the Super Bowl like two sprint runners tearing a ribbon at the finish of a 100-meter fast and aggressive. Although both teams had a little torment in the preliminary rounds, and still in the strength of the Colts and Saints no one doubted.
In the final, the Colts were considered to be small favorites - they recently won the Super Bowl, their quartermaker was Peyton Manning, who broke the difficulties of his career in the playoffs (before defeating Chicago, it was believed that Manning could not play decisive matches). Moreover, Manning had to play against the team of his childhood - Payton's father was a star in New Orleans. Even the Saints fans kind of empathized with Peyton. But the Saints for these family drama were completely indifferent.
The Colts had better started the Super Bowl and Peyton seemed confidently walking behind his second ring. But the Saints had their Peyton - Sean Peyton.
After the first half, the score was 10-6 in favor of the Colts, and the Saints started the second half with an initial strike. That is, the ball in the first attack was to be with Indy, if only ... If only the Saints somehow did not bring possession. Sean Payton decided to start the second half with onside kick. Lord Sean Payton has huge sonorous testicles, ringing from them is still heard. “Evening ringing - a bomb! “Not only did the Saints head coach start with onside kick, but he was also successful. The ball was in the hands of Drew Brees and his attack. And the Saints no longer gave the opponent a chance.
The Saints won 31–17, and Drew Breeze and Sean Peyton became great. I was completely alone in my rented apartment and jumped so that the plaster fell from the neighbors below. I was lonely but happy!
Later we learn that this victory was not entirely honest. A Bounty Gate breaks out, revealing a shameful boil inside Champions Super Bowl XLIV - team defense coordinator Gregg Williams encouraged his players to injure opponents. They say they almost killed Brett Farv, or Favre, or Faun. "They killed Kenny! Bastards! ”But that will not change anything!
In 2005, when I began to worry about the Saints, Moscow CSKA won the UEFA Cup. My grandfather took a mean male tear when he realized that his whole life devoted to one team was not lived in vain. In 2009, stingy men's tears almost flooded my face, although I had to wait much less than my whole life.
After that, there will be a second Patriots defeat from the Giants, the victory of Green Aaron, Baltimore, Seattle and Denver. And then two reckless blockbusters with the participation of the Patriots, who will first make a grand comeback against Atlanta, and then allow the Philadelphia underdogs to make the city of brotherly love champion, and Kevin Hart and Dmitry Sidorenko to be firewood with happiness.
But these matches meant a little less to me. The grass must have been greener in the past decade, but it's just my grass. However, as always, I am ready for new experiences. And let the upcoming Super Bowl be in my next top after years. I wish this to myself and to you!
This is only the first part of the Super Bowl narrative, the second will be waiting for you very soon - gonzo journalists get on the train and go to Moscow to write material about the Super Bowl party. And he will definitely be 18+. And this material is the main thing that my colleagues from 36 Studios read it and search the snowdrifts adjacent to the venue of the super-bowl party.
In the meantime ... Round! ... My train is ringing its way through the Super Bowl era, and I jump on its bandwagon while I am haunted by bloodied quarterbacks and toothless tough guys of the past.
