Weekend Super winners
Andy Reid and Patty Mahomes. The Chiefs have replaced the Pats as the franchise of the NFL. Reid has moved into sole position behind Coach Hoodie as the second-best coach of the last quarter-century. Mahomes has succeeded TB12 as the face of the league. As for Mahomes, a regular-season MVP and a Super Bowl MVP put an exclamation point on his path and his trajectory, because know this: If Mahomes retired this morning and went Andrew Luck on us, he's a Hall of Famer. In 80 games. And now comes the word that Mahomes was the guy that delivered the halftime speech that energized the Chiefs.
Chris Stapleton. Wow, as good a national anthem performance as I can remember in a long, long, LONG time. And the image of the tears running down the Eagles coach's face during the anthem was perfect.
Eric Bieniemy. The Chiefs OC now has two Super Bowl rings and redirected the NFL's top passing attack into a run-first, run-again Super Bowl champ on the fly.
Harrison Ford. OK, I'm as flummoxed as the next movie fan that there seems to be no new movie ideas in Hollywood and sequels and remakes dominate the landscape. But man, Ford looked great in the promos for the next Indy Jones. Hard to believe dude will be 81 in July. Seriously.
The Plays of the Day predictions. Holy smokes, I can never recall a better Super Bowl haul. We shared seven picks with you over three days last week. Let's review: Patrick Mahomes MVP (plus-130) -- check; Stapleton under 125 seconds for the anthem (minus-110) -- check; over 50.5 (minus-110) -- check; Eagles minus-0.5 in the first half -- check; anytime TDs for Travis Kelce (minus-110), Jalen Hurts (plus-100) and AJ Brown (plus-120) -- check, check and check. If you are scoring at home -- or if you are by yourself -- that's a plus-7.1 units Sunday people. M-V-P. M-V-P. (Add in Friday's 2-1-1 college hoops picks and we jumped 8 units in profit since the last time we convened.)
Super losers
The Eagles. Yes, it was a great game, but when you can't hold a double-digit lead after halftime, all the bellyaching in the world about the officials does not change the fact that you did not hold a double-digit second-half lead.
The call. You know the one. In truth, I thought the game was pretty cleanly officiated from start to finish, but the defensive holding that allowed the Chiefs to drain the clock down inside of 10 seconds before attempting the game-winning field goal was controversial. It looked like a hold, but did it affect the play? Heck the Eagles DB said it was a hold. But it also denied a game this dramatic of what should have been its scripted conclusion -- one team down in the final minute driving for the win or the tie and a defense aiming to deny them -- for me.
The commercials in general. Underwhelming was the word I'd use if someone asked me, but maybe I am forgetting one or three. Some of the movie trailers looked excellent, but that's the nature of movie trailers. I personally loved the Jesus commercial and its message. The Farmer's Dog commercial was emotional but also kind of felt manipulative a little, too. (Side note: Upon second thoughts, T-Mobile with Bradley Cooper in one ad and Travolta in another was likely the class of commercial craze.)
Gronk's commercial. There were so many possibilities here, right? You had the stage set for Rob Gronkowski's field goal to be as much of a talking point as the game. Heck, the way it played out, it did not look live and it was poorly filmed. What a wasted opportunity for FanDuel.
Terry Bradshaw. Terry has managed the celebrity levels better than most over the last half century. From Super Bowl-winning QB to beloved announcer to Hollywood actor to endorsement guy to you name it. His health has been a matter of discussion over the past few years. But telling Andy Reid to "waddle" over for his celebratory post-game interview on the biggest stage in American pop culture was beneath someone like Bradshaw in my mind.
All of us. Football (actual football) now done until September. Tears.
Hard knocks
So, for a lot of us, the day leading up to the Super Bowl was a kick to the shins in shiny hightops for the college basketball teams we follow.
Auburn played Alabama as tough as anyone has all season, and that an $4,444 will get you two cups of Starbucks in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Side question: Did you see the story about the couple that was charged almost $4,500 for a couple cups of Joe? Here's more. It's kind of strange. And I believe criminal.)
Close losses do not help the tournament résumé. It's not hand grenade March Madness.
Tennessee is giving away seeds like a drunken farmer at planting time.
Kentucky, ouch-standing.
And that's just across the SEC, because there were a slew of story lines in college hoops and few were enjoyable on this Super weekend.
There's the downright troubling details of what's happening in New Mexico, where the New Mexico State has canceled the rest of its season and suspended its men's program indefinitely after hazing allegations have become commonplace.
There's the terrible end to the Duke-Virginia game in which the refs did not know the rules at the end.
Side question: That should be a fireable offense for this crew, right? I mean if you are not going to know the rules on a stage like that, then who will?
Heck, the No. 1 team in the country lost to Northwestern on Sunday. Go figure.
Big picture question: Is there a sport out there that has a big spot in our collective fan prism that is truly more of an enigma wrapped in a riddle than college hoops? Is there something you truly know -- not think or believe, but truly know -- about college basketball with two-plus-weeks left in the regular season?
This and that
-- The first of two more Super Bowl thoughts that fall into neither winning or losing in my view. First, Greg Olsen. This has been the postseason of Olsen -- if he were a wizard, would we call him Merlin Olsen -- for the Fox analyst. Olsen's gift is an ability to provide insight to graduate-level football fans and with the clarity that can appeal to new viewers. And that skill is highly coveted in a moment like the Super Bowl, which is loaded with fans from all extremes and perspectives. But in a lot of ways Fox's announcing team lacked the star-power needed for this stage. Olsen has had an impressive -- and deserved -- rise of late. But Sunday felt far below Super, if that makes sense.
-- Second, I thought the halftime show was fine. Rihanna is amazing, and a generational talent. And a lot of times subdued performances can steal moments and scenes. But I also wondered if subdued is really the goal at halftime of the Super Bowl? Thoughts?
-- Late night and we are still tabulating our Super Duper Prop Drop scores. We'll get those posted later today. Deal? Deal.
-- Scottie Scheffler won the Waste Management tournament in Phoenix. Did anyone watch? I did. I was kind of bored, which is a dangerous place for golf because I have to be 100% the PGA's target demographic, right?
-- Speaking of golf, Keith Mitchell was the lone Baylor School alum in the field who made the cut in Arizona. He tied for 42nd and pocketed more than $63,000.
-- So the NBA, ah never mind.
-- NASCAR is coming.
-- Pitchers and catchers report this week. Yay. More on this tomorrow.
-- Loads of details from the TFP sports department over the last few days. McCallie's QB commits to Vandy. Jason Fitzgerald, who had made Meigs County into a state power, is headed to Sale Creek. Get the full run of headlines here.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Super Bowl winners and losers. Go.
As for multiple choice Monday, let's go here:
Which was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?
As for today, Feb. 13, let's review.
Waylon Jennings died on this day in 2002. He's one of my all-time favorites.
Mike Krzyzewski is 76 today. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being a complete and total meltdown, how big of a tantrum would Coach K have thrown Saturday night? I say at least a 14.
Randy Moss is 46. Rushmore of NFL players from FBS/old-school I-AA ranks.
Go.
