I'm actually getting excited this year. If the Pats and the Panthers bring the game they brought yesterday, we might actually see the first good Super Bowl since XXV (Giants-Bills).

Think about it. Tell me when, since XXV, there's been a Super Bowl that hasn't been decided by halftime. Hell, I'll be generous, decided before the fourth quarter.

the rams/titans wasn;t exciting? what was that 3 inches on the last play of the game?

I can't answer that, as that was the Super Bowl I didn't watch due to lack of someone to watch with and lack of interest in the outcome of the game.

No disrespect to those that like those teams/that game, I just heard "St. Louis Rams against the Tennessee Titans" and couldn't get excited over it.

Who the hell EVER watches it for the game? It's probably the worst football of the year.

It's all about the commercials!

Understandable. As stated, in the last 13 games, there's been only one (possibly two, I'ma check out that Titans/Rams one now) good one.

However...hope springs eternal.

Super Bowl 34 was a fantastic battle won only by a Mike Jones tackle and a sweet Isaac Bruce reception. Go check your history, fool!

Ya know, I'm glad that Carolina made the Super Bowl, since it's their first ever trip. But I could care less who wins at this point.

The following is an article posted in the Charolette Observer that a friend in North Carolina sent to me yesterday in an email. I could not verify it since you are required to log on and I was to lazy to do so. Since I am aware that there are many here from the Philly area, I include it for your amusement.

Posted on Tue, Jan. 20, 2004

COMMENTARY
Philly fans let the bad apples ruin the bunch
TOM SORENSEN


PHILADELPHIA - When their team loses, some people look at the sky and blame the Sports God. There is no Sports God. There is only a Sports Deity.

He is not affiliated with a particular religion. He works free-lance. His role is to favor those who deserve it and punish those who don't.

This explains why Philadelphia never wins anything.

Philadelphia doesn't deserve a championship in any of the major sports or hockey. I keep hearing about the long-suffering fans who give their hearts and souls to their team, and I kind of feel for them.

But the good fans allowed the bad fans to turn the Carolina Panthers' lopsided 14-3 victory at Lincoln Financial Field into White Trash on Sunday night.

I don't like to stereotype. Not every fan at the NFC championship was bitter. Perhaps no more than one in five was.

My wife, Sharon, sat with three other Panthers fans in a $105 (face value) seat. She had entire cups of beer thrown at her. Fans spit on her. And the only manifestation of her allegiance was her toes, which were painted blue and black and covered with layers of socks, foot-warmers and shoes.

Behind her sat a man who dared wear a Panthers cap. Before the game, an Eagles fan asked him what right he had to be at the stadium. The fan was serious.

Late in the game, a guy who had been taunting the Carolina fans, a skinny guy, hopped the security fence he had been standing behind, sprinted down the stairs, slapped the man in the Panthers cap in the back of the head and sprinted back up the stairs. It was a classic hit and run, something with which to amuse friends and family for years. Wait until the guy's parents find out.

So what you're telling me, son, is that you ran up, whacked him and ran off? We always knew you'd amount to something. The only thing that would make us prouder would be if you stopped spending your money, ours actually, on all things Eagles and get a job and perhaps an apartment.

The idea presumably was to entice the Panthers fan to chase the guy back over the fence, where friends waited. Security men tackled the whack-and-run guy before he could return to his seat.

Two Eagles fans in front of my wife fought each other. One of the guys was huge. To break up the fight, as many as seven security officials and police officers and a can of mace were required. To put this in perspective, Carolina running back DeShaun Foster did not break seven tackles on his 1-yard touchdown run.

Christy Burton, who is married to Carolina defensive tackle Shane Burton, sat near my wife. Burton is 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds. Christy is not. She, too, was treated to a shower of beer.

Fans above them threw quarters. The scariest incident was when a 10-year-old kid was hit from behind with a cup. Cups don't hurt much, but who knew what would be thrown next? Plus, kids lucky enough to have a ticket ought to have the right to feel safe.

It's fine to get your kicks vicariously through a team. But at some point you have to step back and, even though your heart might be broken, move on. If your team is the most important thing in your life, you might think about starting over.

You can lose yourself in Carolina's Super Bowl run, think about it every hour of every day. Charlotte has never buzzed and hummed like this. But if the Panthers lose, it doesn't mean the New England fan two rows in front of you no longer is entitled to wear his team's jersey.

Most of the fans at the Linc Sunday night were able to cheer for the Eagles without throwing beer or head-slaps at those who did not. Some even apologized for the behavior of the bottom-feeders, and went so far as to wish Panthers fans luck in the Super Bowl.

The bottom-feeders, meanwhile, were forced to return to their nasty little world without a football team to help them escape it.

There's a term for their predicament. It's called justice. Blame the Sports Deity. Or thank him. Tom Sorensen

Well, we are the only city that had to put a judge IN the stadium to deal with criminal charges resulting from stupid fan behavior.

One of my friends works at the First Aid Station at the Linc for all the Eagle's games.

One of the people he treated at the playoff game with Green Bay was a guy from Chicago who didn't know about Philly fans. Or maybe he heard, but didn't really believe it.

This guy made the ultimate mistake. You know, the one that involves wearing the opposing team's logowear?

He had on a suede Packers Jacket.

Things went well for him through most of the game. Late in the 4th Quarter, though, he went to the bathroom ... where he got jumped and had the shit kicked out of him.

Police escorted the poor guy out of the stadium. Not sure if they gave him transport to his hotel, though. He came via public transportation.

According to my friend he took the whole experience in stride ... was a lot calmer about it that I would expect someone who'd been rolled and kicked around the floor of a public restroom would be.

When people from North Carolina are calling US "white trash," that's pretty intensely ironic.

Cute line:

<i>Philadelphia doesn't deserve a championship in any of the major sports or hockey.</i>

Boy, those Carolina Hurricanes fans aren't fair-weather fans, are they?

(That's right, I forgot. Cross the Manson-Nixon line and the four major sports become (1) college basketball, (2) college basketball, (3) college basketball and (4) NASCAR.)

As a native of North Carolina who now lives in Philadelphia, I'll just say this guy is full of it anf leave it at that.

I will say that I can understand why he and his wife might consider hardcore Iggles fans to be very, very frightening.

That's because I'm a born-and-bred Philly-suburbs guy, and I consider hardcore Iggles fans to be very, very frightening.

I've been to one Eagles game in my life, in the 500-level of the Vet (against Atlanta, not what I would consider to be a major rivalry). I spent much of the game afraid of what might come flying from above and spooked by these people, <b>and I was rooting for the HOME team</b>.

I don't deny that, and I think it's icky--don't get me wrong. What I take issue with is the assumption that the other 31 NFL stadiums are chock full of choirboys.

Oh, sorry, the Eagles fans nailed Santa Claus. Never mind.

I probably posted this already sometime in history but hey. I was at the game that started the stadium court - the San Francisco Monday night game, which included at least 3 game interruptions by fans on the field, about 30 fights, and a flare gun shot by a fan, across the stadium to land in the 200 level seats.

I sat in a 200-level restricted view seat. Behind us was a mom with a 10-year-old. I think she lasted through to the half. What a trooper. In front of us were Marines, special invite tickets from the team; in full dress; they looked kinda nervous.

In the section to the right of us, trouble broke out with a minor scuffle. It didn't last long, but yellow-coated STAFFers surrounded the section to watch for everything to break out. Their presence basically ensured that it would; they were provoking it to happen so that they could enjoy being part of a scuffle.

You could say that the root cause was that Philly crowd having hours to get royally blitzed, but I know the real root cause: Rodney Peete. The Eagles stunk up the joint and could not move the ball 2 yards. The fans were furious. In the fourth quarter, they put in 3rd stringer Bobby Hoying, and the kid put together a drive and actually scored. There were no fights during the fourth quarter because the fans were suddenly entertained.

I didn't mean to hijack the thread, but unless you're a fan of cats or men in funny hats, not a whole lot to be said on this thread anymore. What the heck, my team is outta the running (Rams). Might as well stir up somethin'

You could stir up Brenda Warner's hair, except that someone beat you to it long ago.