by Steve Dimatteo

Created on: January 28, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

After being the New England Patriots' whipping boy for the better part of five years, Peyton Manning finally gets to go to his first Super Bowl and he did so in very dramatic fashion. Down by three with less than two minutes remaining, Peyton drove his Colts downfield with a few big plays that, in recent years, would have gone awry in some way as Manning managed to invent new ways to define failure. It seemed improbable that this situation would arise an hour or so previous to the end of the game when the Colts came out of halftime down 21-6. At the end of the first half, with New England ahead comfortably and the commander of suave quarterbacks everywhere at the helm, a casual Patriots fan (in addition to being a staunch supporter of the Cleveland Browns) such as myself began to get ready for the usual Super Bowl weeks of hype.

However, this was not the case. The Colts came out of halftime firing, throwing the Patriots back on their heels. Throughout the dynasty run (yeah, I said it) it was perfectly fine to throw out all conventional football knowledge and merely gaze in amazement as the Patriots literally dismantled every opponent thrown their way. If I had lined up as right tackle for the Patriots during this magical run, my sturdy 5'8" frame and monstrous 150 pound body would be able to hold off any and all competitors.

The rest of the game comes to me in bits and pieces, mainly because Desperate Housewives was on at nine and I found the soothing voices of the Wysteria Lane vixens a little more pleasing as opposed to Phil Simms, who makes me want to stab myself in the eye with an ice pick and eat whatever I manage to pull out in that moment of excruciating pain and agony (and this, oddly enough, is something I hear Jim Nantz was attempting to do when he found out he would be trapped with Simms yet again in the booth for the AFC Championship Game).

I did not need to see every drawn-out replay in super magnificent if-it-got-any-slower-it-would-be-going-backwards slow motion and Peyton Manning commercial to know what was going on in the second half. Just when the Colts appeared poised to take over the lead and blow the Pats out of the water, Brady and Company always managed to push the lead to at least one score. Each time this occurred I thought to myself "That's the back breaker because the defense will clamp down and Peyton won't be able to advertise himself out of this one." Having nothing but the satisfaction of my joke that was wasted on only my ears,

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