What is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

42, of course.

As in Super Bowl XLII.

See, it all makes perfect sense now, doesn’t it.  I mean, seriously, if you are at all a sports fan, then you know this feeling.  Well, you might not actually know it, but you have dreamt about. 

Your team has made it to the championship game, against all odds on the most improbable of playoff runs, and stands as the final obstacle to a team trying to make history and complete an undefeated season, a team that had officially entered the conversation as the best team ever.  And your team goes out and plays the game of their collective lives, knocks around the league MVP and pulls off the spectacular upset.

Except, in this case, it’s not a dream.  It actually happened last night, the New York Giants actually upended the New England Patriots in one of the most thrilling football games I’ve ever seen.  And I would have said even if I weren’t a huge Giants fan.  It was just a vastly entertaining and exciting game.

How on earth did Eli get away from the rush and make that pass to David Tyree?  And if that wasn’t the greatest catch ever, I don’t know what is.  I mean, he caught it with his head.  HIS HEAD!!!

Now say this to yourself:  Eli Manning is the Super Bowl MVP. 

ELI MANNING IS THE SUPER BOWL MVP!!!

Can you believe it?  I can’t.

Actually, I think I finally can.  It only took 24 hours.

The downside (or upside, depending on the way you’re looking at it) is that there is absolutely no way this can ever be topped.  Maybe matched, although highly unlikely, but never topped. 

I think I can deal with that.

Alright, I haven’t written anything about this yet because I was honestly afraid to jinx it, but the news came down just a little while ago that Johan Santana has passed his physical and has officially joined the New York Mets.

I am a huge Mets fan, which I admit knowing how much ridicule that opens me up to.  For a very long time now the Mets have been considered the red-headed stepchild when it came to New York baseball.  Ever since the Yankees started winning World Series and continued to sell themselves on aura and mystique (which is total BS, but probably a story for another day) the Mets have been relegated to second fiddle.

But the last couple of years have seen a bit of a resurgence under Omar Minaya, with the emergence of David Wright and Jose Reyes has perennial All-Stars and the importation of established veterans like Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran.  And despite the heartache and disappointment of the last couple of years, including the game six lost in the 2006 NLCS to the Cardinals (which killed me, because I had World Series tickets already lined up) and their epic collapse last September, things were looking up for the Mets.  Like the Yankees, they had launched their own successfully sports networks and like the Yankees they are scheduled to move into a new stadium new year.  But going into this season, despite all of that, the Mets still lacked a number one pitcher, an ace they could turn to anchor their pitching rotation and strike fear into the hearts of opposing lineups.

Well, that problem has been solved by going out and obtaining arguably the best pitcher on the planet in Johan Santana.  To get him, the Mets had to give up four decent prospects and that sign him to an admittedly ridiculous extensions (if Santana keeps up his career strikeout pace he will earn approximately my yearly salary for each strikeout.  Puts things in perspective), but this is New York, the Mets are going to raise ticket prices anyway so they might as well put the best product on the field.

The strange thing is, this story has knocked the Giants off of the back pages of the local newspapers this week, even though they’re playing in the freakin’ Super Bowl tomorrow.  It just goes to show you how much of a baseball town New York really is.

And does this mean that Mets are going to win the World Series now?  Of course not, but their chances just got a lot better.  And that’s all you can really ask for.

Unless you’re Johan Santana, then you can ask for $150 million.  And get it.

I like Brett Favre, I really do.  I hope he comes back next year, and if the Giants (God forbid) regress a little, I’ll be rooting for him to make it back to the Super Bowl one last time before he retires.

That being said, there was no measure of how badly I wanted to the Giants to knock out the Packers last night in Lambeau field.  And in sub-zero temperatures the Giants continued to prove their mettle as the ultimate road warriors and won in absolutely dramatic fashion to advance to the Super Bowl.  A fantastic game, second aor third greatest Giants game I’ve ever seen. 

And now we move on to Glendale, Arizona.

To face the juggernaut of the Patriots.

In two weeks.

I still can’t believe it’s true.  I honestly can’t.

When the winning field finally cleared the uprights, me and the kid were jumping up and down, hugging in celebration, proudly wearing our Giants jerseys.  I told him “Don’t forget this game, they don’t happen very often” and he promised me he wouldn’t.

And so somehow, after Tiki Barber took his ball and went home and Jeremy Shockey broke his leg, the Giants, led by Eli Manning, have come together and have won three straight road playoff games, avenging two early season losses, to advance to the Super Bowl, where they will be the last obstacle to the Patriots completing a perfect season.

If you’re a sports fan, you know how few and far between these sorts of moments are, when your team comes out of nowhere and goes on one of those magical runs in the playoffs.  And all you can do is hold on and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

GO GIANTS!

I am a HUGE sports geek, and I just needed to write something in light of the Giants spectacular upset of the Cowboys on Sunday. As a Giants fan, there really isn’t anything sweeter than beating the {Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins} in a playoff game, but there was something about this win that made it especially enjoyable.

First of all, Tony Romo has managed to be anointed as some wonderful, super-star quarterback when he has done absolutely nothing in the NFL yet. He runs around cocky and arrogant as hell, but then starts yelling at his offensive line and generally falling apart when the defense starts hitting him. “WAAAAAAAAAAAH! Those means guys on the Giants won’t let me stand here all day and pose for the highlight films, WAAAAAAAAAH!”

Second of all, the Dallas Cowboys had 12 (that’s right, TWELVE) players selected to the pro bowl, an NFL record. That means that more than half of their starters were considered all-stars in their sport. And yet, they couldn’t win a single playoff game against a team with exactly ONE pro bowl selection playing at home and with an extra week of rest.

And finally, it meant that we got to see Terrell Owens crying, which was pathetic and fantastic all at the same time. Not that grown men should be afraid to show emotion, but this is T-O, the same whacko who worked out in his driveway when the Eagles sent his petulant ass home and who claims to have been misquoted in his autobiography.

All that said, the game on Sunday was as physically exhausting a game as I’ve seen in a while. I sat in complete expectation that the Giants were going to somehow screw it up and literally jumped up and down in jubilation when the Giants intercepted Romo’s last pass to finally seal the game. And of course, the Cowboys still say they’re the better team, but someone forgot to tell them that it’s the team with the most points at the end of the game that’s the “better team”.

At least now Tony can go hang out with Jessica and her dad.