Super Bowl Bizaro Style

It is interesting when you think of past champions and Dynasties in sports. How different would thinks look if you flipped the outcomes of say the NFL’s Super Bowl results? All those Iconic teams now relegated to runners up and also-rans. Suddenly legacy’s have changed and how we view teams and players would have changed dramatically.

Not to look into every Super Bowl but a few of the notable changes are interesting to look at.

Take for example the San Francisco 49’ers. One of the greatest franchises in NFL history. Now, in bizzaro world would only have 1 victory on their record and that win would come on the legs of Colin Kapernik…not Joe Montana. Montana would likely not be held in such high regard as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.

The Dallas Cowboys and especially Troy Aikman would also be a team with a lot less shine on their star. America’s team would still have 3 championships but they would have come very early on in the first 15 years of the NFL.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are no longer a Dynasty and Terry Bradshaw is likely not on the Fox broadcasts each Sunday morning.

The New York Giants now have only 1 title, and it is not with Eli or Tom Coughlin.

Now lets look at some of the teams that have a much more favorable history now. Take a team like Minnesota.. 4 titles in the first 11 Super Bowls looks a lot more impressive now.

The next 3 teams would have made the biggest u-turn and greatly changed peoples perception of greatness.

The Denver Bronco’s and John Elway would now be 4-2 in the Super Bowl and Elway is probably heralded as the greatest QB in the history of the league.

The Buffalo Bills are now probably the greatest Dynasty in the NFL winning the Super Bowl 4 straight years. Jim Kelly is now probably pushing Elway for top spot on the QB list.

 The Miami Dolphins are interesting to look at now too. All of a sudden Dan Marino has his 1 championship and is elevated in the minds of fans and media alike. What is even more interesting to think about is that there would now not be an undefeated Miami team and all that narrative of them popping Champaign after the last undefeated teams takes a loss

Strangely .  it is in the New England Patriots that this flip may actually be a benefit to their legacy.  As strange as it sounds based on Tom Brady’s record/legacy and how the Patriots are perceived throughout the league they may actually come out even more impressive.  Brady would now be 2 and 4 respectable but not great. But now he also becomes the QB of the only team to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl, He beats Eli and the Giants twice. Is his legacy even more impressive despite losing 4 Super Bowls? Keeping in mind he gets to keep everything else that makes Tom Brady great.

It is an interesting debate to have not only for football but all sports. How much worse are the Toronto Maple Leafs now? 8-13 and no cups since 1960.

Montreal Canadians now 6-24 not such an impressive championship record either.

It is interesting to think about and some interesting debates could be had at the local sports bar. Both team and personal legacies would be greatly impacted. For those who value championships when evaluating players and their careers might be forced to change their tune. 

Quick Hits

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen have had a baby boy. Although the child is but 1 day old it already has the Brady 3 day beard growth.

Chad Ochocinco will be parting ways with some of his dinero as he has been fined yet again.
Ochocinco is being fined $30,000 for his latest "wardrobe malfunction". He was on the sidelines after scoring a touchdown donning a poncho and sombrero. Not sure if it was $15,000 per prop or just a standard 30G’s.

Danica Patrick recently announced that she will be joining NASCAR to race in the Nationwide series. While on the Dan Patrick Show today she was asked if she knows if she can race a NASCAR car, her response was a little surprising. "Nope, but we’re gonna find out," Patrick said. Danica said that she doesn’t know NASCAR-style cars, and that she drove one once seven or eight years ago she tried it out on a small track. One would think that before signing a two-year deal that one may hop into a car for a little ride, especially seeing that the deal is probably a fairly lucrative one.

The NBA seems to be getting a pass on the Tim Donaghy referee scandal. I guess if it isn’t sexy it won’t get covered. Donaghy has a book coming out soon and it is getting little or no press. He is linked to the Mob, how can that not be a big deal. David Stern must be loving that Tiger Woods is stealing all the highlights and newscasts and this seens to be slipping through the cracks. It is funny that the actual news story is buried and the one that should be left private is the one that went viral.

A guy told his Facebook friends that they could shoot his 60-inch television if the Redskins blew their lead against the Saints last Sunday...a 23 yard chip shot field goal that would have cinched the victory was missed by Shaun Suisham. Final Score: Saints 33 - Redskins 30 in OT. See What happened to the TV set here.

On the WINGS not a Prayer

The Detroit Red Wings may be considered as a modern day version of a dynasty. Now I am not handing the Championship to them and I may not be a big fan of the them and I am far from wishing or rooting for a victory but I am about giving credit where credit is due. They are looking like the NHL’s version of the New England Patriots, not only for the titles but the way they do business. If you look at New England they keep loosing players not only due to salary cap reasons but also due to injuries. What happens when top players get hurt? They plug in someone that you have never heard of before and then all of a sudden that person doesn’t skip a beat and there is a seamless transition from backup to starter. It happened when Tom Brady came in for an injured Drew Bledsoe it happened when nearly their entire secondary went down and they even had to turn to a wide receiver to play cornerback and he was as good or better then what half the teams had as starters.

That is the same deal in the Motor City (that was not a shot at GM, that isn’t good for anybody...back to sports) You lose your captain and one of the best defencemen of all time for a few games, just throw out a 45+ year old Chris Chelios or Jonathan Ericsson fresh off of an appendectomy 3 days prior to going back into the lineup to eat some minutes, Without a grinding forward like Kris Draper, lets throw rookie Justin Abdelkader into the fire after like 3 game played in the NHL regular season. Hey a potential MVP candidate in the past and one of the best 2 way forwards in the game Pavel Datsyuk hurts his foot and can’t play...OK that is just too much to overcome. Oooppps nope ... we will put the speedy firecracker Darren Helm out and have him play huge minutes in key situations. Helm could walk into camp next season with 2 Stanley cup Rings and still be up for the Calder trophy for Rookie of the Year. Sic.

It is with that kind of depth and incredible team standards they are by far the best run club right now. Sure that doesn’t make them a lock to win the cup, far from it, but it does put them head and shoulders above any other club in the NHL right now from the ice to the front office.

Around the Horn

Wth all the postponed, cancelled and relocated games over the weekend due to Hurricane Ike made the sports scene a scheduling nightmare.
What is worse I heard that Ike was so dangerously powerful and destructive that Tina Turner had to postpone her current tour and retreat even more inland!

The San Diego Chargers lost in the last seconds for the second straight week. This time it was partially the result of an admitted blown call by the usually great and respected Ed Hochuli.
Norv Turner and The Chargers can only be so upset as Hochuli is an established lawyer that has huge guns in his Smedium shirt, not one to mess with. If Hochuli was on the San Diego D the Broncos would not have rolled the dice in that ballsy call and gone for 2

As a Michigan fan it was an epic game to watch as USC beat the living crap out of THE Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday
Again Coach Tressel blew the big one on the national stage, hang your head all the way back to Columbus nice drop of some 10 spots in the polls...no stickers on the helmets this week fellas!

Rough week for the Patriots and extended family.First Tom Brady goes down with a torn ACL and torn MCL and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weiss did the same after being taken out by one of his own players with help from a Michigan player
What’s the matter Tom, Charlie stayed in the game until the end couldn’t you? And you call yourself an athlete

Wayne Gretzky will again be part of Team Canada but not as Executive Director. Possibly that opens the door for Steve Yzerman to take that position.
The FOG (Friends of Gretzky) may be lifting from Hockey Canada’s men’s team

Chris Cooley wanted to show the readers of his popular blog some of the study materials the players were given by coach Jim Zorn.
A good idea and good of him to show the behind the scene happenings of the NFL.Next time consider using a picture that doesn’t let your junk show for all to see, may I suggest a towel, jogging pants, a pair of boxers or even a jock...Chris put that thing away, you’ll scare the children

U of T's Varsity Blues broke a 49 game losing streak versus the University of Waterloo at the beginning of the season, the first win since 2001.
This was a huge win for U of T, breaking the longest Canadian University losing streak but more importantly allowed the bare-chested guys from the phys. ed. department to fervently chant "Waterloo smells like poo"

Carlos Zambrano pitched the quietest No Hitter in recent memory after being played in Milwaukee as a home game for Houston due to Hurricane Ike.
Few people seemed to talk about it or praise it as a great feat. Dan Patrick said it right it was like a game of Clue.. Zambrano- in Milwaukee against the Astros-with a 4 seam fastball

Down And Out - The Tom Brady Story

Not much is left to be said about the New England Patriots and of Tom Brady. Most of the angles have been covered by this point. All I can say is that from the moment that I saw his leg bend the wrong way while watching the game I knew it was bad, the fans knew it was bad, the team knew it was bad, but most of all Brady knew it was bad. You could see both the disappointment and the pain on his face.
What New England will do is anyone’s guess, and guess they must....as Coach Belichick usually plays it close to the vest. A few QB's have been contacted and/or signed eg. Matt Gutierrez. They are still a good team and are one of few teams that a next guy in line mentality that may be able to handle the adversity but it will be an uphill battle.

Gone for the season is tough but what is worse is not knowing what kind of player will come back after surgery and rehab. It is a lot to expect the same player to return and it will be interesting to see whet level he can perform at and for how long. Lets not forget it was Brady who took over the team when then starter and thought to be franchise QB Drew Bledsoe went down with injury and except for 1 playoff game never gave the job back. Could history repeat itself? Will Matt Cassel take the ball and run with it? Remember he was behind many a good QB throughout his career (Carson Palmer and Matt Lienart at USC and Brady in New England) and is probably a pretty good QB just waiting for his chance, and in New England...wouldn’t surprise me one bit. I hope that is not the case as I am a fan of what Brady has done but only time will tell.

To some it is debatable about overall greatness and Hall of Fame worthiness, to me there is no doubt. Top 5 All Time and no brainer Hall of Famer. The Super Bowls, the undefeated regular season and the TD passing record and most importantly the Michigan pedigree all add up to one of the all time greats. Here is to hoping for a fast and successful recovery and that there is still a job for him when he returns.