04/19/24
January 26, 2003
Hell freezes over!: Tampa Bay punked out Oakland today in Super Bowl XXXVII. Brad Johnson played a solid game, and Michael Pittman shined at running back as well. Meanwhile, Derrick Brooks and company ripped the vaunted Raiders offence apart. Who knows: one day the Bengals might actually win the Super Bowl themselves!
posted by jasonbondshow to football at 09:43 PM - 35 comments
All I can say is: 
Obviously I got the score wrong, but still got the team right.
posted by grum@work at 10:10 PM on January 26, 2003
BO-ring. What a shitty game. I didn't care who won, I was just hoping for a competitive contest. I didn't get my wish. The highlight of the game was the fact that a SpoFi member jumped on it ASAP afterwards! Post, people! As best you can, given the results!
posted by vito90 at 10:18 PM on January 26, 2003
Great win for the Bucs -- the Raiders didn't have a prayer of scoring a touchdown until the game was academic. The way Gannon was throwing up passes for grabs, it was like the ghosts of Raider Past came back to haunt him. What happened to the calm ball-control offense that relied on dink passes? I'm still having trouble believing that the Bucs, one of the least storied franchises in the NFL, are world champs.
posted by rcade at 10:19 PM on January 26, 2003
the least storied franchises in the NFL 2004 Super Bowl Champs, go Seahawks! How much of this was game plan? Seemed like Gruden's Bucs totally continued to attack on defense. Is that great coaching to have your D do the same thing they have done all season? And the Raiders could not do shit on offense. Is that shitty coaching when your O can no longer do what worked all year?
posted by vito90 at 10:35 PM on January 26, 2003
An eloquent "fuck you, Al Davis" from Gruden. Congrats, Bucs.
posted by Grey at 10:37 PM on January 26, 2003
By the way, the best commercial I didn't get to see (thanks to Global TV in Canada simulcasting it's craptacular commercials instead) was probably the 'Terry Tate: Office Linebacker". I found it by going to this site: http://terrytate.reebok.com/ and just entering some bogus info and watching the "Terry's World" 3 minute commercial. Absolutely hilarious stuff, and there is a nice little "Office Space" joke in there too.
posted by grum@work at 10:41 PM on January 26, 2003
I liked the one Bud commercial best... "This Ref is a jackass..." "Umm...I'm pretty sure that's a Zebra..."
posted by vito90 at 10:44 PM on January 26, 2003
The Raiders offensive line were exposed for the slow hamhocks that they are. The Bucs defense cut right through them over and over again. Basically, no coverage for Gannon. Then the Raiders defense seemed a little slow catching on to plays that the Bucs were repeating. "Oh yeah, he played that diagonal pass to the wide receiver cutting inside right last time." And, of course, Gruden knew every play Callahan had in the book, and when he was going to use it.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:17 PM on January 26, 2003
I thought it was a thoroughly entertaining game, but again I was for the Bucs. The Raiders were a sheer embarassment. They were out-coached and out-played. Gannon delivered the worst QB performance in a Super Bowl ever. The Raiders squandered their one shot for a championship in the next 10 years. That makes me giddy with joy. Any team that would pick up Romanowski deserves to get it's ass handed to them every time. OK enough with the gloating...This is the worst officiating in a Super Bowl in years. Challenges were wasted on what should have been obvious calls. Should officiating crews instead of individuals be selected for the championship game? Why is a force-out in the endzone a non-reviewable play? What officiating changes will come during the off season? What changes do you wish would be made?
posted by ttrendel at 11:22 PM on January 26, 2003
congrats to the bucs. you could see what was up from the first couple of raiders series. gannon drops back, looks to fire the west coast 5 yard pass, but the bucs have a man right on top of his primary receiver. gannon has to pull the ball down and look for his number two guy. before he can actually get around to doing that, one of the bucs lineman eats his lunch. in the second quarter, still very much in the game, the preceding scenario plays out again. only this time the bucs line doesn't eat gannon's lunch when the primary receiver is covered. but gannon, now appearing to be shellshocked, automatically *ducks* his his head/shoulders into a defensive position even though he isn't close to being hit. he realises he wasn't in trouble and straightens to throw. and then, naturally gets sacked. i love defense.
posted by lescour at 11:45 PM on January 26, 2003
Challenges were wasted on what should have been obvious calls michaels and madden were harping on wasting challenges early but they never addressed (ok, i turned them mostly off by the end of the first quarter so they may have gotten around to it....) why do you lose an ability to challenge when a call is reversed? it's silly. give a team two, and they lose one for each challenge that isn't reversed. why penalize a team for overturning a bad call.
posted by lescour at 11:51 PM on January 26, 2003
owillis: Congrats to the Bucs for bringing the Lombardi back to its proper home in the NFC. ttrendel: Any team that would pick up Romanowski deserves to get it's ass handed to them every time. Grey: An eloquent "fuck you, Al Davis" from Gruden. Congrats, Bucs. w0rd.
posted by lescour at 11:55 PM on January 26, 2003
I loved the game, I was rooting for the Bucs all the way. I admire the poise they showed in not freaking out after giving up the early leads in both the NFC Championship and the Super Bowl. I knew the Raiders were in trouble when they couldn't stop the Bucs' drive late in the second quarter that made it 20-3. Stop them there, and you're only down 10. But the key drives were the Raiders' absolutely ineffective drive to start the second half--with all that time to come up with something, they came up with that?--and the Bucs' crushing 89-yard eight-minute drive to go up 27-3. The Bucs' defense scored as many points as the #1 offense. I did like seeing a classic Jerry Rice Super Bowl touchdown. Also, it was classy for Gruden to give props to Tony Dungy during his trophy acceptance speech.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:00 AM on January 27, 2003
As a Raider Hater my whole life, must say I would have enjoyed more shots of Al Davis propping his chin up in his suite. I don't know if they had a shot of Al Davis once. Also, exhibition season is more entertaining even than watching Gannon play the worst game ever in Superbowl history (which takes that onus off of Elway--Who, though a conservative prick businessman today, had probably three of the worst Superbowl displays ever ;-) ).
posted by crasspastor at 12:07 AM on January 27, 2003
Agreed. Bucs defense turned a formerly calm and confident Gannon into a nervous wreck. Their coverage of the receivers and constant pressure on Gannon made the MVP look like Rick Mirer. I was also happy to see the much maligned Tampa offense prove once again that their offense has improved every week. Agreed. Obvious calls were missed by the refs. Agreed. Terry Tate was brilliant.
posted by jacknose at 12:09 AM on January 27, 2003
Aside from the football, I actually enjoyed some of the secondary entertainment. The Terry Tate commercial was the funniest by far. As much as I hate to say it, I was actually entertained by Sting and Stefani doing "Message in a Bottle". That was probably the best half-time shows in years. I just need to find out where I can get one of Sting's 'half-n-half' jersies.
posted by ttrendel at 12:33 AM on January 27, 2003
Their coverage of the receivers and constant pressure on Gannon made the MVP look like Rick Mirer Of course, the complete failure of Oakland to even attempt to establish the run made the job of the Tampa D quite a bit easier than it otherwise might have been. You can't pass 44 times and rush 7 and expect to succeed agaist a defense like the Bucs.
posted by boltman at 01:43 AM on January 27, 2003
Other than the two that St. Louis was in, there hasn't been a decent Super Bowl in more than a decade. I think I'll stick to watching the Grey Cup. There were at least three terrible calls by the officials: 1) The non-fumble by Stecker (TB) on the kickoff return (overturned on review) 2) The out-of-bounds call at the back of the endzone on Oakland's two-point attempt. 3) Pass interference against Oakland on a 3rd down pass that was uncatchable. Gannon doesn't deserve the blame. 272 yds and 2 TD's is pretty good against the Buc's outstanding defense.
posted by Steve-o at 02:16 AM on January 27, 2003
How can you not blame Gannon? Both touchdowns and most of his passing yards came in the second half when the team was trailing by more than three touchdowns. When it was still a game, he had under 100 yards passing, and several huge interceptions. If there was an LVP award for the Super Bowl, I think you'd have to give it to him.
posted by rcade at 07:12 AM on January 27, 2003
Other than the two that St. Louis was in, there hasn't been a decent Super Bowl in more than a decade. I'm not sure I agree with this at all. Pittsburgh vs Dallas was a good game that the Cowboys didn't put away until late in the 4th; Green Bay's win was a decent game that wasn't as one-sided as the score indicated; Denver's first win was an outstanding game. And I didn't even find this one to be a boring game, because I was shocked at the fact of a Tampa blowout in the first place. There were a few blatantly bad calls in the second half, but I found myself agreeing with Madden: where was the fire on the Raiders sideline? They looked just like the Eagles last week: dazed and befuddled.
posted by Jaquandor at 07:24 AM on January 27, 2003
How can you not blame Gannon? Both touchdowns and most of his passing yards came in the second half when the team was trailing by more than three touchdowns. When it was still a game, he had under 100 yards passing, and several huge interceptions. If there was an LVP award for the Super Bowl, I think you'd have to give it to him. I think Dexter Jackson should give his MVP trophy to Gannon, because if not for his deft throwing abilities, the Bucs would not have scored three of their TDs. Won me some $$...watched a Florida team win the Bowl... Feeling halfway decent now, for a change.
posted by bcb2k2 at 08:14 AM on January 27, 2003
I have to agree with the Terry Tate spot. It was awesome! Now if I could just hire the guy for the place I work at, or for the last place I workled at even! LOL!
posted by jasonbondshow at 10:18 AM on January 27, 2003
I love the Niners, and therefore hate the Raiders (even despite the fact that the Bucs knocked us out). So good job Bucs, boo Raiders. It would have been nice for the Raiders to put up some kind of a fight though. As for the commercials and half time show, I found them all generally dissappointing. Perhaps it's my age bracket, but last year's half time show was MUCH better. And the commercials... I don't think there were many good ones. Terry Tate was funny, the Jordan one was alright, the Matrix preview rocked. But the funniest one if you ask me was the FedEx Castaway commercial. "Nothing much, just a satellite phone, GPS locater, water purifier... and some seeds"
posted by swank6 at 11:51 AM on January 27, 2003
Tampa Bay Bucs: $50,000,000+ in payroll Jon Gruden: $8 million, 2 No. 1s and 2 No. 2s, and a fat contract Al Davis having his heart ripped out on national TV: priceless
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:21 PM on January 27, 2003
What a shitty game. I didn't care who won, I was just hoping for a competitive contest. I didn't get my wish. Welcome to the superbowl, where the game is normally so bad simply by being close its considered a classic. The nfl has a great marketing team, I'll give them that. The raiders should have thrown more to jerry porter. They looked old. At least I didn't have to hear jerry rice whine about not being the mvp.
posted by justgary at 03:52 PM on January 27, 2003
As much as people complain about the Super Bowls never being close, I can say that when they are close, they are some of the best games ever. Bills vs Giants 49ers vs Bengals Rams vs Titans (I'd include last years game too, but it was an absolute snoozer until the last 5 minutes.) That said, I found myself turning to watch ID4 a couple of times.
posted by grum@work at 04:52 PM on January 27, 2003
It was a great Superbowl, and I'm not saying that because I won $750... A new team went to the Superbowl, and a firsttime team won. There are still a lot of teams who havn't made it, plus those who have made it but lost, so this was in itself *good*. It was predictible in that in nine of the ten times the top defensive team has beaten the top offensive team, so to say the Raiders were a bunch of stumblebums takes a lot way from the Bucs; Tampa won the game more than the Raiders lost it. I personally like the Raiders because of their history of giving older players and outcasts a second chance, but I was immediatly struck by the seeming lack of enthusiam on the Raiders side of the field. Al Davis used to be a football genius but I hate his guts for the disrespect he showed Marcus Allen. I wonder: 1. Is Tampa's defense better than the Superbowl Ravens? 2. What happened to Tyrone Wheatly? 3. Why didn't the dude who ran back two intercepts for TDs get MVP? Someone said it was because the voting had already taken place 4. Is the salary cap problem going to hurt Tampa? 5. Why do people hate Bill Romanowski? Is it because of that time he spit in someone's face, because he went over to the enemy, or because he has four superbowl rings? Is Charles Haley the only guy with five rings?
posted by Mack Twain at 06:51 PM on January 27, 2003
The vote for the MVP was completed and announced to the media the very MOMENT the other guy had his 2nd interception. If they had waited until the game was done (which they really should do), I'm sure it would have been co-MVPs or the guy with the two interception touchdowns alone. What's really odd is that the "I'm going to Disneyland!" spot (and trip) didn't go to the MVP, but to Brad Johnson instead. What's up with that?
posted by grum@work at 08:24 PM on January 27, 2003
Disney spot usually goes to the most marketable and wholesome guy. Ray Lewis didn't get to do it when the Ravens one, Dilfer did.
posted by corpse at 09:25 PM on January 27, 2003
1. Yes, I think so. I think Tampa had to beat tougher teams (not to mention a much tougher offense in the Raiders than the Giants who lost to the Ravens). I'll be honest, and I'm sure a lot of people agree with me... The Giants did well that year, but they were not the best team from the NFC. 2. Not to mention Charlie Garner. The fact that the Bucs started using Michael Pittman and the Raiders didn't even try the run at all was probably one of the major reasons for the result. 3. I think Al Michaels said it best... Dwight Smith's TD ints were cosmetic. The Bucs already had a huge lead before both of them. Dexter Jackson's picks came earlier in the game when it actually mattered. They set the momentum for the game, while Smith's TDs were pretty much inconsequential. I don't know if Dwight Smith deserved it either. I don't think he really stood out any more than say Simeon Rice. It really was the entire defense that won the game. 4. Hard to say, but I'll put money on the salary cap hurting Oakland more than Tampa. 5. I don't really hate him... He's kind of annoying though.
posted by swank6 at 10:51 PM on January 27, 2003
(pardon my ignorance of names) but John Madden actually spoke about that after the final interception. I think the main point was the MVP-guy's interceptions were a little more important in driving the nails into the Raiders offense, hurting it a bit more. The second one by the other guy was just gravy. But I'm with John Madden (for a rare change, b/c he annoys the crap out of me) Simeon Rice (what a horrible first name, btw) had one hell of a game too. The MVP, cliche' as it sounds, should've gone to the whole Bucs defense. Or, lots of what swank6 said.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:27 PM on January 27, 2003
On the MVP situation: Smith returned two picks for TDs. But Jackson's were more important; they occured early in the game and gave the Bucs the short field they needed to go up 20-3 in the first place, which in turn helped force Gannon to throw nonstop into an excellent secondary (hence, the next three picks.) On those grounds, I say give the MVP to Jackson anyway (my midgame pick, BTW, was Simeon Rice.) Tampa's defense better than the Ravens... that's tougher. I think I'd say yes, on the strength of their D-line. The fact that they could get that pressure on Gannon with mostly four and five pass rushers is nuts.
posted by Discman at 06:07 AM on January 28, 2003
It's a crime to give an MVP award to an entire defense. That's only one step removed from giving it to an entire team, which will lead to giving it to an entire franchise. My personal MVP award goes to the ABC cameraman who, in the fourth quarter, got so close to a Buccaneers cheerleader he ran into her breast with his camera, causing her to break her composure and look over in fear.
posted by rcade at 07:11 AM on January 28, 2003
Yeah rcade! I was laughing at that too, and could just imagine that he was getting directions "Zoom in, zoom in, NO YOU IDIOT! Don't run in, THUMP!" As for the game, that last int touchdown cost me $100. Why not just take a knee? The game wasn't in doubt. Just running up the score did me no good, but a congrats to the Bucs.
posted by brent at 07:16 PM on January 28, 2003
Note to Bill Callahan: You might want to throw to Jerry Rice sometime. Congrats to the Bucs for bringing the Lombardi back to its proper home in the NFC.