Monday Dump

Well Stumblers, it’s the Monday after the Super Bowl. That means a hangover, the end of football for 8 months and a long work week ahead. Ugh.

Anyway, the Super Bowl brought us one hell of a game. I don’t agree with the hyperbolic reactions tabbing it as the “best Super Bowl ever.” It’s not even close to that-too many penalties and largely uneven play keep it from the top spot. It was  wildly entertaining at the end of each half, saw standout performances from big time stars and an excellent half time show.

Some random thoughts from the game, then linkage. Kurt Warner is still amazingly effective, and if Arizona can get him back next year they will be a team to be reckoned with. They proved conclusivley that they belonged on the same field as the mighty Steelers and probably should have won that game. Critical turnovers and dumb penalties absolutely killed them, but they acquitted themselves quite well. Larry Fitzgerald = wow.  Darnell Docket, Karlos Dansby, Dominque Rodgers-Cromarties and Adrian Wilson-wow. That is a nasty D they have brewing in Glendale;  too bad they are going to lose guys to free agency. Nevertheless, it was a hell of a season for the Cards and the future is bright. Ken Wisenhunt will be doing good things down in the desert for years to come.

I won’t wax too much about the Steelers. 6 Super Bowls, a huge fan base, terrific ownership and superb front office all speak for themselves. They’ll keep winning, because that’s what they do. Big Ben’s swift-footedness in the pocket is the biggest single reason they won that game; while Santonio Holmes is an emerging superstar. What a catch! The D was solid against the run but looked pretty awful in the 4th quarter; James Harrison saved their asses with that epic pick 6 at the end of the 1st half.  Congratulations to a worthy champion and the premier franchise in sports.

Now, on to the links:

PFT has all the Super Bowl one-liners you need. (PFT)

Former Deadspin editor and Cardinals uberfan Will Leitch’s paen to his fallen buzzsaw, while the boys at Mondesi’s House rejoice. (Deadspin and Mondesi’s House)

Some excellent photos from the Super Bowl (Cnnsi)

TIME looks at some of the best and worst SB ads from last night. (Time/CNN)

Oops! Comcast affiliate in Arizona accidentally shows graphic porn (think male full frontal) during Super Bowl. (Awful Announcing)

KSK brings you LOLNFL from the Super Bowl (Kissing Suzy Kolber)

In other sports:

The mighty Caps had an awesome weekend; big wins over the Red Wings and Senators. Alexander the Great notched 5 goals in the two day time tilts, including a hat trick yesterday. Look out, NHL. The Caps still have plenty of home games and have yet to fully feast on the shitty Southeast division. They just might chase down the Bruins for that # 1 seed in the East. (On Frozen Blog)

Roundup of the weekend in the NBA (The Big Lead)

Finally, some useful perspective on the whole Michael Phelps/bong thing. Get over it, people. (Sporting Blog)

Oh, and Rafael Nadal beat Federer in 5 sets to cement his place as the greatest tennis player in the world right now. Who hoo. (By all accounts, it was a great 5 set match, but no one saw it happen live and it competed directly with Super Sunday. And let’s be honest, 98% of all Americans don’t give a shit about tennis)