Pitchin' with Pritch: Patriots and Rams head to the Super Bowl
I watched more professional football on Sunday than I have all season long. If you want close, competitive games to determine the two teams that would play in the Super Bowl, then Sunday was Heaven for you.
Just like all athletic contests, there were some moments that may or may not have turned the game around. Can you imagine that an official’s call or no call might influence who would win? Hard to believe isn’t it?
I don’t know if the best two teams got into the Super Bowl but I know two good teams are playing. I really thought all along it would be the Patriots and the Saints, and yet I also knew the Chiefs and the Rams had a pretty good chance to get there also.
The Saints got a bad break on an official’s no call I thought, but instead of having a first down inside the 20, they had to kick a field goal and then got beat in overtime.
The Chiefs got beat up the first half but came back and actually had the game won, but a defensive off-sides cost them an interception late. When you give the Patriots more than one chance to win, they seem to find a way to get it done.
This will be New England’s third straight Super Bowl. I would guess even with Tom Brady, who has to be close to 100 years old in football years, they will be the favorites.
It was kind of nice to just enjoy the game and not really have a dog in the fight. Now we will have two weeks of pure hell with the tons and tons of hype by the media.
I really do wish they would just play it in a week like a normal-scheduled game, but I also understand at this stage of the season there are aches and pains that could use a little time to heal.
I would bet the Super Bowl will have to work to be as competitive and exciting to watch as the two conference championship games.
College basketball
I also got to watch some games I had much more interest in this past week. We took a chance on what Mother Nature would do and went to Lincoln last week to watch the Huskers and Michigan State play.
The Huskers had a 20-game home winning streak going and the Pinnacle Bank Arena was full. I think I saw somewhere that attendance was 15,600 or something like that. It was loud and the Huskers played pretty well. They hung in with a very good Sparty team.
It was one of those games for me where you kept hoping that Nebraska was going to make a run and hang on for a win, but Michigan State made a seven-point run late and that was the difference.
Coach Izzo had a lot of good words for the Nebraska team and the atmosphere at PBA. He made a number of comments about how loud it was and what a great crowd Nebraska had there. One of the best comments he made was that Nebraska was a NCAA tournament team and he hoped they would keep on winning. That makes two of us Coach!
The weather hit early Friday morning so we were forced to stay over and be entertained by our granddaughter Kenley. Tough job but someone has to do it. It was also good because Malcolm didn’t have school and our son Troy spent time with us also.
We did get an early start home on Saturday and got home in time to watch the KU vs. West Virginia game which was not so much fun to watch. KU isn’t playing well and West Virginia won the game. Baylor helped KU out by beating Texas Tech, and now there is a four-time log jam at the top of the Big 12. I still have hope KU can get another Big 12 title.
Go Plainsmen!
Hats off to the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams for picking up some wins at the SPVA tournament and to the wrestling team for their runner-up spot at Mullen. It is good to have some success and improvement during the season. Keep up the good work!