As The Ball Bounces: Post-Super Bowl

Steelers win, like it or not. Let's let Josh Reed kick off this final potpourri article for this season. He steps into one and drives it into the end zone with this amazing rush of adrenaline following his team winning it all.

We came within four points of a 9-7 team winning the Super Bowl.

Because of this, a sportswriter from the New York Times was so moved to inquire if the NFL should borrow from the (gulp) BCS. A more formulaic means of determining playoff teams would keep anomalic teams like the Cardinals out of the playoffs.

And get teams like your Patriots in.

Of course, what's the big problem with the BCS? You always come away from the championship game wondering if those were the two best teams in college football playing for the title. Try and find someone out there who doesn't advocate a playoff for the top division of what used to be the NCAA.

Even better: Just find anyone connected with USC or Texas and ask their opinions. And that's just this year.

That said, that was one barnburner of a Super Bowl. Too many penalties to be a great game, but you had to be on the edge of your seat.

And that's plenty good enough for Roger Goodell.

Geek of the week: Anyone who thinks Pittsburgh is now the team of the 2000s. Trust me, any card carrying member of Steeler Nation loathes anything Patriot for those two home conference title game losses.

Glory Days still belongs to the Patriots, not the Steelers.

While we're on that subject, Born To Run belongs to Larry Fitzgerald, not James Harrison.

And with all apologies to the Boss, I'll still take Bono in '02 any time, any day, any where.

Back to the champions. Yeah, they got six, and in the long term perspective, that's pretty good. Pretty darned good.

But them Green Bay folk won't take too kindly to listening to Steeler blabber thanks to this fella who that nice trophy is named after, who won nine NFL titles.

In the span of twelve days, you have your first African-American president, and the second African-American Super Bowl winning head coach. Pretty good role models, I'd say.

Was Barack Obama the first president to be so partisan in a Super Bowl since Super Bowl VI, when Richard Nixon actually called a play for the Miami Dolphins (the play resulted in Bob Griese being sacked for a 29-yard loss)?

Dan Rooney campaigned for Obama, while John McCain hails from Arizona. It would be nice next time if the president would hold his tongue and let his constituents figure out the obvious.

Honk if you thought the final play for the Cardinals should have been reviewed.

Face it, it would have been great if the game had come down to a Hail Mary with Fitzgerald (why isn't this guy in the NBA?) lurking somewhere in the end zone.

Back to school: A 6-6 team playing in the BCS championship game? That's the one biggest problem for those who want to do away with the current bowl system.

It's basically about the right now team versus the right team. Always has been, always will be.

Hope the Bidwills enjoyed their one moment in the sun. They may never get back to this stage, but their boys gave it their all and did them proud.

With the Patriots not one of the combatants, we here in New England could now pay more attention to more mundane things about Super Sunday. Like, for example, those lovable commercials.

Howcum when I chomp on a tortilla chip, women's clothing never flies off?

The Clydesdale chasing down his sweetie was really something. When he wants to horse around, he doesn't mess around.

This writer's favorite: The update of the Mean Joe Greene game jersey ad with Troy Polamalu. Over the top, simply put.

Nice seeing the kid who was the recipient of Greene's jersey some 30 years ago at the NFL Experience. He looks like he's way north of 200 pounds and could do well to switch to some diet soda brand. The jersey he was wearing? Number 75 for Pittsburgh, of course, but in the current font and not the 1970s style.

Will Kurt Warner retire? I know one guy who wishes he would. Some former Heisman Trophy winner who throws lefty and used to call Matt Cassel a teammate.

Wouldn't that be something. Warner comes back for $18 million a year, Matt Leinart languishes on the bench, and Cassel gets franchised and starts for someone at $14 million. Whoda thunkit.

Remember him: We paid homage to this guy last week, but he deserves one more mention. Pittsburgh's version of Johnny Most was perhaps Myron Cope, the longtime Steeler radio voice whose raspy, twangy style smacked a little bit of the iconic Celtic voice. Most used words in the English language like "putrid" and "fiddle" and "diddle". Cope would break out the Yiddish and say things like "Yoi!" or the more impactive "Double Yoi!" when the situation warranted. He also can claim some responsibility in creating what is now the Terrible Towel. Cope died almost a year ago, and this is the first Steeler title he wasn't alive to see. Like him or hate him, broadcasters like these inject a terrific local flavor into sportscasting that, while not artistic, is a comforting feeling for the local fans to enjoy.

Time to put the pigs away and get out the baseball gloves. Pitchers and catchers report on Valentine's Day.

Oops, forgot about this other team, and they happen to be current champs. They still haven't lost ten games and they hold the best record in the league at press time.

Hopefully, when next we see the Patriots again, all the coaching holes will be filled, guys who know how to defend the pass will be out there, and the Patriots can actually live up to their lofty status of Super Bowl XLIV favorites.

But whatever happens, nothing means anything in Patriot Nation if that Patriot Place doesn't go through the roof. And that CBS Scene? No Super Bowl berth matters unless it becomes the "it" place in Massachusetts. Let's worry about what's really important, right?