Thinking Giant Thoughts UPDATED

* Last night's Superbowl was probably the best I have witnessed, at least in 39 years, since Superbowl III and Joe Willie Namath.

* My brother and sister-in-law, in whose home I watched the game, had enough food to feed several third-world countries. Alas, only two other couples and a bunch of 20-somethings were tasked with consumming said food; we were not nearly equal to the task.

* OOS watched the game in Israel in the middle of the night. This was very uncharacteristic since he's not a huge Giants fan nor even a huge football fan. I think he watching the game made him feel more connected (although without the hot poppers and six foot long hero sandwiches, it's not quite the same. Also not quite the same was the fact that the feed from his computer (He doesn't have a TV) was in Chinese. On the other hand, there isn't much difference between listening to Mike and the Mad Dog and listening to a bunch of Chinese commentators.

* If there was any doubt that Bill Belichick is a low-life cretin, it disappeared after his ungracious post-game grunt session.

* To me, the most poignant moment of the entire broadcast was the shot of Peyton Manning, Eli's illustrious brother, motioning from his Skybox for Eli to move quickly to avoid a delay of game penalty (which he did not). The brotherly love and closeness was revealed for all to see, wordlessly.

* By far the most interesting and hard to understand aspect of the Giants' amazing run has been the sudden arrival of Eli Manning. His seeming overnight transformation from a talented but mistake-prone, underachieving quarterback who often looked like a deer caught in the headlights, to a confident leader who was virtually mistake free was astonishing. It is the stuff of movies; did he sell his soul to the devil in return for a run like this? (It will be equally interesting to see which Eli Manning we see next year.)

* The great football writer, Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated (who has to be about 100 years old) called the Giants win. His conclusion was based on a gut feeling rather than any rational analysis. That is indeed what unfolded yesterday. The Giants simply played harder and better than the "best team in football history".

* I don't have time to get into detail right now, but the game brought home much of what Joe Schick wrote about in his cover article in the Jewish Press on Sports and Orthodox Jewish Fans. I hope to have some time to post on this soon.

* The bad news is that there will be a parade in Manhattan tomorrow. That means a bunch of drunk kids (and adults) on my train ride back home. Oh well.