Team Of Destiny?

You see how much I rip ESPN and the media in general, so you know I'm not a big fan of hyperbole and cliche.

But after Sunday's Super Bowl, I can't help but think of the New York Giants as one of those -- gulp -- teams of destiny.

Even after allowing 80 points in opening the season 0-2, even when trailing after three quarters of the third game, even with a befuddled-looking quarterback through much of the first 10 or 12 games of the season, you seldom heard about any finger pointing or interdepartmental friction among the New York Giants.

In this city, if there's a whiff of something similar to something that's synonymous with a word that might somehow resemble dissent, everybody knows about it. You have the controversy-seeking sports media to thank for that. It's not just your local Tasti D-Lite where you can find ice cream up here; scribes turn over garbage cans in back alleys looking for a scoop.

Teams of destiny are often surprises, and the Giants were one of them this year. The Yankees aren't often teams of destiny because every year they don't win a championship is considered a failure here. The Red Sox were one in 2004. North Carolina State and Villanova were in the 1980s. No matter how much bigger and better their next opponent seemed to be on paper, the game was still played and the team that maybe had more heart or focus won. Keeping things east coast, you might say the Rangers were a team of destiny when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994. And keeping things on ice, perhaps the biggest example of divine intervention in sports was Team USA in 1980.

I even think my hometown Cleveland Indians were a team of destiny in 1995. Though they didn't win the World Series, they reached that coveted final round for the first time in forever, giving still title-starved sports fans in that great city something to cheer about all summer long. When they weren't putting up double figures on the scoreboard, they were mounting ninth-inning comebacks. There really was some divine intervention on the lake that year.

Eli Manning certainly deserves to hoist that trophy all week long, but what often happens to hot goalies who lead their overachieving NHL teams to a deep postseason run will likely befall him and his loveable Giants. Reality will set in the following season, and suddenly that laser focus that earned them 11 straight road wins isn't nearly sharp enough to mount another championship season.

ESPN KUDOS: I watched the Ohio State-Michigan basketball game Tuesday night, and here's where ESPN's sports machine makes a difference: Its sideline photographer at Columbus' Value City Arena saw some geeky student flash an impromptu 8x11 piece of paper with "TERRELLE PRYOR, PLEASE COME TO OHIO STATE," a message to the highly coveted next Vince Young iteration, a high school star who's narrowed his choices to Ohio State and Michigan, a senior quarterback who might announce Wednesday where he'll play his college ball next fall. It's not the job of that photographer to know who Pryor is, but regardless of the position you're applying for, you'd better know your sports if you want a job at ESPN. He said something to a producer, who told announcers Brent Musberger and Steve Lavin they were going to show that sign, and the duo spent a minute or two talking about Pryor, adding to a stellar broadcast. That's one of the things for which I'll give ESPN credit.

Superbole

Enough with the Super Bowl hyperbole. Sunday's game was not the best game in NFL history, nor was it the biggest upset in all of sports.

But because of our short memories and closed-minded need to categorize everyone and everything, I heard such claims from the media today.

Now I'm not quite the historian for Super Bowls as I think I am with NCAA basketball tournaments the last 25 years or so, but off the top of my head, even the exciting finish might not have been the most thrilling in Super Bowl history. Right now I'm thinking about Joe Montana's late drive against the Bengals in 1989, and more recently, New England's Adam Vinatieri won Super Bowls with field goals, one a game-ender (2002) and the other with nine seconds left (2004).

And now that the season is over, here is my NFL offseason wish list:

+ Chris Berman and Stu Scott are on the next plane that crashes.
+ Emmitt Smith works on his English, starting with "Hand Hand Finger Thumb."
+ New York fans at work shut up about Brady, Belichick and 18-1. Just one day of it has made me nearly suicidal.
+ The Browns keep Derek Anderson, and if they have to deal somebody, make it unproven Brady Quinn, perhaps in exchange for a first-rounder on defense. As it stands now, Cleveland does not have a first-round pick.
+ ESPN gets over itself and the New York-Boston angle from yesterday's Super Bowl. Had the exact same game taken place between, say, Detroit and Houston, folks would not be dropping the Best-Super Bowl-Ever tag.
+ Fans and media alike realize that Tony Romo is merely a good quarterback, but not the next Brett Favre.
+ Favre comes back and takes the Packers to the Super Bowl, where he hoists the Lombardi Trophy and then retires the next day.

Chancre-gate?

Everyone has an opinion on Brady's ankle, but how come no one's talking about that obscene growth on Belichick's lip?

MORE SUPER NOTES: On ESPN Game Day, I was pleasantly surprised to hear some refreshing honesty from analyst Ron Jaworksi. The fellas were talking about the controversy surrounding the Patriots' videotaping habits.

Jaworski said, basically, anything you can do to get an edge, do it. Kind of like counting cards, his backup quarterback with the Rams in the 1970s studied the opponents' play-calling in one particular game. Midway through the second quarter, the backup finally figured out a call or a formation, and knew a blitz was coming, so he threw a red towel on the ground and Jaworski picked up on it as the Rams' offense broke the huddle. Sure enough, Jaws audibled at the line, found a wide open receiver over the middle of the field and the play went for a touchdown.

Stealing signs like that seems low-budget compared to today's thievery possibilities, but for 30+ years ago, that was probably as high-tech for its time as videotaping other teams' tendencies seems today.

And after Jaws told that story, Steve Young, another former quarterback and probably the smartest and most articulate of all NFL analysts right now, disagreed but the pair had to cut to a commercial. Would have been nice to see that argument play out.

KRAUDED HOUSE: ESPN's little kid reporter, Jason Krause, usually annoys with that worthless "Takin' It To The House" segment, but his Super Bowl Media Day piece was excellent. He asked one player for some tips with the ladies, mistook Giants' backup QB Jared Lorenzen, aka The Hefty Lefty, for an offensive lineman and got kudos on his jacket from Tom Brady. Well done, kid. Now just fix that lisp in the offseason and perhaps you'll be able to turn those tips into real romance one day.

Belichick The Comedian

Surly New England coach Bill Belichick apparently is considering a career change.

Belichick is notorious for many things less-than-friendly, including his secretive approach to his teams' injury reports over the years. The league requires every team to submit an honest report each week several days before the next round of games.

And with all the talk surrounding Tom Brady's is-it-or-isn't-it injured right foot, Belichick addressed the issue at a news conference at team headquarters Thursday.

"The injury report will be out next Wednesday and we're excited to give that to you," the coach deadpanned. "That form will be filled out completely and I can't wait to give that to everybody."

You'd Be Cool With This Story If She Was Ugly

When you're built like a Victoria's Secret model and your smile is worthy of a toothpaste ad, you don't have trouble getting Super Bowl tickets.

Especially if you're Sarah Spain, who insists she isn't just another pretty face. Backed by a strong will, an infectious personality and a degree from Cornell, Spain, probably not used to hearing no for an answer, got actually more than what she wanted.

She was just hoping to get into the Super Bowl to watch her beloved Chicago Bears. But she got four tickets and an invitation to what she thinks will so far be the best weekend of her young life. Read the rest of the story.