Super Bowl ATS Recap: Follow the Money

There's two ways to interpret the term "follow the money." For starters, it could be the heavy amount of green gamblers were putting on the underdog Giants this past week, or if you're me, the money that Dre bet on the Patriots to win the game and cover the number. Dre wouldn't tell me prior to my pick which team he'd placed a friendly wager with, knowing full well that I'd be a shoo-in to take the opposite, but it worked out OK since I'd had the G-Men the entire time as long as the line stayed NE by 3 or more.

A funny thing, that line. If it had dipped to 2½ by Saturday night, you'd be looking at Dre being 2011 IMLD Champ, but since it didn't, the title stays with me. I previously wrote of my distaste for this matchup, and the game itself didn't do much to dispel my hatred. Sure, there were a few tense moments in the 4th quarter, but a game that looked so explosive and engaging on paper never materialized into much.

I'll break down some key factors in the Giants 21-17 win.

• The "Goat" - Revisionist historians took less than 24 hours to peg Wes Welker as the goat, some going so far as to say that Welker has to go. This is utter lunacy. This would all be great to people who didn't watch the game and were just reading about it, but there's one tiny missing detail: it's the fucking Super Bowl, EVERYONE watches it! Tom Brady plain sucked in the 4th quarter. He missed on not just the Welker throw (and Welker was completely uncovered on the play), but also on two deep crosses to Deion Branch (both thrown behind Branch) and on a scramble and heave deep to Rob Gronkowski (which was intercepted by Chase Blackburn). Those are bad throws just off the top of my head, and ALL occured during the late, critical moments of the game. Not just A game, the biggest game, and Tom Brady came up small.
• The "MVP" - I guess it had to go to Manning? He did throw for 296 mostly empty yards, a TD, and more importantly no interceptions. It was a nice game, and in a snooze fest like this game, it seemed good enough. It might not be sexy, but in an unsexy game, sometimes you have to think outside the box....my MVP would have been Steve Weatherford. That's right, the goddamned punter. He barely beats out Mario Manningham, who suddenly became the go-to receiver in the 4th quarter (a former Dre X-factor). Here's the book on Weatherford: he punted 4 times, with three of them pinning the Pats inside their 10 yard line, and the other just barely escaping a waiting Giant defender at the goal line for a touchback. The first of these punts set the tone as the Giants forced Brady into a hurried throw to nobody from his own end zone, and viola! safety. The final punt of the day came in the 4th with the Giants trailing 17-15. Starting from their own 8, the Pats needed 11 plays to barely cross mid-field and had to punt after Bradys misfires to Welker and Branch. Want an impact player? I hope Weatherford got a game ball.
• The "Talent" - It has nothing to do with the game, but WOW was halftime weak...again. I sure felt old, since Madonna was the only person on stage I knew. I'd heard of some of the others in passing, but needed assistance from the group I was watching the game with to even know that the other acts up there with Madonna were anything other than extras. Sadly, I missed the middle finger from M.I.A., since there's so much of a ruckus being made about it. I'm guessing she'll be MIA from the Super Bowl for...oh, the rest of her life. As for Madonna, she sure doesn't look 53, but boy did she move like a 53-year old woman in hooker boots. Her moves looked robotic and something just seemed off with her performance, but I give her a passing grade since it looked like she was just having so much damn fun.
• The Over/Under - Dre was all over this game being a barn burner, and well, we were treated to one of the lowest scoring Super Bowls of the last 20 years. The previous lowest: you guessed it, the last time the Giants and Pats met after the 2007 season. Since 1990, there have been four Super Bowls with point totals of 38 or less. Three of them involve these very Belichick/Brady Pats, while the other was the worst Super Bowl of my lifetime (Steelers/Seahawks). Moral of the story: take the under if the Pats are in the Super Bowl next year!

So for the second year in a row here at IMLD, I took a narrow lead into Super Bowl Sunday, and came up with the winning pick. I could have saved myself from all the drama with just one win during Championship Sunday, but all I needed to do was win 1 of the last 3 to take the title, and I did just that. In the end, building up the big regular season lead saved me, as Dre bested me straight up and on points in the playoffs.

Now begins the 2012 offseason, which will be a real one this time around with none of the lockout nonsense that marred 2011. Dre will be handling the Hall of Infamy inductions this year, and I'll be checking in shortly with my own season recap complete with awards in many different categories. See you all (the 4 or 5 of you who read this) soon!