In Your Face Philadelphia!

Matthew Preston | January 19, 2004
Continuing our NFL discussion.

It was great to see Carolina defeat Philadelphia. Philly didn't deserve the win against Green Bay and should not have hosted a second NFC championship game. Anthony Lewis, have fun in Charlotte!

As for the Indianapolis Colts losing to the New England Patriots, what can I say. I picked Indianapolis to go all the way, but holy hell the Patriot's defense embarrassed Payton Manning. I didn't want New England to win because I thought Tennessee had a better team. Unfortunately, the Titans were too badly injured to win on the road in Gillette Stadium. Speaking of Gillette stadium, anyone else find it ironic that Tom Brady is growing a beard?

From what I saw today, the two best teams of the four remaining made it to the Super Bowl. This should be a great game. I usually root for the NFC team and I would love to see Carolina bring home a Super Bowl victory. I wouldn't be surprised though to see the Patriot's and their stunning defense take their second Super Bowl win in three years.

Jackie Mason | January 19, 2004
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Steve Dunn | January 19, 2004
Right on! As a Charlotte resident and Carolina Panthers season ticket holder, this is a great (and weird) moment indeed. We started out this season thinking it would be wonderful if the Panthers went .500. It was really strange last week saying the words "Panthers" and "Super Bowl" in the same sentence, but I think we'll get used to it in the upcoming two weeks of non-stop media hype.

The eyes of the world will be on Charlotte for the first time ever. Are we ready?

Absolutely not.

Scott Hardie | January 19, 2004
The only reason I have to pull for the Panthers is because they're the underdogs, and the underdogs have won the last two Super Bowls very well, including my home team last year. I know the Patriots were poorly regarded as well only a few years ago. We'll see what happens in two weeks.

Matthew Preston | January 19, 2004
Season ticket holder Steve, I am jealous. You must have been hoping for the Packer's to win last week against Philly. That would have brought the NFC championship game to Charlotte. But then again, the Packer's would have been a harder team to beat. Congrats to Carolina and here's hoping.

Last year the Oakland Raiders were favored because they had such an explosive offense. Rich Gannon was the MVP with over 4,500 yards passing, and I believe about 25 or 26 touchdowns. Fans and media tend to prefer the glitz and glamour of a great passing game. They forget however that the Buccaneers had one hell of a defense. Proven in the Super Bowl last year when they embarrassed Gannon with several interceptions. This year however, the Patriots not only have a good passing game, but a damn good defense (one I underestimated). This will be a tough victory for the Panthers, but they did defeat the Rams in St. Louis. I had originally picked the Rams as the best team in the NFC. Again, here's hoping!

Steve Dunn | January 19, 2004
Full disclosure - I'm in a season ticket holding group, so I get four tickets to three home games each year. I just started this season - thankfully we bought our group's PSLs (permanent seat licenses) BEFORE this season. I suspect the market has gone up considerably.

You better believe I was rooting for Green Bay. I'm not so sure the Packers would have been harder to beat. I mean, all you have to do is take out the opponent's marquee quarterback with a late hit....

(Did I say that out loud, or just think it?)

I agree beating the Pats is a tall order, but then, I didn't think we had a chance against the Rams or the Eagles. At least the Super Bowl will be in a neutral location, and no chance of snow. It could be a good game. I just hope we keep it close. The Panthers only need to be within striking distance in the fourth quarter.

Matthew Preston | February 2, 2004
What a game the Super Bowl was! (from the two minute warning of the first half and on anyways). I completely underestimated New England all season and they pulled their second Super Bowl win in three seasons. Tom Brady ends up with the MVP with some very impressive stats, however I voted for Mike Vrabel on superbowl.com.

Every year 989 sports has a player from each Super Bowl team play against each other in their NFL GameDay video game. The outcome has successfully predicted the winner for the past eight years. This year, they go to 8 - 1.

I think there was something covering Janet's nipple during that flash moment in the halftime show, but the NFL is not happy with the MTV production.

Scott Hardie | February 2, 2004
I'm waiting to see the halftime incident reported with the headline "I'm Sorry Miss Jackson."

Jackie Mason | February 2, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | February 2, 2004
That's all female celebrities seem to do these days, is go out with much younger men. Blah. I actually missed the boob thing, although I've seen a picture now. The halftime show was so lackluster for me that I barely paid attention.

Kris Weberg | February 3, 2004
I had a similar experience to Anna's -- I saw the whole halftime show, but was so bored that I completely missed this teapot tempest deal.

And without trying to offend you, Jackie, I'd have to say that a 7-year-old who immediately and repeatedly refers to this Janet incident as "the boob" has long since been exposed to sexual (or semi-sexual) content and gleaned something from it.

Jackie Mason | February 4, 2004
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Scott Hardie | February 4, 2004
Anna: It's a passing trend to be sure, but I like it. That such a reversal of traditional pairings can seem normal indicates a flex of our cultural mores. Then again, exposed breasts on television are also a flex of our cultural mores, so maybe that's not so great after all.

Jackie: I caught a few minutes of the local news last night. CBS briefly mentioned the incident and just showed a clip of the two performers dancing. When NBC brought it up, they played the clip of the "wardrobe malfunction" on loop while the male anchor talked about the incident, using the word "breast" several times. (I guess it's obvious which station needs ratings.) After that fifteen second barrage of breasts, the camera cut back to the male and female co-anchors in a second of silence, and for a brief moment I actually thought the man was going to reach across the woman's chest and pretend to pull off part of her blouse; that's how affecting that looped footage was. This junk didn't belong on the Super Bowl, and it definitely doesn't belong on the local news.

Anna Gregoline | February 4, 2004
I am offended by such a stunt, quite frankly - it's a stylized, correorgraphed image of violence against women. Do we need this?

Also, I see older celebrities being with younger people all the time. Billy Joel (who has to be at least my dad's age) just married a 22 year old!!! I mean, seriously!!!! I think it's sad. They're grasping at youth, feeling insecure. Bleck.

Also, I hate that when these female celebrities are pulling stunts like this to revive their career (Britney and Madonna and now Janet), they have to do something outrageously SEXUAL to get noticed. How degrading.