We’re about 20 hours removed from Super Bowl XLII and I’m still struggling to find the proper superlatives to describe the Giants’ 17-14 upset over the Patriots. Shocking, incredible, surprising, dramatic. Pick whichever one you want. Rather than attempt to break down the game with a standard article, I’ll use bullet points. After all, who doesn’t love bullet points?

• Here’s a few fun statistics. The NFL’s leading passer (in yards) has never gone on to win the Super Bowl. Ever. That’s 42 years of sample size to work with. And before you go claim that Kurt Warner led the league in 1999, he didn’t. Steve Beuerlein did. However, Warner did lead the league in passing in 2001, when his Rams lost to the Patriots. Speaking of Kurt Warner. He’s the last regular season MVP (1999) to win the Super Bowl.

• How about that Giants’ defensive line? The likes of Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan delivered their most dominant performance of the season in the biggest game of the season. While Eli Manning deservedly sits on newspaper front pages everywhere, the true MVP of this game was that Giants front four. They were everywhere.

• Speaking of Eli Manning. He’s taken plenty of shit throughout his career but man, did he step it up yesterday. Eli threw for two touchdown passes in an epic 4th quarter, including the play that everyone is talking about. As soon as it happened, you figured it was just meant to be for the Giants. Chalk that play up as “Super Bowl Lore.” We’re gonna be seeing that one for a while.

• Where was that old Patriots team? Once the Pats’ offensive line realized the Giants had come to play, I expected them to “flip that switch” and go back to their dominant selves. But they didn’t. All of the nastiness that line showed for the last 18 weeks was gone. Instead, the Giants made them look substandard. Mediocre, even. Despite that record-setting Patriots’ offense, the game still has to be won in the trenches. And for the first time all year, the Pats’ offensive line didn’t man up and do the job.

In the end, doesn’t this seem like some sort of karmic justice? The Patriots, criticized for Spygate videotaping opposing coaches and running up the score, fell short in their quest for football immortality while Eli Manning, the emotionless drone under center in New York, came up huge. Even a day later, typing that doesn’t feel right yet.

In order to completely ensure that I would know who was going to win the Super Bowl, I fired up my crystal ball (Xbox 360) and threw in Madden 2008. What better way to ultimately gaze into the future and know who is going to win the Super Bowl before it’s even been played? The results, as I found out, were exactly as I had previously thought; blowout.

What better way to answer critics about your injured foot than by throwing for five touchdowns and having a perfect quarterback rating? Well, that’s what Tom Brady did to the Giants, racking up 452 yards through the air and throwing touchdowns to five different receivers. Randy Moss had one, as did Wes Welker and Laurence Maroney. To my surprise, Donte Stallworth stole the show with ten catches for 165 yards and a touchdown. Who saw that coming? Eli Manning didn’t fare as well as the aforementioned Brady, throwing for two touchdowns and one interception. Manning didn’t have a terrible game but much of his production can be attributed to the fact that the Giants primarily threw the ball in the second half after the Patriots took a 21-0 lead into half.

On the ground the Patriots had no problem establishing the run. Laurence Maroney ran for 115 yards on 22 carries and Sammy Morris, miraculously healed from an injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season, scored a touchdown. The Giants, meanwhile, had a tough time. Brandon Jacobs was shut down, gaining just nine yards on the ground. Any resemblance of production came from forgotten Reuben Droughns who had 68 yards on 18 carries.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Giants didn’t do much. Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora each had a sack and Antonio Pierce racked up a team high 8 tackles. For the Pats, safety Rodney Harrison led all defenders with nine tackles and also had the lone interception of the game.

The final score: 42-17. Tom Brady is still waiting for Plaxico Burress to step onto the field and play. I’m waiting for someone who is able to give this team a game. This one was wrapped up by halftime and the Patriots cruised to victory. Will this be a glimpse into the result tomorrow? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a blowout. Good luck New York, hopefully you can give the Pats a better game than Madden thinks you will.

I didn’t get the chance to watch very much coverage of yesterday’s Media Day in Arizona. But I can imagine that most things that came out of the player’s mouths (see: “I’m a one woman man”) was a load of shit. How does that connect to this video? Well, this gem also happens to include a load of shit.

Kudos to Big Lead for posting this earlier today. It’s really brightened my day.

Update: It’s fake. But it’s still funny!

If you’re paying any attention to the unnecessary two weeks between the Conference Championships and Super Bowl, you’ve probably heard that Tom Brady hasn’t been around the Patriots’ practice facility when the media has been granted access. This has led to an incredible cat-and-mouse game of “Where’s Manwhore Tom?” Well, media. I have the answer. Tom Brady is alive. He will play in Super Bowl XLII. End of story.

For the second consecutive day, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t in the locker room or at practice when reporters and cameramen were allowed inside Friday.

During the 45-minute period in the locker room, several cameramen lingered near his locker, but he didn’t show up. Nor was he there for the first 12 minutes of practice that the media were allowed to watch.

The Patriots are big on mind games and I see this being just that: mindgames. No, Tom Brady isn’t in the hospital with another newborn herpes Bird Flu. No, his foot isn’t broken in six different places. Brady’s absence when the media has been around doesn’t mean he’s been absent the entire time. For all we know, Brady could be hiding out in a closet in Hoodie’s office, only to reemerge when the media bails.

Do we really think the New York Giants are preparing for Matt Cassel? Absolutely not. So why don’t we take this media charade to the Giants’ locker room and ask Michael Strahan about that divorce settlement. That’d make for more entertaining quotes than sitting by Tom Brady’s locker.

Hosts: Kevin, Ryan and Sonny

In todays edition of the Sportable Spot the guys recap the conference championship games, giving their insight on both the winners and the losers. They also recap other notable NFL stories including coaching vacancies and contract extensions.

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How about that for a championship Sunday? Finally we are down to just two teams who will be playing in Glendale, Arizona for the Lombardi Trophy. Most of us saw the Patriots making it this far; none of us saw the Giants making this improbable run. But before I digress onto the Giants win over the Packers, let’s go back the noted Pats.

18-0 huh? The Patriots are on the verge of making some serious history. When the discussion of greatest teams ever arises, certainly 19-0 is a good place to start for the Pats. They’ve manhandled everything thrown their way in a variety of fashions which, as we saw yesterday, extend beyond Tom Brady and include the often forgotten Laurence Maroney. Maroney was in full beast-mode yesterday, carrying the Patriots while Brady struggled his way through a surprising three interceptions. Give credit to San Diego, they played this Patriots team about as tough as humanly possible and if it weren’t for a few mistakes in the red zone, the Chargers could have very well won this game. In the end, however, it was the Patriots who were triumphant. I’ll go ahead and say it right now; this team isn’t beatable. There are frankly too many weapons at Brady’s disposal for this team to slip up.

On the other side are the unheralded New York Giants. The G-Men have fought their way through the entire playoff run, beating Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay all on the road. Yesterday’s game at Lambeau was one of the coldest ever played with temperatures dipping below zero. It was so cold that, halfway through the second quarter, I found myself reaching for a sweatshirt because I was getting cold just watching the game. God knows how all those Packers fans sat through that entire game in the stands. That seems like it might have been the most miserable situation ever; sub-zero temperatures and a heartbreak loss in overtime after the Green Bay God throws a pivotal interception. This Giants team is feisty. Eli Manning has come into his own; not making mistakes that he so often made earlier in his career. Ahmad Bradshaw has been a pleasant surprise at running back for the Giants and certainly made his impact in yesterday’s game with a few key first down runs. And how about the fact that the Giants have done all of this without their homophobic loud mouth tight end, Jeremy Shockey. Pretty impressive.

So the table is set for the final showdown. Will it be the unbeaten Patriots or the underdog Giants? Whatever the result, it should be a good one.