The Fluke

The Immaculate Reception. The Catch. The Drive. The Fumble. The Catch II. The Tackle. The most memorable plays of the Super Bowl era each have these iconic names, and so I have been working on a name for the amazing play where Eli Manning broke a gang tackle and threw up a prayer, underthrown into triple coverage, which David Tyree caught against his helmet. And so I give you: The Fluke.

The play could have been called dead when Manning was in the Patriots' grasp, and Eli isn't known as a scrambler, so the first part of the play was flukish. Tyree had only four receptions in the regular season, and anyone making a catch against their helmet is a rare highlight, so the second part of the play is flukish. And to paraphrase the ol' ball coach, The Fluke is short and available.

The Tuck Rule

I am still in disbelief. Somehow the Giants, the same Giants who allowed 80 points in the first two weeks of the season, held the most potent offense in the history of the NFL to two touchdowns. To 45 rushing yards on 16 carries. To under five yards a pass attempt. Unreal numbers.

In hindsight, the Giants learned more about the Patriots from their week 17 matchup than the Patriots learned about the Giants. Steve Spagnuolo must have seen some cracks in the Patriots offensive line, and Belichick never adjusted. Which is eerily reminiscent of the Patriots' monumental upset of the Rams, where Mike Martz never called any max protect. The Giants repeatedly pulled Fred Robbins outside and brought Justin Tuck (not a starter) up the middle, and rushed Tuck at the right guard almost every down after Stephen Neal left the game.

If the Redskins pull up the Brinks truck to Steve Spagnuolo's jersey estate today (rookie coaches typically make $2-$2.6 million for a 3 or 4 year deal, Snyder would probably pay him about $3 million) then they totally redeem themselves for their extended head coaching search. NFL rules penalize assistant coaches on Super Bowl teams, as the Redskins are the only opening left. Spagnuolo may turn Snyder down, with him not being able to choose his coaching staff or players, but it won't come down to money.

So where does this rank all time in terms of upsets? The Jets/Colts is from a different era in terms of media exposure of the AFL and NFL, so it really can't be compared. So that just leaves Patriots/Rams and Broncos/Packers. The Broncos upset was clearly the smallest upset of these three, in terms of point spread and revisionist history. Looking back it isn't that big of a surprise the Broncos undersized cut-blocking line were able to hold the aging, less athletic Packers defensive line in check. With the scandal emerging around the Patriots/Rams Super Bowl, revisionist history says of course the Patriots won because they did a better job cheating. Maybe in a few years we'll hear the Giants bugged Patriots practices, or they were all on HGH, but after this weekend it's hard not to call this the biggest NFL upset in 39 years.

From the start of the playoffs, the Giants are by far the most unlikely Super Bowl champ. They're the second wild card team to win the Super Bowl, but the 2005 Steelers were a year removed from going 15-1 and were just getting healthy in the playoffs. The Giants lost Tiki Barber to retirement and Jeremy Shockey to injury. The were blowed out, as Emmitt would say, by the Vikings Thanksgiving Day weekend. I believe the Giants were something like 25:1 to start the playoffs; Vegas Watch had them as the second longest odds in the playoffs.

How does Kwame keep getting traded for All Stars?

Mitch Kupchak was a slow starter, but he's come around as a GM. Today he landed Paul Gasol and a 2nd round pick for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, and 2008 and 2010 1st round picks. The 2008 1st rounder will certainly be in the 20s, so this a coup for the Lakers, who can put Andrew Bynum, Gasol, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant, and Derek Fisher on the floor when Bynum returns from his knee injury. They also fill a need without giving up Bynum, who they wouldn't include in a deal for Kidd.

An interesting sidenote to this trade is it unites two notable Michael Jordan draft picks - Kwame Brown and Juan Carlos Navarro. Memphis could be headed to a historically bad season because they'll have no choice but to play Kwame 40 minutes a game, with no other legitimate big men on Memphis. But with Kwame and Stromile Swift coming off the books Memphis may be in a position to make a run at Gilbert Arenas.

If you can't turn a profit on an NFL team...

Five teams lost money in 2006, according to Forbes. The Lions, Seahawks, and Falcons lost between $1.8 and $3.4 million, the Colts lost $17.3 million, and the Vikings lost $19.1 million. The Redskins were the top grossing team in the NFL by a mile, but the Raiders were number two! The unbelievably flawed Oakland Raiders! In a year where they went 2-14 with Bob Newhart as OC! Where if you go to a game you might get stabbed, but you'll definitely watch some crappy football.

He's got a new coach state of mind

There's a guy who does Weird Al style parodies on Youtube, who I would like a lot more if Mike & Mike didn't like him as much. A few of my previous favorites are Laser, Rocket Arm and Dogs in the Kennel. He takes on Daniel Snyder in his latest opus.

Emmitt's mix tape

Personally, Emmitt is my favorite analyst right now. I can't wait to hear his butcher the English language without saying anything remotely relevant. He cited "L. Cool J.J." recently in response to one of Sean Salisbury's catchphrases. I sincerely hope he'll be back with the worldwide leader next year.

Is Ovechkin the best athlete in the history of DC area sports?

The Capitals have never had anything close to a superstar. They've had some Hall of Fame caliber players, for the most part before (Larry Murphy, Mike Gartner) or after (Dino Ciccarelli) their primes. But Alexander Ovechkin is miles ahead of anyone they've ever had. He's the MVP of the league right now by a mile and leads the NHL in post-lockout goals by an increasing margin. He's got an absurd 29 goals in his last 30 games and leads the league in goals and points. Sidney Crosby is considered the face of the NHL, but I've heard questions about his attitude; keep in mind he's injured because he complained to a ref instead of bracing to hit the boards. Ovechkin has been a consensus top two player for the last two years, but now he seems to be making the jump to an all time great.

The Orioles have had some Hall of Fame players over the years, most notably Frank and Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Cal Ripken, Jr. The list of great Bullets begins with Wes Unseld and ends with Elvin Hayes. And the Redskins have won five championships going back to the days of Sammy Baugh, professional football's first superstar. The Terrapins' biggest star over the years was Len Bias, who won two ACC Player of the Year Awards but no Naismiths. Ray Lewis, the face of the Ravens, is maybe the most dominant defensive player in the NFL over the last decade.

Out of these, Baugh is the only consensus most dominant athlete in their sport at one time, although Lewis and Bias were in the argument. Lewis was overshadowed by the dominant skill position guys like Marshall Faulk, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre, and Bias never made it past the Sweet 16. But every single one I mentioned played in front of bigger crowds than the 14,000 or so that are coming to see the Capitals, and their exploits consistently led local sports. Much like Ovechkin's game last night. If the Caps can make a run to at least the conference finals this year, you have to figure that the fans will come, the Caps will be above the fold in The Post, and Ovechkin will own this city.