Superbowl Aftermath: "The Long Wait"

Author: Erin Dix

Congratulations are in order for the Steelers and their fans as Pittsburgh won Super Bowl XLIII in a nail biter!

The Steelers (15-4), who won their second Super Bowl title in the last four seasons, led 20-7 in the fourth quarter, only to see Kurt Warner and the Cardinals stage a remarkable rally to go in front 23-20 with 2:37 remaining. "Big Ben" engineered a 78-yard final drive for the victory and the celebration was on for Steelers fans with waves of twirling "Terrible Towels" turning Raymond James Stadium into a black-and-gold tableau.

For fans of the"underdog" it was a heartbreaker as Arizona was unable to hold on late in the game.

Last year the New York Giants "shocked the World" when they played the New England Patriots and staged an improbable come from behind victory. The Patriots (18-0) had entered the game as 12.5-point favorites and went to Glendale, Arizona, undefeated. With a final score of 17–14, the Giants defeated the Pats in Super Bowl XLII, in the 3rd biggest upset in Super Bowl history. (Baltimore was favored by 17 over New York in Super Bowl III, and St. Louis was favored by 14 over New England in Super Bowl XXXVI).

So with this year's Super Bowl in the rear view mirror, I've had a chance to reflect upon the season and was caught off guard with an insightful revelation about myself; I have fallen into a yearly "NFL pattern" and I believe that many of you must also go through this:

For 99% of the people who read this article, and including myself, the long delay between Super Bowl Sunday and the beginning of the preseason is too long.

"Super Sunday" is now played in the first week of February, and immediately following the Super Bowl, the endless speculation will begin on "the Draft" (which by the way will be held in Radio City Music Hall in NY City on April 25th and 26th this year).

Spring turns into summer and training camps start; before you know it, we're able to start watching and wagering on pre-season contests.

This is also the time when most of us start our fantasy drafts and the excitement and anticipation for the beginning of the regular season is palpable.

Then it's upon us, and around my house opening weekend involves a lot of big screen TV's, beer, bbq and gambling.

At this stage of the year my thirst for anything NFL is unquenchable; I absorb as much as possible every day of the week and can't wait until the following Sunday.

Invariably, by the middle of the campaign, my overall interest starts to wain.

By the end of the year and during the playoffs, perhaps because of the over-saturation of content I've subjected myself to and the plethora of other sports I'm also concentrating on, my gluttonous hunger for the NFL is at an all time low.

But, between the end of the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl, I always remind myself that an eight month layoff is imminent and my excitement starts to grow to all new heights once more.

For me, Super Bowl Sunday represents the culmination of six months of weekends spent eating horrible food (and drinking more beer than I probably should), sleepless nights analyzing the games, and my continuing quest to destroy my local bookie all rolled into one glorious celebration of excess!

I've been in Vegas for the Super Bowl, and to some other pretty wild parties, but have found that I prefer watching the "big game" from my own house.

And I'd like to say that 100% of the people that have come to my Super Bowl Parties are all "football fans" and are genuinely excited for the game to start, but I'd be lying.

Only a few of the people in my immediate personal life are serious "football fans"; most are my wife's friends who are there for the party, the half time commercials, the liquor, and the food.

And frankly, I don't completely blame them because I've had some amazing spreads in the past which include:

Turducken: A turducken is a dish consisting of a partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. The thoracic cavity of the chicken and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird.

Roast Pig: Roasted pig is a variety of siu mei, or roasted meat dishes, within Cantonese cuisine. It is made by roasting an entire pig with seasoning in a charcoal furnace at high temperature. Roasted pigs of high quality have crisp skin and juicy and tender meat. Usually the meat is served plain, but it is sometimes served with soy sauce or hoisin sauce.

And this year for the first time I decided to fry up a couple turkeys: A turkey fryer is an apparatus for deep-frying a turkey. Fried turkey has been a longtime favorite in the Southern United States, and has recently become popular in other parts of the country because of the reduced time needed to cook a turkey in a deep fryer, versus other conventional methods such as an oven or a rotisserie grill.

If you are part of the 99% of the people reading this article who are going to be looking for an "NFL fix" in a month or two, I hope you "Kicked It Up A Notch" on Super Sunday as the "Long Wait" has once again resumed!

About the author: Erin Dix specializes in selling quality sporting merchandise and accessories such as Jerseys, athletic shoes and hats at http://www.the123shop.com Don't be caught without great sporting gear. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.

Gonzaga will crush Lesnar

Author : Erin Dix

First off I want to take my hat off to Brock Lesnar for his victory over Randy Couture on Saturday night. It was a tough fight for him but he kept his composure and was able to catch Couture with a big punch that dropped Couture. His hammer fist ground and pound was somewhat effective in getting a tko stoppage but was painful to watch. The size and speed of Lesnar played a big factor in the outcome of this fight even though he couldn't out wrestle Couture even with his huge weight advantage.
Against Gonzaga he will not have much of a weight or size advantage. Gonzaga has a black belt in jiu jitsu which has shown to be effective against Lesnar ex.. (Frank Mir) and Gonzaga has a solid and powerful striking game of kicks and punches. Lesnar has the wrestling advantage but Gonzaga is comfortable fighting from the ground which makes this fight interesting.

In my opinion Gonzaga will outstrike Lesnar via vicious leg and head kicks at the stand up game and soundly hold his own at the ground game. The only way Lenar can score a victory is to try and take him down and ground and pound with his gimpy hammer fists. While trying to do this Lesnar could easily fall victim to a submission of some sort from this BJJ Black belt practitioner.
I am not a Brock Lesnar hater and I have tons of respect for his power and wrestling skills but I simply think this is one match up he will have trouble winning.

P.S. I know someone is going to bring up the fact that Randy Couture beat Gonzaga but then again there isn't many guys who Couture hasn't beat. Randy had a great game plan vs Gonzaga and executed perfectly. But styles make fights and I think this is one fight Lesnar should try and avoid if he wants to hold on to his belt.


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