sniffing, sneezing and super bowls

So, I'm trying to recover from what is the second day of this flu thing. I went to a doctor in Hendersonville, TN yesterday and she said, "You don't have the true flu...you have a different strain where your temperature doesn't get as high but you feel much more miserable" I'm not sure if that was supposed to make me feel better or not, but after leaving her office and saying hi to a friend from church who works there, I felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down, started coughing, put my head between my legs, began to sweat and then was rushed off to a room to lay down to have an EKG done and was administered about 10 ounces of sweet tea. I have probably slept more in the last day than I have in the last three or four days. Today is a little better....my temperature went from 102 yesterday down to 98 today...now it's just coughing and sniffling...yuck.

I meant to do this earlier in the week but didn't have the time. Super Bowl XLII was incredible and the big question is where it ranks in all of the greatest. I'm shocked that alot of Tennessee residents were willing to list this as the greatest of all time. Here's my Top 5 (and of course, these are the ones I was alive for):

5. Super Bowl XXIII (1989) San Francisco vs. Cincinnati. The Bengals have a 16-13 lead with just over 3 minutes remaining. The Niners take over at their 8-yard line and Joe Montana drives them down the field throwing the game-winning touchdown to John Taylor with only 34 seconds left on the clock. It was San Francisco's third Super Bowl championship. This is also the game where, on the last drive, Montana looked in the stands and then said to lineman Harris Barton, "Hey, look over there, isn't that John Candy?"

4. Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004) New England vs. Carolina. Thank God this game was good because, if it wasn't, it would've become the "wardrobe malfunction" bowl...maybe, in some circles, it still is. The Panthers and Patriots battled back and forth, mostly in the fourth quarter, in a closely contested game that set up the clutch field-goal kicking of Adam Vinatieri. The Panthers had tied the game at 29 with 1:04 remaining on a Jake Delhomme-Ricky Proehl touchdown pass. On the ensuing kickoff, Panthers kicker John Kasay kicked the ball out-of-bounds to give New England the ball 1st-and-10 at their own 4o. It was enough time for Tom Brady to get Vinatieri into range for a 41-yard field goal with :04 seconds left and a 32-29 win in Houston.

3. Super Bowl XLII (2008) NY Giants vs. New England. They broke up the perfect season, they finished what they couldn't in Week 17 and they showed everyone in the league that defense will always win championships. Eli Manning's touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress won the game but there are two other things that stand out in the Giants win over New England. 1) The long conversion pass from Manning to David Tyree where Manning somehow gets out of being sacked and Tyree catches the ball above his head, gets pummeled, and still hangs on to move the chains and keep Tom Brady off the field. The Giants' defense was unstoppable putting pressure on Brady all night long and keeping him rattled and unnerved. There was always the threat that Brady could hit Randy Moss deep at the end but the Giants kept doing what they had been doing well all night....played outstanding defense to give them another championship.

2. Super Bowl XXV (1991) NY Giants vs. Buffalo. It was the Bills' first of four consecutive Super Bowl losses, all to NFC East teams. Once to the G-Men, then to Washington and then twice to Dallas. All I have to say is...Scott Norwood, wide right.

1. Super Bowl XXXIV (2000) St. Louis vs. Tennessee. There's no way the Titans should have stayed close to the greatest show on turf. The Titans were lucky to be there to begin with thanks to the Music City Miracle on Wild Card weekend. So when Kurt Warner throws a 73-yard touchdown bomb to Isaac Bruce with 1:54 remaining to make it 23-16, the game was over! No way the Titans can move the ball that quickly with the kind of offense they have. Or could they? Tennessee had already come back from a 16-0 deficit so Steve McNair went to work, avoiding sacks and using Kevin Dyson. With 10 seconds left and no timeouts, McNair threw a slant pass to Dyson at the three-yard line. Dyson moved toward the end zone and would have scored if not for a great open tackle from Mike Jones to stop Dyson at the one. The picture of Dyson stretching out toward the end zone as the clock hit 0:00 and knowing his team needed a touchdown to win is why that game is my favorite.