Welcome to the latest installment of Midweek Musings, where I?m going to venture outside the cozy little world of hockey to touch on some other sports. A Super Bowl that actually was. Many (most?) of you don?t know, but football is actually my favourite sport. I write hockey because that?s what the public craves and demands, but football is my true love. I usually steer away from writing NFL for a few reasons: I know precious few NFL fans, it?s much more difficult to follow, and football is a complex game that I won?t pretend to fully understand. I?m an unabashed Philadelphia Eagles fan ? unquestionably my favourite sports franchise in any sport ? so I contemplated ignoring the Super Bowl after their devastating loss to the Arizona Cardinals (it took me four or five days to get over the loss, and come to grips with the Eagles inability to win a Super Bowl with their current regime? and to come to grips with the Philadelphia Eagles becoming my favourite sports team). I?m glad I watched, though? because the game really delivered. A few things worth mentioning: - The last two Super Bowls have featured two of the best three Super Bowl endings ever (narrowly being edged out by the Tennessee/St. Louis Super Bowl in 1999, when Andre Dyson reached for the endzone on the last play of the game and came inches short). I loved the ending on Sunday. The previously unbeatable Pittsburgh Steelers defense was ripped to shreds with such ease it was kind of mindboggling, and the Larry Fitzgerald catch could have gone down as one of the biggest in history ? if Arizona had hung on. - The game was missing one important element ? at least I thought ? I *never* felt like Arizona was going to win. Even up 23-20 with 2:30 to go, everything about that game told me Pittsburgh was going to score and going to win. - Sure, the Steelers are a good team, and you can?t argue they deserved to win. But Bill Simmons of ESPN made a good point before the playoffs started that stuck with me: it?s not who the best team is, but rather who draws who in the playoffs. If the Steelers had to go into Tennessee, I?m sure they?d lose. But Tennessee lost a second-round game to Baltimore (despite having a massive first down and yardage edge) which opened the door for the Steelers. They?ve have a top-five most lucky season in recent history. - Super Bowls are notorious for referees putting their flags away ? but this game flew in the face of convention. Not only were there flags ? there were HUGE penalties called throughout (and especially in the fourth quarter!). The Cardinals set a record with 11 penalties for 106 yards, while the Steelers received seven penalties for 56 yards. Which brings me to my next point: - I?m not a conspiracy theorist? in fact, the only thing I believe is conspiracies are never true. But the suspicious bias towards the Steelers in their last two Super Bowl victories borders on criminal. Not only did the Cards receive three major penalties on one drive, Arizona was repeatedly killed by penalties to stop drives (there?s no arguing many of the holding calls were legitimate, but the chop block penalty on Edgerrin James was a botched call). The final game-changing call eluded the announcers and was the most inexcusable, however. When Santonio Holmes scores what would be the game-winning touchdown, he pretends to pour some powder out of the ball, and then throw the ball up in the air with the powder (a la LeBron James). The NFL rules state if you use the ball as a prop, it?s a 15-yard penalty. This has been called EVERY SINGLE TIME this NFL season? but when the game is on the line, and 15 yards would have made a massive difference (if the Cardinals start on the 40 yard line with :35 to go, you?ve got to think they have a decent chance to score) there?s no call. From a game that was as over-officious as that one, I can?t believe they turned a blind eye to an obvious penalty (I?m not saying it?s a good rule, but it IS a rule) at the most crucial junction of th egame. It seems the senior, established teams in major sports leagues often get these breaks, and once again things magically fell Pittsburgh?s way. - The Steelers are 153-1-1 when leading by 11+ points in the last 20 years. Unbelievable. But with that said? a great Super Bowl, and I hate Steelers fans. Off to the least watched championship of the weekend? About 12 hours before the Super Bowl kicked off, I stayed up to an ungodly hour to watch the latest installment of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, as they battled for the Australian Open final. Federer/Nadal is currently the best rivalry in sports. They?re both good guys, but are pretty well polar opposites in the way they play, look, act, conduct themselves, etc. It?s the classic story of an old champion trying to hold on, while a young upstart attempts to take his throne. It?s the same old story, and we all know how it ends. The crown was officially passed to Nadal at Wimbledon, by the narrowest of margins while Federer put up one last great fight down two sets to love. Against all odds, Federer won his fifth consecutive U.S. Open as an underdog. But he didn?t have to run into Nadal then. So, more or less, this was Federer?s last chance. And he choked. Tennis has an element of psychological warfare that those who don?t watch entire matches miss. If you watch highlights, they show the big serve, the passing winner, or a perfect dropshot. But watching a whole match is different ? you can really feel the changes in momentum, see how one player tries to expose the other?s weakness, and come to understand what makes one player better than the other. Nadal is well-equipped to beat Federer, but I still believe Federer is his own worst enemy against Nadal. After serving between 65-70% against his three previous opponents (for those of you who don?t follow tennis, yet have read on anyway? the service percentage is the percentage of first-serves the player puts in play, which is crucial because first serves are faster and always result in a greater winning percentage), Federer served a terrible 52% against Nadal ? his worst numbers of the tournament. Like with many great sporting events, there was a defining moment well before the end of the match. The match hinged on the later moments of the third set. With the score tied 4-4, Nadal was forced to serve at 0-40. If Federer could capitalize on one of three break points, the set was likely his ? and with it, the match. But he choked away all three points and Nadal held serve. At 5-5, Nadal had to serve at 15-40. Once again, Federer played tight and botched his break points. Nadal won the set (a 78 minute marathon) in a tiebreaker, and the match was more or less his. It was 5:30 a.m., and I went to bed knowing Nadal had won. Federer broke down during the award ceremony ? which I?d usually bash and mock, but it was a strange moment of humility from a professional athlete that we rarely see. Sadly, it was probably at that moment that Federer knew his reign in tennis was officially over. A few random tennis thoughts: - So, feminists and the far left (to summon my inner-Fox News correspondent) demand that women receive equal prize money the men do in all tournaments. I encourage any of you to watch Federer and Nadal?s 41/2 hour final, or Nadal?s five hour plus semifinal, and tell me if he deserves the same prize winnings as Serena Williams ? who?s final lasted 20 minutes less than the third SET of the men?s final. - The women?s game ? which about 6-7 years ago was much more entertaining than the men?s side ? is dead. All the good looking girls are beaten down by their hulking counterparts, and it doesn?t help that Serena Williams devours her opponent after every crushing victory. - Credit to Richard Tougas for pointing this out: but if you ever get a good look at Rafael Nadal, check out his freakishly huge left arm, and normal right arm (Nadal is obviously a lefty). It looks like a scientist was trying to make a perfect tennis player, and graphed on a bodybuilder?s arm to some average dude?s torso. It creeped me out, and made me wonder how it feels to wear a normal shirt with different sized arms (my best guess is Nadal cuts off all of his sleeves). This picture doesn?t do it justice, but you can sort of see what I?m talking about. Now, back to hockey? - I thought Denis Gauthier?s five-game suspension wasn?t enough (I always say that) considering he?s a re-offender ? but Dean Lombardi claiming it shouldn?t have been a suspension ? or even a penalty ? is such garbage he should be ashamed of himself. - The Senators predictably fired Craig Hartsburg, meaning they?re making Cory Clouston their fourth head coach inside a calendar year. I?m not a big Hartsburg fan, but there is no justification for making so many coaching changes in such a short span. This has to fall at the feet of Bryan Murray, who has done a terrible job of dismantling the team that John Muckler built. Check out a few of these decisions: - Mike Fisher is in the middle of a contract that pays him an average of $4.2 million per season. Yes, the Mike Fisher who has six goals this season. - Murray decided his team wasn?t tough enough, so he went almost strictly with North American pluggers? and Jarkko Ruutu. All the flair the Sens used to possess was replaced with middling talent. - Wade Redden > Zdeno Chara. Really? - Jason Smith was awarded a 2 year/$5.2 million contract this off-season. He?s been a healthy scratch lately. - Ottawa?s best puck moving defenseman is Filip Kuba. To make matters worse? he?s their ONLY puck-moving defenseman. - So? the Sens are screwed. I always told myself I wouldn?t post stupid trade rumours and trade thoughts? but don?t the Oilers seem like painfully obvious trade partners? Edmonton has an abundance of talented defensemen and young forwards, while Ottawa has the top-end talent Oilers management so obviously craves. Wouldn?t a Spezza for Oilers defenseman (Visnovsky or Gilbert), young Oilers forward (Nilsson or Cogliano) and ruined Oilers prospect (Robert Schremp) work for both teams? It even makes sense financially. - The length of this blog is out of control, I know? so one last comment. TSN has decided to air a show called ?Countdown to TradeCentre,? which ? I kid you not ? is a preview of trade deadline day. Yes, a preview a month in advance of a day which is the most overblown Canadian media day of the year. TSN has promised to tell us ?who?s a buyer and who?s a seller,? which is great because that?ll all change in a month?s time. The hockey overkill in this country is bordering on madness.http://scotttougas.blogspot.com