An Overlooked Unexpected Event from the Super Bow

Written by: Matthew C.K. Bradwell
Joboja Staff Writer

You don't know who Mike Weldon is. No, he didn't play in the Super Bowl, he didn't ride the bench, in fact he never played football at all. I don't think Mike ever even watched football before Sunday's game and I doubt he ever will again.

But on Sunday, more than anyone at my Super Bowl party, Mike Weldon embodied how compelling the game was.

Mike has been one of my best friends since before I was shaving, one of my only friends that moved from Philadelphia to Chicago with me two years ago. I know him inside and out and if there's one truth about Mike Weldon, it's that he hates sports. He doesn't get watching them, he doesn't get playing them and he'll always make fun of me for crying on the last day of the 2007 season when the Phillies clinched the NL East.

But on Sunday Mike Weldon was completely captivated by what was unfolding in Arizona.

Eli Manning will probably never know that, but it is one of the highest compliments he can ever be paid.

When all of a sudden late in the fourth quarter it looked like perhaps this crazy upset might actually happen and team of destiny was in fact the New York Giants, the significance of this resonated so heavily in the room that even Mike Weldon was sitting on the edge of his seat (and I mean that literally, not as a superlative cliche) with his hand on his mouth, eyes firmly fixed on the TV.

That's a compliment to the Patriots too, for while it was their downfall that Mike was captivated by, even someone so alien to sports knew how significant it was because of their undefeated season.

I smirked at Mike's expression of interest, then turned my attention back to the game, thinking this would be the most I ever saw the artsy prick care about sports.

Then Eli pulled off one of the single most ridiculous plays in Super Bowl history, dogging 3 desperate Patriots and passing 33 yards to David Tyree in triple coverage and before I was out of my chair Mike screamed "That was one of the most visually satisfying things I have ever seen!" (like I said, he's never seriously watched sports, so he doesn't really know how to properly cheer)

Eli Manning and the Giants gave sports fans everywhere such a refreshing reminder of how great the Super Bowl can be, how despite the commercials, the halftime show and media day, at the end of it all the game is the reason we're watching.

Even those of us who hate sports.