It’s Normal And Natural To Watch Old Super Bowl Highlights [NFL Films]

Continue Reading February 3rd, 2008

Last night, while the world wept over videotapes and dynasties, ESPN2 strung together a bunch of those NFL Films specials of Super Bowl highlights. It might’ve been the most sports they’ve aired on one channel in quite some time.

These marathons might actually be the best part about Super Bowl week. Once a year, they dust off these tapes so that fans, when they have nothing else better to do and they’ve already masturbated, watch these episodes in solitude, thinking they’re such nerds. “Look, there’s Brian Billick being a successful quarterback.” “Look, there’s the Patriots, two-touchdown underdogs.” “Look, there’s Mike Ditka, still relevant.”

Given the hit-or-miss excitement of the Super Bowl, the NFL Films series politely reminds us that (a) tonight could be a classic Super Bowl, or (b) even if tonight’s game is an ugly rout, it will soon be turned into a half-hour episode that is strangely fun to watch, because the secret is in the slow motion footage and regal music.

This couple-of-years-old interview with NFL Films head Steve Sabol reminds us how innovative they’ve been on the entire concept of highlights. No matter how old the highlights are, we’ll never have Soulja Boy superimposed on top of Steve McNair scrambling around on the final drive.

How I Did It: Steve Sabol, President, NFL Films [Inc.]

Which Patriots Video Is Scarier? [Nightmare Fuel-Off]

Continue Reading February 3rd, 2008

With little on TV, it’s time to partake in some of the Internet’s finest available video pertaining to those with hard stances on the New England Patriots. Ahead of you are two videos of the Tube Belonging To You variety — one taking the “for” and one taking the extreme “against.” It’s a toss up as to which one’s more frightening.

So let’s meet our two entrants.

Contestant #1: Patriots Cheerleaders

What terrifies the children: They appear to have done this sober. Otherwise I’m sure Mrs. Pats Fan would have gotten a mouthful of Bostonian boot.

What it’s got going for it: While this may be one of the lamest videos known to man, what saves it is their conviction during their idiocy. This is basically the same postulate that keeps me going on weekends.

Contestant #2: Remember The Cheatriots

What terrifies the children: Michael Strahan watching Tom Brady do that Spanish reporter chick in the bathroom.

What it’s got going for it: You might remember this man’s work earlier on Deadspin in the form of The 2007 Cowboys In 8 Seconds. The splicing of videos is clearly a little crude but it’s far better than any of us could do.

Verdict — I’d probably go with the Patriots Cheerleaders as the one that would leave me sleeping fewer hours at night. What about you?

Rabid Fan Dancing [Eye On Foxborough]
REMEMBER THE CHEATRIOTS [YouTube]

GameTrailers Super Bowl simulation also picks Patriots

Continue Reading February 3rd, 2008

Filed under: Sports

You might have watched EA Sports’ Madden ‘08 simulation for Super Bowl XLII when it surfaced a few days ago, where it was predicted that the Patriots would take home the Lombardi trophy by a narrow margin — then again, you might have fallen asleep in the middle of that video, which was more or less a glorified gameplay montage, completely devoid of commentary and music.

Taking a cue from classic NFL films, GameTrailers recently performed their own Madden simulation of the Super Bowl, yielding similar, and much more watchable results. Our knowledge of the mechanics of football is limited, but basically, GameTrailers predicts that the Patriots will run the brown ball into the score zone more times than the Giants, winning with a score of 20 touchdowns to 10 touchdowns. They also predicted the entirety of Tom Petty’s halftime show set list — strangely enough, it is sans “Free Fallin’”.

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