BY ANDREW ADLER
The Indy recaps Super Bowl XLIX.
What a game! Was Super Bowl XLIX better than the previous XLVII Super Bowls? I think so. Here a few of my many takeaways from the showdown in Glendale, Arizona.
Some players probably won’t get the recognition they deserve. Extra points don’t come easy especially during the Super Bowl, but Patriots placekicker Stephen Gostowski, managed to make four out of four field goals. That’s incredible! Great work Stephen. Patriot’s linebacker Dont’a Hightower also should be recognized for his tackle on the Seahawk’s Marshawn Lynch at the one-yard line saved a sure touchdown. Shedding lineman Russell Okung and brining down Lynch from behind is a play most people couldn’t make. I know I couldn’t. Tom Brady, who has fifty postseason touchdown-throws, was named Super Bowl MVP. The mid-sized Chevy Truck he won simply doesn’t do the man justice. He deserves a full sized Ford F-150. You can’t beat that aluminum body and best-in-class towing.
The halftime show was really great. Those sharks were a hit. Thanks Pepsi! However, no recap of the half-time show would be complete without mentioning Missy Elliott’s amazing comeback performance. The only thing that could have made the show better would have been Ciara busting out of one of the sharks to join Missy Elliott. It’s a shame that the Internet thinks Katy Perry introduced her as an up and coming artist to rest of the world.
Until the infamous slant-pass on the one-yard line, the Seahawks had run a perfectly designed drive. A 31-yard pass to Marshawn Lynch brought the Seahawks to the Patriots 49 yard line. An 11-yard pass on third down brought the Seahawks to the Patriots 38 yard line. Then, Seattle coach Pete Carrol went deep in the Seattle play vault to pull out the play where wideout Jermaine Kearse misses the initial catch, allows the defender to tip the ball, and finally lets the ball bounce off his shin and both hands before securing the catch. They had been waiting for the right time to use this play and this was it. It worked like a charm. Impeccable play calling by Pete Carrol and the rest of the Seattle coaching staff.
My cool 21-year-old French friend Andre Wadler doesn’t really understand the rules of football so he decided to place some money on the game to make things interesting. He bet $25 on the Patriots to cover the spread and $5 on the Gatorade poured on the winning coach to be blue. Malcolm Butler had greatness thrust upon him and quite literally at him in the last minute when his late pick maintained the Patriot’s four-point lead. The interception would prove clutch, and the Gatorade would prove blue. Andre views sports gambling as a steady stream of income and doubts whether he should continue with his higher education or any other path to employment for that matter.
A lot will be said about how the Patriots didn’t deserve to win, but are rather the benefactors of one asinine play call. The Patriots should have fallen to the Seahawks who should have fallen to the Packers who should have fallen to the Cowboys who should have fallen to the Lions. If we follow this train of logic long enough, the Oakland Raiders emerge as the clear Super Bowl champions. Congrats Oakland!
Andrew Adler ‘17 (andrewadler@college.harvard.edu) can’t wait to drink some more delicious Pepsi and buy a mid-sized Chevrolet. What a machine!