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A Footnote to Football History: A Long, Important Footnote

David Tyree announced his retirement from football yesterday. Since he was injured in 2008, and hardly played at all for the Ravens in 2009, his decision will not affect the 2010 season in any way.

However, for reasons Patriots fans can well understand, Tyree signed a one-day contract with the Giants so he could retire from that franchise, just as Nomar Garciaparra did with the Red Sox in spring training. Tyree's pro football career essentially comes down to one day, no make that one play. But it was kind of a big one.

Tyree is a certified immortal in both Giants and Patriots history for the amazing, superb, ludicrous catch he made in Super Bowl XLII, the signature play -- the winning play for all intents and purposes -- in the second-biggest upset in NFL history, the game that ended the Pats' chance of an undefeated season and a deserved rating as the sport's greatest team ever. Or, if you live in Bergen County, the game that gave the Giants their most thrilling and unexpected championship.

Football time moves fast. February of 2008 wasn't so long ago, but Tyree has already moved on into history, as has the game which put him there. Awful as it might be for Pats' fans to look back, I think Tyree's play DOES indicate the true nature of that Super Bowl, and what differentiates it from another Boston heartbreak loss and another historic Super upset.

The obvious parallel to Tyree in our town's sports history is Bucky Dent, another career nonentity who had the biggest moment in a catastrophic loss. It is also a mistaken parallel, at least in part. Dent's home run WAS a fluke, a Green Monster fluke. In almost every other major league park, it's a pop fly to the left fielder. Tyree's catch was part luck (the part where Eli Manning got away to make the throw), but it was nine parts athletic ability. He made a PLAY, a legitimate if unexpected act of football greatness.

And that, at bottom is what distinguishes Super Bowl XLII from the biggest upset in NFL history, Super Bowl III. As I have posted before, if it weren't for Joe Namath's pregame guarantee, the story of that Super Bowl would totally be "how the Colts blew it." Baltimore had five turnovers, two of which were in the enemy end zone, let alone red zone. Quarterback Earl Morrall, already named league MVP, had to be benched for nonperformance. The Colts' league best defense couldn't stop the run or put Namath on his back. When the NFL Network replays this game, as it does quite often, give it a gander. Try to put memory out of your mind. What you will see is a favorite choking to the max.

The NFL Network reruns Super Bowl XLII quite frequently, too. I don't expect many Pats fans to voluntarily expose themselves to that experience again, but it is an instructive comparison. The Pats didn't choke in any way. They got beat. Tyree's catch exemplified New York's game that day. The Giants played to the peak of their collective ability, no, well above any previous peak they had scaled that season. They won fair and square. That Super Bowl, in the end, is the Giants' story, not the Pats'.

Losing fair and square in a big one is no consolation. But it ought to be at least a little one. Otherwise, what's the point of honest competition?

posted by Michael Gee @ 8:54 AM