His Words Are Like Eating Crow or Lobster

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel had plenty of journalistic company in predicting the St. Louis Rams would rout the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI--but he got carried away by his own hyperbole: “How in the name of Vince Lombardi did the Patriots get to the Super Bowl? This is like a Shetland Pony advancing to the Kentucky Derby. This is like a ’67 Dodge Dart advancing to the Daytona 500....

“The Rams are football’s exciting and electrifying future; the Patriots are its dull and dreary past. The Rams are Britney Spears and the Pats are Ethel Merman.”

*

Trivia time: What is the Super Bowl record for the longest field goal?

*

Crushed: The 20-17 loss to the Patriots was devastating for the Rams as articulated by Ram defensive end Grant Wistrom to Joe Strauss in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“The whole season is a waste now. I don’t care what anybody else says. [Forget] 17-2 [their record if they had won]. We lost the football game; we lost the world championship.”

There, there.

*

Where was he? Patriot linebacker Roman Phifer, a former UCLA and Ram standout, was surprised that Ram running back Marshall Faulk had only 17 carries (only five in the second half) for 76 yards:

“We thought he would be a bigger part of the game plan. We knew we had to know where he was at all times.

“You try to have guys near him. You try to have guys hit him. Why they didn’t use him, I don’t know.”

*

Confession: Mark Purdy in the San Jose Mercury News: “All right, so those of us who predicted the St. Louis Rams would win the Super Bowl by 100 points were wrong. We weren’t alone.

“Before kickoff, the only people who truly expected the New England Patriots to win were their coaches, relatives, friends, and perhaps the ghost of Paul Revere’s offensive coordinator.”

*

Whew! We didn’t hear him: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “If ABC had broadcast the game, Dennis Miller would have said: ‘This was the biggest upset since the Athenians beat the Persians at Marathon, or since Susan Lucci won an Emmy.’”

*

Be careful: Green Bay safety LeRoy Butler, explaining the guidelines set by then-Packer coach Mike Holmgren during their week in New Orleans before Super Bowl XXXI: “He said: ‘If you’re going to chase girls, make sure it’s a girl.’”

*

Looking back: On this day in 1960, Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics set an NBA record with 51 rebounds against Syracuse.

It didn’t last long as it was broken on Nov. 24 by Wilt Chamberlain, who had 55 for Philadelphia against Boston.

*

Trivia answer: Steve Christie of Buffalo, 54 yards, against Dallas in Super Bowl XXVIII.

*

And finally: Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle offered his take on Laker Coach Phil Jackson telling President Bush during a White House visit that “I want to say this group showed the country and NBA basketball how to work together as a group. And I only hope that you and Congress can do as much.”

Feigen wrote: “The Secret Service then wrestled Jackson’s ego to the ground.”