Super Bowl XLIX: Coughing up victory from the jaws of defeat!

The Seattle Seahawks simply had to give the football to superstar running back “Beast Mode,” a.k.a. Marshawn Lynch, and the Hawks would have been the first back to back SB champions since the New England Patriots did it in 2005. Lynch, at the 1-yard line, is as sure as the sunrise but Coach Pete Carroll got cute, and instead of a sure thing, asked QB Russell Wilson to pass.

If there is a worst thing that can happen to a sure win, and  the most unreal thing to happen after all seemed lost, this play was it.

With 25 seconds left, the Pat’s was holding a precarious 4-point lead, 28-24. The pass was made to Ricardo Lockette but then the undrafted rookie, Malcolm Butler stepped in front of Lockette to steal the football and sealed the most implausible win in Super Bowl history!

The Monday morning quarterbacking started Sunday. Why? Why did Carroll made the most boneheaded decision? While that question was the most logical to ask, my question then was,          “Why did the Pat’s coach, Bill Belicheck, not called a timeout with 1.02 minute left and the ball at the 1-yard line”? It seemed to me that Belicheck knew that the next play would be an interception.

In 2007, Super Bowl XLII, the Pats lost to the New York Giants on the same stage, the University of Phoenix Stadium. At that game, the Giant’s David Tyree made another improbable catch, catching the ball between his hand and his helmet. If the Pats had won then, they would have been the second team in NFL history to finish the season with a perfect record, after the 1972 Miami Dolphins, but the Giants put a stain on the record on the final and biggest game of the season.

And I think that’s why the Pats didn’t want to leave Arizona with the same sour feeling in 2007. And what can I say? For those who are not yet into football, I can unbiasedly say that there is no equivalent play in whatever sport similar to that play of that dying moment of XLIX. I can’t think of any. The 2015-16 season starts September. Am I glad that the cycling season has began.

Tour de San Luis

I don’t think you’ve heard of this race, but this is the first race in the UCI calendar that attracts the best riders in the world. The reason of course is the great weather in Argentina at this time of year. Giro d’Italia champion Nairo Quintana was there and so was Mark Cavendish. The race was won by a local rider, Daniel Diaz followed  by Colombian Rodolfo Torres. Quintana came in third, although I can say that he wasn’t in great form just yet.

However, the Tour revelation was neither Diaz nor Torres, but a 20 years old Colombian by the name of Fernando Gaviria. Gaviria, who trains on the track, beat probably the greatest sprinter in cycling, Cavendish. He did the feat not only once, but twice relegating the Manxman Missile into second place.

Of course, a lot of teams were interested to sign him up, but he’s most likely to end up as Cavendish’s teammate  next year as team ETIXX was so keen in signing the kid. So don’t forget the name, Fernando Gaviria Rendon.