I watched the entirety of Super Bowl XXXVIII yesterday, pulling for a win by my former home team, the New England Patriots, over the surprise NFC champion Carolina Panthers. Assorted observations made during the game:

• As great as the fourth quarter was, the first 27 minutes as well as most of the third quarter were god damn awful. The Patriots moved the ball but can't put it in the end zone. Vinatieri missed an easy kick and had another blocked. The Panthers offense couldn't get a first down, or even positive yardage. Naysayers had been complaining about the lack of a marquee matchup for the last two weeks, and for the first two quarters it looked like they were right on the money.

• Having already disclosed my New England bias, let me offer an analysis of the sides. The Patriots' offense was clicking, particularly in the second half. Long, time-consuming drives composed of short passes and runs. Brady lived up to his "next Montana" billing. The Panthers however looked terrible for most of the first half. They heated up after the Patriots put the first touchdown on the board, but how did they move the ball? Not through extended drives, but through a few big plays: Muhammed's 85 yard touchdown reception, Deshaun Foster's 30+ yard run. New England's defense would gaffe and Carolina would take advantage. Phil Simms was praising Jake Delhomme's accuracy on one of the long plays, but how accurate do you have to be when the nearest defender is 10 yards away? In summary, Patriots: good, Panthers: lucky. I'm not taking anything away from Delhomme, he played fantastic, but he's not hall of fame good yet. Brady on the other hand ...

• Was i the only one who noticed that whenever Tom Brady called an audible at the line of scrimmage, it was always an Antowain Smith run? They did this four or five times during the game, occasionally off-tackle runs but usually a sweep, and netted between 3 and 10 yards each time. The first time this happened, commentator Phil Simms pointed out that usually an audible changes the play to a pass, and praised Brady for switching things up. But the Panthers kept falling for it every time.

• Best commercial had to go to HR Block and their Magic 8 Ball replacement, the talking Willie Nelson doll.
  "Should i deduct my boat?"
  "Willie would!"

• The halftime show was mediocre as usual, despite the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson's breast episode. I can't believe JT is claiming it was an accident. Through the miracle of Tivo, you can clearly see that he intentionally pulled off her left bra cup. Moreover, she had on a pasty as if she knew he would do it. Tivo also helped me see the post-halftime streaker in the 5 seconds of airtime he got before CBS cut to the annoyed looks of the coaches while authorities dragged the culprit away.

• I hate the CBS commentators. Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms should never be allowed near the Super Bowl again.

Better yet, earlier in the day i watched the Premiership clash between Chelsea and Blackburn. Frank Lampard turned in two excellent strikes, and was denied a hat trick only by an unbelievable save by Brad Friedel. However, Lampard's contributions were countered by an early Blackburn goal as well as what looked like an 85th minute backbreaker, in which Wayne Bridge (who had a terrible game) and John Terry left Paul Gallagher unmarked at the far post on a cross, allowing him to level the scores at 2-2. Just when it looked like we'd thrown away 2 points though, Glen Johnson got a feed from John Terry at the top of the penalty area, slipped the ball under a charging defender, and sent a right footed blast curling into the top right corner of the goal. Amazing, especially for a 19 year-old defender! At the final whistle, a 3-2 win for Chelsea ... we're still not clicking, but you can't complain about a win.