Good Sports

If you watched the Australian Open men's finals, you saw a great match: Nadal vs. Federer, first time ever matched up Down Under. A battle all the way, until Nadal broke Roger's serve midway through the final set.

If you saw the post-match ceremony, Roger cracked up and cried. Quite a lot, actually. One could excuse it as being the emotion of the moment, but I think there was something really for him to mourn. I think that match finally convinced him that he was really #2. Not that #1 ranking is gone for good, necessarily, but that it is not a fluke and Rafael is really ahead of him for now. Nadal was gracious and kind to Federer, who has always been a champion of the first order.

As for the Super Bowl, it wasn't quite as Stupor Bowl as usual. XLIII was one of only about VIII that were really contested (something like XV-XX PC).

The finish was dramatic, after the record-setting comeback of the Cardinals highlighted by Fitzgerald's brilliant catch and run for the lead. What surprised me most was that the incredible play in which LB Harrison of the Steelers ran back an interception 100 yards just at halftime, falling into the endzone as time ran out, did not settle--could not be argued to have settled--the game's outcome. Normally, a big break like that, worth at least 10 points in a tight game, would push the Super Bowl Teeter-Totter of Destiny over to one side for good.

Salutes to both QB in particular. Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner should both be destined for football's HOF, even though Roethl. may have a short career, and Warner's is checkered. Football is a little more forgiving than baseball of those who didn't rack up huge career stats and recognizing of brilliance over a period of, say, a dozen years.