INDIANAPOLIS The football sailed in an arc, a very high one, for almost 60 yards. The entire NFL season was along for the ride.
This, quite simply, was a blueprint for how a Super Bowl broadcast should be done. With exceptional announcing, timely but restrained use of graphics and nifty angles on replays, NBC delivered exemplary coverage of Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday.
INDIANAPOLIS There was no magic, no helmeted intervention this time for the New York Giants.
INDIANAPOLIS His older brother built this house.
INDIANAPOLIS How unlikely is a safety being the first score of a Super Bowl? One site taking prop bets had it at 60-1.
INDIANAPOLIS When the drama ended, with a Tom Brady Hail Mary landing incomplete in the end zone, just inches from Rob Gronkowski's fingertips, a Super Bowl pinata erupted at Lucas Oil Stadium.
INDIANAPOLIS It's a strange time for the Manning family. Eli just won the Super Bowl, and Peyton is almost certainly on his way out of Indianapolis, with the Colts eyeing his successor in Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.
INDIANAPOLIS - It was almost the greatest ending in Super Bowl history. It was almost the miracle of all miracles for the New England Patriots. It was almost Tom Brady winning his fourth championship.
INDIANAPOLIS The call in was simple. Direct. With one stop, the New York Giants would be Super Bowl champions.
Quarterback
The San Francisco 49ers and their fans don't want to hear this, but they know it's true, even as they shut their eyes and clasp their ears shut:
INDIANAPOLIS Turns out the "new" Bill Belichick looks and sounds an awful lot like the "old" one.
INDIANAPOLIS Tom Brady was one of the last ones out of the shower, perhaps hoping some extra hot water would help take the sting out of a crushing Super Bowl loss. In a nearly deserted New England Patriots locker room, he sat wearily pulling on his boots, the pained look on his face never changing.
Is Eli Manning elite? That's likely no longer a concern for the New York Giants quarterback.
LOS ANGELES Many of the best-received commercials during Sunday's Super Bowl referenced movies - they just weren't for movies heading to the local cineplex any time soon.
LOS ANGELES To label the selection of Madonna as a halftime performer at the Super Bowl as curious is to neglect the surreal history of what has become one of the year's most discussed 10 minutes of music on American television. From the high-water mark Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake nip slip to the weird nonsequitur Rolling Stones gig to a children's choir singing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," the Super Bowl has never been short on ridiculousness.
I almost smiled during that Super Bowl ad where the dog goes on a diet so he can slip out his pet door and chase a Volkswagen. Almost. And if I hadn't already seen it 30 times on the Internet . . .
INDIANAPOLIS New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, playing in the House That Peyton Built, one-upped his older brother on Sunday night.
INDIANAPOLIS Justin Tuck called together his pals from the New York Giants' defensive line, gathering them in the end zone before the game for an impromptu pep talk and urging them to create some havoc for Tom Brady.
At one point in his life, Jason Pierre-Paul didn't want to be a football player. But after a broken leg ended his basketball career in high school, Pierre-Paul made a decision that sent him on a path to winning a Super Bowl.
BOSTON Hundreds of officers who lined the streets of Boston had little to do as fans quietly mourned their team's Super Bowl loss Sunday night, but 14 people were arrested across the state at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst when police in riot gear dispersed a rambunctious crowd.
INDIANAPOLIS Bill Belichick saw the New York Giants at the 6-yard line and a clock with only 64 seconds left on it.
INDIANAPOLIS When the drama ended Sunday, with a Tom Brady Hail Mary landing incomplete in the end zone just inches from Rob Gronkowski's fingertips, a Super Bowl pinata erupted at Lucas Oil Stadium.
INDIANAPOLIS - The New York Giants now can say their stunner over the New England Patriots four years ago was not a fluke.
INDIANAPOLIS - His brother built this house.
Former New England Patriots wide receiver Tiquan Underwood, released a day before the Super Bowl, sent dozens of tweets during the game Sunday but didn't have much to say immediately after it was over.
LOS ANGELES The reluctant touchdown held up.
INDIANAPOLIS Robert Kraft stared at the scoreboard, to see if time really had run out.
NEW YORK The repeat performance was just as good as the first for New York Giants fans as they watched their team again beat the New England Patriots 21-17 Sunday in the Super Bowl.
INDIANAPOLIS The New England Patriots' three star receivers couldn't make the big plays when they needed them. Neither could their superstar quarterback.
