After a long while away, hi.

How are you feeling about the Super Bowl? The pursuit of perfection against one of the biggest underdogs in the history of what started out as the cumbersome AFL-NFL Championship Game.

I haven't decided which way to lean yet--that will come later in the week. But I do have some observations.

I've been reading "The Education of a Coach" by David Halberstam. It's a great read about what turned Bill Belichick into uber-coach. But, as someone else pointed out, the dfference between the Belichick who was fired by Cleveland and the 3-Super Bowl Belichick is Tom Brady.

The core of Belichick's defensive philosophy is to take away the opposition's best weapon. So one would figure that the Patriots will try to put the clamps on Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw and make Eli Manning win the game with his arm. The Giants do have a good set of receivers, but can the New England pass rush take them away, too?

On the flip side, how do you stop Tom Brady? If I'm Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants defensive coordinator, I've got to find a way to get Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora into Brady's face as often as possible. As heavily taped as Brady's ankle looked today, what mobility he did have is going to be lessened, so the Giants have got to get to him often while not allowing Laurence Maroney to become St. Louis' first Super Bowl MVP.

Then there's the previous meeting factor. How much can the Giants gain from having already played the Patriots? I think it did give them the confidence to get where they are now, to win three playoff games on the road, to be the best of the NFC. But the Patriots saw that movie, too. And I believe they won that game.

Like I said, I'll put some numbers to my thoughts later in the week.

Other random thoughts:

Media Day at the Super Bowl is the most interesting, most chaotic mass gathering of people this side of Soulard Mardi Gras. Thousands of people armed with a credential, all trying to get a scoop. The best bits to come out of Media Day now is when reporters turn their mics over to the more inventive players and let them go. But even that is turning into a tired act anymore.

Tom Brady is the epitome of cool. It's snowing in Foxborough Sunday, and he's at the Patriots' rally in a jacket and open-collared shirt. Of course, that jacket probably cost more than my entire yearly clothing budget. And did you notice that the snowflakes weren't melting on Ol' Tom? Now that's cool.

Is there really a need for the repeated standing ovations at the State of the Union address? For the most part it's just partisan grandstanding. I am a patriotic American and I'm all for getting behind the President, but really, 50 or 60 standing ovations? Overkill. I think the members of the Supreme Court have it right---stay seated until the end.

How many of you are ready for the Writers' strike to be over? I'm ready for some original episodes. Get it settled.

I was sad to hear that Larry Smith passed away. As much as Gary Pinkel has done for the Missouri football program, Larry Smith got the ball rolling. I remember when the Tigers became bowl eligible in 1997, after more than a decade of football abyss. It was like Larry was Moses and he had just led Tiger fans to the Promised Land. In many ways the feeling was just as good as much of what we felt this past season.

I'm glad the whole Rick Majerus-Archbishop Burke to-do has quieted down.

Tiger Woods is scary. He makes his tour debut and wins by eight shots. EIGHT! Bob Costas has made the reference to Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont, that whoever was second was actually closer to third than first. And it's that way on the PGA Tour, now more than ever. Let's face it: Tiger rarely loses any tournament he sets his sights on. A true Grand Slam is well within his reach. And how's this? CBS's David Feherty asked him if winning a record 12 consecutive tournaments was a possibility, and his answer was simple, blunt, and to the point--"Yes." ¶ 4:51 PM