I didn’t watch that much of NBC’s pre-game coverage of the Super Bowl yesterday because frankly, the two weeks of build up to the game was enough for me. I didn’t need another five hours of hearing about how nobody expected the Cardinals to be there, or how Ben Roethlisberger was nervous during his first trip to the Super Bowl against the Seahawks a few years ago. That and I didn’t want to hear Tiki Barber say things like the Cardinals “are a team of density”.

I’m sure a lot of people in Detroit felt the same way, because everywhere they looked there were reminders of how bad the Detroit Lions suck. First of all, they were at a Super Bowl, something the Lions may not even know exists. Then there was Jerome Bettis, who is from Detroit and won a Super Bowl in Detroit, but not for the Lions. Oh, and then there was Matt Millen on the screen every few minutes pretending to know anything about football, when any Lions fan could tell you he clearly doesn’t. Dealing with Millen’s mug on the screen was probably more than any Lions fan could take, so thankfully Detroit’s NBC affiliate made sure to run a warning on the screen whenever he showed up.

Seriously.

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NBC’s Football Night In America sure knows how to bring the hard interviews to Joe Fantasygm’s television. Former Giants running back Tiki Barber sat down with current Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, and little-known Detroit native Jerome Bettis was at the Steelers-Titans game and somehow scored an on-field interview with his former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.

Honestly, all sports interviews should be conducted by former teammates-turned-journalists. It makes them so much more fun, and they can talk about the good old days when there were two or three years in their careers that intertwined. Keyshawn Johnson can talk to Terrell Owens while sharing a king sized bed, braiding each other’s hair and ask each other, “Seriously, isn’t it better to be like us than it is to be a fan of the game?” “Yeah, screw the fans!” [high five]

Barber was nowhere to be seen (rats!) as the Giants nuzzled up to home field advantage with a 34-28 overtime win over the surprising Panthers. Derrick Ward rumbled for 215 yards on merely 15 carries. A visibly crushed DeAngelo Williams was not consoled by Tim Biakabutuka.

Elsewhere in overtime news, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl went to an extra frame with Southern Miss winning 30-27 over Troy, with USM’s Britt Barefoot doinking a field goal off the inside of the goalposts for the game-winning three points. Not only is Barefoot an amazing name for a kicker, as is his coach’s, Larry Fedora. Anyone whose surname is also a hat immediately wins trust in my book.

Four teams not named the Boston Celtics have 18 wins or more this season. One team actually named the Celtics has 18 wins or more in a current streak of basketball games. A 124-105 dismantling of the New York Knicks on Sunday evening kept the streak alive. This ties a franchise record, and it’s only the longest win streak since … earlier this year, when the idiosyncratic Houston Rockets won 22 before losing to … Boston. If The C’s can make it 26 in a row, the Rockets will get a chance to return the favor on January 7. The NBA: where looking extremely far down the road happens.

SbB: Where ten other stories I didn’t have much else to say about happens.

• NESW SPORTS finds an oblique mention of Ahmad Rashad making a jump shot for the Philadelphia 76ers, but no mention of it anywhere else on the Internet. Much like the fossils in the ground, God probably put this video on the tubes to test our faith.
• One more thing about that Celtics game. The BOSTON HERALD reports that Glen Davis missed the game after getting in a car crash on his way to the game, and his head broke the windshield. The accident was classified by the Celtics as “minor,” probably because their spokespeople are manly men who jog home from vasectomies.
• Now that the Lions are 0-15, we can now call Bizarro Mercury Morris because they are on his block. The DETROIT NEWS is asking Lions fans — the ones that haven’t strangled themselves yet — put out an online survey asking what emotion best describes the reaction to this season. The results so far?

  

  Put that on a t-shirt. “The Detroit Lions: The Otherest Team In History.”

• We almost went a whole day without any Mark Teixeira rumors. Sheesh! Well, the Angels are pulling away their 8-year, $54 gazillion offer, leaving Tex with the Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals or Orioles as potential new homes. Two of these is not like the others. The MERCURY NEWS is rather sick of this bidding war, concluding he will sign “maybe with Baltimore or Washington, whereupon he will say the perennial loser that lands him was attractive because it offers the best chance to win.”
• The Phoenix Suns need a new point guard and are having open tryouts for the position. As noted by BRIGHT SIDE OF THE SUN, ““The six guys that will be here Monday are a mix of vets and youngsters ranging from the 26 year old Walker Russell to the 83 year old Darrell Armstrong.“
• THE HARDBALL TIMES reminds Cubs fans that, no matter how bad it gets for the team, its fans can always fall back on their pure hatred of Steve Garvey.
• THE 700 LEVEL has video of the Eagles-Redskins final play, perhaps the most climactic finish of the day in the NFL, where Reggie Brown gets stopped cold at the goalline, denying Philly the game-tying touchdown on the final play.
• Oh, Mike Singletary, never change. After the 49ers escaped out of St. Louis with a 17-16 win (after being down 16-3 in the fourth), the interim coach said of his quarterback Shaun Hill after throwing his third interception: “I was going to choke him.” Good lord. If Singletary doesn’t get hired back next year, he’s a shoe-in to become a New York Mets consultant.
• Now for a critical NHL All-Star voting update. Sidney Crosby rallied from 120,000 fake Canadiens votes behind to shatter the all-time NHL votes record and leads Alexei Kovalev by 280,000 votes. Three other Canadiens are still in the lead, but not by much. The anticipation is palpable! I can hardly zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
• The Cowboys might have ate it hard in their home finale but Jerry Jones seems content in keeping Wade Phillips around for another year, despite the game being a seemingly passing of the torch to Jason Garrett. The STAR TELEGRAM does not seem pleased with this. “Talk about your buzz kills. Not only did Coach Wade help ruin a huge party for fans and legends assembled to bid farewell to Texas Stadium on Saturday, he now apparently has another 16 games to bring his special brand of “ish” football to JerryWorld.”

Amid this entire “Plaxico Burress Shot Himself In The Leg Like That Cheddar Bob Guy From 8 Mile” controversy, there has been a rather salient question: Why, exactly, was Plaxico packing heat in the first place? And no, “Suicidal Leg Syndrome” is not a valid answer (though Pfizer is making a pill for it anyway).

(You have to admit, that’s a really good drawing of a gun.)

Though we can’t know the real answer unless and until Plaxico tells us, a pretty good place to start would be Plaxico’s fellow receiver, Steve Smith; according to Tiki Barber at NBC (via NEWSDAY.COM), Smith was held up at gunpoint as he returned to his home in a gated community after a night out with friends Monday night. Okay, Tuesday at 4 a.m., but whatever.

“Ah, but if Smith lives in a gated community, how could he get robbed at his front door?”, you might ask. And there’s a simple and kind of disturbing answer waiting for you (proceeding emphasis ours):

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While it appears that former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber has made the transition from football player to annoying guy on television pretty smoothly, it appears there are still some wrinkles that need to be ironed out. While Barber was on the gridiron, when a linebacker would insult him on the field after a play, Tiki could turn to him and say whatever he wanted back.

That’s not how things work on television, though, and something Tiki said to his MSNBC colleague Jenna Wolfe has gotten him in some trouble. Apparently Tiki doesn’t like Wolfe all that much, and he let her know about it on air. Whether he did it on accident, or on purpose, it’s pretty obvious Tiki called Jenna a “total medal count.” Except take the “o” out of “count.” See the video after the jump.

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• Nick Saban may be the most powerful coach in sports, but as Adam Rose of the LOS ANGELES TIMES points out, it was actually Pete Carroll who became college football’s first $4 million man.

All that moolah can sure buy a lot of Lotrimin.

• NESW SPORTS punches up video of Beijing’s adorable Fuwa mascots mixing it up on the mat.

• STANLEY CUP OF CHOWDER serves up some of their favorite names from this year’s Games, such as Destinee Hooker and Gisele Moron.

• DEUCE OF DAVENPORT wrestles up a clip of Tiki Barber grappling on the NBC set with former Olympian Rulon Gardner.

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• What was Tom Brady’s baby mama doing during the Super Bowl? PAGE SIX discovers Bridget Moynahan was taking little John Edward Thomas out for a walk around the neighborhood.

• WITH LEATHER learns, through the magic of video editing, what Chris Berman really thinks of Emmitt Smith.

• PAUL KATCHER marches in with a look at the Giants’ Super Bowl victory parade.

• You can’t be serious! John McEnroe invites you to take the 10-Day All Bran challenge (Gas-X next up for J-Mac?!)

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Tiki Barber’s postgame interviews with the Giants:

Or Chris Myers’ post game interview with Bill Belichick:

Our favorite image of the Super Bowl telecast was a shot of Jeremy Shockey sitting in the suites, with a wide assortment of fruit-flavored alcoholic beverages sitting in front of him. Why wouldn’t he want to be on the sidelines with his teammates? Hmmm.

We don’t know why we take pleasure in Shockey completely missing out on the game and the glory. But we’re probably not alone.

So what was a bigger upset, the Giants win, or Troy Aikman saying absolutely nothing interesting or insightful for 3+ hours. Can you imagine being stuck on a Southwest flight to Tucson next to the guy? Read more…

Last week we posted about Jeremy Shockey’s possible strange reluctance to attend the Super Bowl. The DENVER POST (via PFT) reports today that “The Giants invited Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey, who is out with a broken leg, to the Super Bowl. He hasn’t decided whether he will attend.“

Meanwhile, Shockey is a “confirmed guest” at Terrell Owens’ Super Bowl party in Scottsdale, AZ. So he will be in town but may not accept the Giants’ invitation to attend the game with the team?

Maybe instead he’ll be at a local hooters, consoling Tiki Barber and trying to talk Donovan McNabb out of his 14th slice of Key Lime pie.

• On the backlash of Nebraska firing AD Steve Pederson, EVERYDAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY offers to help coach Bill Callahan pack his bags:

• The LONDON (ONTARIO) FREE PRESS reports the Toronto Raptors may try to bring Kobe north of the border.

• However, REAL GM counters that Bryant is more Bullish on Chicago.

• Quite frankly, THE BIG LEAD has some important news: Stephen A. Smith is out at the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:

• RED’S ARMY is hit with too many of Cupid’s arrows, as they can’t decide which Celtic is hotter.

• GAME RECOGNIZE GAME tries to keep their sides from splitting after watching these humorous basketball spots.

• DC SPORTS BOG hears Redskins receiver Brandon Lloyd respond to Troy Aikman’s in-booth criticism by questioning his personal life - not that there’s anything wrong with that:

• Look out, Macarena: STORMING THE FLOOR stands at attention, as the hip-hop anthem “Soulja Boy” seems to be sweeping the sports nation.

• While that madness marches on, BLOOMBERG reports on a different fad sweeping through the MLB: hedge funds!

• The NEW YORK TIMES calls up the bullpen cart, as the location of the new A’s stadium could make a bad traffic situation even worse:

• BUC’ EM doesn’t feel the brotherly love, as retired RB Tiki Barber doesn’t want to play with Ronde down in Tampa.

• THE ANGRY T sees the light, as a Kentucky basketball recruit is on a mission from God (as directed by Mom).