The Train Daddy is back with the Pain Daddy and we have a lot to talk about—sports knowledge and life lessons in a sexy yet unedited kind of way.
So, this is my quick wrap-up on the Super Bowl: in terms of competition, it was all one-sided, and the commercials even sucked. This is the Broncos’ fifth Super Bowl loss, the most losses for a team in NFL history. I have never seen such a defensive shutout; Peyton looked sad, and that made me sad. At least I was partially correct on my pick prior to the post-season. I had the Seahawks vs. Patriots with the Seahawks winning, and I would have taken some cash money in Vegas for that pick.
This boring Super Bowl will go down as the single most dominant performance by a defense, ever! I keep calling this game boring; granted, I saw some old-school hits from the Hawks that I haven’t seen since the young Ray Lewis days, when he was in his prime, and face-smashing hits pump fans up. But in general, fans of the game always want some sort of even competition, and many fans turned their televisions off early that Sunday, since the game was a wrap before halftime. From the start of the game the Broncos could do no right and the Hawks no wrong. The Seahawks scored the quickest points in Super Bowl history as the first play of the game was snapped 110 feet over Peyton’s head, resulting in a safety. We can honestly compare this Seahawks defense to the ’85 Bears defense. Yards per pass attempt and yards per carry allowed are the best stats to use when evaluating defenses, because they measure efficiency. I’m not going to break all those numbers down, but go and compare those defenses, and there is little difference between the two, except that offense is even more prevalent today than in the ’80s. That is where I would give the edge to the Seahawks’ defense as the best ever; it’s an easy argument for me.
Does this game affect Peyton’s legacy, or does it just cement the greatness of the Seahawks defense?
OK, I am going to bring up some claims I made in the last issue. I was wrong about the NCAA National Championship game; it was a great game, though! I stated that Auburn had it, without a doubt. But I never downplayed the talent on FSU, and Jameis Winston impressed me on and off the field that day. Winston brought his team back from certain defeat, and post-game he emotionally poured his heart out to his team and fans, but most importantly to the Father above. I guess you can just tell when people really have it, and the kid is a level-headed superstar. So maybe the SEC isn’t as untouchable as I thought, but it is still the best conference hands down in college football. With the new playoff system coming into effect next season, I am more than excited for the start of some good old college football to kick its 2014 season off.
The Titans have a new coach; bye-bye, Coach Munchak, and hello, Coach Wisenhunt. Out with the trash and in with the new—hopefully the new coach can turn this young team into a bunch of hard-hitting, sack-smacking, touchdown-grabbing, game-winning monsters. I look at a young team like the Seahawks, and I get jealous. In Pete Carroll I see a coach that is fiery, a cluster of young players and a fan base that is full of excitement. And that excitement blindsided the city. Yeah, they loved football in the past and had a losing Super Bowl team in 2005, but this is a different feel from the Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander days. A new coach comes in, and some new players, and look at the energy it generated in Seattle. I guess I should get back to the point. I don’t care that Coach Munchak is gone. I am sad it didn’t work out, but as I said before, his lack of energy didn’t help win the fans over, and a lack of success on the field made his firing easy. Out with the trash and in with the new. All I know is that new is exciting, new is fresh, and new is full of new ideas, and it’s a fresh slate for the Titans. I want to forget the days of Coach Munchak and a young team that had potential, potential we rarely saw. I believe the Titans got the best man available, especially being one of the last teams to fire their head coach, and being late to the search party. Wisenhunt was at the top of many teams’ lists, and he chooses Tennessee. Hopefully the fans learn to love him like they did the old ball coach Fisher. Greatness starts with a great head coach, and a team that believes in his system. I bleed Code Blue, and have as much passion for my team as any fan in the country.
I wonder what the outcome would have been if the Tennessee kid Peyton would have chosen the Titans? It came down to Denver and Tennessee, and the late Bud Adams stated he would have paid Peyton anything to come to Nashville. It’s not like it matters now, just a question I ponder at times. I asked earlier whether this Super Bowl loss will affect Peyton’s legacy; I doubt it, it is a black mark, though, and will be marked in the history books as one of the biggest beat-downs in Super Bowl history. But affect his legacy, NO! Peyton will be known as one of the smartest signal callers to have ever played the game. He has one ring already, and I doubt he is thinking of hanging up his cleats just yet. He has stated many times he will retire when his body tells him to or when preparation for a season just isn’t fun for him anymore. So the book on Peyton’s career is yet to be finished. I mean, let’s be real, he just came off a possible career-ending injury and takes his new team all the way to the Super Bowl, breaks all the records, and does it in his first season as a Bronco, approaching the age of 40; that should add to the legacy.
The 2013 season is over, and it is a new year, and the very beginning of a long and anticipated wait for the 2014 season, a wait that will drive football lovers crazy.
I love this game, and over the many years of doing this sports column, I will always talk about the football fans close to me when explaining the passion behind the love of the game. People like the Me-Ma, Robert De Niro, The Train Daddy Mafia and the entire Titans Fan Base, only the ones that bleed Code Blue. Take the Me-Ma, for example, about whom my readers have heard much. This little lady invented the Titans Two-Step, and with her oxygen tube helping her breathe, she dances and puts out some serious juju for the Titans; she breathes Titans football, with the help of oxygen tubes. She is a true fan, just like Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook. Passion can be crazy, but passion is passion, baby! The Train Daddy Mafia is a group of my friends, and when it comes to fantasy football and real football, it’s all passion. All I am saying here is it’s amazing what a game can do to a country, we all love football, and passion is the difference between a real fan and a casual fan. I remember years ago when I used to sit in the same section at all the Titans home games, and there was a man who used to always scream at the running backs; he would scream, “Stick that beef in the taco.” I have no clue what he actually meant, but his tactic worked, and the running game was off and running that season. I embraced that saying, and as a gift to you I share this info: Next season, the Titans will stick that beef in the taco. It’s a new season, and there is some special juju this saying brings to an important football game.
I want to send a shout-out to one of my biggest fans, my grandfather, Mr. Fail. There is one truth over the years; my grandfather always has read my articles and commented on them. I love my grandfather and grandmother like they’re my parents, and my grandfather has been a little sick as of late, so do me a favor and say a prayer for my grandparents, two of America’s finest. They are from a generation that knows how important family is, and I thank them for passing that sense of family onto me. Like I say in every issue, the more important things in life matter: the five F’s. Live your life by the five F’s and you will always be at peace: Faith, Family, Football, Food and Friends. The Train Daddy is out of the station, my loyal readers . . . choo-choo!