February 5, 2012: Super Bowl XLVI is played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, ending the Pats' attempt at an undefeated season.
Eli Manning, the Giants' quarterback, had considerably more luck against the Patriots than did his brother, Peyton Manning, whose Indianapolis Colts always seemed to come up short against the Patriots and their quarterback, Tom Brady. And yet, even in the New York media and among Giants fans, Eli seemed the Rodney Dangerfield of quarterbacks, never getting enough respect. Still stuck in comparisons to Brady and Peyton, the question was asked of whether Eli was "an elite quarterback."
He proved that he was one. The Giants jumped to a 9–0 lead in the 1st quarter, before the Patriots scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17–9 lead in the 3rd quarter. But the Giants prevented the Patriots from scoring again, as they followed the script from 4 years earlier: The way to beat Brady was to pressure him with strong defense and knock him on his ass.
Two consecutive Lawrence Tynes field goals chipped away at New England's lead, 17–15, late in the 3rd quarter. The Giants capped off an 88-yard drive with running back Ahmad Bradshaw's 6-yard game-winning touchdown with 57 seconds left in the game. As in the previous Super Bowl, Eli was named the game's Most Valuable Player, having completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
He was also the first New York-based quarterback to start and win two championship games since Ed Danowski of the 1934 and 1938 Giants. Charlie Conerly had won in 1956, but lost in 1958 and 1959. Y.A. Tittle got the Giants into the NFL Championship Games of 1961, 1962 and 1963, but lost them all. Joe Namath won Super Bowl III with the Jets in 1969, and never won another Playoff game. Phil Simms led the Giants to win Super Bowl XXI in 1987, but got hurt in the 1990 NFC Championship Game, and so it was Jeff Hostetler who started and won Super Bowl XXV.
So lightning struck twice, but not in the same place: The 1st time the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, it was in the suburbs of Phoenix. Begging the question, why was it an upset? (The Patriots were favored by 2½ points.)
No New York Tri-State Area sports team has won a World Championship since. Unless you count New York City FC, and can we please not?
UPDATE: The New York Liberty won the 2024 WNBA Championship. But in the "Big Four" leagues -- Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL -- New York Tri-State Area teams are 0-4 in Finals since. The Yankees and Mets have each lost a World Series without winning one. Neither the Giants nor the Jets have been back to the Super Bowl. Neither the Knicks nor the Nets have gotten anywhere near the NBA Finals. And the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils have each lost a Stanley Cup Finals, while the New York Islanders have lost 2 Eastern Conference Finals.
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February 5, 2012 was, like all Super Bowl days, a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA, not wanting to take a chance on bad TV ratings, scheduled only 2 games. The Boston Celtics beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 98-80 at the TD Garden in Boston. And the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors, 95-89 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
There were 4 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at Madison Squre Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-0 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* And the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals, 4-1 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.
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