The Packers win Super Bowl XLV. And yet we Steelers fans can still be proud of our team.

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I don't really have all that much to say about the Super Bowl. (I tweeted a lot during the game, so check out my feed and, if you so desire, follow me.)

I was emotionally invested in the Steelers to an incredibly deep degree and it was a tough loss. And yet I'm not terribly disappointed.

I didn't think they'd make it this far, what with Big Ben's suspension and the injuries to key members of the offensive line, and they lost to a really good team on Sunday, a Packers team that was much better than its regular-season record and low playoff seed, a Packers team that is really quite likeable, much more so than the Ravens and the Jets and Steelers's main rivals in the AFC.

Okay, I'm disappointed. But I'm not bitter. And I'm disappointed because they didn't play nearly as well as they could have, and should have. They got off to a terrible start, turned the ball over three times, and didn't come through when it mattered. But they had a chance to win, long before the final drive. They just didn't do it. And while a Super Bowl loss is hard to take, it's still a Super Bowl loss, meaning the Steelers made it further than 30 other teams in the NFL.

I became a Steelers fan back in the '70s, when I was a kid growing up in Montreal. We didn't have an NFL team, obviously, and so everyone just sort of picked one. There were older Giants and Packers fans, newer Dolphins and Vikings fans, and of course, Steelers and Cowboys fans. I don't remember how it happened. I was four or five. I liked the Steelers even before I liked the Canadiens, who are a religion in Montreal. And I got to see them win a couple of Super Bowls, their third and fourth. And then it was a long stretch through some lean years until they got back on top, and I've seen them win two more Super Bowls in just the past several years. And, really, they've been one of the league's top teams for a decade. So why should I be all that disappointed?

I love the Steelers, and I take ever loss hard. After the game I wasn't angry or bitter. I just felt bummed out. I didn't say much. I had most of the game to anticipate a Packers victory, but that second half was intense, and it looked like the Steelers might just pull it off, an improbable comeback after a miserable first half. But it was not to be.

But I'm proud of what they accomplished this year, and I feel good about their prospects -- assuming there's even an NFL season this year.

And so we move on. It's the agony and ecstasy of sports fandom. The lows, even taken in perspective, are hard to take, but the Steelers have given us many highs over the years, and we Steelers fans, even in defeat, can find not just solace but a certain joy in being fans of such a magnificent franchise.

Congrats to the Packers. They deserved it. But congrats also to our beloved Steelers for a great year.

Super Bowl XLIV, women's curling, hockey -- my crappy day in sports

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Alright. It's already been a miserable day in sports for me.

My beloved Habs stunk out the Bell Centre -- effort? anyone? -- and lost to the hated Bruins 3-0, who broke a ten-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, at the Canadian Women's Curling Championship in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Team Prince Edward Island lost to Team Canada (the two-time defending champions, from Manitoba), 8-7 in an extra end. I may live in Ontario, and I may consider myself a Torontonian, but I'm an Islander at heart. I like the Team Canada rink, too, and I usually root for them (when P.E.I. isn't involved), but I really got into this P.E.I. rink this week, with two outstanding 21-year olds really shining, and they played extremely well until a few missed shots gave Canada the lead. P.E.I. was up 6-3 after six ends, but Canada scored four over the next three ends, including a devastating steal of two in the ninth. P.E.I. tied it up in the tenth, with a chance to win, but Canada pulled out the victory in the eleventh by a matter of inches. P.E.I. had never made it this far at the women's championships, the Scotties, and it's a shame they won't be able to defend their title at next year's tourament in Charlottetown (P.E.I.'s capital). Does this mean anything to most of you? No, probably not. I realize curling isn't exactly the most popular sport south of the border (or anywhere else). But it's huge here in Canada, and it meant a lot to me.

Okay, now... the Super Bowl. It's already almost the end of the first quarter and the Colts are up 3-0 and pressing for more in the Red Zone. I thought the Colts would win, but I talked myself into the Saints, whom I'm rooting for, the past two weeks, and my pre-game prediction was Saints 31, Colts 27.

But now... well, the Colts just scored, a Manning-to-Garcon TD, and now it's 10-0. Alas.

What a crappy day.

**********

Update: Alright, so it wasn't so crappy after all. The Saints pulled it out, 31-17. I was going to say "stunning," but it wasn't really all that stunning, was it?

Both teams have fantastic offences, but only one team -- one QB -- made a serious mistake, and that was Manning on the INT for a TD, and it wasn't even really a mistake, just a great play by an opportunistic CB, very much the story of the year for the Saints' D. (And there was also Garcon's missed catch in the second, when the Colts were driving and could have gone up for good.)

And I almost got the score right. Well, I got the Saints right at 31. But we all thought the Colts would put up more than 17, right?

And Brees for MVP? Well, sure, why not? Although I must say, I found much of the game uninteresting, and dull, and rather flat, and hardly memorable, and the guy who kept the Saints in it was not so much Brees as Hartley, the kicker. Where would the Saints have been without his two 40+-yarders in the second quarter?

And so a decade dominated by three AFC teams -- the Pats, Colts, and Steelers -- ends with a victory by one of the league's perennial losers from a city that was almost destroyed. There's only one team that really matters for me, Pittsburgh, but it's hard not to like the Saints, and I was pulling for them all year, and, in the end, they deserved it. Manning may have had one of the greatest seasons in history, and he's solidified his spot as one of the best QBs ever, but even he was no match for New Orleans, not on this day.

(How many more weeks are there until the 2010 season starts?)

(Photo: SI.com. Yes, that's Porter returning an INT for a TD in the fourth. And that's Manning on his ass.)

EAGLES Bitch Slap GIANTS out of the Playoffs !

Donavan McNabb calls the NFL to announce who is the best QB in NFC East !



Brandon Jacobs had the least effective 92 yards I have ever seen from an "unstoppable" 6'4' 260 running back- Next ! Antonio Pierce made more big plays for the Eagles including stupid facemask penalties,at least he did not have to cover Westbrook one on one like the previous embarrassing loss to the Eagles


Don Coughlin can go back to being an sub par coach,now that offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and the Plaxico Buress-less Giant offense has been exposed !

Eli Manning smells something that stinks...his performance in the last 2 games versus the Eagles! Will the media take Eli Manning's dick out of their collective mouths. This guy is incredibly average. The deal he made with the devil lasted one year. Where was David Tyree when he need him ?