Giants/Bills - 20 Years Later

January, 1991.  I was the Sunday-overnight DJ at Majic 105 (WMJV-FM) in Patterson, NY.  I finished off another fine night of playing the hits of Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and so on before running home to get a few hours of sleep.  The Super Bowl (number XXV) was later that night.

It was the somewhat upstart Giants, who had just knocked off the two-time defending champion 49ers (oh did I love that one), against the K-Gun Bills of Jim Kelly, Thuman Thomas and Bruce Smith.  It seemed like the proverbial David versus Goliath.  I naively figured the Bills would win and, to be honest, I had no deep rooting interest.  I respected both teams (though probably preferred the Giants).

You probably know what happened.  Giants 20, Bills 19.  Wide right (ESPN New York by Ian O'Connor).

Bills fans, it's unfair to blame it on Scott Norwood.  Have Kelly or Thomas get five more yards and you win your Super Bowl.  He's no more to blame than Bill Buckner.

This one's for you, Giants fans.  Here's the last drive of the game.


By the way, that's the way to win.  Players carry the coach off the field.  Teams meet at midfield to hug and shake hands.  No orgy of stupidity.  Thanks to the Steelers for winning like that last week in Pittsburgh.  Classy.

Incidentally, John Clayton of ESPN picks his top 10 Super Bowl plays.  He puts James Harrison's 100-yard interception return at number one, Lynn Swann's mastery at number three (sorry, I always thought it was better than David Tyree's catch - as great as that was), and Norwood at number eight.  Check out the rest of his list.  All subjective, of course, so your mileage may vary.

Oh, wait.  There was debate as to whether we should celebrate Wayne Gretzky's birthday yesterday.  So maybe I'll just delete this whole post...