Patriots Win the Super Bowl! 2015

We had a party when the Patriots were in the Super Bowl in 2008 and again in 2013, and that didn't work out for us. Also, some of our friends had already come over for the playoffs so it was hard to persuade anyone to come over again. Going out would involve only one of us-- specifically Kevin-- because having two kids is hard. So we dressed the itty bitty ones up and watched the game at home.

James in his Brady jersey, Miranda in her pink New England Patriots onesie

With the biggest Pats fan, Dada

Watching the beginning

Warning: The following might be totally wrong because I only got into football like two seconds ago.

Belichick eats, breathes, and sleeps game strategy. They say all football coaches do, but Belichick was probably born to be a famous war general and decided to coach instead. And Belichick has been really tricky lately. He's been playing crazy chess more than usual, and I felt confident that he'd whip out some crazy strategy to win the Super Bowl. For example, in the AFC divisional playoff against the Ravens, the Patriots had three plays where a guy who was usually eligible on the play was ineligible (a running back who could actually still get the ball passed back to him), which meant a guy that was usually ineligible was eligible (a lineman). This strategy was unheard of before, but it wasn't illegal. And it was super confusing to the Ravens. The Pats did some of this against the Colts too. When the Super Bowl began I felt confident Belichick  had some master plan. But then it seemed that everyone was just playing football.

Already lost interest

And given how sad Kevin was after the 2008 and 2013 Super Bowls, I was pretty concerned. I watched the game through fanned fingers like you do at horror movies. Actually I mostly hid behind my laptop because the Seahawks were winning. But as the close game was getting near the end, I wanted to watch the decisive moments and closed my laptop and fully focused. Then everything happened.

Seattle Seahawk's Jermaine Kearses's catch was the most insane thing I've ever seen. It defied every rule of physics, or possibly proved the existence of parallel universes, with this universe as the most unlikely one. It looked like a miracle, and if so, God was squarely on the Seahawk's side. Also, Kearses is an amazing inspiration because after that insane catch, he pushed himself off the ground with one hand and got up to run. He got up. And tried to run. As James would say, "That was a good try! That was a really good try!" He was athletic, focused, and determined, and I just cannot say enough about how amazing it was.

Then the Seahawks snapped the ball at 1 minute and 6 seconds left in the game and Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch advanced the ball to the 1-yard line. Things were looking really bad. The Seattle Seahawks were going to get winning touchdown and the Patriots might not have enough time to get another one to win. Basically every football coach Belichick's position in the history of ever would have called a timeout in that position to save enough time to try to get another Patriots touchdown after the inevitable Seahawks touchdown.

If Belichick had called a timeout the Seahawks could have handed off the ball three times in the 1:06. But he didn't call the timeout. So the Seahawks had to pass on the second down or the third down, and if they didn't pass on the second, the Patriots would know they would pass on the third. So the Seahawks passed on the second. Plus, I bet the clock ticking away kind of freaked out the Seahawks because they expected Belichick to call the timeout. Also, Belichick said that he decided against the timeout after he saw the Seahawks put three receivers on the field, which I don't actually understand at all but everyone who understands football probably does.

Obviously cornerback Butler did a great job. He had practiced that pass play days before the Super Bowl. And he felt confident that they were going to throw the ball then.

Miranda loves Coach Belichick!

So there it is, I just blogged about football. Who would have thought? Hope I made sense!