Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools
Sporting Fools

Sporting Fools

The frequent and occasional humorous musings behind two of the World's greatest underappreciated sports minds.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

One Thing Missing From This Super Bowl...

....The game was great, I wish I would have had a post-game analysis post but I didn't. Oh well it was a damn good game, not the best ever, but not "boring with a great fourth quarter" either. Somewhere in the middle -- with a great fourth quarter.

One thing that's missing from my post Super Bowl readings is the writings of the great SI personality Paul Zimmerman.

Now Dr. Z isn't for everyone, but for a football lover he put the intricacies of the game into written form better than most.

His book, "The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football" is probably the best ever written on the subject. [Amazon.com]

He picked the Giants to win last season...and more importantly than that he had a wide assortment of breakdowns to explain why he thought the Giants were going to pull a 24-20 upset (here, here and here)

And of course there was my annual favorite column that ripped the current NFL announcers to shreds (or complimented them if they deserved it).

And there's more -- his early prediction that Tony Romo's romantic escapades would sabotage the Cowboys among others. Dr. Z wasn't just a fan of the game, he played the game in college and at the semi-pro level and he played up front -- where the smartest football players exist.

According to his Wikipedia page the stroke that Dr. Z suffered in November has left him in real bad shape and I'm resigned to the fact that he may never write or communicate with anyone about football again. Surely SI will try to find someone that can step into his shoes but they will never be him and probably won't be allowed to do some of the daring things he's done in his life, including give every reader a look into the NFL's Hall of Fame vetting process.

So as great as Super Bowl XLIII was it has also lost a lot of luster because it missed out on the one man that could put the game in words.

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Posted by Corey 7:41 AM ||