Was the Super Bowl really all that super?

The 36th Superbowl in New Orleans was many things to many people.

To the fans in the New England states it was simply about time. The Boston faithful were finally rewarded with their first major championship since the Celtics emerged triumphant after the 1986 NBA season.

One team enjoyed simple validation. The Patriots, arguably the most aptly named team in the league this year, pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever and stunned the heavily favoured St. Louis Rams. They also made their quarterback controversy a real no-brainer.

For others, it means more sleepless nights. Scott Norwood is forced to continue his life of solitude and shame while Adam Vinatieri finally makes it cool to be a kicker.

To many Americans it was a return to normalcy. A celebration of the American way of life and a tasteful tribute to the victims of 9/11 was certainly understood and appreciated.

Some just enjoyed the party. U2 proved they've still got it with an understated, and tremendously underrated, halftime show.

It was simply not the greatest Superbowl ever. You could make an argument for the fourth quarter but the rest of the game was pretty excruciating to watch. There is no way this game ranks up there with the Rams-Titans match up of three years ago or the recent Packers-Broncos match-up in Superbowl XXXII let alone some of the older classics like the Giants-Bills in Superbowl XXV.

The Rams did not choke. To give credit where credit is due, Bill Belichick and the Patriots defence did a masterful job of throwing in new looks and blitz schemes that obviously forced Kurt Warner out of his comfort zone. Choosing to play anywhere from four to seven defensive backs, all of whom were laying some heavy lumber on the Rams receivers each time one of them put a hand anywhere near the ball, their inspired play forced the Rams offence into several key turnovers all of which the Patriots converted into points.

Kurt Warner's thumb was not a factor in his play, which wasn't that poor. The man completed 28 of 44 passes for 365 yards. He also threw for a TD and scrambled for one himself. I'm sure the thumb was bothering him but the constant pressure and the number of hard hits he took was the contributing factor here. Some key injuries along the offensive line were his biggest handicap on Sunday.

Tom Brady, while definitely stepping up and proving he has the stuff to be a franchise player, was not the games MVP. He had one drive when it counted but all of his open passing lanes were set up by the 18 carries and 92 yards amassed by running back Antowain Smith. Smith ran hard all day and was ruthless in bringing the ball back to the inside, refusing to run out of bounds and punishing the Rams defence. I believe Mike Martz and the coaching staff of the Rams felt Belichik was going to run out the clock through Smith in the waning moments and opt for over-time. My vote for MVP, for whatever it's worth, goes to Smith. A serious case could also be made for the entire Patriots defence or the unprecedented selection of a kicker in Adam Vinatieri.

The TV show was also not fun to watch.

The most bizarre component of the game was the audio broadcast which for the majority of the first half was out of synch with the video feed. It resembled nothing less than a cheesy monster epic. I was left wondering when Godzilla and King Kong were going to go toe to toe on the 50-yard line. They finally figured this out in time for the half-time show but it had given the game a very unprofessional feel.

Second, and even more distracting was the work of the broadcast team of John Madden and Pat Summerall. Hyped as the swan song on a fine career for the retiring Summerall the game was overshadowed by cheesy one-liners, mistakes on the identity of players and formations and the repetition of the most futilely obvious commentary. These two had no equal in their prime, but Sunday's game was simply horrific.

The lowlight of the evening occurred with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter when Madden stated that he didn't "agree with what the Patriots are doing. They should be playing for overtime". At least he was consistent.

They didn't even get any help from the camera crew. When we weren't peppered with overhead shots of the pile untangling itself we had close ups on the hunched over rear ends of the huddle. One instance, which was simply unacceptable during a game of this magnitude, had the camera focusing on Tom Brady for the entire play even after he delivered the ball. Instead of watching the play develop or viewing the tackle we had a prolonged shot of Brady admiring his handiwork.

As if that wasn't bad enough we got to enjoy a brief visit to Kandahar, Afghanistan. I had no problems visiting troops in the field but the second time they went live to the soldiers, Madden and Summerall were left talking to an open mike with no response from the other side. While the "Mama loves her kids!" sign was enough to bring tears of sadness most of my tears were of the type brought on by dull, throbbing pain.

And finally, north of the border, we didn't get to see any of the cool new commercials that make an event like this worthwhile. No Britney, no financial services monkey, no credit card celebrity and no ice-tea puppets. We got to see other people's parties and Warren Moon. There's really no justice.

All in all I had a great time and it ended up being pretty good football. Maybe that should be enough. Then again, there's always next year!