Superb Owl LII (Eagles-Patriots)

SUPERB OWL LII: Philadelphia Eagles versus New England Patriots - Sunday 4th February 2018 (Kickoff/Coin toss: After 23:30)

BBC ONEHD/Red Button (apparently): 23:15
Sky Sports Main Event/Action/MixHD: 22:00
NFL Game Pass: If you have it...
Halftime Show act: Well it isn't Katy Perry or Lady Gaga so I guess we're stuck with the next best thing...Justin Timberlake :moop:
Super Bowl Commericals: Apparently the new Han Solo Star Wars film is getting a tease trailer in the middle of this so get excited Star Wars nerds. Also Diet Coke ads because why the fuck not. I hear Morgan Freeman and Keanu Reeves is making an appearance?
Will Tom Brady get the refs to give him a ring?: Probably.

In true TTH tradition this deserves a separate thread.

Mon the Eagles.

Superb Owl, you cunt.

The philly eagles are in the final? I know from various rap lyrics they have never won it, unless they have recently and im no longer up to speed.

Is this the annual wankery thread then?

'Mon The Foles Bowl.

Donovan McNabb had best be there in some capacity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Giggles

Is this the annual wankery thread then?

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What I wanna know is, buddy, why's it called a touchdown when you've not even godda touch the ball down?

I'll sure have a 'tight end' after all these pretzels and Bud light!

Heart says Eagles, head says Tom Brady will haunt everybody's dreams forever.

Isn't it amazing that we've reached a point where the adverts are a touted feature of the show. There's a smoky room somewhere where they must have a good laugh at that every year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wullie

Heart says Eagles, head says Tom Brady will haunt everybody's dreams forever.

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That's where I'm at but I'm listening more to my heart.

I can already see myself betting on the Eagles and it ending badly.

I'm going where the real money is

https://i.imgur.com/ONUP33K.png
https://i.imgur.com/NiUkry7.png

Hadn't heard any of the entertainment. It's 2004.

Eagles, Superb Owls, you gotta go with the bird theme

Or not, as the Patriots are going to pluck those feathers

Patriots can go flock themselves.

Hopefully the Patriots win on a disputed call from the refs as the seethe would be astronomical.

That would be great :D

I’m going to a practice for my local American football team Sunday morning, so hopefully I don’t get killed & miss the game.

If you ignored the aura of the Patriots you’d probably favour the Eagles, since their team is actually really good & balanced, but you can’t ignore that aura, so it’s really hard to ever believe anyone will beat the Pats in a big game without playing a near perfect game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan

That would be great :D

I’m going to a practice for my local American football team Sunday morning, so hopefully I don’t get killed & miss the game.

If you ignored the aura of the Patriots you’d probably favour the Eagles, since their team is actually really good & balanced, but you can’t ignore that aura, so it’s really hard to ever believe anyone will beat the Pats in a big game without playing a near perfect game.

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I played for a couple of teams over 6 years, it's good craic. I'd imagine the setup over there is a lot better too.

Having watched last week, I’m not sure :D I’d be fucked if they were actually all really good & in great shape.

How come the Patriots have been so great for a decade (or whatever it is) when the sport is set up to avoid teams doing so? Do they have the best squad, or is it that Melbourne Storm model of a few good players chewing up most of the salary cap, a bunch of cast-offs and stiffs being coached to death, and then an all-time great making it all work?

It's because of Tom Brady and refs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

How come the Patriots have been so great for a decade (or whatever it is) when the sport is set up to avoid teams doing so? Do they have the best squad, or is it that Melbourne Storm model of a few good players chewing up most of the salary cap, a bunch of cast-offs and stiffs being coached to death, and then an all-time great making it all work?

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They've had arguably the greatest QB of all time as well as probably the greatest head coach. They're also well run from the top.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lewis

How come the Patriots have been so great for a decade (or whatever it is) when the sport is set up to avoid teams doing so? Do they have the best squad, or is it that Melbourne Storm model of a few good players chewing up most of the salary cap, a bunch of cast-offs and stiffs being coached to death, and then an all-time great making it all work?

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Because they had the best QB and coach ever at the same time.

Are they worth that much then? Is the rest of the squad on a similar level to other challengers? It's not that they have those and then the best point guard and pitcher and competitive eating champion.

They're worth that much.

Before they came in the Patriots had never won a Superbowl, since they came in they've won 5. They've also come first in their division in every season bar 2 (they came second but had the same amount of wins as the team in first), before them they had only won they're division times.

They have other decent or higher players in their teams across the years but the head coach, Bellichick, has really gotten the best out of them.

Only other ELITE player right now that they have is Gronkowski who is on of the best TE's in history (will probably be the best when he finishes his career), there are a few other players that are close but I wouldn't say they have the biggest collection of amazing individuals.

And like 40% of the game is on the quarterback (to my untrained eye anyway). No other team sport has so much reliance on one individual.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

And like 40% of the game is on the quarterback (to my untrained eye anyway). No other team sport has so much reliance on one individual.

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Three of the last four teams left had very middling ones.

The baseball podcast I listen to occasionally drifts into NFL and they say Belichik nails the draft every year, trading down until he ends up with about twelve picks in later rounds and then never picking a dud.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Giggles

Three of the last four teams left had very middling ones.

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Not according to this: http://www.espn.com/nfl/qbr

1st, 2nd, 3rd and a cool 12th. Do stop me if 'QBR' is a nonsense stat though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Not according to this: http://www.espn.com/nfl/qbr

1st, 2nd, 3rd and a cool 12th. Do stop me if 'QBR' is a nonsense stat though.

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It's probably the better of the ratings now. Wentz is injured though since the second last game of the regular season, his backup is starting Sunday. Granted though, Keenum is a big surprise.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John

The baseball podcast I listen to occasionally drifts into NFL and they say Belichik nails the draft every year, trading down until he ends up with about twelve picks in later rounds and then never picking a dud.

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I'm not so sure about that. They're fairly average, I'd say his biggest strength is picking up veteran players who don't look all that great and turning them into something amazing.

Yep, players that other teams underutilise or just dump.

The patriots are just a fantastic organisation from top to bottom, and belichek is a fantastic coach

Despite all this talk of a quarterback driven league belichek is pretty old school - his focus is on a solid run game as it controls the clock, and a solid run defence that will then challenge opposition qbs to beat them

Their achievement at being this good for so long is amazing

The Patriots winning by some sort of malign refereeing influence (particularly if it's 'New York')* would be a lot better than a procedural 2 minute drive ending in a game winning Adam Vinitieri field goal or the best running attack in the league throwing a fucking pick from the 1 yard line with 20 seconds left on the clock. At least there would be something to moan about.

This is the end of the era though. It feels cyclical for me. I got back into things at the beginning of this, and it feels right that Philadelphia are going to end it.

*Jay Ajayi to have the winning TD ruled out for some kind of 'control of the ball' issue with nothing left on the clock, a la that Lions/Atlanta game earlier in the season.

And no 'organization' with Robert Kraft at the top of it can be described as being good from top to bottom.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

And no 'organization' with Robert Kraft at the top of it can be described as being good from top to bottom.

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He's no Jed York.

In dreamland I'm hoping for a massive Patriots MELTDOWN but we all know that's not going to happen.

How many more bowls does Brady have in him? I enjoy the Pats being beaten because it usually leads to some awesome games. Might stay up for it but will probably just catch the highlights on Monday morning.

It's hard to say how long Brady will last. Manning has proved that you can be mid-late 30s, look at the peak of your powers and then suddenly you're at the other end of the scale. He only got his second ring because Osweiler was fucking over one of the best defences ever more than he did.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shindig

How many more bowls does Brady have in him? I enjoy the Pats being beaten because it usually leads to some awesome games. Might stay up for it but will probably just catch the highlights on Monday morning.

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This one and one more I reckon.

I could imagine they go longer than other outfielders because they mostly launch it. I could be way off with that assumption, mind.

The good ones tend to go on longer because any QBs who rely on their physical attributes get found out very quickly once they start to decline.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wullie

I'm going where the real money is

https://i.imgur.com/ONUP33K.png
https://i.imgur.com/NiUkry7.png

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#RequestABet for Carry Out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ian

The good ones tend to go on longer because any QBs who rely on their physical attributes get found out very quickly once they start to decline.

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Yeah you don't see many mobile/'DUAL THREAT' QBs go on into their late 30s and still be any good.

Vick was 33 or 34 when he retired I think. Probably wouldn't have lasted that long if he wasn't fighting dogs as that time out stopped him from getting injured a few times.

So who's staying up for this then?

Couldn't get the day off tomorrow so the original plan was to go to bed from now til 11:30 and then get a few hours after it.

Plan now is to go on to bed at 10 and get the result in the morning.

I might watch it until about one, so prepare for a load of inane questions lads.

I'm loaded up with snacks. I'll eat them tomorrow during the Chelsea game.

I've just remembered I haven't a morsel of junk food so that just cements plan B for me. I really couldn't give a toss who wins anyway.

I have some brown chicken bits to bung in the oven and not nearly enough beer to see me through. If the Pats are winning comfortably at half time I think I'll be going to bed.

Yea I’ll be staying up. Got to be up for 8:30 but only for 10 minutes then I can sleep for another 2-3 hours... could be a disaster but I’ll try it.

Would love a close game that ends in an Eagles win so fully expect a Patriots blow out.

Didn't realise the Patriots could equal the record for most Owls won tonight. Fuck's sake.

If everyone in work didn't know I watched this then I'd pull the mother of all sickies. Should tell nobody a fucking thing.

I'll be going to bed soon for a few hours then once it's finished. Have to be up at 9 so it's not terrible.

Booked the next couple of days off :cool:

Got pizza & plenty of booze so I'll be good to go. What time is kick-off, 11? Gonna have a coffee now then get on the alcohol.

11:30ish.

I have cheese chickpea puffs, salt and vinegar chickpea puffs, Bombay mix and chocolate with feuilletine and sea salt (better than the 72% Venezuelan RL).

I think I'm winning in the snack game.

I'm having no snacks and you're even behind me with that selection.

I have olive twists too :drool:

I assume those are the snacks he's got for the dressage or whatever he's got on for the next two hours and he has things people want to eat for the Owl.

On the snacks front, thanks to it being my daughters birthday party earlier my fridge is full of leftover scotch eggs, sausage rolls and pork pies :drool: Perfect timing.

And that's game, set, and match in the snack game.

I'm still holding firm with my breaded chicken bits, I feel.

Someone hit me up with PM for where I can watch this.

BBC something. Sky Sports Mix.

Kraft are one of the SuperBowl sponsors. Nothing dodgy about that :sherlock: BBC usually show it for UK viewers, not sure about elsewhere.

I said it in the AFC Championship game & I'll say it again now - Tom Brady's hair is fucking awful.

Hope the Pats stuff these cunts and the streets are awash with tinfoil hats and tears.

JJ Watt looks younger & more like a hipster twat than I remembered. Music time, time to mute for 15mins,

The woman doing the signing :D

Hope you had your money on white hair, Wullie.

Nice of her to take the gum out for the national anthem.

Hope you had your money on white hair, Wullie.

£10 on the Eagles to win
£10 on Foles MVP
£5 on Ajayi MVP
£10 on Foles to throw a TD in each half
£5 on each team to score a rushing and passing TD
£8.47 on Cooks and Jeffrey to have 6+ catches each
£5 on Ajayi to score a TD & Eagles win
£5 on over 48 points, Gronk TD, Jeffery TD, Brady 2+ TD passes, Foles +2 TD passes
£10 on Blount to score a TD
£10 on Eagles D/ST to score a TD
£5 on Ajayi to score a TD.

Going to end in a 13-0 Patriots win clearly.

I love that Matthew Slater is the one the Pats always send out for the coin toss.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan

I love that Matthew Slater is the one the Pats always send out for the coin toss.

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Probably because your captains are always at the coin toss and he's one of their captains.

Brilliant first drive by the Eagles here.

Ertz to score and Eagles win for me.

Tempted by the Pink bet but she'd end up with the flag painted on her head or something like that if I did.

Yeah, but he's always the main guy who calls & gives the decision. Gotta show the special teams guys some love.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wullie

Ertz to score and Eagles win for me.

Tempted by the Pink bet but she'd end up with the flag painted on her head or something like that if I did.

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Would that make red, white & blue all winners?

Why is the Patriots coach dressed like Grimace?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan

Would that make red, white & blue all winners?

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America would win like they always do.

It's great again.

I hope Rowe stays in the game all day so I don't have to see Malcolm fucking Butler at all.

Typical that they fucked that up after going through them like a knife through butter all the way.

It's a mystery why the Steelers didn't play Harrison earlier in the season.

He's been a constant threat on passing downs since the Patriots picked him up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wullie

I hope Rowe stays in the game all day so I don't have to see Malcolm fucking Butler at all.

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It's alright, he'll be a Brown next season.

To drive that far and only come away with a field goal is a bit of a shitter. Points are points but you need to convert those against Brady unless the defence is going to step up and smother him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

It's a mystery why the Steelers didn't play Harrison earlier in the season.

He's been a constant threat on passing downs since the Patriots picked him up.

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That's the Patriots through & through really.

4th time the Patriots have won the coin toss in the Owl losing the previous 3.

Might as well go to sleep now then, cheers BBC.

I've been wondering all day and I can't seem to find an answer to this mystery at all, but does anyone know where Jay Ajayi was born?

Cheers.

I wonder if Rob Gronkowski finds all this a bit yawnsome now.

Once you've helped Mojo Rawley win the Andre Battle Royal everything else in life must seem a bit tedious.

I don't know, but word is Antonio Gates played basketball.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Giggles

I've been wondering all day and I can't seem to find an answer to this mystery at all, but does anyone know where Jay Ajayi was born?

Cheers.

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PM Bam.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ian

I wonder if Rob Gronkowski finds all this a bit yawnsome now.

Once you've helped Mojo Rawley win the Andre Battle Royal everything else in life must seem a bit tedious.

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I'd forgotten about that. Thanks.

In the XFL Battle Bowl, field goal attempts will be replaced by a single game of British Bulldog.

Fucking Danny DeVito as the red M&M :moop: I'm going to hate all these adverts,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wullie

In the XFL Battle Bowl, field goal attempts will be replaced by a single game of British Bulldog.

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They can't do that can they? It's banned, they can't do something that extreme.

I can't wait for the McMahonBowl, commentated by JR & King. The losing team gets a load of Stone Cold Stunners, of course.

Woof. :drool:

Foles :drool:

Alshon :cool:

Kicker's absolutely shit it there.

Patriots will win by a single point now, naturally.

I went and put snacks in the oven. I take it it was a shank rather than a block?

http://i.imgur.com/8AR1k8B.gif

Don't make Al & Chris talk about fucking hashtags.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ian

I went and put snacks in the oven. I take it it was a shank rather than a block?

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Yeah, looked like it almost went directly over the post.

Amendola could have hosted a barbecue in the amount of space they gave him there.

Amendola :cool:

Eagles are getting some consistent pressure though.

Peter Dinklage rapping about Doritos, followed by Morgan Freeman doing Get UR Freak On for Mountain Dew?

Go on then.

Looked like a botched powerbomb.

Perfect chance to counter the hurdle with a Farooq spinebuster utterly wasted there. :nono:

Also: lol.

Should have SPEARED Cooks out of the game there. Nice try.

What a shank.

I thought it might hook back in.

Arn Anderson is somewhere approving of that spinebuster.

Not sure why Cooks tried to hurdle when he could probably have won the race to the outside.

Special teams shitting the bed so far.

Gareth Southgate's turning up soon on the BBC for some reason.

What a guest.

The BBC coverage always suffers for the random dickheads they bring out for a laugh.

Carlson is great and Osi is usually at least decent but then they start rolling out Martin O'Neill or whoever.

Ouch!

Jesus.

Not been a good few plays for Mr Cooks.

Chappers has to feel awkward emphasising the first syllable of the word defence.

I need to see that again because it honestly didn't look bad from what I caught. The BBC refusing to show it again is bollocks.

Edit- Oh that's not the play I saw... I saw the Brady one.

That Cloverfield thing is rumoured to drop on Netflix right after the game btw

New Cloverfield trailer :drool:

EDIT: Interesting...

I'd only heard a couple of days ago that they'd got two Cloverfield films wrapped up for release.

Brady should stick to passing.

Great idea though.

You tart, Brady.

Tom Brady is the worst WR of all time.

Brady :D

Maybe having a WR throw to a 40 year old QB isn't the greatest idea of all time.

Carlson :D

I suppose it's only fair. The Patriots had a linebacker who was the best receiver of all time so Brady being a QB / the worst balances things out on a karmic level.

http://i.imgur.com/TLc2KdE.gif

Only the best QB of all time, Mohamed Sanu, could have pulled that play off.

Danny should've had a go at Brady for not trying hard enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Browning

Only the best QB of all time, Mohamed Sanu, could have pulled that play off.

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Better than Randle-El? Steady on.

This is looking very Eagles-y so far

I wouldn't have blamed the Eagles for just taking the point but I love that they went for the two.

My bad, I think I was the intended receiver on that one.

Timberlake doing some Prince apparently?

Wullie might go on a rampage if that actually happens.

Snack update: The fake-KFC chicken goujons I just had were fucking magical.

What the fuck were those CGI Foles / Brady things about? Use a picture of them, dickheads.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Timberlake doing some Prince apparently?

Wullie might go on a rampage if that actually happens.

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I heard a rumour that there's gonna be a Prince-hologram there.

The state of that if true...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bernanke

I heard a rumour that there's gonna be a Prince-hologram there.

The state of that if true...

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Luckily a friend of Prince talked them out of it.

Prince hated the hologram thing when asked about it so luckily they've ditched that if they were considering it. I think Janet Jackson shows up and gets Justin's cock out.

lol.

I was just about to say there's bound to be a turnover soon.

Great 'tackling'.

Nice tackling, douchebags.

What is with the fucking kicking?

How do you miss these kicks?

James 'SuperBowl' White :cool:

Should probably let him take the kicks as well.

Blair Walsh must have given a seminar in Minneapolis this weekend.

Per-SILL?

Fucking Americans.

The stiff arm by Clement :drool:

This is the Big Play Bowl so far.

He so deserved a TD there.

Come on Eagles, don't balls this up again.

Foles > Brady.

What a fucking ballsy play that was.

That's how you do it, Brady.

Oh man.

Fuck you, Brady. :D

I'm off to bed. Well done, Patriots. I knew you could come back.

Night lads.

That's pretty lol :D

http://i.imgur.com/TWoJSbf.gif

Freaking gorgeous.

Butler wont play at all.

Strange decision that.

The worst lip syncing ever.

This is terrible.

This is worse than the Black Eyed Peas effort.

They should have just kept with the Prince show they had on the screens.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Giggles

I've been wondering all day and I can't seem to find an answer to this mystery at all, but does anyone know where Jay Ajayi was born?

Cheers.

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On a similar theme, who's sponsoring this half time show? Coke?

Anyway, cracked a beer at 15-3 (prematurely) and getting a bit alarmingly giddy at the thought of some serious second half wreckage. Still think you need a big defensive play to stick the nail in the Patriots' coffin, Brady's thrown the ball into so much danger (relatively speaking) he surely has a pick in him (opening drive please).

That Foles TD was a thing of beauty. They should try to get him a rushing one as well.

I wonder how much the 'audience' are being paid to jump around like they're loving it?

This is fucking shit. He's not even pretending to sing 90% of the time.

He's not really doing much actual singing of his own songs, is he?

I did like him playing with the boxing microphone stand.

I guess they didn't give a shit about what Prince said in the past.

Guess they didn't ditch the Prince thing after all. His hologram's probably done more actual singing than Timberlake too.

The left shark gave a better HT performance than this.

How have they managed to fuck the sound this badly?

Quote:

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GW: With digital editing, it is now possible to create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past. Would you ever consider doing something like that?

Prince : Certainly not. That's the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing... it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song ["Free As a Bird"], manipulating John Lennon's voice to have him singing from across the grave... that'll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.

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Oops.

Technically not one of those weird ghost holograms but an OHP version instead, basically the same thing Prince hated though in pretending to duet with dead people.

Knew I should have bet on which song he'd sing seeing as the answer is all of them.

Mirrors is such a tune.

That poor, poor kid at the end.

Kelly Clarkson does not look the same as she used to.

View Tweet

:lol:

That is perfect.

That is a phenomenal throw.

Can't place it any better.

Absolute bullshit if that comes back.

That's the right call.

He didn't bobble it/lose control, he was tucking it in.

Mike has called it how I saw it. 2 feet down then it was bobbled but it doesn't matter, it's already a TD.

Collinsworth has such a hard on for the Pats.

Gronk with a WWE audition there.

Most yards in a Super Bowl and we're not even in the 4th yet.

Eli & OBJ doing Dirty Dancing? SuperBowl ads have got weird this year.

There's an alright game going on too, I guess.

View Tweet

Fucking hell.

You really can't play man on Gronkowski in the red zone.

So inevitable.

That's a TD.

He crossed the line with control.

It's another cast iron TD and once again the commentators are all on the Patriot's dicks.

Catch, 3 steps and then 'breaks the plane'.

Commentators are drunk.

That's half my bet won, come on Philadelphia.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry

Hope you had your money on white hair, Wullie.

£10 on the Eagles to win
£10 on Foles MVP
£5 on Ajayi MVP
£10 on Foles to throw a TD in each half
£5 on each team to score a rushing and passing TD
£8.47 on Cooks and Jeffrey to have 6+ catches each
£5 on Ajayi to score a TD & Eagles win
£5 on over 48 points, Gronk TD, Jeffery TD, Brady 2+ TD passes, Foles +2 TD passes
£10 on Blount to score a TD
£10 on Eagles D/ST to score a TD
£5 on Ajayi to score a TD.

Going to end in a 13-0 Patriots win clearly.

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That is mine right now.

Should Eagles hang on that will win and I'm assuming the Foles MVP.

:drool:

What a time for a sack fumble.

Get the fuck in.

Took a while for the first turnover.

Oh shit :drool:

I feel bad for Carson Wentz.

Get Ajayi in the game and let him score a TD please.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wullie

Took a while for the first turnover.

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First Patriots one.

Foles threw a pick in the first half.

That's a pretty lol way to lose it.

Oh yeah, the juggling one.

What a stupid decision.

Thought that was going to find it's way to Gronk's hands there.

Going to be awesome having the SB champions at Wembley.

Anyone in Philly get the fuck inside now if you don't want to die in a celebration riot.

:drool:

What a game.

That's probably the best Super Bowl I've seen.

Remember when Alshon said he'd win the SuperBowl in the offseason?

Admittedly he was with the Bears then, but he never said Chicago...

Brady ran off straight away :harold:

WOOOOOO

That was a great game.

Foles to get traded to the Browns, get paid and benched for Kizer halfway through the season.

Most yards combined in any NFL game.

Impressive.

Checking in from a bar miles away from home.
That was tense as fuck but GET THE FUCK IN!

I sat up and watched most of this with a mate. I really enjoyed it but my NFL loving friend assures me it's the best Owl in years so I'm conflicted on whether I should start paying real attention to this or not.

It's genuinely impressive how they spool out a game that starts with one hour on the clock into a four hour spectacle, two of which is adverts.

Absolutely superb. So many good moments.

The Blount TD (fuck you pay me), the Foles TD, that hit on Cooks, so many broken tackles, the ruling on the field stands, the result.

Not enough :cool: to go around.

Has Brady retired yet?

Made about £150 profit.

I couldn't really sleep after though so I'm knackered.

Just watched the highlights. Man, Brady had some serious pressure on him. Philly were fantastic. Superb Owl.

Really good game even if I did fall asleep for a good chunk of the third quarter.

And fuck the Pats, obviously.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John

I sat up and watched most of this with a mate. I really enjoyed it but my NFL loving friend assures me it's the best Owl in years so I'm conflicted on whether I should start paying real attention to this or not.

It's genuinely impressive how they spool out a game that starts with one hour on the clock into a four hour spectacle, two of which is adverts.

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Like all American sports it takes three times longer than necessary so you'd be mad to watch any of it live.

Baseball is having a PACE OF PLAY soul-searching festival at the moment ('no one wants to watch for three hours!', presumably except the millions who do), whereas NFL seems to want to take even longer if anything.

They are indisputably better as social activities if you're watching them live.

GamePass's condensed highlights are wonderful on any other occasion.

I had a dream that some of us were watching this in a pub, and I turned up half-way through with the Eagles leading 70-31. I said 'Have the Patriots bottled this, or are the Eagles...', which made everyone burst out lolling, so I knocked The Bruce out and then shoved James over when he started screeching that some drink had landed on his 'work phone'. I need to start reading before bed really.

The superbowl is always extra long, but yeah condensed games are the way forward.

It looks like Philly was essentially the worst place in the world last night after the win.

Lovely.

That was a fucking great game.

Foles :drool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ian

It looks like Philly was essentially the worst place in the world last night after the win.

Lovely.

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Isn't that just Philly fans in general? It would have been worse if they lost.

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Originally Posted by Giggles

The superbowl is always extra long, but yeah condensed games are the way forward.

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I thought the game itself fairly rattled along, but the breaks seemed longer than usual. Not sure if that was just watching the BBC coverage, as opposed to Sky where you get some normal adverts to pad it out, or if the Superbowl breaks in play are just longer. Halftime is obviously interminable but I busied myself loading the dishwasher to stave off the inevitability of sleep that comes with trying to watch it.

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

I thought the game itself fairly rattled along, but the breaks seemed longer than usual. Not sure if that was just watching the BBC coverage, as opposed to Sky where you get some normal adverts to pad it out, or if the Superbowl breaks in play are just longer. Halftime is obviously interminable but I busied myself loading the dishwasher to stave off the inevitability of sleep that comes with trying to watch it.

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I believe ad breaks are a touch longer to maximise on the monies.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Baseball is having a PACE OF PLAY soul-searching festival at the moment ('no one wants to watch for three hours!', presumably except the millions who do), whereas NFL seems to want to take even longer if anything.

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The college game is going through a bit of an awakening at the moment. The interference of video reviews and millions of camera angles slowing things down. A whole raft of the commentators were complaining about it last season because it slows the game down something rotten.

What a game though. Well worth the day of annual leave.

Watching that in a bar, full of overconfident Pats fans and a couple of Eagles dotted about the place was glorious.

They keep counting us out.

https://i.gyazo.com/1e50bee41694dd1b...58b4ddd90e.jpg

I'm not sure that game was better than the Patriots/Hawks one a couple of years ago. It was very entertaining but only because both defenses were absolutely shite. It's certainly up there, but the Hawks one edges it for me.

Seahawks.

The Hawks are a basketball team from Atlanta.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niko_cee

I thought the game itself fairly rattled along, but the breaks seemed longer than usual. Not sure if that was just watching the BBC coverage, as opposed to Sky where you get some normal adverts to pad it out, or if the Superbowl breaks in play are just longer. Halftime is obviously interminable but I busied myself loading the dishwasher to stave off the inevitability of sleep that comes with trying to watch it.

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I know there was at least one injury time-out but it felt like the game was going at a hell of a pace in the first half but then ended up being four hours anyway. Presumably for the reason 'How said.

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Originally Posted by phonics

Isn't that just Philly fans in general? It would have been worse if they lost.

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Probably. They tend to be self-interested dickheads as a wrasslin' crowd too.

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Originally Posted by phonics

Seahawks.

The Hawks are a basketball team from Atlanta.

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You're in an NFL thread. No one gives a shit about an NBA team from Atlanta here.

Just here?

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Originally Posted by Giggles

Just here?

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Normally I'd agree but then they beat the Knicks yesterday which is always funny.

Don't all basketball teams lose around 150 games a season anyway? Like baseball.

If a baseball team only loses 50 games in a year that means they have been utterly dominant.

Losing 70 qualifies as a very good season in most cases.

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Originally Posted by Giggles

Don't all basketball teams lose around 150 games a season anyway? Like baseball.

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Not at home. Even the worst teams will have a 50-60% win rate there. And the Hawks are garbage. They have a 30% winrate total.

Why is there a big home advantage in basketball? All the shit squeaky floors are surely the same.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd

Why is there a big home advantage in basketball? All the shit squeaky floors are surely the same.

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Indoor arenas are all completely different, heat, noise, atmosphere etc.. The size of the court doesn't change but loads of other stuff does. They even had to put a rule in that the annoying music they put on while the game is in play can't be above a certain decibel because teams were cranking the sound systems when the away team was in possession to put them off. Oh and then there's stuff like 'away fans' not existing so the calling of fouls used to be massively biased. When you consider most games are within 10 points of each other, a few errant fouls can really swing a games momentum.

It's been shrinking over time (the largest drop in home win-rate came when teams stopped flying commercial and chartered instead) but it's still pretty high.

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Originally Posted by Ian

I know there was at least one injury time-out but it felt like the game was going at a hell of a pace in the first half but then ended up being four hours anyway. Presumably for the reason 'How said.

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I am guessing that if someone already paid $5 million for a thirty second ad, you cannot just tell them 'sorry mate, game lasted less than expected,' so they will always drag it up to the four hour mark no matter what.

Yeah. There are probably technically clauses in there for the event that the game doesn't run to four hours where all the people signing it are going "And if we don't get enough time for all the ads-" *snort* "-we'll just give you your money back."

And then everybody has a good laugh and they go for some golf.

That was bloody great. Me and my pal watched it at the pool hall that used to be a Riley's (now under some other management because Riley's went bankrupt or something). They didn't advertise it on their social media ( i actually messaged them on fb check they were showing it) or inside/outside the actual building, and it's a niche hipster sport in a crap provincial town, so it was just me, my mate and 4 other random blokes. We got nicely trashed without being obnoxious and had some deliciously rank burgers and played some pool during half time. A lovely evening, basically.

Oh, and before we went pool place we went to my favourite greb pub and some bloke was incomprehensibly doing some DJ set despite it being 9pm on a Sunday. The people in there were this weirdo I went to school with, the homeless bloke I helped to open a bank account drinking wine on his own, a white guy with dreadlocks and four middle aged people who looked liked speed causalities, it was fucking quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpv3jqmYRjk