Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for February 6, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- The Giants are Super Bowl champions after beating the Patriots 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI.
- Eli Manning is the Super Bowl MVP.
- The Giants will get a New York City ticker-tape parade starting at 11am tomorrow morning.
- Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers wins the league MVP award.
- Remember that golfer who blew the big lead on the final hole last week? He's Kyle Stanley and he came from eight strokes back to win his first PGA tournament yesterday in Phoenix.
- Montreal Canadiens fans sarcastically sing Bonne Fête (French for Happy Birthday) as Scott Gomez, the team's highest paid player, "celebrates" a full year without scoring a goal.
2. You Can't Spell Believe Either, Without Eli
Yes, everyone scoffed when Eli Manning stood up for himself months ago. Before the season he said, yes I'm an elite quarterback. And we all snickered, yeah right, not in the same class as Brady, Brees and Rodgers, and throw in Roethlisberger and Rivers too. Well guess what? There's not a better quarterback in the NFL than Eli Manning. You read that right. He takes a back seat to nobody. His 38-yard pass to Mario Manningham in the fourth quarter was just one of several laser beams he fired on the biggest stage in the biggest game. Some stars, like Joe Namath are seemingly born. Others, like Eli Manning blossom before our very eyes. Yet he knew it before any of us. All you had to do was ask him. By the way, here's what Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck tweeted at 4:30 this morning: An ELIte QB. A salsa dancing WR. A coach that's been fired 20+ times. A defense playing as 1 great fans ownership and some others = ALLIN.
3. Ins and Outs
The football community is thrilled that former Patriots and Jets running back Curtis Martin has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Great player, class act. When he announced his retirement he told me he wanted to own an NFL team some day. Don't put it past him. Then there's Bill Parcells. Many have voiced surprise that he didn't make it. Maybe what goes around comes around. There were times when Parcells treated the media poorly, maybe some of the writers decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. Or more likely his two Super Bowl rings with the Giants don't resonate around the country as they do in the New York area. I think Parcells is a Hall of Famer, he'll just have to wait in line.
4. Case Closed
The government spent two years investigating seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong for performance enhancing drugs and has now closed the case with no charges. In this economic climate, was the money well spent? And will the government be spending wisely if it retries Roger Clemens this spring for lying to Congress about steroids? I'm not condoning cheating, believe me. I'm just wondering if our tax dollars can be better utilized.
5. Numero Uno
Whenever I make an appearance to talk about my kids book The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, kids and adults ask me the same question. Who is the best baseball player of all time? The kids are disappointed to hear it's not Derek Jeter. There is only one clear cut choice, the Babe, who was born on this date. His slugging of course revolutionized the game and some feel he saved the sport after the 1919 "Black Sox" Scandal. But on top of that, he may have been one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived. In his first World Series start, Game 2 of the 1916 World Series, he pitched a 14-inning complete game for the Red Sox against the Brooklyn Robins. He yielded an inside-the-park homer in the first inning and then pitched 13 scoreless innings for a 2-1 win. To this day it's the longest complete game pitched in the history of the World Series. We've got our winner. Who's in second place?
Happy Birthday: Nets forward and former husband of what's her name, Kris Humphries. 27.
Bonus Birthday: 1950s bombshell and Top 5 subscriber Mamie Van Doren. 81.
Today in Sports: George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born in Baltimore. 1895.
Bonus Event: Fore! Astronaut Alan Shepard hits a golf ball on the moon. 1971.
To sign up for Len's free daily Top 5 email click here.