Super Bowl Underdogs (12 points or more)

twoaxes · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 26

On Feb 1, 12:19 pm, "observer" wrote:
> ---
>
> This year, the New York Giants are 12 point
> underdogs. As it turns out, -9- times before,
> there was an underdog of 12 points or more
> in a Super Bowl. -3- of those times, the under-
> dog won the Super Bowl. The biggest upset?
> Super Bowl III, the New York Jets, a 17 point
> underdog, upset the Baltimore Colts.
>
> Reference:
> http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=57465
>
> ---

None of this meand anything of course, but the oddsmakers in Vegas
stand to make a killing this year. I am sure they are licking their
chops over this game. While the money is flowing to the Giants,
oddsmakers are saying the pointspread should be even higher, like 14
or 15 points.

Archived from group: alt>sports>football>pro

Tarkus · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 75

observer wrote:
> This year, the New York Giants are 12 point
> underdogs. As it turns out, -9- times before,
> there was an underdog of 12 points or more
> in a Super Bowl. -3- of those times, the under-
> dog won the Super Bowl. The biggest upset?
> Super Bowl III, the New York Jets, a 17 point
> underdog, upset the Baltimore Colts.

III and IV deserve asterisks, because nobody really knew just how good
the AFL was. Now people have a much better idea how teams stack up
against each other, because of the merger and interconference play.

For example, we know that the Patriots blew out arguably the best NFC
team in that team's home stadium. The same team that beat the Giants
twice (though not when it counted most).

Tarkus · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 75

twoaxes@optonline.net wrote:
> None of this meand anything of course, but the oddsmakers in Vegas
> stand to make a killing this year. I am sure they are licking their
> chops over this game. While the money is flowing to the Giants,
> oddsmakers are saying the pointspread should be even higher, like 14
> or 15 points.

Which is why it's going down, because they're trying to attract Patriots
money.

Numbers that high are always an iffy proposition, because of freak
plays, backdoor covers, etc. But if I were to bet, I'd definitely take
the Patriots at anything less than 2 TDs and maybe higher. I think this
has a real chance to be a blowout.

observer · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 196

---

This year, the New York Giants are 12 point
underdogs. As it turns out, -9- times before,
there was an underdog of 12 points or more
in a Super Bowl. -3- of those times, the under-
dog won the Super Bowl. The biggest upset?
Super Bowl III, the New York Jets, a 17 point
underdog, upset the Baltimore Colts.

Reference:
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=57465

---

observer · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 196

"Tarkus" wrote ...
>
> observer wrote:
> >
> > This year, the New York Giants are 12 point
> > underdogs. As it turns out, -9- times before,
> > there was an underdog of 12 points or more
> > in a Super Bowl. -3- of those times, the under-
> > dog won the Super Bowl. The biggest upset?
> > Super Bowl III, the New York Jets, a 17 point
> > underdog, upset the Baltimore Colts.
>
> III and IV deserve asterisks, because nobody really knew just how good
> the AFL was. Now people have a much better idea how teams stack up
> against each other, because of the merger and interconference play.
>
> For example, we know that the Patriots blew out arguably the best NFC
> team in that team's home stadium. The same team that beat the Giants
> twice (though not when it counted most).

---
Old Jets feel Super about Giants
http://tinyurl.com/2xkk2v
BY RICH CIMINI
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Thursday, January 31st 2008, 4:00 AM
---

Excerpts:

The Daily News front page on January 13, 1969.
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/31/amd_cover.jpg

Joe Namath and the Jets pulled off one of the
biggest upsets in NFL history in Super Bowl III.
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/31/amd_namath.jpg

Namath celebrates with Jets coach Weeb Ewbank.
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/01/31/amd_weeb.jpg

Nearly 40 years later, they still walk together as
champions, 42 men bonded by one accomplish-
ment. They talk like brothers, not former team-
mates, and their voices sometimes crack with
emotion when they recall that historic day, Jan.
12, 1969, when they changed football in America.

The '68 Jets are a forever team, one that will be
remembered for as long as there are upsets and
potential upsets in sports. Their 16-7 victory
over the Colts in Super Bowl III still is consid-
ered by many as the greatest upset in pro foot-
ball history, a milestone that has come to life
again this week as the Giants attempt to topple
the undefeated and heavily favored Patriots in
Super Bowl XXLII.

Joe Namath knows exactly what Eli Manning
is thinking with game day approaching.

Don Maynard understands the adrenaline churn-
ing inside Plaxico Burress.

John Schmitt feels the overwhelming "We'll-
show-them" mentality that is rumbling among
the Giants' offensive linemen.

Then, like now, the feeling is the same among
underdogs: You believe. And if you win, you
never forget the feeling. It always feels like yes-
terday.

"I'm telling you, I wear my Super Bowl ring
every day and when I look at it, I can recall
every play in the game," Schmitt says. "To win
when you're the greatest underdog in the history
of football ... to prove to the world what you can
accomplish with tremendous heart ... it's the best."

The old center pauses a moment, the words catch-
ing in his throat.

"It would be the same for the Giants," Schmitt
continues. "To go against a dynasty, to beat them
in the Super Bowl, it would be something they'd
never forget. Something no one would forget."

....

Back in the day, the Jets had to fight the AFL stigma.
They represented the other league in pro football,
and there was no way a team from the wacky, pass-
happy, hippie haven known as the AFL was going
to defeat a real team from the blue-blooded NFL.

....

"We had been ridiculed by the other league for 10
years," says Maynard, the Hall of Fame wide re-
ceiver. "Now we get to live with (the victory) for
the rest of our lives."

....

Namath, a former Southeastern Conference quarter-
back who reached the Super Bowl in his fourth sea-
son (ditto, Manning), believes in Peyton's little
brother. Namath said last week that he's rooting
for the Giants and feels that Manning will lead an
upset.

They like the Giants' confidence, best exemplified
by Burress, who predicted a 23-17 victory. The '68
Jets know all about guarantees; they lived the orig-
inal guarantee, famously delivered by Namath, who
told a gathering a few days before Super Bowl III
that the Jets would shock the Colts.

"That put all the pressure on us," Schmitt says. "We
were like, 'Holy - - -!' I remember when Weeb ap-
proached Joe. Joe was sitting with a beautiful blonde,
and Weeb went up to him with the newspapers and
said, 'Joseph, did you really say this?' Joe was like,
'Yeah, yeah, I said it.'"

Ewbank asked why he'd say such a thing, providing
the Colts with bulletin-board fodder.

Namath, in a matter-of-fact tone, said it's because
he believed it.

"Coach, don't you think we're going to win?" said
Namath, whose name would become synonymous
with the word "guarantee."

Truth is, the Jets absolutely believed they were go-
ing to shock the mighty Colts. In fact, a few days
before the game, Ewbank cut short a film session
because he didn't want the Jets to get too confident.
The more they watched the Colts on film, the more
they realized their superiority.

....

To this day, many of them still wear their Super
Bowl rings, which are inscribed with two words:

Poise.

Execution.

The '68 Jets lived by those words. Now they live
forever because of their improbable championship.

For the Giants, forever awaits.

--- end excerpts ---