America Bowl becomes a book

Yes, it's going to be a book in November 2010.  
Available in stores and online:
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

To best enjoy this original blog version, start here:

Game 1: George Washington vs. Super Bowl I

America Bowl Postgame Wrap-Up

Thanks to everyone who read America Bowl, talked about it, linked to it, wrote about it, illustrated it (see awesome drawings above, with their own links), questioned my sanity, only partly questioned my sanity, used it as a business metaphor, and made valuable suggestions (yeah, I know the Van Buren decision was controversial). To make it easier to read the whole thing in order, from one to 44, you can begin here at Game 1: George Washington vs. Super Bowl I.  The bottom of each game recap now has a convenient link to the next number. Also, you can click here for the Complete America Bowl Scorecard with all the results and links to all the individual write-ups. 

  What can we conclude about America from America Bowl?  Besides the obvious fact that we love football and like Presidents? The breakdown by quarter shows a clear trend:

	1	2	3	4	final
Presidents	8	4	6	2	20
Super Bowls	3	7	5	9	24

The Presidents dominated early, crushing in the first quarter and still leading at halftime. The Super Bowls surged late to win it. Why? Theories abound. The guess here is that the NFL has tweaked its rules to make its games more competitive and higher scoring. The league can do what it wants. The Presidents have to answer to everybody. It's tougher for them to get it done. Ain't that America -- we wouldn't have it any other way.

 What's next?  Hey, football season is over, but have a happy Presidents' Day! We can't say we'll do this again next year.  But here's something to think about: Vice Presidents versus Bud Bowls.

Game 44: Barack Obama vs. Super Bowl XLIV

  There was some pre-game debate about how this one was going to work. Would we compare Barack Obama against the whole Super Bowl XLIV, or only the game's first quarter? Obama has just reached the first quarter of his four-year term, after all. Is it fair to judge him against a Super Bowl that played out to the end, so everyone knows how it turned out?

  Well, yes. That's what a Super Bowl is. Four quarters of football. If you'd judged Super Bowl XLIV by its first quarter, it would have been a bit premature: the Colts won the quarter, 10-0, the Saints couldn't get a thing done against an unbending Indianapolis defense, and the game didn't seem exciting or surprising at all.

    In the second quarter, the Saints started to find their groove. They ran 26 offensive plays, compared to 6 for the Colts. They couldn't reach the end zone yet, but kicker Garrett Hartley drilled two field goals, and the New Orleans defense held the Colts scoreless, to make it 10-6 at the half.  The Saints busted out of halftime by recovering a bold onside kick. Six plays later, QB Drew Brees hit RB Pierre Thomas with a pass behind the line of scrimmage at the Colts' 20, and Thomas twisted his way into the end zone to give underdog New Orleans its first lead. 

  Unflappable Colts QB Peyton Manning led the experienced Colts back -- 76 yards in ten plays, capped by Joseph Addai's own pinball-wizard run to put the Colts back on top 17-13.  A Saints FG made it 17-16 heading into the final 15 minutes. Then the Saints' D stepped up, forcing the Colts into a long FG attempt that missed, and Brees stormed back. With 5:46 left, he hit TE Jeremy Shockey running a slant at the goal line, and a clutch two-point conversion put the Saints back up, 24-17.  

  Still, the Colts had managed seven fourth-quarter comebacks during the season, and Manning can never be counted out. Manning himself was trailing after the first quarter of Super Bowl XLI before coming back to beat the Bears. Another Colts TD almost seemed inevitable, and then as Indy drove downfield it happened: Saints CB Tracy Porter stepped in front of Colts receiver Reggie Wayne, picked off a Manning pass, and took it to the house. Saints 31, Colts 17. A gigantic upset, a terrific game, and a storybook ending for the city of New Orleans.

  Obama entered office amid the same kind of hopes many fans had for the Saints. He was the first African-American President in history. Already an historic figure when he took the oath of office, he promised more change. He had the smarts and the charisma, the popular mandate and the Congressional majority do get it done. Then he got smacked by reality.  

   A down economy forced Obama to commit billions of dollars to a massive stimulus plan.  He said he'd close the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay, but couldn't work out the details. His attempts to reform healthcare were met by a tenacious "prevent" defense, intended to keep him from scoring any points. By the end of his first year -- his first quarter -- Obama could take credit only for not letting things get worse. It took a strident State of the Union speech and a feisty, televised discussion with Republican leaders to remind many people why they'd voted for him.

   Score this one for the Super Bowls. It's hard to compare Obama's Presidency favorably to Super Bowl XLIV. After a sputtering start, the game just kept getting better. Outside of America Bowl, at least, Obama still has time on the clock, and -- because we won't stop cheering for great football games and hoping for great Presidents -- he still has a chance to do the same.

Final score of America Bowl:  Super Bowls 24, Presidents 20.

Come back tomorrow for a complete post-America Bowl recap.

Game 43: George W. Bush vs. Super Bowl XLIII

This is a must-win match for the Presidents here in America Bowl. They're down by two points, with two matches to go. There are no timeouts left.  There is no margin for error. Here comes George W. Bush.

Bush, son of 41st President George H.W. Bush, came into office by squeezing past Al Gore in the disputed election of 2000. He got some tough breaks and found it hard to get a rhythm going. The Internet bubble burst, the stock market plummeted, and it turned out that Texas energy giant Enron was a sham. Terrorists struck America on September 11, 2001. Terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden escaped U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. invaded Iraq to stop "weapons of mass destruction," which were not found to exist. "Mission Accomplished" was declared in the Iraq invasion, and Saddam Hussein was brought to justice, but bombings and chaos continued.

Photos were released of U.S. soldiers torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina did not go well. The federal deficit reached an all-time record. Are we done yet?  Financial meltdown, anyone?  Bush left office with low approval ratings, but the nation at least hadn't experienced another terrorist attack after 9/11.

Super Bowl XLII started slowly, then just kept getting better. Early, it was all Steelers, going for their sixth ring. Just when the Arizona Cardinals, down 10-7, were about to drive it into the Steelers' end zone late in the first half, Steelers LB James Harrison picked off a Kurt Warner pass and ran it back 100 yards for the longest TD in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh added a FG in the low-scoring third quarter to make it 20-7. Six-burgh!

No team in Super Bowl history had come back from a 13-point deficit to win. But in the fourth quarter, Cardinals star WR Larry Fitzgerald made a leaping end-zone grab to make it 20-14. A Steelers holding penalty in their own end zone caused a safety: 20-16.  Then Warner hit Fitzgerald streaking at midfield on a post pattern for a 64-yard TD, incredibly, to put Arizona up 23-20 with 2:37 left.

QB Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers back into the Cardinals' red zone. With 49 seconds and no timeouts left, he fired a laser pass deep to the left corner of the Cardinals end zone -- it whizzed past the fingers of WR Santonio Holmes. On the next play, they tried the same thing in the right-side corner. Holmes stretched and held the ball on as he dragged his toes to stay in bounds. Steelers win!

On the sidelines as confetti fell, Roethlisberger was handed a cell phone. It was Barack Obama, the new President, congratulating him on the victory. Obama didn't know it at the time, but he was also conceding the Presidents' defeat in America Bowl.  Super Bowl XLIV vs. Obama, coming up next, could be a good one, but it will be played only for pride.

Score after this match:  Super Bowls 23, Presidents 20.

Go to next match.

Game 42: Bill Clinton vs. Super Bowl XLII

Perfection is an unforgiving master. The New England Patriots entered Super Bowl XLII with an 18-0 record, on the cusp of recording the only 19-0 season in NFL history. T-shirts proclaiming "19-0" were printed. All New England needed to do was defeat the underdog New York Giants, a team the Patriots had already beaten during the season. Bill Clinton, from as early as high school, groomed himself to become the perfect politician. He was brilliant and studied hard. He was handsome and skilled at winning people over. All the pieces were in place.  Here's what happened.

Clinton entered the White House in 1993 amid a down economy, but soon was presiding over a long stretch of relative peace and great prosperity. The explosion of the Internet and the stock market boom created millionaires everywhere, invigorated America's entrepreneurial spirit, and changed lifestyles. Jobs were up, crime was down, music was free. Life seemed easy. But Clinton had an Achilles heel. Even before he won the Presidency, news of extramarital affairs had begun to emerge, and it would only get worse, giving ammunition to his political opponents. In 1995 he had an improper relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and his denials led the House of Representatives to impeach him in 1998 (he remained in office).  It was a disgrace that would forever taint his standing in history.  By the time Clinton's vice president Al Gore ran for President in 2000, Gore didn't even use Clinton's name to help him.

The Patriots didn't undo themselves. It took perhaps the greatest play in Super Bowl history to threaten the Patriots' perfection. The game had been a tough defensive battle for three quarters, and the final frame began with the Patriots up 7-3. The lead would change a hands a few more times.  Giants QB Eli Manning led an 80-yard drive, which included a 45-yard pass to rookie TE Kevin Boss and ended on a TD pass to WR David Tyree to put the Giants up 10-7 with 11:05 left. After some back and forth, Tom Brady and the Pats drove back with a clock-munching drive. Brady found Randy Moss in the end zone to regain the lead, 14-10.

The Giants had about two minutes to make history. On a key third-and-five from his own 44 with 1:15 left, Manning dropped back and soon found three Patriots reaching over Giants blockers to grab his jersey, clutching at his number 10 from behind. Somehow he twisted out of their grasp, ran back a few yards into a safe spot, and looked desperately for a receiver. He chucked the ball downfield toward Tyree, who raised both hands and brought the ball down on top of his helmet. Are you kidding me? Tyree pressed the ball tight against his head and held on for his life as Patriots safety Rodney Harrison leveled him.  The only thing more incredible than Manning's scramble was the ridiculous catch.  Four plays later Manning found WR Plaxico Burress in the corner of the end zone to give the Giants a breathtaking 17-14 win.

Yes, perfection is tough. That's why they call it perfection. Despite his flaws, Clinton had a good run. But he didn't have the helmet catch. This match goes to the Super Bowls, now up by two points in America Bowl with two matches left.  George Bush and Barack Obama are the Presidents' last hope -- can they do it? Take your protein pill and put your helmet on -- here comes the season finale.

Score after this match: Super Bowls 22, Presidents 20.

Go to next match.