An NFL Treasure Trove

III may be the biggest Super Bowl win ever. In rooting for New York-yes, for New York-I and fans in cities like Boston, Denver, Oakland, Miami and Buffalo were rooting for the legitimacy of our oft-mocked AFL. The retelling may lack the poignancy of I but-thanks to interviews with Namath, receiver Don Maynard and defensive stalwart Gerry Philbin-it's often hysterical. The playboy theme is again central, revolving around how the team tried to get "Broadway Joe" to grow up and accept his responsibilities.

Namath's talent was undeniable, perhaps singular, but for three seasons he had been frustrating his coaches and teammates with his erratic play. In desperation the team decided to elect him offensive captain at the start of the '68 season in the hope that it would force the issue. Namath becomes almost teary-eyed reminiscing how that show of respect for his leadership still means more to him than all the other accolades. The words are barely out of his mouth when Philbin is seen saying, "Joe to this day thinks he was elected because he was a leader. It was just the opposite."

Everybody, of course, recalls how, despite the Jets being almost three-touchdown underdogs to the mighty Baltimore Colts, Namath guaranteed a New York victory. Namath reveals that it wasn't quite the cocksure public pronouncement history has made it out to be, rather more of an offhand remark-was he supposed to say they were going to lose?-overheard by one Miami Herald reporter. While the mythic is almost always an improvement on the real thing, Maynard provides the perfect reality counterpoint, reminding us how different that era was. "I could care less about the ring," says the hall-of-fame receiver. "I want the $15,000."

XXXVI will be the most familiar to most fans. It was a season that spanned much, starting with 9/11 and the strange, if forced, metaphor some found in the ascension of these Patriots. But in football terms alone there were remarkable events. Lightly regarded New England endured a near-fatal injury to their starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe that wound up launching the Tom Brady era; a quarterback controversy when Bledsoe returned with the team at 5-5; "the Snow Bowl," with America's introduction to the "tuck rule"; Bledsoe's return in the AFC Championship at Pittsburgh after a knockout of Brady; and a Super Bowl upset to rival the Jets'-courtesy of a last-second Adam Vinatieri field goal-over a St. Louis Rams team dubbed "the greatest team on turf."

The Patriots, at least to most of you, will seem far more charming then than they do now. Coach Bill Belichick is actually caught on camera smiling (and not only after wins). He doesn't look anything like the antichrist as he reveals how his philosophy led him to stick with Kid Brady. "I'm going to make the decisions that are best for the team," he says. "T-E-A-M!" I delighted in Lawyer Milloy discussing the home-field advantage in the "Snow Bowl" against Oakland: "I didn't feel it was a home-field advantage. I was cold." And Brady on the vagaries of the season-saving "tuck rule": "I'm not going to pretend that I had any idea the ruling would come out that way." Vinatieri's game-tying field goal, through the white sky and at the gun, seems every bit as amazing to me now as it did back then. And just like in the "Snow Bowl," the season and Super Bowl came down to Vinatieri's leg. Before he ran onto the Superdome field to attempt the 47-yard game-winning field goal, Vinatieri, with supreme confidence, told the Pats' equipment manager: "Get your butt down the field and get this ball for me."

Third down and 37 to go. I suspect, for me, this collection will give new meaning to Thanksgiving football.

© 2007