The House, Pt. 6: And Then it was New

Back in July of last year I wrote one of the more emotional series of pieces on this blog, a five parter about the impending sale of the house I grew up in, the only house I ever knew. Now, let's put some context for the silliness - I have my own house now (my apartment, whcih I'm quickly outgrowing). I'm lucky also that my parents held onto that original house for so long for no real reason apart from love. Most of my friends have experienced a move or two in their day. Somehow, I had escaped that. But back in July I had to, and yeah it was emotional.

Every 2-3 weeks from that point onwards (or at least those where I was in town) I would drive back towards Plainsboro. Either to visit friends, check up on the house, do some random moving of things in storage, and others, but there was always a need to some degree to visit Plainsboro again. Each trip would include a drive by the old house, and then a drive by the new house. Overtime, I guess enough new stuff was added to the new house that they started locking the front door - so I couldn't go in and soak it in. A few times I got lucky - once for some reason the window was open (of what was to become my bedroom), and once they left the front door unlocked for some reason. But generally, it was a bit pyrrhic of a moment. 

That's all over - my parents moved in on February 5th (sadly a week where I had to travel to Germany for work - sadly....). I arrived for the first time on February 13th. It wasn't supposed to be that way. I had planned a trip to Southeast Asia for President's Day Weekend and the week after, like I've done in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. But 2026 it wasn't meant to be, there were more important places to be, namely 3 Prall Drive.

I don't know quite what I was expecting that first time driving up the drive-way. I parked in the street I had so many times before when checking out the place voyeuristically, but when I walked up those steps, for the first time since the last moments in the old house I teared up. Still not sure why that was my reaction, but it weirdly was. This was a new chapter in my life (let alone my parent's life) whether I liked it or not, so I walked up those steps, rang the doorbell (didn't need to - the door was open) and walked in agape.

Full disclosure - the new house is quite nice. It's a couple hundred thousand dollars less than the old house, but is only about 300 square feet less (granted, that doesn't include the basement....). It is modern. It has a cavernously high 20 foot ceiling in the main area. Te kitchen is nicer. The house screams modernity in a way our old house was trying to but didn't quite do. We're very blessed, but still this was a moment.

What's hard to put into words is this is really the first time I stepped into a new house that was ours that I can remember. I guess my apartment in 2020 comes close, and truly that time I also teared up with joy with a giant smile on my face that I don't think I've still forgotten. But that was an apartment. This is a home. This was something different - a feeling of happiness for my parents, but also for me and my sister (who was there as well - she beat me there!).

There's some differences for sure. The bedrooms apart from the master are small, including mine which is the smallest of all them, significantly smaller than my bedroom in the old house. There's no basement for me to retire to at 11pm to watch random stuff and look at random old trip photos. Instead, there is the first room / office, where I jerry-rigged as similar a setup, but the thin walls force me to listen to the videos over bluetooth - not impossible, but just different. One would say this is a sign for me to stop this ridiculous ritualistic weekend practice, but I'm nothing but inventive.

But when it all hit home, no pun intended, was when I went to bed in my new bedroom, but my same bed - the bed I hadn't slept in in seven months, the one hiding in storage, when it really hit me. These seven months were rough because memories of comfort never go away. I had a home in Plainsboro - I have one now in Cranbury. Having the new one made me OK with losing the last one, because it isn't the physical structure, it is the memories, and the people and things central to those memories are still there (apart from maybe the Garden....).

My parents, thank the Lord, are still here. My sister is still here - plus added another to our little family unit with her husband. The family piano is still here. The family recliners are still here, if now in the loft vs. central casting in the great room. My bed is still here, and the bookshelf where i held such nonsense like random Sports Illustrated magazines and all the Harry Potter books. A kitchen where we can make memories over food is still there, if not fully improved. This crystallized the next day, Saturday, when I helped open a ton of boxes.

As depressing as packing up the old house was, the prospect of unpacking in the new house was helpful to keep us sane about the whole endeavor. Months later, the positive prospect of unpacking came through fully, as each box I helped rip open and unpacked became a chance to reminisce about the past, about these random objects that were worth saving and that I hadn't seen in seven months, hidden away in one of four storage units. It was a performative exercise to guffaw of each random surprise hidden in those boxes, but it was all too real as well.

At the end of all of it, I'm left ultimately happy about how this all went down. Packing up the old house was a ton of effort, was dramatic, was painful at times, but through it all there was this shining light of a new house, one that we visited the plot before there was a structure. I visited throughout its growth, from a concrete foundation, to the wood walls, to drywall, to a bit further. Through this all led to some incredible moments where I had to host my parents in my apartment in July and October, where we traveled the world (of South America) in December and January, and where every now and then we would go back to Plainsboro. Today we get to also go back to Plainsboro, to a new home with so many memories to come.

The US Hockey Team Did It

The first hockey related post I ever wrote on this blog was in teh winter of 2010, when the Americans pushed a stacked Canadian team to OT, with New Jersey Devil Zach Parise scoring the goal to send it to OT, only for Sidney Crosby and those dastardly brilliant Canadians to rip our heart out. At the time, I wrote that no US sport can bring us together on teh national stage like hockey. Soccer probably comes close. The two unifying threads there are that we are underdogs in each - very much so in soccer. Hockey was the perfect blend, we were good enough to dream of Gold. We were good enough not winning at least a medal (like 2014) was a huge disappointment. Well, sixteen years later, we did the deed - and I do think it shows how hockey is the perfect sport to rally around, even if the aftermath shows just how strained this country is vs what it was in 2010.

I will address the Trump nonsense later, because while I think it is all overblown, teh fact it has gotten so much airtime is a bit of the point of where this country is slipping, but let's talk about the game, the win first.

I went out with four friends on Saturday Night in Princeton, NJ, going out fairly late (for Princeton), and I was shocked that three of the four were planning on getting up to watch the Gold Medal match. One of them is a fairly big hockey fan, at least come the playoffs. The other two are to my knowledge not, but this was big enough - USA v Canada in the showcase event of the Olympics. A micro-example of how this cut across sports into something bigger.

The macro example was getting up on Sunday morning, and following twitter on teh side while watching that enthralling game. I follow a lot of sports related people (reporters, athletes, pundits, talking heads). Some are squarely hockey writers/pundits/etc., or ones that talk about hockey enough that it wasn't surprising to see tweets from them. Then there's the set that are more general sports people, and it wasn't surprsiing either. But then there's a lot of people who I'm pretty sure do not follow hockey tweeting about it, in the hours of 8-11am on a Sunday (or earlier, some are West Coast based). There were basketball twitter people who may have never watched a second of NHL action; baseball people, football people, soccer people.

But that was nothing compared to the wildest group that got into the action - the people not even related to sports. The newscasters and news pundits, the actors and actresses and musicians. I do think that is the power of the Olympics a bit - because the prior paragraph about non-hockey sports people talking about it was fairly equally true of last year's smashing success that was the Four Nations tournament. This was that times a hundred.

Every know and then I would even venture over to the Wild West of the "For You" part of Twitter, and between various annoying AI slop came again random people talking about this game that I love. I know inherently 97% of them won't suddenly start watching hockey, but it is still cool as a die-hard hockey fan to see so many people start loving the sport as much as the national pride part.

And truly that was the best part - as many of the Tweets were about the quality, speed, ferocity, passion of the game - the incredible saves of Connor Hellebuyck, the incredible singular effort of Matt Boldy on his goal, the incredible final moments and the goal by Jack Hughes (another Devil!), and so much more. People seemed to tune in for USA! USA! and get captivated by the game itself, which was so cool to see.

None of that matters in comparison though to the reaction after that winning goal, the outpouring of emotions, everything to do with them celebrating and honoring Johnny Gaudreau, the celebrations on the ice, Jack Hughes being interviewed missing teeth. I had long wondered what it would be like to see the US win gold, and all of it was as incredible as I could have imagined.

That's when the tweets started pouring in of various bars (amazingly opening early, or in the case of the West Coast staying open late), families in homes, and people reacting to the insanity of the Hughes goal and the aftermath. This is sports, this is patriotism, meshing in again a way that it only can with the US Men's Hockey team, be it 1980 or now. Yes, if somehow the USMNT could theoretically win a World Cup it would be bigger than this, but that will almost certainly not happen. The US winning Gold just did.

That does bring me to the only downside, which I put much more on the reaction and the faults that show in our national consciousness (and in this case moreso on the left) compared to 2010. It started with Kash Patel celebrating with the team, which is gross. And then continued with Trumps phone call and terrible joke. The culprits were Kash Patel for thinking he deserved to down beers with the team, and Trump for making a terrible, misogynist joke as he is wont to do. Somehow though, the Men's team started catching heat - and this is where today's far-left liberals are just too awful. 

What did they want? A group of 20-30 somethings that just accomplished one of their life's goals in the most dramatic way for their country, to tell the damn FBI Director to get out? Or even more ridiculously, to either (a) not accept a call from the damn President of the United States, or (b) while being simultaneously high on emotions and drunk out of their minds, to not reflexively laught at what was an admittedly funny line (which if anythign was aimed at the liberal mindset as much if not more than the women's team), or (c) even more ridiculously castigate the President on live TV?

Can we stop this nonsense - the rush by some to equate a few chuckles (along with a few "two for two" chants) with a view that the men's team is a bunch of misogynists is just crazy. Also, it is well known this other than maybe baseball players, hockey players skew more right than other athlete groups, so it should not at all be surprising that much of that team would be fine taking a call from Trump. But even then, we may hate him - hell I hate Trump as well with every fiber of my being, but he is still the President right now and absolutely has the right to congratulate a US team on their success. I do wish the team left it at a white house visit rather than attend a State of the Union which is essentially now a campaign rally, but whatever. The fact so much energy has been expounded this is the height of liberal ridiculousness.

Anyway, back to happier topics - in the end, I won't forget that feeling when the 3-1 sprang in OT (started by a masterful chip out of the zone by Hughes), seeing Werenski outduel MacKinnon and layer over a soft pass right into the shooting zone, and then my current favorire NHL player rifle it past. That moment, the celebration it led to, was just so special, it did everythign that I hoped it would do when I wrote back in 2010 about the dream of one day seeing the US accomplish this feat. So grateful to be around to see it.

Thoughts on my Game of Thrones Rewatch

After the great early success of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a really nice show that I hope stays that way even if they've now more directly connected its characters to the central ASOIAF lore (the Targaryens), I finally decided to bite the bullet and do a Game of Thrones rewatch. I haven't done a full one since right before that final season. Not surprising, since that last season was so universally shamed (very much so by me as well) that I never felt inspired to rewatch it, knowing just how badly the stories came together. Didn't stop me from watching House of the Dragon and enjoying parts of it (though Seaseon 2 was hilariously slow from an actual moving the plot perspective). Didn't stop me from jumping into Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. But Game of Thrones was something I thought I had fully left behind.

And then I decided to rewatch it. I know how badly it ends. I've long said that if I ever rewatch it, I would stop after Season 6, when I wish the show kind of did end. To remind, that season ends with Cersei blowing up the Sept & most of King's Landing, effectively making her queen, Jon is crowned King of the North with Sansa & Arya by his side, and Dany finally starts sailing across teh Narrow Sea, with all three dragons, the Dothraki, the Unsullied and the houses Tyrell and Martell to boot. That should've set-up an epic end - and I'm sure GRMM's actual way to end it would be great, but of course the show fumbled that fully.

Anyway, I'm now at the tail end of Season 4, and I'm starting to already think do I watch Season 7 and 8 when the time comes. I probably just sack up and do it (very notably, there's not many episodes in those seasons!), but watching this again, knowing how it ends, I definitely have some newfound thoughts on the whole thing.

= Firstly, while we can all hate Season 8, and many hate Season 7, we should all remain a bit objective in saying at its early peak GoT was just incredible. It is still incredible television told at a scale rarely done before with generally great success.

= It's hilarious though how small the budget clearly was in the old days - Season 1 is the most stark (no pun intended) example, where King's Landing wasn't yet in Dubrovnik, the Wall was just Castle Black, and they had to essentially cutway from any real fight scene. Hell, Dany's tiny dragons in the finale were seen as some incredible CGI magic. Even in Season 2 they couldn't really show much of the Blackwater Bay battle for the same reason. What I guess needs to be said is the show wasn't any worse off.

= Knowing how badly the story ends for many "honorable" characters cuts no easier this time even knowing their fate, but what's more clear this time around is how badly Robb Stark fumbled everything. Many people noted how dumb Nedd was throughout Season 1, how many outs he had to avoid his fate, but the same is so true of Robb - from how often he just ignores Roose Bolton's ironically generally sound advice, to his inability to realize he could probably just get away with Talisa being a mistress. He really was as dumb as his Dad, which ironically makes The Red Wedding hurt less this time.

= While the Red Wedding wasn't as depressing (it was never going to be as shocking), Joffrey dying was just as fun this time. It is amazing how everyone alive knew he was just a piece of shit but had to just bow down to him - gratefully something that we don't have to face in real life in America.....

= The casting and performances are amazing. It's truly incredible how many unknown actors Game of Thrones was able to unearth. It's sad many have been largely typecast in their roles ever since, but truly from the Stark kids, to Joffrey (just brilliant at playing a devil), to Dany (yes, I will continue to stan that Emilia Clarke is very good, moreso in those early seasons), to so many other unknowns, they just knocked it out of the park in those early seasons. Case in point, in Season 4 where we see Pedro Pascal show up as Oberyn. I had to look up, but indeed this was before Narcos (not sure if he was already cast in Narcos...). Other than The Wire, I don't know if any show with nearly this large an ensemble ever did a better job.

= For one of teh few criticisms I have with the early seasons, I think Jaime's turn to honorable was way too quick. He was still very much an aggressive dick when in captivity in Season 1-2. I geuss it was getting his arm chopped off, and the moment he goes back to save Brienne from the Bear that is his turning point, but that was way too quick. This is the same criticism of course we would levy way later in the way they turned Dany, but tehre were signs of unearned change.

= Speaking of Dany, many people point to various decisions in these early seasons that show this secret monster (e.g. locking Xoro and her handmaiden in teh vault, her crucifying the Mereen masters) but truly all of these things make relative sense in the show. None of this justifies the seconds-quick turn to her burning King's Landing. None of these things was any crazier than Robb chopping the head of Lord Karstark, or Cersei blowing up the crypt, or a score of other things. Don't let people gaslight you into saying the groundwork for Dany being a monster, or "Mad" was being laid well.

= There are a few storylines that I hated the first time and continue to hate with a passion - particularly Ramsay Bolton torturing Theon. But also early Theon taking over Winterfell as well. Basically everything involving the North post Robb Stark getting killed is just a mess, and this is before I have to watch Sansa get raped and what-not. I know in the back of my head the Battle of the Bastards is some sort of comeuppance, but still Ramsay is just too cartoonishly evil (even in a show that had Joffrey). 

= That said, there is a storyline I do like more this time, and that is John's adventures North of the Wall. It's odd, even if ultimately the white walker story ends stupidly with the Night King just getting beaten in a traditional way, everything going on North of the Wall works fairly well, from people ignoring the threat, to all the Craster / Mance / Wildlings stuff. I'm not really sure why it's playing better this time around when I found the North of the Wall stuff a slog the first time around (and I'm not even that big a Jon Snow fan) but yeah, I would go for a GoT spinoff just focusing on the comings and goings of the Night's Watch.

= We needed more small council scenes - from Nedd making a fool of himself, to everything involving Tyrion during his run as Hand, to Oberyn in Season 4, every Small Council scene is amazing. The politicking of Game of Thrones was one of the underrated apex points early on, an area that got way less import and air time after Tywin died and Tyrion escaped, but my God did I enjoy every one of those. I know I'm a few episodes away from this being a focus of the show, but I've enjoyed every moment of it so far.

= This is a random one, but at this point I have no idea where Dany's dothraki that go across the sea come from. It's clear after Khal Drogo dies that most of them leave her. She never makes any concerted effort to find others, seemingly content to go on with the Unsullied and Second sons. I assume I'm forgetting something in Season 5 or 6 that shows where the Dothraki return to her side, but it's just weird knowing how clear a role they play in teh Loot Train attack, and how Danaerys is still referred to so often as Khaleesi that there's like none of them around.

= The one storyline that I think works exactly the same this time as it did on teh first watch, in a negative way, is everything to do with Stannis. Now, I realize I'm writing this before he slightly redeems himself by actually caring about the white walker threat (before he, you know, burns his daughter alive and loses to Ramsay...) but still he's just so damn boring. What's odd is that I remember at the time book readers were saying how book Stannis is far more interesting, but show Stannis was written in a way that boring-ness was the point (in that he couldn't get any loyal following compared to Renly). All in all, that storyline is a mess, and just a waste of Stephen Dillane's immense talents.

= On the other side, the one storyline that works as well on the positive side this time around is Arya's pre-Essos days, particularly her sparring with Tywin at Hardhome and her time with the Hound. I know the story is abut to take some boring turn in Essos before some intersting stuff after, but man was that such a well written, pointed character in Seasons 1-4. Her interactions with Tywin and her winning his affection (to some degree) was excellent. Same with her rapport with the Hound; just great stuff.

= My last random point before a closing thought/hypothesis - on rewatch, my new worst character (in terms of emotions, not at all performance) is Cersei. Like I get we are supposed to feel some level of pity because she was used as a pawn with Robert and later Loras, but fuck all that. She's just the worst. I get "she loves her kids" but everyone in the realm knew Joffrey was just pure evil (including Jaime and Tywin) but she didn't accept that. I guess we're supposed to appreciate some maternal instinct or something, but eff that, she just sucked. Lena Headey played it great, but tehre's no character who I think less of on this rewatch than her - other than maybe Stupid Robb Stark

To conclude, early Game of Thrones remains excellent. I've seen a lot of talk about how good Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is, and it is great, but let's be truthful - peak Thrones was better. Few things are better than peak thrones, even if it was a bit inconsistent at its peak. There's good reason why it was such a cultural touchstone, and that brings me back to my final takeaway - I think we're being too hard on Benioff & Weiss.

Here's the main aspect of that - I 100% believe that they assumed when they started the show in 2011 that GRRM would finish the damn books by the time they ended the show. Hell, the final book came out during the run of the show. Now, we can criticize them for just throwing their hands up at the end and doing these abridged Seasons 7-8, which they absolutely should not have done, but this idea that they were nothing without GRRM's material is only half true, because it was never supposed to be them doing the show without his material. I don't know if there's any parallel in TV or even movie history where the creator was expected to adapt content for part of it and then shift seamlessly into creating his own.

Granted, I 100% believe the ending was what GRRM told them it would be: Dany turning mad and lighting fire to King's Landing, Cersei and Jaime dying together, Jon being Aegon VI Targaryen, and ultimately even Bran of all people being on the Iron Throne. And yes, D&D did nothing to actually earn that ending, but they were never supposed to. We can critique them for Season 7-8, and more largely Season 5-8 (given that's when the show outpaced the books), but that was never the deal. They were brought in to adapt books and that they did brilliantly. Even the stories they cast aside (Jayne Westerling, Lady Stoneheart) were reasonable. Get off their backs, their job of adapting GRRM's source material was done excellently.

As to the opening question on this, I'll watch Season 7-8 because I'm pot committed at this point. I know I'll hate Season 8. I'll probably think less of Season 7 than I did at the time. I know GoT ends badly, but much like HIMYM, which I did rewatch through its glory days before, that shouldn't overlook how magical this was at its peak. It was one of the last true cultural touchstone shows, and for great reason. It was that good, and upon rewatch it still is in most ways. God bless the fact this show existed, even if we can rightly crucify its last few seasons. But I think we shouldn't just assume the terrible ending says anything about how good, how enthralling, how well acted GoT was at its peak.

Learning to Love the Winter Olympics?

I'm an unabashed Summer Olympics head, probably starting with the Rio 2016 games where I had more time on my hands, the games were on at the right time (for me), and NBC's app game was starting to elevate itself. During the 2020 games (in 2021) it remained and then reached a new maximum with Paris 2024, where through Gold Zone and the various other elements of the Peacock Olympics app, I watched a bit of everything. I truly love those games. Which leaves a weird counterpoint of never being a huge Winter Olympics head. It's odd, as I love hockey, and like the cold but until this year probably never gave it the same chance. Until now. It isn't like I'm suddenly a big Winter Olympics fan, and I won't be counting down the days to 2030 games in "The French Alps" (yes, the official host designation), but still this has been a new start for the Winter Olympics in my life.

Let's start with the obvious - as a huge hockey fan, of course Olympics hockey has meant a lot to me over the years. I remember in 2002 watching Canada win gold - more happy that Marty Brodeur and the two Scotts played big roles than I was sad the US lost. I remember even more in 2010 when Canada won again with Crosby's Golden Goal - it was a thrilling hockey game, a brilliantly played one where Devils great Zach Parise scored a game-tying goal at the death. It was a brutal loss as a still proud American at that point.

2014 in Sochi had NHLers playing, but combination of time zones and a pretty feeble US team made it a romp for the Canadians, and then the darkness. The biggest reason I probably tuned out the 2018 games in Pyeongchang and 2022 in Beijing was that the NHL stupidly didn't let their players go. This is the biggest marketing opportunity for the NHL - and yes people get hurt (like Steven Stamkos in 2014 breaking his leg), but still. Anyway, with no NHL players there in 2018 or 2022, adn the games being in Asia so at brutal hours for Americans, I basically tuned those two events out.

But the NHL is back this time, the follow-up for the little appetizer of the Four Nations Face Off last year. We haven't even hit the full stride of the tournament this time around, but just that specter has gotten be more interested in the Olympics as a whole, and I think I've been missing out. It isn't the summer games, but there's a lot special here.

For maybe the first time, I sat and watched most of a curling match (the semis and gold medal US matches in teh mixed tournament). I looked up the rules. The sport is probably a bit too long (the matches I mean) but damn isn't it brilliant strategy on display. I then sat and watched more of the downhill skiing and luge and skeleton and so much more. I'll get to a few reasons why I don't think the Winter Games lends itself to the brilliant the Summer Games does, but all these sports are interesting and more than that, require some amazing athletic feats. 

Truly, there is more danger, more death-defying brilliant feats in teh Winter Games, from downhill skiing and ski jumping, to all the track sports (luge, skeleton, bobsled) where ypure' going 70mph+ inches above sharp ice. All of it is just insane. All of it requires such ability to block out the lunacy of what you are doing. That element of danger just isn't there in the Summer Games, but works brilliantly here.

These are the things I love about teh Winter Games, also the idea of just how easy most of the games are to get - just who gets down a hill or track faster, or who can fly longer, or skate faster. But it's where you get outside these more simple ones that the Winter Games starts to struggle a bit more for me.

The judging sports, be it figure skating to all the games lifted from the X-Games into this (the freestyle skiing, snowboarding) just miss the mark for me. Of course, teh athleticism is insane, but much like with Gymnastics in the Summer Games, I can't undersatnd the weird scoring system, I can't really tell visually the difference between a 1080 and a 1200 and a 1440 and what not. I have no real way of saying who is better than who other than listening to the announcers. This all hurts my love of gymnastics relative to how most people see it, and for the Winter Games there's just a lot more of these sports.

Secondly, I don't like that so few of them actually put all the competitors on the field/track/etc at the same time. Granted, it's tough to do in downhill skiing or luge or what-not - people go too fast being the main issue. But it just takes away some of the head to head competition element so present in nearly all the best summer games. There are exceptions of course, and that's why i love the speed-skating (where even in long track at least we get 1v1 heats). It's also why I got so enthralled by Snowboard Cross, which was an incredible back and forth of the four snowboarders going at it side by side trading blows. We need more of these types of events.

Back on the positive side, what this games has oozed is how fun it all seems - the setting in northern Italy is stunning, with such perfect light snow, great chalets and villages. People all seem to be having a great time, no group more so than the athletes themselves who seem overjoyed - probably helps that for the ones that have been to teh Olympics before this much seem like such a relief vs. the still Covid-effected 2022 event. The setting, the coldness, the hot cocoa and everythign else makes me actually think attending an Olympics is more fun at the Winter Games than Summer.

Let's see how my views change the rest of the games over this last week, when the hockey heats up, the short-track speed skating takes over, and we get the bobsled (not sure why that one appeals to me, but have taken a liking to luge and skeleton as well). I may continue this upward trend of interest to the point where I may put out a ranking of Winter Olympic events, or fade away if hte US hockey teams do poorly (granted, that women's team is absurdly dominant so far). But either way, my appreciation and love for the Winter Olympics is higher now than it was ten days ago.

2025 NFL Playoffs: Super Bowl LX Review

Player/Coach of the Game: Mike Macdonald  (Coach, SEA)

This was his masterpiece, much like last year's was Vic Fangio's. Once again, a defensive playcaller schemed up his already great defense to produce some legendary results. This one more prominent because the offense didn't help all that much, and this was the head coach doing it. It's surprising that this is the first time a defensive playcaller headcoach has won a Super Bowl - to be honest, not sure how many got the chance, but Mike Macdonald was able to showcase every bit of ingenuity. His hammering of secondary blitzes, going against type, was brilliant. The coverage games was great, and more than anything he got his team to play at such a locked in level from the jump - again much like Fangio's defense last year. Just another amazing defensive performance to swarm to a Super Bowl.

Runner-Up: Kenneth Walker  (RB, SEA)

Anytime a defense dominates a super bowl but has no one standout player, there is some outcry for a defender, or even a unit to win MVP. Once again that happened here, but Kenneth Walker absolutely deserved that MVP. His patient style was brilliant, so often evading initial Patriots line penetration to spin things outside and repeatedly beat a defense that had been playing so fast to the edge time and time again. He was quite good between the tackles as well. Walker even had two first down receptions, much to the chagrin I'm sure of Cris Collinsworth who bashed him after the one drop. I was stunned to realize it had been nearly 30 years since a RB won Super Bowl MVP, but this was absolutely deserved.

Goat of the Game: Drake Maye  (QB, NE)

It's really more a goat of the playoffs. To be honest, not sure Maye was any worse in this game than in the Broncos game or Texans game. He was better in teh Chargers game, but only because he got a scoche more time. Yes, the Seahawks are a great defense, but Maye also flat out missed a half dozen throws he sshould make. He was slow to get rid of the ball. He missed easy checkdowns. He fumbled twice, again, and nearly a third time. Drake Maye is such a conundrum headed into next season but this was a disastrous playoff for him - just exposed because finally he had to score more than 16 points. It will be so interesting to see if there's much carryover. We can play the "well, what do you want, he played great defenses" card, but if you play four great defenses you should have more than zero good games.

Runner-Up: Josh McDaniels  (OC, NE)

What didn't help Maye at all was maybe the most listless performance by McDaniels in a long time as an OC. He's supposed to be a savant, but he was absolutely a joke in this one - made no adjustments, got beat on the same secondary blitz time and time again, did nothing to help his offense other than calling a few swing passes on that first drive. The Patriots offense had just no creativity all postseason and that was never more clear than in this game. I don't think McDaniels will get a 3rd head coach crack anytime soon anyway, but certainly not after that performance.

Surprise of the Game: Seahawks Run Game

It's not so much that the Seahawks ran it well - they do that every now and then, but that they did it against the Patriots rush defense at full strength. The Pats when they have all their horses up front had been great against the run, especially geting negative plays. They got a few of those here, and missed a few others because of Walker's aforementioned shiftiness, but also was surprsied how often the Seahawks OL won on one-on-one blocks in the trenches. It was old school, but it worked.

Runner-Up: Seahawks Punt Coverage / Punting

To be fair, the Seahawks are an excellent specital teams unit, but the one place that the Patriots seemed to at worst be on equal footing, and at best have an advantage, Well, Dickson was masterful (even getting quasi-serious / quasi-joking MVP love), and the coverage unit was just as good. They completely took out one of the few X-Factors that could've given the Patriots some life, with Marcus Jones being completely negated. In a game where the Seahawks defense wasn't going to give up much, the Seahawks had to make sure there was no other route for the Pats to score.

Disappointment of the Week: Patriots OL

To be fair, we knew they were a relatively weak unit, but the extent to which the Patriots OL got worked was still surprising in the negative. Campbell usually has at least a few good run reps and even that didn't happen here, with the Patriots run game failing to get off the ground also. Their inability to pick up blitzes and lose in space against smaller secondary players was surprising. The right side of the OL which was the relative strength was basically as bad as the left side. Just a full meltdown by that unit.

Runner-Up: Sam Darnold

This is going to sound weird, but I was sad for Darnold more than at Darnold that he missed a few throws. I mean, to some degree who cares. He won teh damn Super Bowl, and he was better than just a passenger, but it would've been cool for this redemption story to have an even better conclusion. And he came close, but a few small misses took a few TDs away, and saved this from being a Super Bowl XLVII type blowout. In the end, Darnold gets his win anyway but the storybook could have been even more perfect.

Team Performance of the Game: Seahawks DL / Blitzers

I mean, what else. The Seahawks DL just owned that game, winning with 3/4-man rush time and time and time again. Doing yoemans work against the run as well, letting the Seahawks stay in their preferred nickel / dime packages the entire game. Everyone on that DL ate, from Williams and Lawrence as the vets, to Hall as the sneak potential MVP, to even a classic Justin Smith type bull-rush sack. And then of course the blitzing from Witherspoon and others was even better - so well timed, so well rushed. This was a masterpiece.

Runner-Up: Seahawks Secondary

It's funny that the front gets more love for me because the secondary is the standout unit. I only have it below the front because I think that was the story of the game, the way they sped up Maye. They also didn't give him much to throw to. They were so disciplined at the back (save of Woolen's late reaction on teh TD). They were clogging up zones. They jsut locked down Diggs and the TEs. Yes, Maye missed a few throws, but there will always be some throws. That was nearly as good a performance by a secondary as the Eagles last year.

Team Laydown of the Week: Patriots Skill Players

Diggs talked a bunch this year. He was a non-factor, hilariously spiking the ball in celebration on his catch down 29-7 in teh fourth quarter. Boutte had a bad drop, and generally couldn't get separateion. The TEs were fairly anonymous. Pop Douglas was probably the best receiver, which is a problem - and if it wasn't him it was Mack Hollins, even more of a problem. The Patriots skill players were playing above their heads all year, but fell below their heads on this one.

Runner-Up: Mike Vrabel

Vrabel seemed just lost in this one, not realizing he had to paly more aggressive, that the Seahawks were not going to be the Broncos. To be honest, Vrabel coached this game like it was the Broncos or Texans on the other side. The lack of aggression on 3rd down, not even considering going for it on 4th and <3 a few times, the most egregious that 4th and 1 right after halftime. And then him not going for two after scoring the TD to make it 19-7 - not that it would've mattered. For a coach who so often his the tactical game management elements down to a tee, they were missing completely in this one.

Storyline that will be Beat Into the Ground: The Legion 2.0

It's funny there's been a rush after this win to confirm that while they were a truly great defense and well rounded team, teh 2025 Seahawks are not the reincarnation of the 2013 unit - that there isn't a Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas type on this defense. Well, while maybe this is true, it is weird that even in what was really just their second great year as a defense people already talked about Sherman and Thomas that way. Maybe they will about Witherspoon, and Emmanwouri, and others. This defense is young, with many locked up. Darnold isn't as good as peak Russell Wilson, but probably closer than people think. I don't know if this is the start of something special, or a 2002 Bucs type "it all came together perfectly one year" but I think we are underrating the chance this is the start of something special.

Storyline that Should be Beat Into the Ground: The Patriots Were Who We Thought They Were

I think what this postseason has taught us is that even though they made the Super Bowl, the Patriots were schedule merchants. They were also "it's just a down year in the AFC" merchants - a bit like the 2021 Bengals in a year where the 12-5 Titans were the #1 seed. I think lost in the "they had the easiest schedule" is just how easy, like historically easy. ANd even the record probably understated things, as the played the Bengals without Joe Burrow (he came back literally the next week) and the Ravens where Lamar Jackson got hurt and left midway through (the Ravens likely win if Lamar stays). The Patriots then got three bad offenses, including the luck of playing a backup QB. Good for them to take advantage of those things, but that Super Bowl showed what was pretty clear, this is not a Super Bowl caliber team in a normal season. Who knows if next year will be a normal one, but looking at their schedule next year, there is a damn good chance the Patriots win nowhere near 14 games again, but could still be a better team. But for 2025, they were who we thought they were, and thank God for all of us that the Seahawks didn't let them off the hook.

Super Early Super Bowl LXI Pick:  Ravens 27  49ers 20