Patriots upset the R·ams 20-17

by Catherine Dilworth assistant news editor

Super Bowl XXXVI proved to be a Super Bowl game where the actual game was better than the commercials. The New England Patriots had a revolutionary war and beat the St. Louise Rams in the last seconds of the battle.

Losing the Super Bowl is doubly tough when your team goes in as a 14-point favorite, rallies from a big deficit in the fourth quarter, and still loses. That's what St. Louis found out Sunday as the New England Patriots' Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal with no time remaining to beat the Rams 20-17 in the Super Bowl.

The loss spoiled what many fans figured would be a coronation. Few experts gave the Patriots much of a chance against St. Louis, who had the NFL's best record (14-2) in the regular season.

The loss left St. Louis fans crying in their Budweiser; disappointed their team didn't capture its second Super Bowl title in three years.

The Rams were down the whole game-with the 3point lead the Patriots had started off with in the first quarter. With each quarter the patriots stayed ahead bu~ewly-started to close. Rams tied the ~~h~~c:1.:~30 to play. Cheers were had in hopes that the game would go into over time and a chance for the Rams could still be had. When the field g?al sailed through, there was dead silence, by Rams fans ri, the kicker of the New England Paots, b o g ~rhaps they brought him, so calmly to one of the most dramatic points in the history of American sport that the overwhelming favorites St Louis Rams must have known they were doomed. Vinatieri 's 48-yard kick sailed over the bar so majestically, for the stunning 20-17 victory.

The hero made it sound like a stroll in the neighborhood park rather than a pulsating Superdome. "I didn't have too much time to think about the meaning of the kick," Vinatieri said: " I didn't hear any noise of the crowd. I didn't look around. I just kinda focused on what I had to do. Maybe I'll wake up in a cold sweat but right now I just feel as though I've earned my money."

Super Bowl XXXVI proved that there was lack of Ram. The Rams spent all season energized by the arm of league MVP Kurt Warner. But Warner's two interceptions in Super Bowl XXXVI were costly, as they helped give the Patriots gain the Super Bowl victory.

Nonetheless, the Rams remain focused on returning to the Super Bowl in the near future. Even with the .victory the Patriots had, it still did not build American confidence in the team. The football pole for 2003 has the Rams in better favor than the Patriots.

A funny coincidence that has happened ever since the Play Station Bowl, where two players are picked from each Super Bowl team to play a Super Bowl football video gam~, started is the turn out of the game. Every year the team that won the Play Station Bowl has won the Super Bowl and this year the Patriots took the Play Station victory as well.

Top Ten Super Bowl Moments

1) The last field goal

2) MVP Tom Brady's speech on his honor

3) The amount of good food that was consumed after dinner

4) The Patriots interceptiontouchdown play

5) Paul McCartney "talking about freedom"

6) Budweiser commercials

7) U2's halftime show

8) The actual game compared to prior Superbowl games

9) The Patriots coming out as a team and not being individually announced

10) Mariah Carey wearing clothes while lip-syncing -compiled b-:,Renee Di Pietr<

100 nights before graduation is coming up.

Be there! Don't miss it!

Saturday Feb. 9, Brownies 23 East , Ttie.bus leaye$?t 7 p.m. from the Dixon Center.