The Night Charlie Brown Finally Became the Manning

Super Bowl XLII won't be remembered for Charles Barkley talking Dwayne Wade's ears off.

It won't be remembered Tom Petty's stiff renditions of '80's classics, the elements that hindered the previous Super Bowl, or Frank Caliendo's best John Madden impersonations.

It won't be remembered as a coronation of kings who eagerly waited their chance to be crowned as if it were their birthright. These are all things that would be remembered from a blowout, of course, which many expected.

In the light of new "Spygate" revelations, and given the New England Patriots history of disproving cheating allegations by crushing every opponent like they were playing for the BCS, many thought Bill Belichick shoot for triple digits.

Instead, Super Bowl XLII won't be remembered like super blowouts of yesteryear, or for the 1972 Miami Dolphins reluctantly welcoming new neighbors to Perfectville.

It will be remembered for Charlie Brown finally getting that Coca-Cola.

There were a lot of Charlie Browns in Glendale, Ariz. Sunday night. And both the New England Patriots and the New York Giants played either the humble, aw-shucks Chuck who got the football pulled from underneath him by Lucy, or the born-again Charles-in-Charge.

That famous Peanuts character represents those who wait their whole lives for that one time they can prove their world wrong. And given the fact that Chuck never disappointed everyone who expected only disappointment from him, there was no reason to believe things would ever change.

Just like their was no reason to believe the all-mighty, undefeated, multi-faceted, highest-scoring, opponent-humiliating, genius-led, greatest-of-all-time Patriots would lose the Super Bowl to a Giants team they had already beaten in the Meadowlands.

Those same Patriots were arrogant enough to believe 2:39 left, three timeouts, a two minute warning weren't enough for a kid from Ole Miss to engineer a comeback that needed seven, not three.