professional football

It is time for the mainstream media to stand up and say: "We are not TMZ or Deadspin. We stink these days, but we're going to start stinking less. We will not broadcast cellphone video of an athlete's spouse.

INDIANAPOLIS - Anyone who has been a little brother knows how Eli Manning feels.

He was picked on. He lost a lot, at whatever game was played. But he got tougher. He was proud of his big brother. And he was eager to set his own path.

INDIANAPOLIS - Two weeks of polishing the NFL legends of Eli Manning and Tom Brady into modern gunslinger monuments might have seemed prudent for an unprecedented collision of Super Bowl MVPs, but the result wasn't terribly artistic until both quarterbacks finally drew their weapons late in a breathtaking Super Bowl.

So it ended, this strangest of seasons for the Patriots.

This season that started with the NFL lockout got emotionally complicated with the death of owner Robert Kraft's wife, Myra, just before the season started, and seemed for a while in early November as though the Pats' glory days were all in the past and they would be watching the Super Bowl instead of playing in it.

INDIANAPOLIS - It was the last thing the Patriots wanted to see.

Because they'd seen Eli Manning, with the ball in his hands and the game on the line, beat them too many times before.

He'd done it in Super Bowl XLII, taking the Giants 83 yards in the final 2:39 to the winning touchdown, crushing the Patriots' hopes for an undefeated season.

INDIANAPOLIS - The defenses in Super Bowl XLVI will head into Sunday's game with similar philosophies: No one likes to get hit, especially a quarterback.

So Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Eli Manning of the New York Giants understand that it not only will take skill but toughness to celebrate on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in a shower of confetti.

INDIANAPOLIS - No player should feel more at home at the Super Bowl than New York Giants offensive tackle James Brewer, even though it would be a huge surprise if he were to be listed on the active roster for the game.

INDIANAPOLIS - The Patriots' game against the Giants this season turned out to be memorable for linebacker Brandon Spikes, for the wrong reason.

INDIANAPOLIS - Neither Bill Belichick nor Tom Coughlin is known as a wild-and-crazy guy. So don't expect a wild-and-crazy postgame celebration after Sunday's Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium, whether the New England Patriots or the New York Giants emerge as victors.

INDIANAPOLIS - The biggest injury question leading up to Super Bowl XLVI surrounds New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The talented tight end, a key to Tom Brady's passing game, is doing better, coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday, but his status has yet to be determined for the game against the New York Giants.