By pulling in 97.5 million viewers, Super Bowl XLII was the 2nd most watched television event in history.  Only the finale of M*A*S*H (February 1983) was seen by more people.  However, when that episode aired I had yet to celebrate my first birthday.  So...at that time, I was about as interested in watching Hawkeye fly away to "GOODBYE" written in the sand below as I am to watch synchronized swimming on the tube today.

However,  I was glued to this year's Super Bowl.  But UNlike a large portion of the female demographic - it wasn't watching just to hear Joe Buck say "they really need to get Tom Brady on his back."  The two teams combined to score 21 of the game's 31 points in the final 11 minutes, in what many are calling the greatest upset in any Super Bowl.  It was the Giants, and not previously unbeaten New England, making history - as New York kept the Patriots from becoming the first team to ever finish 19-and-0. 

Couple of questions for you...Who finished 2nd in last year's Kentucky Derby?  Remember when St. Joe's went  27-and-0 in the 2004 NCAA basketball regular season, only to lose in the Elite Eight?  Yah, me neither.  The 07-08 Patriots (18-and-1) are now just another Super Bowl runner-up.  And like the other 11 teams every year that make it to the postseason and finish with a loss, this year's Pats won't be remembered for the number of games they won, but for the last game they played.  And lost.

It's story lines like those, that make it no coincidence that XLII was the most-watched Super Bowl in history (Cowboys/Steelers 1996 is 2nd, last year's Colts/Bears game is 3rd).  Many are even calling the Giants/Patriots thriller the greatest Super Bowl ever and one of the greatest games ever played in any sport.  I'm not ready to anoint Super Bowl 42 the greatest game E-V-E-R, but it did make my Top 10 list.  I separated the thrillers into two categories: greatest I've seen in person and best I've watched on TV. 

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"I WAS THERE" - GREATEST GAMES I'VE WITNESSED IN PERSON:

10 (tie) 1986 Major League All-Star Game/2004 Home Run Derby in Houston:  I couldn't decide which one should make the list.  I don't remember much of the '86 All-Star game in The Astrodome, but apparently we had good seats.  And I'll never forget the '04 Home Run Derby at Minute Maid Park when Miguel Tejada matched Lance Berkman shot-for-shot in a thrilling finale.  Before the competition, every living member of the then 14-member 500 home run club met at home plate, making it an even more memorable night.

9) Southwestern University vs. Millsaps College Baseball - April 12, 2003:  I witnessed this one from right field.  It was my junior year at Southwestern when we went 17 innings in a conference game at rival Millsaps College in Jackson, MS.  I made 7 plate appearances while playing all 17 innings, in the longest game I've ever been a part of.  There were 7 ties and/or lead changes.  We scored twice in the top of the 17th to take a 4-2 lead, only to surrender three runs to Millsaps in the bottom of the inning and lose 5-to-4.

8) West Monroe vs. Evangel - 2004 Louisiana 5A H.S. Football Championship - December 11, 2004:  If you know anything about Louisiana high school football, you know Evangel (Shreveport) and West Monroe (along with John Curtis in New Orleans) set the bar in the Bayou state.  Trailing by seven points in a back-and-forth 5A title game at the Superdome, West Monroe scored a touchdown with 28 seconds left in the 4th quarter.  However, instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game and send it into overtime, Head Coach Don Shows elected to go for two and the win.  The attempt failed and Evangel won 21-20, defeating West Monroe in the state title game for the fourth time in six years. 

7) Final Game at The Astrodome - October 9, 1999:  The Astros closed the book on 35 years at the "8th Wonder of the World" with a playoff loss to the Braves.  I still don't know how Walt Weiss got to that ball up the middle.  Ugh. 

6) First Game at Enron Field - March 30, 2000:  The buzz in the stadium was, and still is, unlike anything I've ever witnessed.  It took me until about mid-season to get used to watching Astros baseball without a dome over my head at all times.

5) Notre Dame vs. LSU - 2007 Sugar Bowl - January 3, 2007:  With the exception of a George Clinton concert in Nashville, I've never been anywhere louder than Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night - but when LSU and the Irish met in the Superdome, it made for a close second.  Throw in the mystique of Notre Dame, the home-town enthusiasm for LSU, and the fact that it was the first Sugar Bowl in New Orleans post-Katrina - it made for an exciting night.  And the 41-14 Tigers' triumph didn't hurt the cause.

4) China Spring vs. La Vega - December 8, 2007:  The greatest high school sporting event I've ever been to.  China Spring erased a 28-17 3rd quarter deficit to beat La Vega 31-28 at Floyd Casey Stadium in the Class 3A - Region III final.  Dustin Eskew's leap into the endzone with less than a minute left sealed the deal for the Cougars in a game neither team deserved to lose.

3) Craig Biggio's Final Game - September 30, 2007:  Growing up in Houston, Craig Biggio WAS baseball for me.  He was my favorite player, on my favorite team, in my favorite sport of all-time.  For 20 years, number 7 played the game the way it was supposed to be played and did it wearing an Astros uniform his entire career.  So, I wanted to make sure I was on hand to see him take the field for the final time.  And thanks to my Dad (and my Mom giving up her ticket), I was among the 43,823 fans with goosebumps when Biggio bowed out. 

2) Astros No-Hit Yankees in Yankee Stadium - July 11, 2003:  Roy Oswalt, Pete Monro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner combine to throw a NO-HITTER against the Yankees in New York.  Previously, no more than four pitchers had combined to throw a no-no in Major League Baseball history.   It's the first time New York had been no-hit at home since Detroit's Virgil Trucks turned the trick in August of 1952 and I saw it all from section 39 of the Yankee Stadium bleachers.

1) Texas A&M vs. Baylor - Men's Basketball - January 23, 2008:  Bears.  Aggies.  5 Overtimes.  Enough Said. 

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"DON'T TOUCH THAT REMOTE" - GREATEST GAMES I WATCHED ON TELEVISION:

10) Texas vs. LSU - NCAA Men's Basketball Regional Final - March 26, 2006: 11 lead changes and seven ties as LSU outlasted Texas in Overtime to reach the Final Four.

9) Texans vs. Cowboys - September 8, 2002:  Houston returned to the NFL landscape with a bang.  A national television audience saw the Texans beat the Cowboys 19-to-10 in the inaugural game in franchise history.

8) Super Bowl XXXVIII - February 1, 2004:  Adam Vinatieri kicked a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left to break a 29-29 tie, as the Patriots won their 2nd Super Bowl in three years.  You might also remember a certain "wardrobe malfunction" at halftime.

7) Oklahoma State vs. Texas - Men's Basketball - January 17, 2007:  In Kevin Durant's one and only visit to historic Gallagher-Iba Arena, the future Player of the Year in the country scored 37 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.  But it wasn't enough as OSU's Mario Boggan hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left in Triple Overtime to lift the Cowboys over Texas 105-103.  Until January 23rd of '08, this was the best game in Big 12 history (see above). 

6) Any Tour de France between 1999 and 2005:  After overcoming cancer, Lance Armstrong won the most rigorous sporting event in the world seven straight times.  And Texas is STILL bigger than France.

5) Diamondbacks vs. Yankees - Game 7 - November 4, 2001:  The World Series was pushed into November for the first time ever, due to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  After falling behind in the series 3 games to 2, Arizona forced a game 7.  Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens dueled on the mound for 8 innings.  Then, Alfonso Soriano broke a 1-1 tie with a homer in the 8th.  But Mariano Rivera, the best pitcher in postseason history, surrendered 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to give the state of Arizona its first pro sports title.

4) Oklahoma vs. Boise State - 2007 Fiesta Bowl - January 1, 2007:  The wildest finish in bowl game history, the '07 Fiesta Bowl had it all.  A fourth-down, hook-and-lateral touchdown pass to tie the game at the end of regulation.  A fourth-down, halfback option pass to tie the game in overtime.   A do-or-die Statue of Liberty two-point conversion run to win the game.   And, the star running back proposing to the captain of the cheerleading squad after scoring the game-winning touchdown.

3) Astros vs. Braves - NLDS Game 4 - October 9, 2005:  In a game that started at Noon and ended just shy of 6pm, it took the Astros 18 innings to eliminate the Braves in the National League Division Series.  Chris Burke hit a walk-off home run into the Crawford Boxes, as the Astros embarked on a run to the World Series.

2) Super Bowl XLII - February 3rd, 2008:  Leading up to the game, we knew that no-matter what happened, history would be made.  Either the Patriots would complete the greatest single season in NFL history, or the Giants would pull off the greatest upset in Super Bowl history.  When Eli Manning found Plaxico Burris in the end zone with 35 seconds left, we were treated to the latter, and so much more.

1) USC vs. Texas - 2006 Rose Bowl - January 4, 2006:  The two teams combined to score 49 points in the 2nd half, with the loudest seven of those coming with just 19 seconds left in the game.  That's when Vince Young beat the Trojans' defense to the corner of the end zone on 4th and 5 to put Texas ahead 39-to-38.  With an "S" on his chest and a burnt orange cape on his back, VY's 467 yards of total offense led the way as the Longhorns put an end USC's 34-game winning streak, in the greatest game I've ever watched.