Krause: Trip to Arizona brings back canyon full of Patriots memories

Spending all night Monday into Tuesday flying across the country gave me plenty of time to ponder what I observed Sunday at the Super Bowl. Here are some of those ponderings:You don’t have any idea, unless you actually attend one live, how far down football is on the list of Super Bowl priorities. It’s basically squeezed in there between promotions and commercials, the same way an actual TV show is produced.When the US Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics, it still had to win one more game – against Finland – to win a gold medal. Mike Eruzione tells the story of coach Herb Brooks coming into the locker room prior to that game and telling his players, not once, but twice, “You lose this game, you’ll take it to your (expletive) graves.” I’d say the Patriots know that feeling now.Not that I’m any kind of a psychologist, but I didn’t like what I saw last week, especially from Tom Brady. When Plaxico Burress boldly predicted that the Giants would win, and even picked the score, Brady was indignant. He should have said, “I’d be shocked if he DIDN’T think they were going to win; and who cares WHAT he says the final score will be? It’s forgotten 10 seconds after the game ends.”Would everyone just please cut out the nonsense about Bill Belichick walking off the field with one second to go? He went over and shook Giants coach Tom Coughlin’s hand. It’s not as if he stalked off the field in a blazing display of poor sportsmanship. I understand everyone thinks he’s a churl. But if you want to kick him around for this, you’re reaching.One of the happiest guys around here is Lynnfield’s Mike Panos, who played for Coughlin at Boston College and admires him like he admires few other men. So hats off, Mike.Looking back on it, were I Brady, I’d have stayed out of sight before I’d have let anyone see me with a boot cast on my leg. People don’t wear boot casts because of mild ankle sprains. Don’t think this didn’t factor into the Giants’ defensive game plan to send in the student body on practically every play.Still, Burress had physical issues, too, and that didn’t stop him from catching the game-winning pass.Not that it’s the Boston Herald’s job to lead cheers for the Patriots, but the timing of the article alleging skullduggery prior to the 2002 Super Bowl was rather odd, wouldn’t you say?And not that it’s Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s job to worry about appearing overconfident, but his announcement that the victory parade would be held on Super Tuesday was stupid. It’s the first thing Giants defensive lineman Michael Strachan talked about after the game.The failure of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel to make even minimal adjustments to what the Giants were doing Sunday should quiet down speculation that he’s head coaching material. And it’s probably just as well, too. He’d be dangerously close to being another Eric Mangenius.Memo to Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green: You outweigh Eli Manning, probably, by close to 500 pounds. You couldn’t bring him down with the game on the line? That’s not just bad tackling ? that’s monumentally bad tackling.As for Manning’s pass to David Tyree (the one where Tyree used his helmet to maintain possession of the ball), it has to be the single most spectacular play in Super Bowl history. I keep going over and over it, and I can’t think of a better one.All over University of Phoenix Stadium Sunday (and all over the city itself), there were signs that said “Who wants it more?” You can debate a lot of things about Sunday’s game, but you can’t debate the answer to that question. The Giants came into that game nasty (perhaps made so by the blatant, across-the-board disregard for them and their chances), played nasty, and left it nasty. They had a perfect right to think, act, and feel that way. They wanted it way more.Best remark of the game: The Patriots went into the game trying to MAKE history ? now they ARE history.Finally, a real pet peeve here ? it’s Super Bowl. Two words. Not Sup