Some interesting Super Bowl reading

by Ed Valentine on Feb 15, 2008 9:24 AM EST in New York Giants News

I came across a couple of very interesting articles on Super Bowl XLII heroes David Tyree and Justin Tuck yesterday.

First Tyree. His amazing over the shoulder against the helmet catch on the game-winning drive hasn't got a fancy name like Dwight Clark's 1981 'Catch.' But, if you ask Clark, that doesn't make it any less spectacular.

"I was there to see it," Clark said of Tyree's 32-yard catch on the game-winning drive. "I thought it was spectacular when I saw it live, but when I caught it on replay it was one of the most unbelievable things I've ever witnessed. To hold the ball like that when he was hit by the defender, and then to have the strength to hold it against his helmet and reach out with his other hand to make sure the ball never hit the ground ... it has to be the greatest catch ever made. Definitely one of the top two or three."

Clark also knows that Tyree's catch has changed his life forever, just as the 1981 catch of a Joe Montana pass changed his.

"The Giants' fans will love him forever," he said, "and they will never forget that. He'll be asked about it and will be reminded about it for the rest of his life. But all the New England fans will hate him and say it was lucky and it was a fluke. I know because that's what Dallas fans tell me, asking if (Montana) wasn't throwing the ball away. But when they do he can just smile and know what happened. And what happened wasn't a fluke."

I'm sure Tyree won't mind living with the attention.

As for Tuck, a blurb in ESPN's 'Hashmarks' blog details how close Tuck came to never even being recruited by Notre Dame, much less making it to the NFL.

"The coaches got lost looking for another school. There are a lot of schools in Alabama named Central. Our school was Central of Coosa County, so it was Central Coosa and there was another school named Central Tuscaloosa around the University of Alabama. There was a big-time linebacker that year out of that school and they actually went the wrong way and stopped by a gas station to ask for directions and the guy that owned the gas station was like, 'Central? Yeah, that is right down the road.' But it was a different Central. ... So I actually got recruited by accident."

Amazing how things work out sometimes. The Giants and their fans say 'thanks' to that gas station attendant.

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