The hollow apologies from CBS, NFL, MTV and Justin Timberlake are getting as much press as the game itself, as planned I'm sure. But hey - "we're all part of a rip-off nation..."

I had hoped for a little more modesty today from the pundits and people who thought the Panthers never had a chance - in fact, the Panthers gave the Patriots all the football game they could handle. Patriots had better command of the ball but the Panthers had balls of their own and pulled off several incredible plays to keep the actual yard gains close, even inching into the lead briefly. IMHO it was test of evenly matched teams, hence the quality of the game. Today I spell the Panthers "R-E-S-P-E-C-T", and since the Cats had everything to gain by playing against a proven foe, they showed class by forcing the Pats to sweat out a long field goal in the final seconds of the biggest game of the year... football doesn't get any better than that. The Panthers deserved to be in the Super Bowl and the game could've gone either way.

Now you'll have to excuse me because I have some bets to collect on from some guys who gave the Patriots a seven-point spread...