The Blog

It’s been three months since the New York Giants’ stunning upset of the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, and I can’t believe the sportswriting nation still hasn’t come up with a suitable nickname for the desperate, game-changing pass from Eli Manning to David Tyree — heralded by many, including me, as probably the greatest single play in Super Bowl history.

Where is Grantland Rice?

Dead, of course.

Where are the great minds (there must be some) in the current crop of writers and columnists? Have their thinking caps blown off in a strong nor’easter?

It’s important, at least in some corners of American culture, that these historic plays have easy handles — like the “Immaculate Reception,” “The Play,” and “The Called Shot.”

To me, the Manning to Tyree pass has to be remembered as “The Tyree Miracle.”  It’s the only name that makes sense.  True, Manning’s part in the play–eluding a near-certain tackle by the dog-tired Patriots’ pass rush–was impressive, but Manning is already a big name, thanks in part to his pedigree, and he would have been remembered in NFL lore whether or not the pass succeeded.  Tyree was a nobody and it becomes easier for his name to become synonymous with this one spectacular catch on football’s greatest stage.  The incredible determination he showed in hanging on to that pass even while he was falling and the ball was trying to squirt over his head epitomized the Giants’ utter refusal to lose in that tremendous upset.

I’m calling it the Tyree Miracle and I hope the rest of the world gives him that bit of justice.