Best. Super. Bowl. Ever.

At least, for everyone who wasn't rooting for Carolina, and all the casual watchers. And I think it might have been pretty good to a lot of the Carolina fans, too. The only two moments I can think of that compare to this were the first Patriots win two years ago (though that wasn't as intense until the very end), and the year before that, when the Rams stopped the Titans on the 1-yard line as time expired. Last year was just an old-fashioned horse whipping.

But this one? Two powerhouse defensive teams playing smashmouth football for the first 27 minutes of the game, then all of a sudden they both ran out of defensive gas and turned into gunslingers. Virtually every score was answered by the other team, right until time ran out. Plenty of heart-in-the-throat moments for all the fans, and (to me, at least) the best team won in the end. It wouldn't have shocked me if Carolina pulled it out, though - it was just that kind of game.

Individual moments that stood out:

- After watching yesterday, I will get high-def service on my cable soon. Or at least by the next football season. The picture was that good. We had a conventional big screen TV at the party, and we had a couple of LCD projectors hooked up to a high-def signal coming in over-the-air. Rob rigged it all up, and set up a TiVo to delay the live feed on the cable system just enough to be in sync with the 3-second delay on the high-def signal. I watched pretty much the whole thing in 16:9, and it rocked.

- I missed The Great Nipple Flash. I was busy playing with David. Playing with David was a lot more fun than seeing Janet Jackson's stuff. Or the whole utterly forgettable halftime show. Or the equally forgettable pregame show.

- However, Beyonce's performance of the Anthem was spine-tingling. Wow. Even the party-goers were applauding. So was David.

- I missed most of the ads. I did see the Bud Light "fetch" ad, and it was a winner in my book.

- At the party we usually go to, the food gets better every year. This year the DIY soft tacos absolutely rocked.

- For the most part, David had a good time. We took him down to the basement (where the tots and babysitters were located) a couple of times and dropped him off - each time he lasted about 20-30 minutes before crying for us. At which point one of the babysitters would bring him back to us, improving his mood immensely.

- He enjoyed watching the game, too - applauding whenever everyone else clapped and generally having fun and carrying on. When the place went absolutely nuts at the end, though (as the winning field goal went through the posts), it got so loud that he started crying. Poor kid.

- The drive home from New Hampshire after the Super Bowl is always long. But after the Pats win, it seems somewhat shorter.