And then, there were two.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks will face each other on Super Bowl XL in Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan on February 5, 2006.
The Steelers dismantled the Denver Broncos, 34-17 in the AFC Championship Game, becoming the first 6th seed to enter the Super Bowl, winning 3 road games against the top 3 teams of the AFC (#3 Cincinnati, #1 Indianapolis, #2 Denver). Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for two touchdowns and ran for another touchdown.
In the NFC Championship Game, NFL regular-season MVP Shaun Alexander and the Seattle Seahawks advanced to their first-ever Super Bowl game after beating the Carolina Panthers, 34-14. Alexander ran for two touchdowns and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw for two touchdowns. On the other hand, the Seahawks defense shut down Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith, and forced Jake Delhomme to throw three interceptions.
I'll be making my picks next week. Hehehe!
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Also, there was a big story Sunday night aside from the NFL.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 81 points, 55 of them coming in the second half, as the Lakers overcame an 18-point deficit and defeated the Toronto Raptors, 122-104.
81 points, my friends. Eighty-fucking-one. Holy shit.
That's the second-best individual scoring performance in NBA history, just behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100 in 1962.
Now, in my opinion, Kobe's performance is better than Wilt's 100. I mean, the NBA today is completely different from the NBA 40 years ago. With teams playing tougher defense and athletes becoming more common in this age, it looks much harder to score even around 40 now than in the past.
Heck, even teams can't score 81 in a single game.
Look at the stats: 28-of-46 on field goals, 7-of 13 on three-pointers, 18-of-20 on free throws. And all that in just under 42 minutes.
Simply amazing.
