It was the headline I wanted to use in case of a Giants upset, but the pun was stretched just a bit too far.
I was rooting for the Giants as the sports copy desk listened to the game, glancing at plays through the corners of our eyes while editing pages about the Habs game, winter sports and golf. It wasn’t because I like the Giants, but merely because they were the underdogs, and in my opinion a stunning upset of a perfect season was more dramatic than an undefeated team getting a final, predicted win.
Most of the front-page headlines (including the one on today’s sports section) came in a large, two-word format of [GIANT/PERFECT/SUPER] [UPSET/SURPRISE/SHOCK/WIN/FINISH/ENDING/LETDOWN], with GIANT UPSET being the runaway favourite.
Here are a few of the more creative front-page headlines I found in today’s papers:
- Giants’ Big Blue Heaven (NY Post)
- SUPER MEN (NY Post)
- Giants Stun Patriots (NY Times)
- CHAMPS! (NY Daily News)
- MIRACLE! (NY Daily News)
- The End. (Boston.com)
- History derailed (Boston Globe)
- Pats’ dream year left with Giant hole (Boston Herald)
- Twist, Then Shout (ESPN.com)
- SUPER MANNING (Red Eye Chicago)
- 18 and … no (Richmond Times Dispatch)
- Perfect ending … for Giants (Richmond Times Dispatch)
- D-nied (Rocky Mountain News)
- End of the dream (Manchester Union Leader)
- Giants slay Goliath (Charlotte Observer)
- Giants better than perfect (Kitchener Record)
and, of course:
- Rising Cost of Iraq War May Reignite Public Debate (Wall Street Journal)
Nobody used my headline. Perhaps that’s for the best.