Kevin Harlan, and Not Tom Brady, Was the Real Super Bowl MVP for His Play-by-Play Call of a Streaker Who Ran Across the Field
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55 for Brady’s seventh championship. The greatest quarterback of all time won his fifth Super Bowl MVP, but a strong case can be made that legendary sports commentator Kevin Harlan was the real MVP.
During the fourth quarter, a streaker ran across the field. In typical Kevin Harlan fashion, the radio sports announcer delivered an epic call.
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers outplayed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs
Tom Brady completed 21 of 29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Despite being 43-years-old, Brady–and not Patrick Mahomes–is still the best quarterback in the NFL.
The Buccaneers’ defense did a phenomenal job on Mahomes and the high-powered Chiefs’ offense. Kansas City didn’t score a touchdown, and Mahomes threw two interceptions. The superstar QB was also sacked three times for 27 yards.
Brady now has more Super Bowls than any NFL franchise. He also joined Peyton Manning as the only starting quarterbacks to win Super Bowls with multiple franchises. After the win, Brady talked about how special his teammates performed in the biggest game of the year.
“It’s great to see big-time players making big-time plays,” Brady said, via ESPN. “Just love what they added to the team. Gronk is an unbelievable player, teammate, talent, work ethic and commitment. A.B., since he got here, he’s done everything the right way. So impressed by him, proud of him. It takes a lot of people for us to get to this point. We all have great support systems in place, and I think everybody should be celebrating them tonight. “This team is world champions forever, you can’t take it away from us.”
There will never be another Brady in NFL history. He is the GOAT by a long shot and will go down as the best football–not just quarterback–player of all time.
The Chiefs were held to three field goals in their 31-9 loss to the Buccanneers, the first time since at least high school that a Mahomes team failed to score a touchdown in a game he started. The loss was his first as a starter with the Chiefs by more than eight points, causing many to claim that Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles was the MVP of the Super Bowl.
However, Kevin Harlan–who called the Super Bowl for Westwood One–stole the show from Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and Todd Bowles.
Kevin Harlan delivered an epic call of a Super Bowl streaker
With 5:03 left in the fourth quarter, a streaker ran on to the field. Kevin Harlan, one of the funniest people in sports history, delivered an epic play-by-play of the streaker.
The best line from Harlan’s call was, “Pull up your pants, take off the bra and be a man!” The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan continues to show why he’s a Hall of Fame radio sports announcer.
This isn’t the first time Harlan has entertained his listeners during a football game while a strange event was taking place. During the 2019 NFL season, a black cat was on the field while the Dallas Cowboys played the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Harlan did a play-by-play of the cat, and everyone celebrated his commentary.
The Super Bowl was rather boring since the much-anticipated battle between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes was one-sided. At least Kevin Harlan gave radio listeners a fun night.
Who will retire first between Tom Brady and Kevin Harlan?
Tom Brady said he’s not retiring after winning his seventh Super Bowl. The three-time MVP will turn 44 on August 3, 2021.
Meanwhile, Kevin Harlan is 60 and will turn 61 on June 21, 2021. Brady has said he wants to play until he’s 45. Harlan has never talked about how long he wants to work.
With that being said, it’s going to be interesting to see who retires first between Tom Brady and Kevin Harlan. It will most likely be Brady, but you never know.
