THIS column comes to you from New York City - and what a time to be in the Big Apple. Last Sunday the New York Giants pulled of the mother of all shocks beating New England in Phoenix and ruining their hopes of a perfect season.I was in Arizona for the big game and it was certainly something else to be in that state with such a huge event going on down the road. I drove past the stadium a couple of days before the match and the atmosphere was already starting to gather pace - they had an NFL exhibition there for a couple of weeks before it - kind of like a massive fairground devoted to various NFL activities.
I drove on from Phoenix to Tucson, Arizona and stayed there with my uncle, also named Nick for a few days. I hadn't seen him in 20 years so it was great to catch up and watch the match with him.
He is 51 and also a Sports Junkie as he has devoted a separate room in his house to signed baseballs, photos and newspaper clippings from Phoenix and Arizona's many professional sports teams.
Of course we got on like a house on fire and spent a few days working out what to do for Superbowl Sunday while eating at some of Tucson's finest eateries.Uncle Nick was in the US Air Force for around 25 years and he had the idea of watching the game on the Davis-Monthan Air Force base that he used to work at.
On the morning of the game it was certainly a strange atmosphere as we drove to the huge air force base. Jets were patrolling the sky from an area covering Mexico to Nevada to keep the skies free of trouble - if the World Trade Center was a prime target for a terrorist attack seven years ago, you can just imagine what a prized asset an attack on the stadium holding the Superbowl would be.
Thankfully there was nothing to worry about and inside the air force base it was time to get into party mode.
Around 50 of us - serving air force men and women and their families watched on a big screen with food and drink provided and a game of Superbowl bingo to play - essentially you cross off what takes place in the match on your bingo card.
I cleaned up in the third quarter with a Giants punt and scored myself a cap and T-shirt, and also won the prize for being closest to the half-time score.
Watching the Superbowl at 4pm was strange - normally its a solitary 11pm start for me and I struggle to stay awake, but this time it was one big party.
Any American will tell you that the Superbowl is not only about the action taking place on the field but also about the adverts - most of America's biggest companies pay big bucks to broadcast new adverts during the game - and the next day the New York Post ran a Top 25 countdown of the best. Indeed, some of the watching crowd were more interested in the commercials than the outcome of the match!But the audience that did watch a sensational game was almost part of history - almost 100 million viewers tuned in - and it was revealed on Monday that only the viewing audience for the final episode of MASH in 1983 was bigger for a single event.
And as for the game - well it was no classic but it turned on one piece of genius from Eli Manning in the final two minutes to give the Giants an incredible win. As a Patriots fan I was a tad gutted, but I was just pleased that I wasn't sitting by myself in Suffolk and could enjoy the game with fellow NFL nuts.
