Although the Super Bowl blackout remains unsolved, a five-century old mystery was indeed resolved on Monday across the pond. Meanwhile, South Jersey sports rule!
As much as we know Beyonce didn’t cause 34-minute power outage at the Superdome, we now finally also know the final resting place of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England, is about 100 miles north of London. In this earth breaking news Monday, the skeletal remains were positively identified belonging of the last English monarch to die on the battlefield, ending over 500 years of grave hunting.
Well, back here in South Jersey, we also know much more than the whereabouts of the former ruler of England who was killed in 1485 in the War of the Roses. We don’t have to dig deep to know about our own sporting royalty. Indeed, we know the past six months in South Jersey sports have been truly epic. Even grander than Shakespeare’s famed play, Richard III, about the Machiavellan medieval ruler.
In fact, we know South Jersey sports rules now as mighty as Richard III once did.
This bulging suspicion was confirmed on Sunday night when Joe Flacco not only was the winning quarterback for the Super Bowl XLVII champion Ravens, but the former Audubon High School three-sport star was named the Most Valuable Player for his legend-making performance against a stunned San Francisco.
Surely, the rest of the world saw South Jersey’s worldly sports supremacy reign once again - even in England where they were waiting the announcement of the DNA testing results for the skeleton of Richard - since the latest Super Bowl with the blackout in New Orleans and Beyonce’s electrifying half-time show was the highest TV rated ever.
Of course, South Jersey’s super son was in the middle of the on-field fireworks as Flacco threw three touchdowns in the 34-31 win all while slaying the formidable 49ers, fortifying his epic postseason march with 11 TD passes without an interception and leaving the rest of the NFL mucking in the mud of the moat outside his castle walls.
In case the world lost count - like us Americans with all those Richards and Henrys over history in the English monarchy - Flacco is the second South Jersey player to win the Super Bowl MVP, joining Franco Harris of Rancocas Valley, who won the honor with the Steelers in Super Bowl IX.
But, South Jersey’s sporting rule extends much farther than the Flacco monarchy.
In the fall, after a baseball season like no other in the history of the game, Mike Trout of Millville won the American League Rookie of Year and finished second in the MVP voting. Trout, who became the youngest player to hit at least 20 home runs and steal 40 bases, only missed the MVP because of a historic Triple Crown season by Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera.
And, South Jersey’s sporting rule spans farther than with Trout on the throne.
Over the summer, both Jordan Burroughs of Winslow Township and Carli Lloyd of Delran won Olympic Gold medals in – perhaps not coincidently - England, where Britain's current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is distantly related to Richard III.
Burroughs won gold in wrestling while Lloyd scored the game-winning goals for gold for the women’s soccer team in both the 2008 and 2012 summer games.
Still, South Jersey’s sporting rule spans farther in recent history than double gold in England.
Back in June, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist of Somerdale was the No 2 overall pick of the draft – the highest selection ever for a South Jersey basketball player – after winning the national title as a freshman with Kentucky.
Now, as we all know, and as Richard III learned on the battlefield, jealousy will lead to attacks on South Jersey’s dominating sporting rule.
But, alas, fear not, perhaps Bobby Ryan of Cherry Hill with Anaheim will win Stanley Cup this spring.
Or, down the road, John Gaudreau will one day carry the Cup. After all, the Gloucester Catholic graduate led the United States gold medal winning team in scoring at the recent World Junior Ice Hockey Championship.
And, if not, the lineage of Joe Flacco the Great and the 49ers Lionhearted Slayer continues as he announced Monday his wife is expecting their second child.
So, beware the rest of the world, like the Ides of March, South Jersey sporting rule is upon us. Not even Beyonce threatens our greatness.
We are truly Destiny's Child.
Reach Kevin Callahan at kcallahan@gannett.com and follow on Twitter @CP_KCallahan