Public Displays Of Affection are usually gross but then we’re talking about people, not a revered object.

Its the modern equivalent of kissing the icon and paying it respect. Only in this case the human religious need to show respect is now directed from the heavens to the earth.

I don’t agree worldly objects deserve the veneration once reserved for the holy but its telling all the same the human need to embrace immanence hasn’t been completely stamped out even in our secular society.

With all due respect Debbie, people do far worse and I can appreciate the thanks the players express for a hard-victory even if its not to every one’s taste.

NormanF on February 5, 2012 at 10:42 pm

Debbie, this second Super Bowl article is a little or funnier than the one you wrote three hours ago, but you’re right, with many of the Giant players kissing the Lombardi Trophy they can actually spread some diseases or bacteria! If I were a player on the NY Giants roster I wouldn’t have kissed the trophy, I would let my teammates hand it over to me and I’ll hold it up in the air and NOT kiss it!

You’ve heard the urban-legend that a winning team in the NHL whenever they win the Stanley Cup, some players drink alcohol from it!

“A nation is defined by its borders, language & culture!”

Sean R. on February 5, 2012 at 10:46 pm

kiss away! that’s a pretty darned trophy to win, so I say kiss it.
big deal. look what they do with the stanley cup

I’d rather they kiss that football than wookie Michelle Obama

BC on February 5, 2012 at 10:49 pm

I worry about germs and stuff so I would not kiss it. Ick.

And I think the same about tennis trophies. I would have to wash it myself to kiss it.

It would be nice to see Tebow go to the Superbowl in 2013!

Skunky on February 5, 2012 at 10:57 pm

Totally agree. These are probably the same people that used to put their lips right on a pay phone. Or think hand sanitizer is for crazy people. It’s also just a little bit phallic as well. Lifetime spent trying to get there etc, I get it, but yeah it is gross. Years ago I went to a New Years eve celebration with friends and went to get a glass for my champagne about 3 minutes before 12. Somebody said, “Oh wait, just yell for it!” Before I could walk the 30 ft to the crowded bar, she yells to the bartender to send a glass out to us. It was passed by no less than 10 people. Everyone touched it every damn place all over it. I laughed inside at the thought that everyone thought this was super cool with them. (Needless to say, I passed on that glass and didn’t toast)

samurai on February 5, 2012 at 11:07 pm

My Darling Debbie, I agree with you 99% of the time, but I see no problem with it. Not as a regular practice, but winning a Super Bowl? I can understand it.

Babeeee, if I ever see you in person it’s you who will be getting a huge smooch like that…….OK, maybe not since I don’t want to get arrested, but I’d still consider it!

Jeff_W on February 5, 2012 at 11:48 pm

Debbie I think that having the team kiss that trophy is the football equivalent of sharing a joint. Bad idea but people like being part of a community. H. and I are now a microcommunity and admittedly I sometimes give H. a very dry kiss on his little keppe. I think that’s pretty safe and seems to make H. feel valued. Also we watched M’s halftime show and the end of the game. I thought M. was quite good even with the lip synching. H. mostly yawned through her performance, possibly due to the generation gap. As for the game I didn’t care who won, as it has no effect on the Jewish question, but, possibly due to my Y chromosome and dual testes, I did feel some compunction to see the game. And I long ago stopped paying attention to TV ads which I mute out
as they are pure mind pollution and often not tsnius.

A1 on February 5, 2012 at 11:49 pm

Coach Tom Coughlin will regret kissing the trophy the next day when he wakes up with the flu

Matthew on February 5, 2012 at 11:52 pm

No, it’s just you.

gmartinz on February 5, 2012 at 11:59 pm

I’m gonna have to disagree with Debbie and others here. This kissing of the trophy has been done many times throughout the years, not just in football.

I don’t see how this is any different from the others I’ve seen. Seems to be tradition if you ask me.

Squirrel3D on February 6, 2012 at 12:05 am

Football, including its players and fans, just becomes stranger and stranger. Penn State is an extreme example of how far the mania can go. I think Debbie has hit it on the head. Since there is such a spiritual void in much of the country, people endeavor to fill it with whatever is at hand. Unfortunately, sports are not a good substitute for any spiritual longing.

Worry01 on February 6, 2012 at 12:41 am

It’s not only unsanitary. Even if they boiled the trophy after each kiss, it would be BIZARRE.

Miranda Rose Smith on February 6, 2012 at 6:17 am

Eli wins game despite Coughlin’s efforts to lose. The game should have been a blow out, but for some unknow reason, Coghlin decided to stop rushing the quarterback. Given 5-6 seconds to pass Bardy made the game close. This game should have been like the 1985 Super Bowl.

burt on February 6, 2012 at 8:08 am

Kissing the trophy isn’t the worst thing that went on during the game. Players spit, bleed, and sometimes urinate on the field, and all players are on the ground at some point during the game. Watch Eli or any other QB. Most of the time before the snap they lick their hands. Now THAT is unsanitary.

WilliamMunny on February 6, 2012 at 8:54 am

On this one I just gotta say…Relax, it is not that big of a deal, and as for germs…I think they will be fine!

Cheryl Lachmann on February 6, 2012 at 9:36 am

It could be worse. There are some teams I can think of whose players would have been humping the ball.

CornCoLeo on February 6, 2012 at 9:40 am

I saw this last night to and for the it to made me go ewww. The Giant players weren’t the only ones kissing, touching, and rubbing the trophy. The wifes, girlfriends and kids were also. Now I know that everyone was caught up in the moment but still. All I can say is, “Pass me a wetnap, stat!”

ken b on February 6, 2012 at 11:38 am

Maybe the trophy puts out!

In all seriousness, given the rate of herpes amongst the players, I would never put my lips or any other part against that trophy!

(Three days after the Superbowl): Honey, what’s that rash on your lip?

Coach Coughlin: Beats me.

Jonathan E. Grant on February 6, 2012 at 11:52 am

The game in and of itself was pretty good. Had it been presented like any regular season game, it would have been better. I didn’t care who won until I heard a local media type quoted saying “Eli Manning doesn’t have an arrogant bone in his body.” Since that quality is so scarce in professional sports, I went with the Giants for that reason alone. ( a modest stance, since I generally detest everything “New York.” As an aside, Arrogance = Bob Costas. He is excruciating. Collinsworth was his usual entertaining, knowledgable self. Now that it is finally over, I will turn my interest to a truly American sport-NASCAR. Spring starts for me in two weeks, at the first expression of “Drivers, start your engines!”

Kent on February 6, 2012 at 3:23 pm

Deb, I think it is just you and others. This is just an expression of joy and exhilaration. Ain’t no one gonna catch a disease. The World Series, The NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup and other sporting championships all have rituals of kissing their trophies. No big deal.

CaliforniaScreaming on February 6, 2012 at 4:45 pm

Yeah, it was nauseating seeing all that saliva and skin oil being promptly lapped up by each subsequent kisser. I think HD TV makes it more nauseating as you can see the saliva “string” leaving each mouth while still connected to the trophy. Also, it was a close-up whereas when they kiss the Cup in hockey or the platter in tennis it’s usually a wide shot.

DS_ROCKS! on February 6, 2012 at 5:00 pm

I don’t know know how to say this without being offensive but I will try.

The way that the players caressed that trophy with their hands disturbed me more than the kissing of it; it suggested an unseemly intimacy better kept for the marital or other bedroom with a willing and eager human partner than with an inanimate object.

Bruce Godfrey on February 6, 2012 at 5:37 pm

It’s always disgusting when someone not wearing the Green and Gold kisses the Lombardi trophy.

Matt on February 6, 2012 at 10:48 pm

People kiss the Blarney stone too, go figure…

Patrick on February 7, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Have you ever seen people drink communion wine at a Catholic mass? Now, that’s germs.

GianniV on February 8, 2012 at 11:01 am