Fox is re-airing Super Bowl XLII today, and I just recently dig up a few memories and souvenirs ... including my original flip card from that game.

This was the cover of the N.Y. Daily News special section the day before Super Bowl XLII, where our great team of football writers ( @RichCimini, @XNYDNHankGola, @NotoriousOHM, @GaryMyersNY, etc.) painstakingly mapped out the path to a Giants upset.

This was the wrap cover of the NYDN on Super Bowl XLII Sunday, as drawn by the great @EdMurawinski.

In the moments after the stunning upset in Super Bowl XLII, this was the very early back and front cover of the N.Y. Daily News.

In the chaos of the final two minutes of Super Bowl XLII I was simultaneously writing two stories: One for if the Giants' final drive failed. One for if a miracle happened.

I wish I had saved the "If the Pats won" story.

Here's my actual game story: https://bit.ly/2XtsozW 

I was an MVP voter that night. They collected ballots with about four minutes left and told us to vote for someone from each team, just in case.

I voted for Patriots WR Wes Welker and Giants DL Justin Tuck.

After the final drive, I switched to Eli Manning.

Sorry, @JustinTuck

And finally, the final back page of the N.Y. Daily News from Super Bowl XLII, one of the greatest games I’ve ever covered, still in my office wall 12+ years later.

One of my favorite post-SBXLII stories: I spoke to ref Mike Carey about how close he was to blowing the whistle and calling a sack before Eli Manning threw his historic pass to David Tyree.

'Boy, was it close,' he said.

His explanation was fascinating.

https://bit.ly/2Ru6Xes 

Top 5 games/moments I’ve covered:

1. David Cone’s perfect game (7/9/99)

2. Super Bowl XLII (2/3/08)

3. Michael Jordan’s Double-Nickel (3/28/95)

4. George Mason upsets UConn, reaches Final 4 (3/27/06)

5. Reggie Miller’s one-man comeback vs. Knicks (5/7/95)

Former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi to his son, right before the final drive of Super Bowl XLII started:

“You know what? If (Eli Manning) is what we thought he was going to be, he’s got to do it now.”

Giants WR Amani Toomer on the near-INT by Pats CB Asante Samuel: "As soon as Asante dropped that pick, I was like ‘You know what? We have a shot.’”

Referee Mike Carey on what he saw on that Eli Manning-to-David Tyree miracle play: "It was like a scene out of Planet Earth or National Geographic, where it’s a lion jumping on the back of a wild horse. You could see him just desperately trying to pull out and somehow he did."

And from @ShaunOHara60 after that Eli Manning-to-David Tyree miracle: "“I saw Eli break a tackle. I don’t think he’s ever done that before in his life.”

And Ernie Accorsi's reaction: "You know what? I really never, ever get cocky. George Young taught me that. But when he flushed out of there—and I still don’t know how he got out of there—I thought, ‘They’re not stopping us now.’”

The play Kevin Gilbride called on the TD pass to Plaxico Burress was one he called several times in the regular-season finale. It called for Plaxico Burress to cut inside, but CB Ellis Hobbs was cheating that way and easily cutting Burress off. ...

... “He was guessing,” Gilbride said. “If it was a slant, he was going to make a play, but if it was a fade he was dead.”

So Gilbride re-designed it for Burress to fake inside on Hobbs, then run a fade. And he held it for just the right moment in the game.

The rest is history.

The Patriots still had 35 seconds left.

“If we had 35 seconds I’d think we had no shot,” former GM Ernie Accorsi said. “If they had 35 seconds, I’d think we had no shot to stop them.

"Boy, that first pass, when I saw it go 65 yards in the air with Moss running down there?"

John Mara was reaching into his pocket to rub a medal of the Blessed Virgin that a nun had sent him. "She said, ‘I guarantee you that this will bring you luck.’”

Mara later called Super Bowl XLII "The greatest victory in the history of this franchise, without question.”

He later admited he was "wondering whether my emotions got the best of me at the time. ... I just can’t imagine any win in our history being bigger than that.”

Earlier in the 4th quarter, when Eli Manning overthrew a wide-open Plaxico Burress, a fan in the stands screamed at Ernie Accorsi: "Your quarterback just cost us the world championship.”

"When the game was over,” Accorsi said, “he tried to kiss me on the lips.”

One last note after reliving the wild run of the 2007 Giants to Super Bowl XLII champions:

The 2008 team was better.