Giants owner: Super Bowl bigger than ‘Forrest Gump’

DANA POINT, Calif. - Steve Tisch has scored a remarkable double, winning an Academy Award as producer of Forrest Gump and a Vince Lombardi Trophy as co-owner of the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

Which meant more to him? Think drama.

"I think the Lombardi was probably more satisfying," Tisch said. "A successful movie, a hit movie, a critically very well-acclaimed movie is very satisfying," he said yesterday at the IMG World Congress of Sports. "The acknowledgment of my industry and my peers given in an Academy Award is fantastic.

"If you look at how a movie is made, it's scripted, it's edited, it's shot over a 70-, 80-, 90-day shooting schedule. It's very different from a live football game. It's unscripted. There's no editing."

And the Super Bowl was a doozy of a story.

Tisch called the game probably the best reality show of all time and one of the most dramatic sporting events of all time.

Eli Manning took the underdog Giants on a frantic, 83-yard drive in the waning moments and hit Plaxico Burress with a 13-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds remaining. New York's 17-14 victory over previously unbeaten New England ranks as one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.

"That demonstrated how a group of talented athletes under the great leadership of Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff played their hearts out, played with passion and commitment, and a real sensitivity to their fellow players and to their fans," Tisch said.

"It was a very dramatic story that was told, implausible at times, at times almost unbelievable."