First of all I would like to congratulate the New York Giants and their true fans for a great game tonight and a wonderful season. Words cannot express how, as a life long fan of the New England Patriots, I feel at this moment. Numbness, shock, anger, disgust, sadness. There, those were a few good ones. I haven’t spoken much about the Patriots this season because I believe in karma as an evil mistress, well the season is over and karma can suck it.
Let’s throw all of the Spygate and Spygate 2 bullcrap right out of the window for now. Depending on how I feel at the end of this I may address it all. Right now I am beyond feeling blue. In my world, after family and friends and all of the truly important things, I love my sports teams. They are in my blood, period. The Pats have been a love for me since as long as I can remember. There was Steve Grogan, Craig James and Andre Tippett. All of them were childhood heroes of mine. I had this terrible feeling once when they played, too. I assume that you all remember the 1985 Chicago Bears and what they did to the Patriots in the Super Bowl? They also crushed the spirit of an 11 year old boy…me. I wanted to cry that day and I probably did.
That following summer, my other beloved sports team, the Boston Red Sox, gave me a memory and a feeling that I wouldn’t shake for years and still get the occassional twitch over. The 1986 World Series stomped on my soul when Bill Buckner couldn’t field a ball and the next night the rest was history, the Mets won the title. Those of us in the know realize that it wasn’t really Buckner’s fault. It was the manager, John McNamara’s fault. He shouldn’t have left Buckner in to play defense with injured feet/ankles. Blame should also have been placed on the pitching but I could go on forever with this subject.
More recently my Sox did me wrong to where my chest was actually hurting and I got dizzy with sickness. The New York Yankees’ Aaron Boone knocked a game and series winning homerun sending the Bronx Bombers into the World Series over my Red Sox. Again, manager Grady Little should not have allowed the game to get to that point. He over extended and misused his pitching staff.
Tonight, last night, whenever it is right now, earlier in the game, head coach (the supposed genius) Bill Belichick chooses, in a tight game, to pass up the almost guaranteed points of a field goal and go for it on 4th down…and 13! Are you friggin’ serious bro? Ultimately, the play was a dud and the Patriots got no points. So that is 3 points taken off of the board. The final score? Giants 17 Patriots 14. Those damn 3 points get us into overtime and a second life.
Look, the Giants played an amazing game defensively early on but pooped out and cramped up allowing the Pats to do their thing late. The Pats defense was Swiss Cheese at best. Tonight, the best team won but we all know that the Giants weren’t the best team in the league. Hell they weren’t the 5th best team in the league, they were just currently the league’s hottest team and that is all that matters.
History was not made tonight as I had hoped. So what does that mean? The Pats went 18-0 then lost the title game. Do you want to know what this means to me? Not a damned thing. It means that they still weren’t any better than the rest of the league. We should not judge this New England team with the greats of the past: the Packers of the 60s, the Steelers of the 70s, that 49ers team that went 18-1 and the 85 Bears. Also do not forget about the 1972 Dolphins who are enjoying the sweetness of champagne somewhere I am sure as still the only undefeated team in history.
Now for the Spygate crap. Okay, the Pats video taped stuff that they maybe shouldn’t have been taping. I have heard from multiple sources that other coaches, including the beloved Tony Dungy did the same thing. The problem was that Belichick got caught. Why did he get caught? A former assistant of his who just so happened to be the coach of the rival New York Jets blew the whistle. Coaches who have been coaching awhile never said anything. Hey Mangini, act like you’ve been there before. As for the Super Bowl against the Rams. Firstly, where is this tape? I want to see it. Secondly, why aren’t the Rams bitching? Hmmmm. Generally, the final walk through goes over the first few set plays the team will run. If the Pats did tape them, did this really give them a huge advantage? Watch the game again.
I am digressing…. Here is the bottom line. What every single football fan wanted to happen in the Super Bowl happened. The “evil empire” as they are being called, not unlike baseball’s Yankees were defeated, and in spectacular fashion. From undefeated to chumps. But please, those of you who are not actual Giants fans, please shut the hell up because where were your teams playing tonight? In their game rooms on their PS2s and Wiis, that’s where. This is especially for that female nurse at the hospital who probably can’t even spell football and couldn’t name a player tonight that wasn’t a Manning or a Brady…I think you pissed yourself.
In summation: I am hurt. I will get over it. The pain will recede. What usually happens when the Pats lose or get embarrassed? They come back with a vengeance. With the 7th overall pick in the upcoming draft they will get someone better than who is on your team. They will be back in the Super Bowl next year and, God willing, they will win it but if not enjoy laughing at me again when your team is playing ball in their backyards with their kids.
In answer to your Rams query, here is this story.
Also, I would be surprised to see the Pats back in the SB next year. Now that Moss has shown that his lackluster play with the Raiders wasn’t really his fault, his price tag is sure to skyrocket and the Pats probably won’t want to pay up. They will probably lose Samuels to free agency and Seau will probably re-retire.
And talking about the game itself, it never ceases to amaze me how the teams with virtually unknown guys step up to make big plays in the championship games end up winning the game. David Tyree? Steve Smith? Never heard of ‘em. Same thing was true with the Red Sox this year….their rookies and lesser-known guys stepped up and made all the difference.
The Giants defense was, for lack of a better word, stellar! The receivers, who I knew very little about, showed that they had big game skills. The Giants played one heck of a football game last night.
LeBlanc, I must agree with you. I am neither a Pats or a Giants fan, and I really haven’t been following the NFL this year (to my uttermost shame). But, that was one of the best games I have seen in a long time. I feel bad for the Pats, but I must agree that the Giants really stepped up and played a superb game. I’m just hoping that my team (the Packers) does better next year!