Dynasty Denied

A more satisfying football game I have not seen since the Ravens beat the Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV. As I stood in front of my television during that last drive by the Giants words cannot describe the euphoria I felt watching a team I have no interest in upset the supposed unbeatable Patriots.

I chose to watch this game with just my wife in the comfort of my own home because the band wagon has reached Delmarva and almost everyone I know was on it in full force routing for the Pats. Some will say they've always liked the Pats and are "die hard" fans but when asked to name two players other than Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri from the 2002 team they look at you like you have 2 heads. Others will say that this version of the Patriots is the greatest team to ever play football and "deserve" to win it all and make history.

To me this is pure bull shit, it's one thing to cheer for a team when yours is out of contention but it's another to go out and buy their colors and began to pretend that you've supported them loyally for years. I was a Green Bay Packers fan from the time the Colts abandoned Baltimore until the Ravens arrived in 96. As soon as the local flavor was back in town I was on board and buried my Brett Favre jersey in the back of my closet. It's seen the light of day a couple of times including in the play offs this season but they are less than a secondary team for me at this point.

My wife couldn't understand why I got so much pleasure in watching the Patriots dream of an undefeated season go down faster than Bud Dry after Bud Bowl III. Not only does Tom Brady and Bill Bellechick have to live this off season with their smug attitudes thinking what might have been, all of these "Patriot fans" and the real ones HAVE TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!. All season with why we should respect what the Pats have done and why everyone should be routing for them. Why?? What other sport do you hear fans try to sell you on why you should abandon your team and cheer for their's? The Red Sox fans are almost as bad but not quite there, I can even find myself cheering for the Sox a little bit because I absolutely despise the Yankees. However I think now with two championships in three years they probably need to shut the fuck up too.

All in all last night was fucking awesome and almost made me forget that I now have nothing to look forward to sports related until the NFL draft at the end of April. Yeah pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks and I'll pretend to care but I know we'll be lucky to be over .400 again this year and have to endure listening to all the pre-season bullshit of how the Red Sox and Yankees will battle it out. At least if all goes well I'll get to knock out three new ball parks by going to D.C. and Chi-Town in June. The only negative in the Giants win for me is that my hatred of the Patriots was so great that I was actually genuinely excited for a New York team to win a championship....that should never happen.