Thursday, February 07, 2008

"A Perfect Ending, for the Giants"

This is irrelevant and late by now, but I couldn’t resist.

That was the greatest Super Bowl in recent memory, minus the first three quarters…BORING. Yes, the Giants did beat the Packers a couple weeks ago. All is forgiven. I had a hunch they were the much better team to send on to the Super Bowl if I wanted to see the Patriots lose. I did and so did 97% of America.

Unfortunately, for the Patriots, some of their most hated qualities were or were not on display on Sunday night.

Most hated quality on display: Bill Belichick. He shook Tom Coughlin’s hand after the pseudo end of the game and marched right off into the locker room. What? You and your short-sleeved hoodie couldn’t hang out for one more second to formally congratulate your opponents at the end of the official game. As if there were any risk of you liking us at some point later in your career you sealed the deal Sunday night. Throw in that wonderful post-game interview and that thing earlier in the season, oh yeah, cheating, and you gave us a lot of fuel for the fire. It burns brightly. I bet you would say you don’t care though.

Most hated quality not on display: The Patriots ability to pull victories straight out of their ass every close game of the season. They still count for wins. Don’t get me wrong, but how did it feel to be the receiver? 18-1. I was happy to not be able to hate that about the Patriots on Sunday.

In the last minute of the game, after Manning’s escape and Tyree’s catch there was a feeling of inevitability swirling around the Giants’ magical drive. There wasn’t a Patriot fan in the house where I watched the game. That made the end even sweeter when Burress made the game-winning touchdown catch. He schooled the defender so well it looked like a shell drill from practice. No defense.

Appropriately, this goes out to the 1972 Miami Dolphins. They seem a little slimy, bitter about something, old, and leathered, but I had to chuckle Sunday night when I thought of them toasting to another end of another perfect season.


*Title for this blog stolen from The New York Times, Monday, February 4, 2008.

*My condolences go out to Jarrod.

2 comments:

Jarrod Renaud said...

Thanks for the condolence. I have to say that it was an amazing five minute ending.

I'm sure that you know Im not a bandwagon jumper but just know that for 20 years of my life, my New England Patriots sucked so bad that whenever I stood up for them from my Kindergarten days sporting my "Berry the Bears- super bowl 20" T-shirt in 1986 (NE lost 46-10) through our lost to Green Bay in '97, I was laughed at, pushed to the side, and spit on. They were horrible! Crappiest team ever. But 2001 till now has been a better ride. I've been thankful for that.

This game was dissapointing, our offensive line is small and weak and left their sling shots at home. Giants were huge and rabid. I was just laughing at Brady and how frantic he was.

I do think its cool that the Manning brothers own the last two rings though, its good for the little brother. They earned it.

Jarrod Renaud said...

20 years meaning from when I was born till 2001.