Comeupance

I haven't said anything yet, but man-o-man was this years Superbowl a great game. An instant classic. And it was two teams I can't stand!

This one day of my life I had to put divisional rivalry aside and do what 90% of the rest of the US was doing - hoping the NY Giants would upset the seemingly unstoppable New England Patriots.

You may shrug off that last sentence, but you have to understand, the only emotion that compares to screaming for the Redskins on gameday is rooting against their divisional rivals (NY Giants, Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles). I HATE those teams.

This year, however, a greater evil emerged. The 18-0 New England Patriots. Since 1972, no other team has won every single game of the regular season. I've actually liked previous editions of the Pats, but their arrogance this year (personified by Bill Belichick) has gone too far. It has nothing to do with Spygate (the scandal where the Pats were caught video taping the NY Jets defensive signal calling -- specifically listed as an illegal practice by the League). Despite this allegation (nay, proof) of cheating, it is impossible not to admire their execution -- maybe the best I've ever seen. They are a smart and talented football team, and clearly they are extremely well coached.

However, they do have a distinct lack of class. Exhibit A was Belichick not even bothering to shake Tony Dungy's hand in the come-from-behind regular season victory against the Indianapolis Colts this year. Exhibits B - Z were all the times they were beating the heck out of some other opposition (eg. 38-0) in the fourth quarter, but still left their starters in. I've never wished for injuries to other players before, but it's hard not to let the thoughts creep in while the Pats ran up the score against teams that were clearly beaten. I'm certain there's an untapped market for voodoo dolls with a Massachusetts theme!

Anyway, the game was gritty and competitive from start to finish. Eli is getting a lot of platitudes right now, and he deserves most of them. The Giants set the tone when their first drive on offense went for about 10 minutes! While it only resulted in a FG, it importantly kept the dangerous Pats O off the field and began the long process of wearing down the Pats D. The other heroes are the NY D-Line. After an entire year of the New England O-Line keeping Brady's uniform pristine, cracks in their pass protection appeared in the second quarter, which turned into a literal earthquake for Brady as the game progressed. Not just the sacks, but the knock-downs too. So very impressive after watching every other team fail at the task of putting pressure on Brady this year.

While the Giants have another Lombardi in the trophy cabinet (which is ultimately bad news for any other NFC East team), the greater evil in the league was vanquished for the day. Not only did the Pats lose the Superbowl, but this is arguably the biggest choke in league history after being on the verge of going 19-0. Maybe the only thing more improbable than the Giants pulling off the win against the Pats last Sunday is being in the position to go 19-0 in the first place.

I must ponder: intervention of a higher power? :)