The Crystal Ball The Championships

Boy was I wrong this week, and in the worst ways. So much for that three out of four home teams win during the divisional round bunk. Not only did two home teams lose, but I picked the wrong away team to win. As typical, we had crazy, topsy-turvy weekend in the NFL.

Colts defeat Ravens:

The Ravens suck so badly. They had the Colts pinned on their own one yard line and then let them drive down the field. What happened to that vaunted Raven defense?

During one play sequence, Peyton scrambled, threw the ball and completed it to Marvin Harrison. Dan Dierdorf, doing color commentary for the game, said that Peyton is not Michael Vick, alluding to the difference in scrambling abilities between the two. This is very true and an obvious observation by Dierdorf. Peyton is a classic pocket passer, and you rarely see him mobile outside the pocket. However, all I could think when Dan said this was, yeah, Peyton completes his passes.

See, that is exactly why the Colts picked up Vinatieri, for games just like this. How about that 51 yarder that skipped off the crossbar and went through for three points? Very nice. I bet Vanderjagt would not have made that kick. I bet he threw his beer can at the TV in disgust watching this one play out.

Twice in the game Ed Reed had a sure interception, and each time his opportunity on the ball was ruined because the ball was tipped by Ray Lewis. This man’s gigantic ego and penchant for wanting the highlight play every time twice ruined excellent opportunities for his team. You think that perhaps he might not be God’s linebacker? Perhaps Ray should practice his ball handling skills and study his teammate’s field presence and positions instead of that stupid seizure dance he does before each game.

I have a few friends who are big Ravens fans, which always leads to a friendly argument or two between us. One of them is always more than happy to remind me that Pittsburgh’s only loss in their 15-1 season came at the hands of, you guessed it, Baltimore. One of my friends, who works with the girlfriend, got a haircut as the playoffs began. She told me this, and I told her to relay to him that the haircut was bad luck, and he may have jinxed his team. She related this to him, even telling him about how I did not shave through the entire playoffs last year. What happened then? The Steelers won it all, of course. Now what happened this week? His Ravens lost. Superstitious? Absolutely. Completely ridiculous? Without a doubt. Coincidence? Considering I am a part of one of the most superstitious fan bases around, no, it is not a coincidence. I feel that too many fans forget the superstitious factor when it comes to rooting for their teams. I know it seems absurd, but one of the things that connect people with their teams are superstitions. We tend to feel that the small things we do will make a difference on game day. Now while I will blanch at this thought from a rational and logical point of view, from a fan standpoint, I believe it makes all the difference. Case in point, last year watching the playoffs, I watched each game wearing the same jersey, with the same terrible towel and the same hat in the same spot for all three games. The Steelers played great and played their best games of the season, blowing their competition out of the water. Yes, I know, the Colts game was close, but only in the last 5 minutes of the game. However, during the Super Bowl, I watched it at a friend’s house, thus changing my routine. What happened? They had one of their worst games of the season, and trust me by halftime I was contemplating driving home to see if that would turn things around. Luckily, Willie Parker helped keep me in my seat, figuratively speaking. We as fans do not have access to our teams as fans in the past have had. I have heard stories of fans and players going out for beers after the game, hanging around and swapping stories. When a few diehard Steelers fans started Franco’s Italian Army in Pittsburgh in the 70’s, Franco Harris would often come to their functions. He is still friends with many of them to this day. In this day and age, the average fan has no way of connecting with their team on this sort of level. But what we do have is the far fetched notion that with our little rituals and habits, we can help support and push our teams to another level, and thereby have a connection with them and help them win. By what we do, we feel a stronger connection to the team, especially when it works. And when it works, we feel as though we are actually a part of their success, that the little things we do actually make a difference. It may seem ridiculous, and to a certain degree delusional, but it adds to the fun, the joy, and even the heartbreak. So to all you true blue fans out there, never underestimate the power of the superstition. And avoid haircuts and shaving this week too, just in case. You can always shave Monday if you lose.

Oh, and by the way, nice support you gave to the home team there, Ravens fans. Your team is down right before halftime, they could use a pick me up in a close game. What they do not need is to hear their supposedly loyal fan base booing them because they do not want to try a high risk low reward heave ho play that considering how McNair was playing thus far would have probably backfired horrendously. Instead they would prefer to go into the locker room, catch a breath, get a new plan for the second half and gird themselves for 30 more minutes of dog fighting. Yeah, I know they were stinking up the joint, but they are still your team. Show some support and loyalty for heaven’s sake you twits.

Saints defeat Eagles:

It turned out to be too hard to climb that hill for the Eagles. The Saints look like a team on a mission.

This game featured some ridiculously hard hits, just the kind you love to see in the playoffs. Reggie Bush got tattooed early in the contest, getting the wind knocked out of him after getting pasted hard by an Eagle defensive back. But I give the kid credit; he got up and shook it off, put it behind him and had a good game, especially for a rookie. The pressure of playing in a high stakes playoff atmosphere does not seem to be affecting him at all, minus the one fumble near the end of the game. Perhaps playing all those years for a perennial national title contender in USC has paid off quicker than Bush or the Saints would have ever thought.

The hill could have been climbed by the Eagles, though, if it weren’t for Reid’s questionable coaching strategies. Reid went for it on fourth and ten and the team picked up the first down, but it is negated by a penalty. So, then Reid decided to punt when it’s fourth and fifteen? What is the difference? The game is less than 2 minutes from ending, your defense has not stopped the Saints all day, and chances are you will not get the ball back again. Your season is that moment, it is all or nothing; punting should not be an option. And it is that kind of behavior, not to lose play calling, which is the reason the Eagles will be sitting home this week. Fortune favors the bold; you need to put the onus to win on your team. With a call like that, you told your team you have given up, and they should too. So what happens? The Saints get a first down and run out the clock, game over. Shameful play calling Andy, just shameful.

Bears defeat Seahawks:

Grossman is so maddingly inconsistent. He can throw a pretty bomb down the field in one drive, and the next drive lose a fumble. If I were a Bears fan, I would be driven mad by this man. His play is pure feast or famine, usually in the span of two consecutive drives, occasionally in the span of two plays. Plus, why does he look like he is about to vomit every time he takes the field?

Mike Holmgren is such a jerk. He plodded up and down the sidelines the entire game, yelling and screaming like a petulant child, verbally berating his charges as though they were nothing more than pack mules. In all those interviews and puff pieces last year before the Super Bowl, everyone said about how great of a guy he was, and such a teacher of men, a caring type of person willing to give of himself for the betterment of the team and those who work with and for him. But, what they say and what I see are two different things. They say good things come to good people, I guess that’s why he has lost big in the playoffs over the past few years.

There was such bad offensive line play by Seattle at the end of the game that I was genuinely shocked. On the next to the last play of regulation, three Bear defenders rushed and eight dropped into coverage. One of the rushers then pealed off into coverage, leaving 5 Seattle linemen on 2 Bear defenders. Yet, Tank Johnson still managed to break through and sack Hasselbeck as three offensive linemen stood and watched their quarterback get thrown to the ground. Just poor play. What the team would do to get back Steve Hutchinson, I wonder.

During the game, it was mentioned that Brian Urlacher does not do as much film study as he did earlier in his career. He said that when he did study film, he thought too much on the field and felt he was a more successful player by just going on instinct. Considering how much rushing up the middle they gave up, perhaps he should get back to studying.

Congratulations to Bears kicker and fellow Penn State Alumni Robbie Gould for his fantastic game winning field goal in overtime. What a pressure packed situation for Gould to walk into, with not only the game but also the season on the line. But Gould came through like he was channeling Adam Vinatieri. I applaud the excellent work for a kicker in just his second year in the league. Here’s to dear old state, Penn State Pride.

Patriots defeat Chargers:

We have seen this game before, have we not? New England looks terribly overmatched, but keeps hanging around and hanging around and then suddenly, boom, the game is over and they are the victors. It just drives me close to madness. This team is not that good, their parts are either sub par cast offs or banged up. They have no real threat of an offensive weapon, and their defensive leaders are either hobbling or past their primes. Seriously, cannot anyone finish them off? Look at their roster and tell me who on that team really strikes fear into an opposing team. Brady is pretty much it, but he has no big game receivers. They are all just cast offs on which other teams did not wish to waste a roster spot. This team does the little things better than any other team in the league, and if one other team could even match their ability to do that by 75 percent, they would blow the Pats off the field. They win by smart football, minimizing turnovers and errors and capitalizing on their opponent’s mistakes. You would think someone else would learn how to do that by now.

But San Diego, you had this coming. All of you who made my walk away from Qualcomm as miserable as possible after the Steelers game in October; this is your comeuppance for your hubris. Plus, I knew you would get payback for calling Tomlinson LT. That is, and always will be, Lawrence Taylor’s nickname. LT literally changed the way the game is played, Tomlinson has not. You created bad karma for yourself, and now it has come home to roost at the worst possible time. It hurts, does it not?

The Bolts also had way too many chippy moments and stupid penalties. They need to learn to play much smarter than this if they really want to go far. Several times they committed personal fouls that help set up the Patriots, which is always a bad idea. Perhaps they lost their heads with the excitement of a home playoff game. If that is the case, then Shottenheimer had them poorly prepared in more than just their game plan. Their miscues and turnovers led to 14 Patriots points. You cannot make mistakes like that against a team like New England, who has mounds of playoff experience and knows what it takes to win at this time of year. It was nothing less than terrible play and terrible field presence by a team that should have blown New England off the field.

Poor Tom Brady, suffering his first interception in his last 169 pass attempts. But what did he expect? Who would not wish to get their paws on a ball that was once held in Tom’s magical hands? Let us be honest, we all would. Donnie Edwards is just the lucky man who was able to fulfill that wish. Tom ended up throwing two more interceptions in the game. But because he really is the greatest human being to ever grace this earth, he did not let it affect him and he still managed to pull off the win. I have said it before, and will say it again, when Tom is playing, we all win.

Welcome back Martyball! Shottenheimer sucks. I know, this is not a shocking revelation, but let us look at a few of his more boneheaded calls that led directly to defeat. Its fourth and eleven early in the game, you need to go for the field goal here Marty. Do you need someone by you to tell you the common sense move or something? Take the points early; everyone and their mother knew this could be a close game. Take what you can get. Plus, already by this point in the game it was being revealed that your receivers had a wicked case of stone hands. Do you really think they will suddenly overcome this obvious issue when it is fourth and eleven? You need to take advantage of every scoring opportunity presented to you. Instead, you go to your passing game, which has been sucking in the opening quarter, and predictably the ploy fails miserably. The results are you turn the ball over to New England in good territory, and most importantly, you give the Patriots life when you had them previously pinned against the wall and out of sync. Marty says his job is game management and big decisions. Maybe he should change his duties to figurehead and be done with it. Now, going for it on fourth and one, that was a good call. Fourth and eleven is just too much when your offense is terribly out of sorts. The worst part of that fourth and eleven call? If he had just gone for the field goal and made it, that would have been the difference in the game. He would have then had more of a cushion on the lead, and when they got the ball back in the fourth quarter with four minutes left, they would have had a three point lead and could have just run the ball to run out the clock.

Moving on, later in the game he wasted what turned out to be a critical time out on a ridiculous challenge that anyone with one working eye could see would never be overturned. Even the referee who came over to speak with Marty after he threw the flag had an incredulous look on his face, as if to say, you really cannot be serious, are you? Why would you waste a timeout in such a stupid way? This time out they lost turned out to be critical on their last drive to try to get the game tying points. If they had this time out, they could have called it after the long completion, potentially ran one or two additional plays, and set up Kaeding for a shorter, and higher percentage, field goal attempt.

But the worst move was how Shottenheimer underutilized Tomlinson. You have the NFL MVP in your backfield. You have one of the best offensive lines in the league. When Tomlinson was getting handoffs, he was averaging over 5 yards a carry. How, on a day when we have already noted your passing game was sub par, did Tomlinson only get 25 carries? He should have been your workhorse, pounding and sweeping and drawing and catching passes in the flat against a Patriots defense that has been weakened by injury. But no, you did not do this, and now you have to hear at an ever increasing decibel level about how you are a playoff failure as a coach and cannot win when it matters most. Enjoy the off season if you can Marty, it may be more difficult this year than before.

Coaching Vacancies Update:

I missed that Jim Fassel is also a candidate for the Oakland job. They could do worse. Oh wait, they have. But it seems as though USC quarterback coach Steve Sarkisian has the inside track on this job. Who knows how this might turn out? Preparing for another Oakland train wreck.

Miami has invited Jim Mora Jr. back for a second interview. They are also showing interest in Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey as well as Jets offensive coordinator Brian Shottenheimer. However, Shottenheimer withdrew his name from consideration this week, instead choosing to focus on the Jets offense next year. Good call Brian; sometimes where you are is better than where you could be. And a few years of seasoning never hurt anyone.

Former Steeler offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is now the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. Congratulations to Ken, all of his hard work has paid off with one of the most prestigious jobs in sports, head coach in the NFL. He will be able to do something good in Arizona, with all of the young talent they have on offense. It will be interesting when the Steelers face the Cardinals in Arizona next season. I was all jazzed to see the game, but I bet there will be a revenge factor involved in this game. And yes, just thinking about that makes me more than a tad uneasy. There is nary a worse feeling in sports fandom then watching your team lose on the road, and being subjected to the taunts and catcalls from the home teams fans as you trudge deflated to your chariot, hoping for a quick escape. I did that once this season, I do not need a repeat performance next season.

I do not blame Whisenhunt for taking the job, since the adage a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush is in play here. Arizona wants him and is willing to give him his shot. Pittsburgh has not decided yet, and could still go with Grimm even if Whiz waited to see what their decision may be. He should take his shot while the opportunity is ripe. Plus, it might be a better fit, since Arizona is stocked with young talent waiting for a creative offensive mind to utilize it, while Pittsburgh has some old cogs that desperately need to be replaced. This season could be more than just a coaching transition in Pittsburgh, I fear.

Between Grimm and Whisenhunt, I think both will make excellent choices. I just have a feeling that Whiz would be a bit more innovative, and Pittsburgh could use a dose of that. I guess we will just have to see how it shakes out during the season. Hey, could it be worse having a hall of fame player as coach of your team who learned his craft under a hall of fame coach and a potential future hall of fame coach? Damn straight it could be, it could be a lot worse. Most teams would drool to be in a position like Pittsburgh. The truth is, you never know with a first time head coach. All you can do is hope for the best. Considering Grimm’s pedigree, I am all about high hopes. Of course, that would first require him to get the job, and I am big time hoping for that right now. Pittsburgh has narrowed the search to Grimm, Ron Rivera and Mike Tomlin. Grimm and Tomlin have each had lengthy second interviews, and Rivera will not be free to speak with Pittsburgh until Chicago’s season ends, either after Sunday, or after the Super Bowl. If Chicago should win this weekend, it will be interesting to see if Pittsburgh is willing to wait to speak with Rivera again. That could be extremely telling.

There has also been much movement in the lower coaching ranks, with new coordinators being named, promotions being given and some gentlemen being shown the door. I toyed with the idea of tracking these moves, but two thoughts kept me from doing this. One, there are a lot of moves being made out there, and it is a rather time consuming task to keep track of them all. And two, unless it is your team, do you really even care? No, the average fan does not care who is running the offense in Seattle unless they are a Hawks fan. I would be willing to go so far as to say the average fan does not even know who is running another team’s offense unless, A, they happen to be playing that team on a given week or B, that gentleman is being bandied around as a potential head coach candidate. Of the coaching ranks, the head coach is the celebrity, the name that draws people in, not his assistants. I bet most fans would be hard pressed to name the assistants on their own team past the offensive and defensive coordinators. I know I could name most of Pittsburgh’s, but I bet even I would miss one or two. Does this make me a lesser fan? No, certainly not. But most of these gentlemen toil in obscurity until a chance may materialize that they could move up. A good comparison between head coach and his assistants is looking at the star system in Hollywood. The head coach would be an A list celebrity; while, say, the tight ends coach would be a character actor. Sure, you have seen his work, and could even recognize him as that guy, but you would not know his name. By comparison, Bill Cowher would be Brad Pitt, only by level of celebrity comparisons, certainly not in any other way, and Pittsburgh tight ends coach Mark Whipple would be John C. Reilly. You know Reilly; he played Dirk Diggler’s friend in Boogie Nights, and Cole Trickle’s friend in Days of Thunder. You like his work, you think he’s a pretty good actor, but he is not a name. He could not open a movie by himself. Nothing wrong with his work, just he is a good actor who gets the job done, like many assistants in the league. Sure, sometimes someone will break through and become a name, like say Bill Paxton or Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but not too often does that happen. Breakthroughs occasionally happen in the coaching ranks as well. Bill Belichick toiled for years on the Giants defensive staff, moving up from a position coach to become their defensive coordinator before securing his first head coaching job in Cleveland. That stop did not work out so well, so he ended up working as a defensive coordinator for Parcells again, bided his time, secured the gig in New England and now he is a name. The assistant coaches in this league are a vital part of each team, yet most of us have no idea who they are unless they get a shot at the top. But let us not forget them; they make great contributions to your team. We should all know who they are, because one day they may make the big time. I will wait to study the coaching roster, however, until Pittsburgh hires a coach, and until I see if special teams coach Kevin Spencer gets hired in Arizona. See, I know most of them. But that should not discourage you. Check them out, I bet their coaching histories and their lives are far more interesting than you once thought.

Ok, I give up. I am only one man, and I can only withstand so much. You have pounded me into submission. I will be a good consumer from now on and follow your bidding. After enjoying some tasty selections from the McDonalds dollar menu and a Grilled Stuft Burrito and washing them down with an award winning Miller Lite while watching 24, Prison Break, American Idol, Without a Trace, Cold Case, CSI and Rules of Engagement on my Sony HD TV, I will get in my Nissan truck and crank Black Sabbath while I drive through ooouuuurrrr country to get a $2.99 Value menu meal from Wendy’s and pick up some Budweiser before buying a Sprint Mobile phone with my MasterCard and shipping it by UPS and then calling Southwest Airlines for reservations on my Cingular Blackjack because I want to get away from the giant Rock’em Sock’em robots attacking my Dodge Ram and boldly go somewhere only my H2 could possibly reach.

We finally have a repeat winner, because Joe Buck is an idiot. I have mentioned previously how much of an idiot I think Buck is, but somehow he managed to top himself. First, he must be the whitest man in America. Just hearing him say the word funkified before the start of the game on Sunday made me cringe. Then, during the game, there was a discussion regarding the cleats being used by the players. With the inclement weather conditions and the new turf in Chicago, many players were using a longer 5/8 inch cleat as opposed to a shorter ½ inch or 3/8 inch model. Buck, ever the moron, actually said he wished he knew which one was longer. I had to pause while I processed in my mind the level of stupidity this comment reached. I know often in our society it seems that it is not only acceptable, but also cool and popular to be a total idiot. You must be a square to be educated and able to learn new things, to reason and deduce answers to problems. And I can understand not really being up on fractions, I think it was grade school that I myself last worked with and studied fractions on a regular basis. But to not know the difference between 3/8, ½ and 5/8, and saying that out loud? Was that supposed to be his down homey way of connecting with the common man? If it was, then Buck is a bigger idiot than I previously thought, because the common man knows the difference between 3/8, ½ and 5/8. The only people that don’t know this, and would be able to relate to Buck, are grade school kids, the party youth that worship at the alter of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears and Raiders fans. Then later, after a Chicago run on third down, the referee initially called fourth down, but after a measurement, it was shown that Chicago obtained enough yardage for a first down. Buck, though, had so much trouble handling this change of status. He even went so far as to call it strange and weird. Honestly, is this really the guy that Fox has invested in for all of their big game broadcasts of major sporting events and their flagship NFL pregame show?

Well, both of my playoff horses have been defeated. That did not take long. My mission now is anyone but New England. I do not care between the Colts, the Saints or the Bears, as long as one of them defeats the Patriots. I cannot bear another off season of those insufferable Boston fans crowing about their Patriots and Red Sox. This has to be the most annoying sports fan base in existence. They whine when their teams are doing poorly, they whine when they are winning. And, God forbid, if they should actually win it all, they become absolutely intolerable with their constant crowing. Act like you have been there before, because you have you spoiled jerks. They crow that they won the Super Bowl and World Series in the same year. Yeah, great accomplishment. Pittsburgh did that in 79, I already know the feeling. Next. I fear if they win, they will also tie Pittsburgh for 4 Super Bowls in six years, and I’m almost sick to my stomach at the prospect. Already, too many people have them winning Sunday. They keep saying how the Pats already have Peyton figured out, how they can easily beat the Colts. I’m just waiting for one of them to start saying Brady is better than Montana, because Montana never had to work with sub par receivers. I know we are only a win away from that vein of thinking. Once I hear that, I may need to be admitted to Bellevue. Just wait, if they prevail this Sunday that is exactly the kind of talk we will all be subjected to for the next two weeks. Just the mere thought of two weeks of Patriot mania has me filled with dread.

And trust me this is not an isolated point of view. There are many in the world of football fandom that are burned out, fed up and just plain tired of everything Patriots, unless of course you are one of the New England faithful. Everyone has their own reasons, for some of us it is due to the fact that we have been rolled by the Pats, on more than one occasion, on their way to a championship. For others, it is sheer exhaustion from suffering through one story after another on the greatness of this team. And for even others, it is a feeling of haves versus the have nots. To them, it feels unfair that the Patriots should get all the glory while their team has never even sniffed the Super Bowl, and in some cases, the post season. But why should anyone hold this against the Patriots? Is this really their fault?

What the Patriots have been doing over the past six years has been nothing short of amazing, and as painful as I feel to admit it, a true dynasty in the same likeness as the 49ers, Cowboys, Steelers and Packers of the past. Considering what they have accomplished, this should not be a team that is to be reviled or despised, but one that should be praised and emulated. Despite free agency, coaching hires, shifting trends and increased competition they continue to find ways to not only win, but to stay on top.

First, they have done something that almost every football pundit has said since the start of free agency in 1993 was impossible, fielded a consistent winner. To keep up the level of winning the Patriots have achieved, it has been said, no team would be able to continue to afford the type of talent you would need in all areas of the team. And that would be a correct statement. The Patriots, like every other team, have not been able to keep all of their playmakers by giving them fat contracts to keep them in place. Since their first Super Bowl team, the amount of talent that has leaked from this team is astonishing. Yet, they keep finding ways to win. And the talent drain is not limited to on the field, but in the coaching box as well. When Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame, everyone said the Patriots, and especially Brady, were finished. Yet they still won. When Romeo Crennel left for Cleveland, once again the talk was that they are finished. This time, they took a no name coach named Eric Mangini and stuck him in Crennel’s spot and kept on winning. Then last year Mangini, with only one year on the job as coordinator in New England, left to work wonders with the Jets. And now, with all this coaching talent drain and personnel drain, we find the Patriots poised at the door step of another Super Bowl appearance. I dare you to name one coach on that team other than Belichick, I bet you cannot. Yet still they win.

Second, they overcome the loss of talent by finding treasures and gems elsewhere. How many players on the Patriots rosters are former has beens or never weres? Almost too many. How many players were cast offs from other organizations? I can name no less than 4 former Pittsburgh Steelers cast offs that have all played significant roles on the Patriots championship teams, and that is just off the top of my head. I know there are more out there. They draft good, solid players that contribute to the team and have all bought into the team philosophy. You never see a Patriot player on the news or after a game jawing about so and so or some perceived lack of respect, well, except for Tom Brady, but that was more than likely a psychological ploy by him for his team. They have no head cases, and if one emerges, it is like he was never there. Even players who were head cases or distractions elsewhere suddenly become different people in the Patriot regime. Corey Dillon was a huge pain in Cincinnati, yet you never hear a peep out of him since he has been with New England. Like everyone else, he has bought into the Patriot way of doing things and become yet another cog in their championship fueled engine. They all focus on the same goal, win it all and they work together like a well oiled machine.

This brings me to my third point, how they work together. This team functions as one unit. They do all the little things just right to maximize their ability to win games. They are not a dominant type of team that will steamroll over an opponent. No, they play smart, calculated football. They minimize their own mistakes. They do not turn over the ball often. They are patient, waiting for their chance to strike. They look for, find, and attack an opponent’s weakness until it yields dividends. They never panic in a dire situation. They know if they can keep it close until the fourth quarter, all the work they put in will pay off. They force opponent turnovers and mistakes, capitalizing on them with, typically, scoring drives. They do all the things no one ever sees just right, always keeping themselves around until they have weakened their opponent and are ready to pounce, and when that moment dawns, they attack, break the spirit of the other team and stroll away with another victory. Calm, efficient and devastating. But since no one sees them doing these little things, or even notices the little things, everyone wonders how they do it? How they keep themselves around? How do they keep on winning?

Here is how, because they are the best TEAM out there. Almost every other team has better players. Other than Tom Brady, can you name me one other player on the Patriots roster that is a potential hall of fame candidate? Perhaps if his career goes well, Richard Seymour could be. In my opinion, Troy Brown should be automatic, but his numbers are not what hall of fame voters typically look for in a candidate. But Troy Brown is the perfect example of the kind of attitude put forth by the Patriots. All for one and one for all, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, do whatever it takes to win. Troy Brown probably at some point in his career could have gotten big money somewhere, and become a household name racking up numbers and paychecks. But he wanted rings, and that is exactly what he got. Sure, he may not be famous for his receiving, but he famous is for his willingness to do whatever it takes to win football games. When the Patriots secondary was ravaged by injury, which almost seems to be every year, Troy stepped in and became a nickel back. Just the mere thought of a two way player in this day and age is almost foreign to most people, but here is one, and a damn good one too. Did you see him against the Chargers Sunday when the Bolts intercepted Brady? He immediately switched into defensive mode, pursued the Charger down, got a hold of him, then proceeded to strip the ball so the Patriots could recover the fumble. The whole scenario gave the Patriots, who were at fourth and ten at the time, the ball back with better field position and a fresh set of downs. This is the kind of selfless play we see from this team each and every week. No ego, no glory hounds, no stat machines, just 53 guys working as hard as they can for the good of the team.

These are all things to love about a team. I would bet 90% of fans out there would wish the same things for their teams. How many Oakland Raider fans are out there right now who would give almost anything to see this level of success reach their organization? Or any level of success for that matter? This is what most people wish for their teams, a coach smart enough not only to know what to do, but what not to do in big games. Players striving for a glory greater than a highlight reel, a big paycheck and constant adoration from a cadre of sycophants. An organization who is smart enough to make the right moves, pull the right strings, pay the right people, pick the right new people and to know when to keep their nose out of it and just let the ship sail on its own. This is the organization that should be the model of efficiency, and the one that about 15 different organizations out there need to desperately be trying to emulate.

When the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, they were a feel good story by all accounts. Here was a team that the previous year went 5-11, and the next year overcame every kind of obstacle to win the Super Bowl. They suffered the loss of their franchise quarterback early in the season, who was then replaced by a backup quarterback drafted in the sixth round whose college career had been defined by being a career backup. No one knew then how good Tom Brady was going to be, and probably not even Tom knew how good he could be. When they made the playoffs, they were definite underdogs, especially in the AFC championship game against the much heralded Steelers. Yet they found a way to win, on the road to punch their ticket to only their third Super Bowl appearance ever. Once there, they dictated the game, did all the little things and hung around until the very end, giving themselves a chance to win against the heavily favored Rams. And what did they do? They got the job done, finished off their opponent and marched into the sunset with the trophy. This was a fantastic feel good story. It is always great to see a team break through that barrier and win their first championship, especially after years of mediocrity. The Patriots did it their way, and at the best time possible. The country was still reeling from 9/11, and here we see a team named the Patriots winning it all. No matter your affiliations, this felt good, and right to many people. I had some suspicions that the fix was in, and felt stronger about it the next year when they missed the playoffs, but that feeling was eliminated the following year when they did win it all again. Perhaps I am just too cynical after all. However, that is neither here nor there. People rallied behind the scrappy underdog with the young quarterback and the team of no namers who knocked off the dreaded Greatest Show On Turf, who had been predestined to become the next dynasty with their MVP quarterback, ridiculous amount of playmakers and their offensive genius of a coach. People can always relate to the underdog, and after feeling like one for months after the attacks, it felt good to see the underdog win one. Even I felt good for them after the win. Not that I jumped for joy, after all, they did beat Pittsburgh to get there, but you still felt good for the little guy winning it all, especially for the first time. By then, the formulas were in place, the philosophy set in stone, and they were on the path to becoming something more than champions, they were on the path to becoming the newest members in an exclusive club that consists of but a handful of teams, and they were doing it the right way. They were on the path to becoming a dynasty.

It has pained me greatly to write this, since I am no fan of the Patriots. Before their success, I could care less one way or the other about them. Now, I cannot bear the sight of them. But the fact remains that all of those points above are true. So what is different now? Everyone knows how they got here and what they did to become so successful. They are doing nothing different now. They still have all of those traits in winners that everyone loves, admires and wishes to emulate. What has changed with this team to turn them from little guy favorites to the latest in a line of bad guys, much like the evil heavy in pro wrestling? What has made myself, and many others, go from general indifference to mild joy to outright despising of this team? There are a few factors at work here.

One, people get tired of success. Certainly not their own, you never hear someone complain about being too successful, at least not in any serious way. But they get tired of seeing the same people, organizations, teams and groups succeeding. People like a certain level of change and variety, and when you see the same team winning over and over, it gets boring. Basketball suffered through this in the mid to late 90s when the Bulls were going through their second three-peat. If the same team wins repeatedly, people lose interest. Why should they care if it looks like their team may never get a chance? Why should they care to keep seeing the same guys winning over and over again? It is an unfortunate side effect of success.

Two, people derive a certain level of perverse satisfaction in seeing someone or something successful fail. Most of us will never be famous or rich or powerful. We will have modicums of success in our lives, but nothing that can be quantified or achieved like a professional sports team. We take joy in the triumphs of the teams we love. But at the same time, we take joy in the failures of those teams we hate. A word that best defines this joy is schadenfreude, which means satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune. This could be anything from the cocky guy in the bar spilling a drink on himself to watching a CEO go to jail for embezzlement. This feeling of schadenfreude is intensified if the party in question is one of great stature. We feel like if you knock someone off of their pedestal, then that is a victory for the little guys. Bring them down to our level so they can see what it is like to be one of the regular folks. Give them a dose of what it feels like to be nothing particularly special. They have had too much of something good, it is about time they taste the bitter flavor of failure and defeat. It is a childish notion, to be sure. But humans can sometimes be childish in nature, and fragile of ego. The more someone succeeds, the more it reminds us of our own failures which leads us resent them, and in an increasing pattern the more success said someone achieves. You want someone to win, to be on top, to have success, but not too much. Do not remind us of our own failings and lack of achievement, or we will turn on you in an instant. I think this is in play in a major way with the Patriots.

And third, and possibly most important, they are no longer the underdogs. In 2001, no one thought they could do what they did. Every game they played they were the underdog, the long shot everyone predicted to lose. Even when they navigated through the AFC, experts and pundits were saying how the Ram offense would shred their defense apart. Yet it never happened, and the Patriots prevailed. It was a pleasant surprise to many, and as I mentioned previously, a fantastic feel good story. But now, you expect them to win. Even when it seems they are undermanned, outgunned and outclassed, you still know they will find a way to win. Even when the odds makers favor the other team, you know those numbers mean nothing and the Patriots will find a way to win. Most fans do not wonder if they will win, just how. And as we established previously, people like the underdog, the little guy who overcomes inconceivable odds and a myriad of obstacles to achieve the impossible.

Personally, I understand this general line of thinking and feeling, having been on the side where the Patriots are now. I know there is a generation of people out there who grew up hating Pittsburgh because all they did was win. For us Pittsburgh fans, it was a wonderful time. We knew we had the best team in football, and when everything was clicking, no one could stop us. After many years of frustration, this constant level of high success was nothing short of euphoric. But for every other fan, and with some added vitriol from Oakland and Dallas fans I am sure, it was anything but fun. While I and others loved to see anything and everything black and gold waving from the highest mountain tops, it was most likely the exact opposite from fans of any other team. And this type of thinking and feeling has occurred for every other team that has had an extended period of success. From the 49ers, Packers and Cowboys to the Raiders and Colts, when a team becomes so successful it is commonplace to see them win, when they are everywhere due to their winning ways, fans of other teams tire of them and eventually turn on them. Sometimes this sparks great rivalries, like between Philadelphia and Dallas. But other times it creates a backlash where people begin to root against the successful team, or for anyone playing them. Right now, the Patriots are entering this stage. It is not of any fault of their own, they are only trying to be the best. It is merely a combination of human nature, fandom, success and schadenfreude. And who knows, if the Patriots hit the skids, lose for a few years, then rally behind their aging and close to retirement franchise quarterback, people might get behind them again. I will not, but hey, I am still bitter about two AFC championship losses at home, so who can blame me. They are on my list of teams to loathe, joining Dallas, Oakland and Baltimore. Once you make this exalted list, I forever will root against you, giving you the tools to repeatedly crush my spirits and deflate my hopes at your hands. You have the power to destroy my dreams of celebrating a championship, and all four of you have done that at some point or another, and I am sure some or all will do it again.

So, anyway, yeah, I stunk up the joint last week.

Last Week: 1-3
Playoffs to Date: 4-4
Season to Date: 154-110

I am crossing my fingers for a better week. Please.


NFC Championship Game

New Orleans at Chicago

Which will hold out longer to claim the NFC crown, Rex Grossman’s luck or the Saints’ karma? That is the question indeed. New Orleans won last week in front of a raucous crowd only their second playoff game in the history of the franchise. Think about that for a moment. They have only won two playoff games since the inception of the team. Pittsburgh doubled that last year alone. The Colts and Patriots have already won two games each this year! You know in downtimes when people will say we can always look forward to better days? This is the better days for beleaguered Saints fans. This is for what they have hoped for many years now. They have never made it this far in the playoffs, ever. After going 3-13 last year and enduring a marathon season of travel after being forced to basically play 16 road games, their story is one of hope and triumph over tragedy. What they have accomplished thus far should be more than enough, but you always like to see the little guy rise above it. Can they take this all the way? Do they have what it takes? Or like the city they play for, are they not all the way there, not all the way back, a good story but with much more work ahead of them. Only Sunday will reveal the puzzle. Personally, I would hope they go further, if only because the constant media scrutiny that is the two weeks before the Super Bowl could be a gigantic spot light on how much more needs to be done in the city of New Orleans, how much work still needs to be put in, how many families not only need help, but still need to find their way home, how much money the city and region still need to put things back together. A constant two week reminder to the rest of us of what really needs done, and that we all need to keep pitching in until things are put right again in the Big Easy. You know what, I could babble on about Grossman’s inefficiency and the weakening Bear defense, but I will not. New Orleans needs that spot light again, in a good way, to get people into action. That will be the real deciding factor. Sorry Bears, you know I love you, but they need this more.

New Orleans over Chicago.


AFC Championship Game

New England at Indianapolis

As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Welcome, then, my Colts friends. I have purposely avoided most media this week, since just about anything that can be said about this match up has already been previously spoken, written, screamed and televised. We know the teams intimately, we know their trials together, we know the dominance of one, and how the pendulum has swung the other way recently. We know the match ups, the stats, the scores, the games. I did not want to have this pounded into my head ad nausea this week because I think this could be a great game and I want to enjoy it, and if I hear one more Pats story I am going to go all Elvis and shoot out the TV. So, to avoid an expensive fit of rage, I have tuned it out. And I feel great and ready for what Sunday brings me. I am putting my hopes in the Colts, for a myriad of reasons, obviously. But I am smart enough to be extremely wary of the Patriots and am girding myself for t he possibility of another Pats Super Bowl run. But if I had one wish for this game, it would be as follows. Fourth quarter, game tied with three seconds on the clock. Indianapolis has the ball at the Patriots 25 yard line. And witnessing the death knell to their season that they have done to so many teams before, the Patriots watch in terror as Adam Vinatieri marches out onto the field to attempt a 43 yard field goal attempt. Vinatieri lines up himself and his kick, a sight so many Patriots have watched before, knowing the game was over. They watch again this time, horrified, knowing the same thing. As the ball is snapped, eleven Patriots make a mad dash to reach the ball, to get a hand on it, to nick it in flight, anything to keep it from its intended destination. But it is all for naught as the ball sails high into the air, straight and true and splits the uprights with marksman like precision. The RCA dome erupts into madness. The Colts are going to the Super Bowl. Peyton has the playoff monkey, at least for the moment, off of his back. They defeated their chief nemesis to make this happen. And in the mix of the pandemonium, Vinatieri calmly looks over at the Patriot bench, directly at Belichick, and the expression on the kicker’s face tells the genius exactly what we all are thinking in this moment. Tell me Bill, since you are such a genius, was that one million dollars more a year Adam wanted and you refused to pay really worth it right now? Wouldn’t you give just about any amount to have kept this moment from happening, to keep this particular stinging dagger from your heart? Karma, like payback, can be a real bitch.

Indianapolis over New England