It is funny how things can go from so good to so bad so quickly. One moment you are happy as can be, and the next everything you've dreamt of is gone. This is how my could-have-been football season ended.
It has taken a lot of mental stablizing to be able to even write this entry, but I feel it is my duty to at least wrap up the season in some way. I'm not going to lie - the last week has not been easy. Everything my team worked for all season was taken away in just a few short minutes. Some team that had absolutely no business taking it from us did. You see this is painful - I can't even use names and the correct terminology.
You know what...forget that. This is the part where the record stops with a big screech. I have my platform and I have a lot to say. So forget the sadness and the not talking about it, I am going to rant. And if you happen to be someone who knows me well, you know when I rant, I rant big.
There is one main thing that is bothering me now that the game is over, and that is the utter cruelty and meanness that the general sporting world has shown toward my beloved (yes, they are still my beloved) Patriots. I have never seen such a thing on a national scale. I get that Spygate is clouding everything but everyone seems to have conveniently forgotten how anything relating to this season was wrapped up in the first half of the first game and has no bearing on what they accomplished. I even get that if you are a Rams fan or a Kurt Warner fan, maybe you're angry at these new allegations. Let's not even get into the conveniently timed relevations regarding 2001. But still, I'm disgusted by the behavior and comments I've seen and heard. At the Pro-Bowl last Sunday, the Patriots that participated were loudly booed upon their introductions. How horrible. These players earned a right to be there, and many of them decided to brave returning to the public eye following what can only be called an embarrassing loss, in order to take part in an honor they worked hard to achieve all season. The Pro-Bowl may be sort of meaningless these days, but its still an honor to be named to the team, and some of the Patriots wanted to revel in their reward. They never know if they'll get there again. And then they get booed. For what? Being big fat losers? They don't need the fans at the stupid Pro-Bowl to tell them that. Who knows how many of them have slept a full night since. Might I remind everyone that part of the Pro-Bowl berth is from FAN VOTING. Leave these poor guys alone. We get it - you all think we cheated and you're happy we lost. Trust me, no one felt it more than the team and its fan base. This is the option we feared the most as the wins kept piling up. Just leave us alone, you got your way.
So just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse about it all, I found that I could. Fellow Patriots fans, if you've been trying to avoid it all, this is where you should probably stop reading. I'm going to share my most horrendous experience of this last week.
One day last week I went to the gym. I'd managed to avoid pretty much every mention of the Super Bowl all week - I didn't watch TV or look online. Its a strange feeling to stop so suddenly but I couldn't bear it all. I got on a treadmill and there was no way to avoid the giant TV showing ESPN. PTI was on, which I usually enjoy, and I scanned down the headlines they post on the side to see if any of them were football-related - they weren't. I figured I was safe. I'm walking along, sweating away the calories, and the show goes to commercial break. And then I see it. A commercial begins to play, with a little logo at the bottom from the NFL Players Association - you know, the union, not the league. It's the old '72 Dolphins, having a lovely little backyard picnic in their jerseys. They're laughing, happy, having a gay old time if you will. Suddenly a truck pulls up, it says "Giants Delivery Service." The delivery man comes out and hands a box to Mercury Morris. He opens it. Inside is a football with a card that says, "Enjoy it one more year. Love, Eli." And then they flash to a billboard - "Perfectville, Pop. 1, Est. 1972."
I was in shock. Complete and utter shock. Literally I was standing there on the treadmill with my mouth wide open for a solid two or three minutes. Its just...its just...so mean!!! This commercial was made by the players' own union!!! Is it not good enough for them to just lose?? They also have to be made fun of and booed and embarrassed? It's just gross. I really want those stupid Dolphins to go away. They revel in other people's sorrow. No one is trying to take away what they accomplished. Records are meant to be broken, its just how it is. And by the way guys, lets not overlook the fact that the Patriots did win 18 consecutive games to your 17, and also played a much harder schedule than you did. I know, I know...its all meaningless unless you win the big game, but I'm trying to make myself feel better people!
Whew! That felt good! I could go on but for fear of sounding more insane than I already do, I'll leave my rant at that. All I ask, my dear readers, is that you give us just an ounce of respect. In fact, you don't even have to respect us, just don't disrespect us to our faces. I suppose the lesson has been learned. Life can change in the blink of an eye, and no one (well almost no one) is perfect. And in the end, as I have preached before, football is game. It will go on again as it has before, and the best part is that in September, the slate can be wiped clean and the stats go back to 0-0.
I want to thank everyone so much for reading my blog this year. It has been so much fun for me and I hope to keep it alive. I won't be writing weekly, but I'll be doing a few entries here and there during the offseason, while I contemplate just how both Manning boys ended up with Super Bowl rings in consecutive years.
Go Pats!
(tear)
(sniffle)
(wailing sobs)
