Gotta root for the Colts ... Grandma & Grandpa B (may they rest in peace) were from Indy, and Grandpa was a huge Colts/Pacers/Indy car fan. He'd be pretty geeked right now.
But I don't hate the Patriots. Maybe it's because I'm not plugged into sports TV/radio/blogs - I can't overdose on commentary.
peace,
I say this as a Redskins fan...
...what's so bad about being the villain team?
Why not just embrace the fact that your team, when it is at its best, plays relentless, professional ball, and because of that, is going to foster resentment when the stars line up right?
Yankees fans seem to be okay with that...
Sorry, got to disagree. But then you'd have to have been in San Diego for the two weeks leading up to the game to understand why.
The Chargers played like a bunch of peewee footballers because they were gut-sucked of confidence by their own city's media and by **THEIR OWN &?!@ FRONT OFFICE!!** I don't blame the media because it's not their job to play PR for a sports team, but I'm still sick over how the front office basically -- and publicly! -- gave their own coach and their own team a vote of no confidence before going into the playoffs. All -- and I do mean ALL -- of the mistakes the team made last Sunday were morale mistakes. But you'd have to have been in San Diego to know that.
/rant off. Sorry, but I'm still so sick over this loss that I can hardly think straight about the game, much less root for the Patriots.
Go Saints!
The Patriots are villains? Really? Is that how everyone sees them?
I guess it would be one thing if they were like the Yankees who don't rebuild, they reload, stocking their team on the strength of George Steinbrenner's checkbook. The Pats, on the other hand, turn everyone else's castoffs into stars by promoting team-think, selflessness, hard work, and a goal-oriented attitude that brooks no showboating.
Hey, I don't think everyone has to root for the Patriots, but to classify them as villains just because they've won it all a few times seems silly.
Dale, you are missing on your blog roster perhaps the best new Catholic blog available to readers "Guided Missal". www.jeffrey-michael.com. While sparse in the frequency of its entries, the pure writing and creativity is the best of any active Catholic blog online, and possesses a radicalism that we could all use to jump start the intellect. As a frequent visitor to many sites, I hope you will include this one, if not shamelessly promote its visitation.
In Him,
Joseph
I don't think that anybody views the Pats as "villains," in the sense that the they do Yankees, and for all the reasons Dom cites. I think it's other things, which Simmons does point out, but he oversells his point by comparing them to the Yankees:
(1) that the 24/7 news cycle has entered sports fandom and the Pats are "old news"/"yesterday's story"/"fishwrap," etc.;
(2) that the Pats, aside from Brady, have no name players, either to love or to hate (or defend if they're hateworthy but great and on your team). So there's a sense of "who cares" for non-New Englanders. Compounding this, the Patriots aren't flashy and don't "wow" you very much (a lot of people aren't excited by the Spurs for this reason also, and I think everyone this year is rooting for a Suns-Mavericks series, and I can't exactly say I blame them);
(3) last week, they upset one of the season's best stories and the game's best player (who does everything right as the anti-T.O.); this week, I think neutral fans will be rooting for the Colts because last week's Baltimore upset and the unlikely play by their D make it look like "finally it's Peyton's year (I was one of many who said outright they wouldn't get past the Chiefs and that LJ would rush for a mile and a half or so).
BTW, Dale ... why are blogging about football. I was unaware that Detroit had a pro team.
Dale, a number of the phenomena mentioned appear to be at work in this piece by an Indy columnist who begs to be spared another Pats Super Bowl.
Don't mind the players or even the coaches, but the Pats' fans I've run across are intolerable. Imagine Raiders fans with more aggression, less social skills and a profound speech impediment. For the sake of those fans, I would prefer that the Pats get nothing but wrenching losses for the next several decades.
Thanks Gregg. I appreciate that.
Here's the thing and the point Simmons made. The Pats do things right. By and large, they put team ahead of individual goals, they are a well-coached, fundamentally sound, team. They are more than willing to walk away from a player if said player demands more than the Pats think he's worth and live with the consequences.
They don't throw huge bucks at every flash in the pan a la Dan Snyder. Instead they scout like nobody's business, draft very well, develop players, and spend their money to ensure they have depth at very position.
They are quickly becoming the model for the rest of the NFL as witnessed by the number of teams hiring thier assistant coaches (Weiss, Crenell, Mangini), players (Vinatieri, Branch, Givens, McGiniest, Damien Woody) etc., Usually it works out. (Did David Givens light up the league this year? Willie McGinest? Deion Branch? Even though Vinatieri was great all year, was Gostkowski not a pretty damn good, younger, and more-cost efficient replacement?)
Any fan of a laughingstock NFL team should draw hope from them as there was no more of a laughinstock franchise than the New England Patriots prior to the Kraft era.
They lost a gut-wrencher last night. However, as a Pats fan, I tip my cap to Manning and the Colts. It would have been very easy for them to fade out after the Samuel pick, but Manning responded like a champion is supposed to. No New England fan I know was making Miami reservations after that play as we recalled leading 31-10 in the third in a previous RCA dome game and barely escaping with the win.
I wish them luck in the Super Bowl.
Now if Gregg will excuse me, I have to go slur wicked inappropriate comments at my co-workers without using any Rs.
Sympathies to you, Kev; but absolutely no sympathy for the Pats. Their loss last night was sweet justice as far as this Chargers fan is concerned. Considering that the Chargers were to blame for their loss, I wouldn't have blamed the Pats at all, except for the classless way they celebrated their win by all but rubbing the Chargers' noses in their loss.
In talking to others about sportmanship, I seem to be part of a small minority who thinks that how you win is more important than the mere fact of your win. Thankfully though, more often than not justice is served when classless celebrators get their comeuppance.
(Just to be clear here, the Chargers aren't saintly in this regard. Players on their team have won badly too; but I still think the Pats reaped what they sowed.)
Couldn't route against either team. As Kev noted above, the Pats are THE efficient NFL franchise. A blue chip stock as long as Belichick remains CEO and Tom Brady stays as Executive VP for Offense. But the Colts have been so good for so long. While number 18 has been at the QB helm, of course. I have been a rabid Peyton Manning fan since his earliest days on Rocky Top, Tennessee. Finally finally- off the schneid and on to the Big Dance. Must also support the Colts for three Philly reasons- 1. Marvin Harrison, Wide Receiver, out of Roman Catholic High School, who will one day share office space at Canton, Ohio with Peyton; 2. Raheem Brock, defensive lineman, out of Dobbins Tech and Temple U.; 3. Linebacker, spare running back, and Temple alum Dan Klecko, who drove through for a Colts TD against his former Pats teammates. 3 to 1 Philly ratio in Super Bowl 41- Bears have Jason McKee, out of Simon Gratz High and nephew of NBA veteran Aaron McKee. Colts by a Viniteri field goal.
Mia, to some extent I agree with you. There's no call for Ellis Hobbs to dance on the Charger logo, nor should Rosy Colvin be flashing choke signs at anyone. That was utterly distasteful, un-Patriot like, and an embarassment to the franchise. As a Pats fan, I was mortified by that.I have a strong suspicion that both players were told that in no uncertain terms after the game by Kraft, Belichik, and Brady. Winning with quiet dignity is far better revenge than making an ass of yourself on a national stage.
However, that illustrates the point even further. Those actions are clearly not the way the Pats do things. That is why they recieved the attention they did. Tedy Bruschi going out of his way to congratulate Manning and Belechik hugging the eminently admirable Tony Dungy after the game, that's Patriots football.
Also keep in mind that the Chargers were shooting thier mouths off all week prior to the game up to and including Merrriman telling a rally he was going to "punch Tom Brady in the mouth". You'd be hard pressed to find similar Patriot quotes the week prior to the AFC title game. A playoff win is NEVER a foregone conclusion. If you are going to make Super Bowl plans, its best to keep them confidential until you're cradling either the Halas or the Hunt trophy. Therefore, if anyone did any reaping this playoff season, it would appear to be the Bolts.
Kev, I've been a Charger fan long enough to know better than to make Super Bowl plans where the Chargers are concerned. While many other Bolts fans were confident of a win over the Pats, I was but cautiously optimistic. I've seen them choke far too many times than to think the Super Bowl was "in the bag." But I do think that the front office bears blame for lowering team morale by running down the coach in the weeks preceding the game.
Merriman was one of the players I had in mind when I stated that the Chargers aren't saintly in regards to good sportsmanship. From what I've heard, only Bolts fans love him. The rest of the league, shall we say, dislikes him intensely. But, on the plus-side, we have LaDainian Tomlinson, who is well-regarded as one of the classiest guys in professional sports. No spikes, TD dances, or end-zone cell-phone calls for him. He just hands over the football to the ref and gets back to the game.
I have a little hostility toward the Patriots, and for only one reason. Their head coach was picked to head up my team, the N.Y. Jets, and he told us to fahq off.
Otherwise, they're fine.
I believe a lot of people's disdain for the Patriots is due to what The Media has made them, especially Tom Brady, out to be. Last season leading up to the Divisional Round, the lowly Broncos only beat them earlier in the season because they were missing key personnel. Afterward, when a flustered, bewildered, and frustrated Tom Brady walked off the field, had the Broncos beaten them? Of course not. The Patriots "gave the game away." Nevermind that the figure The Media has determined epitomizes clutch performances had a chance to put his team ahead and instead watched the ball go over 90 yards the other way, which basically ended the game. But Champ Bailey and Darrent Williams (Requiescat in Pace) had nothing to do with it; it was given to them, but interestingly enough the words "failure" or "choke" were not used. They were reserved for Peyton Manning the following afternoon, as if the Steelers weren't trying to pressure him or anything.
Fast forward to this season. It's like the Patriots never lost. Mr. Clutch will do it again; they can't be beaten in big games; blah blah blah. Rather than give us true analysis, The Media takes the lazy way out and figures Tom Brady has William Wallace qualities about him.
Three weeks from now, Peyton Manning will have gone from "choker" to the best to ever play the game.
I hate The Media.
This is going to sound like sour grapes but what are you going to do?
Check any angle on the Bailey pick. After Ben Watson screamed across the field and buried the guy, he fumbled through the end zone. The result of that play should have been Patriots first and 10 at their own 20, not Denver first and gaol at the Pats one.
Combine that with the phantom pass interference call on Asante Samuel late in the second quarter and that's twice that bad calls gave Denver first and goal at the Pats one.
Brady played like crap that game and Denver's secondary played very well. However, they did have help in that game.
Kev,
If we want to bring bad officiating into the mix, I have two words for you: tuck rule. 
All joking aside, that was a horrible call on Samuel.
My primary point was that Brady and the Patriots lost, yet no one called him a "choker," and all the focus was on what they didn't do as opposed to what the Broncos did do, which was fluster and confuse him all game long. Meanwhile, the following day it was all about what Manning didn't do and little with what the Steelers did. The double standards drive me crazy.
And Bellichick knew what he was doing by throwing the last game against the Dolphins. The Steelers would have destroyed them.
While my primary reaction to the idea that the 2005 Pats would have been destroyed by the most mediocre Super Bowl Champion in recent memory is probably akin to the Perry Mason head James Lileks uses so often, I will concede that there is a double standard in how atheletes are viewed. Players perceived as "Winners" (i.e., Brady, Derek Jeter, etc) win where as "losers" (Manning, Arod) choke. As a former sportswriter (though more local than national or professional), I know that the media likes the easy story lines. That way they don't have to break a sweat.
All that to realize we're on the same page. 
And for the record, Tedy Bruschi is one of my favorite players.
Before I write what I'm about to write, I have to make several acknowledgements up front:
Is Tom Brady a superb quarterback? Definitely. Is he one of the 3 best quarterbacks in the game? Absolutely. Would I put him in the Hall of Fame if he retired tomorrow? Yep. As a Giants fan, would I like to have him quarterbacking my team? (For that matter, I STILL can't understand why the Giants didn't give Belichick the head coaching job the first time Parcells "retired.") You'd better believe it. I say all this just so nobody thinks I'm failing to give the man his due.
There's no question that, if some of us have come to hate the Patriots, the sports media bear much of the blame.
I mean, in my more rational moments, I freely concede that Bill Belichick has never stood up on a table and proclaimed himself a genius. Tom Brady has proclaimed "I'm unbeatable in big games, and I always elevate my game in the post-season." It's the increasingly omnipresent media who have done that. Belichick, Brady and Co. have simply done their jobs, and done them exceptionally well.
But every time I've had to hear Dan Patrick or some similar commentator rave that "Tom Brady never makes mistakes in the clutch," I want to scream "What the heck are you talking about? He's made LOADS of HUGE mistakes in big games!"
Don't believe me? Let's face it, in his first "big game," in that snowy playoff game against the Raiders, he fumbled at the worst possible moment. And despite what the officials later said, it WAS a fumble> Ask yourself- did Brady get up and scream at the officials, "It was an incomplete pass"? Of course not! Brady went to the sidelines meekly, because he knew better than anybody in that stadium that he'd screwed up. Now, when the refs and the replay officials gave him a second chance, Brady made the most of it. Give him his props for that. But don't pretend the screwup didn't happen. Brady was extremely LUCKY, as well as good.
In another snowy playoff game, against the Colts, Brady had the Pats in position to score a back-breaking touchdown. At that stage of the game, even a field goal would have given the Pats a prett insurmountable lead. The only thing Brady COULDN'T afford to do was throw an interception into the end zone. So, what did he do? He threw a dumb interception right into the end zone!
A week later, in the Super Bowl against the Panthers, he did exactly the same thing. He threw a dumb interception right into the end zoen, when he had a chance to put the game on ice. n other words, in back-to-back "big games," Brady screwed up royally and gave the enemy a chance to come back.
As it turned out, the Cots and Panthers weren't able to take adanatage of Brsdy's goofs, so the Pats won. And I give Brady credit for shaking off his goofs and winning the games. I just wish his worshippers would admit that they WERE goofs!
Again, when I'm not irritated at obsequious Brady-lovers in the media, I can recogniz
Last post was cut off.. to contineue where I left off, I recognize that Brady hasn't been the one singing his own praises. He seems like a good guy, and I suspect if I brought up the mistakes I just listed here, he'd shrug and admit that he's gotten a few lucky breaks here and there, and he wouldn't apologize for that (almost every champion in every sport has needed a lucky break).
Just consider an alternate world, however. One in which the refs did NOT overturn the fumble call in the Raider game, and in which the Panthers had parlayed Brady's interception into a Super Bowl win. Those are NOT farfetched scenarios, are they?
IF that had happened, many people now callign Tom Brady "Mr. Clutch" would be griping that "Brady always fouls up in big games."
It just goes to show how fine a line there is between "clutch player" and "choker."
astorian
Like Terry and I, you and I seem largely in agreement. The only thing I would quibble with is that Brady's fumble in the tuck game was not a screwup--instead it was a hell of a play by Charles Woodson on a blindside corner blitz (and on a fellow Wolverine, too!!). He got to Brady cleanly and delivered a solid hit to his blindside. Great defensive play in a clutch situation.
The pass DIRECTLY to (I think) Dan Morgan of the Panthers was, as Gregg Easterbrooks likes to say, cover-your-eyes-awful and a bona fide screwup. Of course it only ended up giving Adam Vinatieri a chance to add to his legend.
Anyone who saw him throw off his back foot into a crowd of orange-shirted Mimai defenders in the final game of the 2004 regular season could have been forgiving for assumign they were watching a Tony Eason clip.
Brady definitely screws up far more than people realize. Did you see him miss Watson on the flat against San Diego? Where Brady has distinguished himself is his ability to shake it off when he makes a collosal mistake and take advantage of his second chances. Like he did against the Raiders and the Panthers. Until Sunday, it would have been difficult to argue the same of Peyton Manning. However, his response to the Assante Samuel pick Sunday night and his level of play afterwards speaks volumes. If Manning goes into the tank at that point, I'm setting aside money for another hat and T-shirt next week.
Commenting by HaloScan
