Don't Hate the Playa, Hate the Game
Even with the absence of the Eagles from the Superbowl, there is still a decent amount of buzz around the big game. There always is because, well, it's the Superbowl. The NFL invites casual fans, wives and girlfriends, and big dollar advertisers to the party. In recent years, the party has been kind of lame. That doesn't stop the pregame hype or media banter across the nation. Unfortunately, we have the watch the Giants play for the Lombardi, which would normally demand an immediate Philadelphia support for the opposing team. The opposing team: the 19-0 New England Patriots. Talking to any football fan, the initial question posed is, "So who are you rooting for?"
I am obviously rooting for the Patriots. There is no way in hell I could ever root for the Giants. This happened back in the last game of the season. People were wondering aloud if they wanted the Patriots to go undefeated, if they would rather see the hated rivals from up the turnpike to pull off the upset. You have got to be kidding me. I don't care if you hate how successful Boston sports are in the past several years, or if you are tired of the Tom Brady talk. There is no way any self-respecting Eagles fan can root for the Giants in almost any situation that doesn't benefit the Eagles directly.
I was poking around Bleeding Green this morning and came across a link from the weekend in which Bob Ford laid in plain detail how one can't root for the Giants in the Superbowl. Prior to reading the article, I was rooting against the Giants on shear principle. It hadn't occurred to me that another Patriots/Boston championship meant nothing to me from a global perspective. As Ford wrote, it's just another championship, X amount in X years. Everyone already slurps on Tom Brady anyway. Bellechick had been annointed the "genius" label years ago. The Red Sox are the most successful franchise in the MLB over the past five years and the Celtics were on a record pace and will remain the alpha-team in the NBA until otherwise proven. Whatever.
If the Giants win, as Ford points out, we have to deal with that year in and year out. They were a marginally better team this year. They escaped a flawed NFC and now have a chance to take the Lombardi from "the best team ever." That could have been the Eagles, but they didn't do the things they had to and now they sit at home watching the game like the rest of us. Drunkenly talking to a Cowboys fan this weekend, it was apparent that he didn't share the same feeling.
I don't care for the recent successes of the Boston sports teams either, but think back a few years ago. The Patriots were the underdog darling against the Rams. Everyone appreciated the lovable idiots from the Red Sox roster, especially against the hated Yankees. Now, they are hated for their success. I'm not going to root for the Giants simply because I can't do that, but also because I'm not going to hate the Patriots for doing what every other franchise should try to do.
*Bonus Super Bowl Coverage* McNabb with the 1st and 10 guys on ESPN and it's not about FreeseDogg's possible break last week.
12 comments:
Monday came and went with no word on McNabb. No press conference as of yet. No announcement. Not a murmur.
I feel cheap and exploitative. I am no better than the media hounds I hate. LOOK AT WHAT I'VE BECOME!!
Honestly, I think the best thing that could happen would be the Pats obliterating the G-men by the largest Super Bowl margin ever. The blowouts are always the most forgettable, which is what I will immediately want to do after this one is over. Forget it ever happened.
good point.
i also couldn't live with the idea that eli manning would be a super bowl-winning QB. i mean, eli with a super bowl ring is just dirty. i can't see that happening.
it's like the rich kid who's parents bought him a porshe for his 16th birthday-yeah, he's got one, but he sure doesn't deserve it.
well buffalo and philly have a lot in common this year, in the battle between division rivals (buffalo-New England) and (Philly - NY) and teams who beat them in the superbowl (XXV & XXXIX)
I agree fuck the team that destroys you twice a year...or just manages to kick a field goal for the win. You can't throw away that hate for a game, its in the blood.
everyone is standing around with the anointing oil in their hands, ready to make the hated patriots the best team ever...or at least to have a reasonable debate about who's the best all time the hated patriots or the hated dolphins.
You have to root for the Giants, cause after all, the only team that should be anointed the best team ever is [insert your team here] yes in my heart the only team that deserves to go 19-0, is the Bills, if the Pats do it, then I hope the season gets extended to 17 games, so the Bills can trump them by going 20-0.
I'm rooting for the Giants, and if they win every NYC douchebag, every New Jersey Douchebag, Every south Conneticutt douchebag, and all of the New Yorkers who live near the hudson river in will don their ugly ass Blue helmet winter jackets, and act like bigger douchebags in my hometown which is overpopulated by douchebags who come to buffalo for school. (did I set the record for using d-b in one rant?) They will say we rule in football, just like 1990, and you know the yankees got it this year, and they will drop in scott norwood jokes, and talk about revenge on the sox, and how the rangers will win, and the knicks will make a comeback and beat the celtics. and i know nobody wants that but for the sanctity of football, we all have to swallow the Giant pill.
also you gotta love Eli, anyone who has every been out-shined by a sibling, friend, co-worker, fellow student(you know I be outshining you on Tuesday nights dog) has to cheer for Eli's revenge on Peyton and a symbolic victory for the little guy everywhere.
I can see it starts with after the win, Eli goes to Busch gardens instead of disneyland...then
Eli gets ad deals with:
Powerade
Adidas
alltel wireless
dish network
capital one credit cards
and culminates with him hosting MADtv.
I keep trying to think up ways that this could possibly end even remotely well for philadelphia sports fans...Something like a Giants victory coupled with Eli Manning completely (or perhaps literally) shitting his pants during the game and having the G-men ride the mighty belly girth of Jared Lorenzen (Yes, your favorite mound of round) to the promised land. I can't see myself getting upset with that outcome for a few reasons
1.) Everyone loves fat men doing extraordinary things in sports (see previous article on John Kruk)
2.) The patriots would be completely humiliated and the eagles superbowl loss would be mildly avenged. Plus everyone would remember the Patriots as the team that almost went 19-0...but then got beat by this beast....
http://o.aolcdn.com/art/sportsdata/nfl/players/hs_7472.jpg
3.) Giants fans would talk shit because, well, they're giants fans but deep down they that they have to suffer through the rest of Eli Manning's abysmal career
Sorry the actual link for the loveable mug of 'Battleship Lorenzen' is below
http://o.aolcdn.com/art/sportsdata/nfl/players/hs_7472.jpg
no, i don't have to root for eli.
i AM the older brother. the better older brother. the one who can pwn his younger brother in all the sports (bring it on, zack!)
eli manning is a bad quarterback and i have a problem with bad quarterbacks winning the super bowl. no amount of "root for the little guy" spirit will enter my body this weekend.
you can count on that.
I honestly can't decide who I want to win this game. I definitely like Dutch's logic, though. What's one more championship for the Pats? I hate them so much, though.
Besides the Cowboys, I'd be fine with ANY OTHER NFC team than the Giants beating the Pats. One of the two possible teams I hate as much as the Patriots had to make the Super Bowl. Its just not fair.
No one can ever actually be happy with rooting for Eli. Giants fans don't even like it. There's nothing likeable about him. His whole demeaner is terrible. He's a pussy and a shitty QB on top of it. I'd probably be happier with Rex Grossman as my QB.
I like the Jared Lorenzen storyline...I could live with that.
This is the most interesting superbowl-related blog thread I've stumbled on. It's been a revelation, seriously.
Fellas, I'm a Pat's fan. From way back. Back beyond 2-14, back to John Hannah. Before the 'Fridge made fools of us.
It wasn't until reading through your comments that it finally sunk in: The Patriots have already won 3 Superbowls! Guys, I still can't really believe it. With all the sympathy I gather from decades (my lifetime) of shitty Boston teams, let me just say: No city deserves a run like this more than Philly. You've earned it the hardest way.
Believe me, boys: the day is going to come. And you'll love it the most. Somehow, it's even better that our cities have some of the oldest teams. What hockey team can take away from the Flyers legacy? What football team has a more fundamental history than the Eagles? Shit--Art Rooney actually even owned the team once...long enough ago that no one remembers.
Let me tell you. No serious Pats fan is taking this run -- or the Giants -- lightly. It's like it's a dream you don't want to end (that one about Giselle), but the alarm is ringing and buzzing and you're wrestling with your subconscious to please let me stay asleep!
Anyway. You know who's side I'm on come Sunday. But your team gave my team the purest test this year--truly came closer than any. And I know enough to know the history of sports well enough to say Philly is going to have its day.
the city of philadelphia paid brown to say that. we're now broke and accepting donations.
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that is all.
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