Congratulations...

...for breakin' my heart, Congratulations, for tearin' it all apart...

I doubt the Brothers Willbury, of Travelling fame, were addressing the New York Giants when they penned that tune, but it sure seems fitting this morning. I sit here, still stunned by what I saw last night. I cannot think of any other event in the annals of New England sports which can be compared to this. I tried, really tried, to compare it to something from the past, perhaps hoping to find consolation in what had come before. But nothing compares. Nothing stands up to what we witnessed just a few hours ago. Billy Buckner? Nope. The Pedro Game? Sorry. The '85 Super Bowl? Not even close. No, in every other instance, we were supposed to lose, or at the very least, had no unwaivering conviction the we would win. This team was different, this team epitomized Perfection. Until 10 hours ago.

Last night, we watched the New England Patriots do nothing that we have come to expect from them. They did not protect Tom Brady. They did not move the ball. They did not score prolifically. They did not make brilliant coaching decisions. They did not win. They did not, in short, play New England Patriot football. If you had asked anyone, anywhere, yesterday morning what would be the outcome of Super Bowl XLII if they knew in advance that the New York Giants would score only 17 points, to a man, they would have declared the Patriots champions. This game turned it all on its head. It defied everything we know about sports. In that sense, it was like the 2004 ALCS, but even that does not reach this level.

In a moment of clarity this morning though, I suddenly felt for the New York Giants. Why? Because history will not look upon the G-men for what they accomplished, but rather will look back at what the Patriots could not accomplish. That 18-1 will scream out for decades to come, the Greatest Team to ever LOSE the Super Bowl. It is often said that no one remembers who lost the Super Bowl, but this will clearly be the exception to the rule. This Super Bowl, outside of New York, will forever be about the Patriots. It just won't be about them for the reason that we thought it would be.

Here's an interesting thing that you probably won't hear too much of on the airwaves today. New England fans aren't mad at the Giants for up-ending the Pats. No, we don't hate the Giants, like we do the Yankees, the Knicks or even the Rangers. For those old enough to remember, or at least old enough to have some connection to those old enough, the Giants were once New England's team, too. I can remember wondering, back in the '70s, why my great-grandfather was a Giants fan, not a Patriots fan. But he was old school, and to him the Pats were the AFL, the minor leagues. I didn't get it then, but I do know. So as strange as it may seem, I don't think you'll find too many New Englanders begrudging the Giants derailing our pursuit of Perfection. No, this one is all on the home town team. There will be no "Eli Bleeping Manning", no "Giants Suck" chants. Instead, we will look inward, we will soul-search, we will try to come to grips with how our team, the team that ALWAYS comes through on the biggest of stages, let the one that meant the most slip away.

As I stared at the television late last night, watching the confetti rain down on the wrong team, I had a familiar feeling. It was the same feeling that came to me one October night in 2004- "What do we do now?" Only that time I was elated, this time, deflated. As the days pass, this pain will ease. Thoughts will turn to pitchers and catchers reporting, to the NBA play-offs. But this will linger. It will haunt. Everything we thought we knew about the New England Patriots was wiped away in 60 minutes last night. Now we are left to wonder, what do we do now?


So before I go, to Neil, to Stu, to Jeff, and to all of the Giants fans out there- Congratulations...for breakin' my heart, congratulations, for tearin' it all apart.













Before I go, this being about all sports, not just football- Tiger Woods came back from being down four strokes, birdies 5 of the last 7 and takes the Dubai? Talk about seeking perfection...




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