Well, here we go again. The one match-up that I didn't want to see is going down. Baby Faced Eli Manning will face off against Tom Brady and the offensive powerhouse that is the New England Patriots. Again. Yawwwwwn.
As it might be clear to see, I am no fan of this battle. Or at least I wasn't.
My objection to this game isn't hard to guess and it isn't far from other critics'. For one it's a rematch. The story lines are pretty similar. The Giants scrapped through the season just to make it into the playoffs while the Patriots, essentially, breezed through all the way to the big game. Probably one of the NFC's greatest underdogs met up against one of the AFC's perennial favorites. Baby Eli stood up to a titan of the game in Tom Brady. This David and Goliath story turned out with an authentic ending. And Eli is hoping he can pull off another victory.
The reasons this rematch could be exciting don't really outweigh the fact that it is just a rehash. Of course the Patriots would love to get their revenge on the Giants, but many of the key players who had to live with that 1 (of 18-1 fame) are now gone. They've since moved onto obscurity or ESPN. Bruschi and Moss would have been a force to behold against this year's Giants just to get their payback. But they're not around or even any kind of a force anymore.
The Giant's have won this fight before so they have the undeserved air of "been there done that" hanging around them. Although Eli is one of the most improved players of this season, I am not drinking the ESPN kool-aid saying that he is better than Tom Brady. There is no way, when all is said and done, that Eli can be considered to have had a greater career than Brady and that's just plain simple. Not to mention, now that Peyton might be wrapping up his career, there's no danger of him pulling ahead in the family ring collection. Heck, a down home, southern boy like Eli might not want to have more championships under his homemade cowboy belt. The Giant's are the hot team, but I can't see there being much fire behind them.
And that's how I DID feel. Like I said, I wasn't looking forward to this matchup. I was more excited for hoagies, e-trade babies and a Madonna stage fall than for the game itself. Then I remembered what a wise Sultan once told me.
We had been discussing the possible playoff picture early in the season and I mentioned how I wouldn't want to see a Packers-Steelers Superbowl. Our very own Sultan then hit me with some very obvious yet genius advice. He said, "If we could pick who would play in the Superbowl, I'd have the Eagle's play the Browns every year." Well said Mr. Sultan. Well said.
This got me to thinking. I can't help who will be playing in the Superbowl. I might as well change my attitude about it. Even it's just allowing myself to see the things I was choosing to be blind too. Both teams have deeper objectives to play for. The Giants, who only made the playoffs due to inconsistencies in their own division, have to prove that they are just as great a force as their 2007 counterpart. "They won't have any gum on their helmet's this year!" is a popular remark about the Giant's Superbowl win. They'll have to prove they don't need it. And it doesn't hurt that Eli is bringing a bigger slingshot to this years David and Goliath battle.
And the Patriots have something even greater. Though much of the team has moved on since that fateful loss, the players on the team are still Patriots. As far as I know, it's hard to find a team that has a greater brotherhood, through hell and high water, quite like the New England Patriots. The team, from today's players all the way back to the Boston Patriots, is a family, led not by a Quarterback or Linebacker, but by Papa Belichick. I think it would mean more to this team to get some revenge against the Giants than it would have meant for their brothers to win in the first place.
So, long story short, it will be a good game. I've wrestled with this and accepted it. I can't control anything about the NFL (except pro-bowl voting and I'm not watching that anyway). I just need to be happy that I have football in my life and come February 5, I will have a Super Bowl to watch. Am I going to miss the biggest sporting, cultural, and television event of the year just because I'm a little sour? No way.
I mean I won't be completely happy until Washington plays the Browns in every Super Bowl. So for now (and many years to come I'd reckon) I'll just have to enjoy what I've got.
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