As I woke a little groggy this morning, I almost had to convince myself that it wasn't just a dream. A cascade of images rushed through my head: The words 'Perfect Season', the glaring double-digit point spread that I've had to look at on the odds page for the last two weeks, Tom Brady's smug toying with the media by wearing an ankle brace...but then these images gave way to others. David Tyree catching a ball over his head, Plaxico Burress open as church on Sunday, Peyton Manning jumping for joy in his skybox as his little brother authored one of the greatest drives in Super Bowl history..and finally, Michael Strahan's gap-toothed grin as he hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.
Had the Patriots closed the deal on a perfect season last night-it would have been historic. Instead, the team who had been more or less cannonized as Super Bowl champs after the first few weeks of the season gets to enjoy qualified plattitudes such as 'Still had an amazing year' and 'Nothing to be ashamed of'. In beating the undefeated Patriots when it mattered most-the Giants reminded us why the NFL is so great. The NFL is not the king of American sports because of dynasties like the Cowboys or 49ers of old-or the Patriots of today. It is great because it is a league of endless possibilities and opportunities-a setting where any team truly can beat any other team. To achieve the ultimate goal does not require perfection. It only requires that you win when it counts. As of 6pm Sunday-the Pats were in position to do something that no team had ever accomplished. As it turned out, they were not able to pull of something that is accomplished every year-the winning of the Super Bowl. In fact, they didn't even finish the game in that Coach Bellicheck left the field while there was still one second remaining on the clock.
The amazing part of this story is that the Pats were the clear Super Bowl favorites all year long-whereas the Giants lost 6 games this year and entered the playoffs as a wild card team. The irony is that those facts are now totally irrelevant. New England will now be remembered for the lousy sportsmanship exhibited by their coach and players in the waning moments of the game-as well as a new batch of controversy stemming from possible spying on the St. Louis Rams before the 2000 Super Bowl. Such is life in the NFL-which according to one sage coach, really stands for 'Not For Long'. The Giants, on the other hand, proved that defense truly wins championships...that it pays to stick with a young QB and give him time to develop...and more than anything else: In the National Football League nothing is ever impossible.
