It was not until the Fall of 2006 that I began to take a real interest in the NFL. At first, my thirst for knowledge was driven by the need for information, a competitive edge so that I could take everyone's money in the Pick A Winner Pool which I participate in every year. I haven't actually mamanged to take it all yet, but I am working on it.
Anyway, I found as I studied, once I got past the assumption that I will ever understand EVERYTHING that happens on the field (the sport is just too complicated), I started to like what I saw. I enjoy the way a lead changes four or five times in a game, the way that a pick can shift momentum and put you back on the edge of your seat when you'd already given up on the home team. I like the loud, rowdy fans, the crunching of hot male bodies (in some cases), the failure of my enemies (I am talking to you Brett Favre). In short, football kind of makes me feel alive, riding a roller coaster of emotions that are precarious from one whistle blow to the next.
Tomorrow, as you know, is the Super Bowl, another championship game without the Chicago Bears (I maintain they didn't show up to the last one they played in either). No matter because I find myself firmly on the side of the New Orleans' Saints. Not only have they never won a team ring before, but the City has been through an awful lot in the last six years. They need the morale boost, and with the play of their football team this year, they deserve it.
I am also a bit tired of Peyton Manning and the Colts, not the least because they were the team to humiliate the Bears this weekend in 2007. The Colts are becoming like the Patriots once were, or the Yankees still are - that annoying team that always seems to find itself in the last stages of the playoffs, predictable, the ones you start rooting against.
It promises to be a good match. I have picked my side. What's yours?
Anyway, I found as I studied, once I got past the assumption that I will ever understand EVERYTHING that happens on the field (the sport is just too complicated), I started to like what I saw. I enjoy the way a lead changes four or five times in a game, the way that a pick can shift momentum and put you back on the edge of your seat when you'd already given up on the home team. I like the loud, rowdy fans, the crunching of hot male bodies (in some cases), the failure of my enemies (I am talking to you Brett Favre). In short, football kind of makes me feel alive, riding a roller coaster of emotions that are precarious from one whistle blow to the next.
Tomorrow, as you know, is the Super Bowl, another championship game without the Chicago Bears (I maintain they didn't show up to the last one they played in either). No matter because I find myself firmly on the side of the New Orleans' Saints. Not only have they never won a team ring before, but the City has been through an awful lot in the last six years. They need the morale boost, and with the play of their football team this year, they deserve it.
I am also a bit tired of Peyton Manning and the Colts, not the least because they were the team to humiliate the Bears this weekend in 2007. The Colts are becoming like the Patriots once were, or the Yankees still are - that annoying team that always seems to find itself in the last stages of the playoffs, predictable, the ones you start rooting against.
It promises to be a good match. I have picked my side. What's yours?
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My heart wants the Saints, but my head says the Colts. Unlike you, I don't really have a hate on for the Colts. Fundamentally, they're different from the Patriots. The Patriots have the whole Spygate thing on their conscience, and New England has fairly aggressively assholish fans. (See Sox, Red). Even when they were playing the Bears, there wasn't a lot of hate there. I didn't want them to win that game (though I felt fairly sure they were going to), but it's not like the hate I feel for the Packers or for the person of Brett Favre.
ReplyDeleteI just don't see the Saints defense being able to contain the Colts offense for 60 minutes. To get here, the Saints needed the return of the Favre we all love - the one who throws interceptions at critical moments of the game because he really doesn't seem to want the glory to go to the kicker or the running back. Peyton Manning is not nearly as prone to mistakes as Favre.
Amen to New England's fans being labeled "assholish." Although I suppose the same could be said about us (see Cubs, Bears).
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you finally got one wrong Sanjiv. You are human after all. :-)
Clearly, you don't talk to my wife enough.
ReplyDelete