SportsGirl

Boy, U2 got it right. Look at me now; I got myself stuck in a moment and I can’t get out of it. But enough is enough. I’m over it. The Patriots lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl and we are all going to be subjected to (at least) another year of the ‘72 Dolphins. The fantasy of going 19-0 and achieving perfection is gone, so in the words of Eminem, “snap back to reality”…

And the reality of the moment is that our US Senate is actively involved in the sports world. This is not a good thing. We are embroiled in the Spygate controversy and are also being treated to the hearings on the steroid issue as it pertains to Roger Clemens. It’s a stretch, but I don’t begrudge Congress for investigating the steroids issue as much as I whole-heartedly resent any investigation into the Patriots taping mess. And before you start saying that if it were any other team being investigated in the Spygate debacle I would support the Congressional intervention, let me dispel that myth.

My annoyance over the Congressional involvement in dredging up an issue that was dealt with stems from the rest of the pressing issues that our nation faces at the moment. It’s only a matter of technicality that we can’t officially declare the economy to be in recession; there’s this small thing called the Economic Stimulus Package that has been put together to help pull the struggling credit lenders out of the depths of despair they’ve been mired in for the last 6 months; there are a myriad of other issues I’m sure to which our Senate could devote their attention. Consider this bullet point taken from Mike Fish’s column on ESPN.com in regards to Sen. Arlen Specter’s interest in the video taping practices of the New England Patriots–”Specter is particularly concerned about how the taping might have affected New England’s games involving teams from his home state in the 2004 postseason. ” Since when can the Senate use their elected position to settle a case of sour grapes? Give it up Specter! Your Eagles suck! That’s not Bill Belichick’s doing. I don’t buy his excuse of the NFL receiving special consideration on the anti-trust/monopoly laws as the impetus for the witch hunt.

And just what is his overall vision here? What is Specter hoping to accomplish that hasn’t already been achieved? The franchise being publicly embarrassed? Check. The coach known for being a student of the game having to squirm uncomfortably in his press conferences while dodging questions about his involvement in this? Check. Both coach and team paying dearly for the frowned-upon practice? Check. So in my book we’re done. And I don’t say that from the perspective of a Patriots fan; I say that from the perspective of someone who feels the matter is closed and now it’s time to move on!

Speaking of moving on, at the moment, I feel for Andy Pettitte. He’s reporting to Spring Training today and will have to contend with the barrage of media that he is sure to face, this being his first public outing since he gave his deposition for the steroids investigation. I know Clemens is on record as saying that they’ll always be friends (this is a good thing?!) but the word strained comes to mind. Pettitte should be the example to any athletes who are implicated in the scope of this investigation. He admitted, almost immediately after the Mitchell report was released, that he took HGH to rehab from an elbow injury. The fever pitch died down. It comes out that he took it a bit more frequently than first confessed. He cops to it and once again, the questions he dodges pertain to Clemens’ use, not his own. Anyone else taking note of this point? Sounds to me like admitting what you’ve done is the way to go.

I predict that Bobby Knight takes a moment to at least consider returning to Indiana to coach the rest of the season (and possibly beyond) once/if Kelvin Sampson is dismissed. That seems like an inevitability at this point. The minute the story broke that the NCAA was charging Sampson with 5 recruiting violations, my first thought was that this may answer the question of why Knight retired so suddenly from Texas Tech. Let’s face it, that was not a characteristically Knight kind of move to quit on his team. And from what I’ve heard about the Sampson saga there at Indiana, it was known that the NCAA was going to accuse him of these violations prior to the story being formally released to the public. Coincidence? Perhaps. Who knows…maybe the House of Representatives will feel behind the times and will decide to hold some hearings on the matter.

Pitchers and catchers have officially reported to Spring Training. The Mavs and the Nets finally appear to be close to a deal to send Kidd to Big D. We’ll all be paying close attention to see if Kobe decides to have surgery on his pinkie, thus putting him out of commission for 6 weeks or so, or if he’ll gut it out and play through the pain, and what effect each choice will have on the Lakers’ chances of making the playoffs. Todd McShay just shook up his draft board (thank goodness for Insider access on ESPN!) and now shows Matt Ryan going #1 to Miami. So you see, I’ve got plenty to hold my attention without worrying about the fact that the Patriots let perfection slip through Asante Samuel’s fingers. In fact, I won’t even give it another moment’s notice.

Remember that Cosby Show episode where Sondra wanders around with her headphones on because she and Elvin have broken up yet again? That’s how I feel today. Give me a pair of old sweats and some mopey music and leave me alone. I’m depressed. And the worst part is, it’s all my fault.

 I knew the danger in my ways of thinking. But, I mean, come on. You get to 18-0 and you’re entitled to a little bit of confidence, right? I mean, if you haven’t earned that, what have you earned? Especially when you faced this foe in the last week of the regular season and beat them. But we got cocky. Damn you Bill Simmons! You made us believe it was ok to breathe a bit. You, with your column on whether the ‘86 Celtics or the ‘07 Pats were the better team.  You did this to us! You are the biggest Pats fan around and even you had the “we’re gonna win this thing” swagger.

But alas, I can’t actually blame this on Simmons or myself or any other fan who thought, stupid us, “we’re 18-0 and have already beaten the Giants recently, this is a no-brainer”. I can, however, lay some blame at the feet of Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator for the Patriots. What was with the play calling? Randy Moss was actually having a decent game getting open. I suppose it wasn’t McDaniels’ fault that Tom Brady did not have a Tom Brady game. That ankle must have been more of a factor than we thought. But man, he was lofting passes above his receivers heads or 15 yards in front of them. Truth be told, all of the Patriots just looked lifeless. It’s almost as if they didn’t care who won. I’ve said it before, this is a team that thrives more than anyone else on being the underdog. They play that “they all disrespect us” card with more pizzazz than the rest of the league. (except for maybe the Giants now) When you’re 18-0 and have won 3 Super Bowl rings in the past, how do you motivate yourself? The fan base might not be able to cuddle up with the previous SB rings when the game is over, but the players can. And we all know who Tom was cuddling with post-game. So how do you make yourself care when you’re tired and injured and have broken almost every single-season record there is? Apparently? You don’t.

You know the worst consequence of this? It means that I will have to avoid all things ESPN today at a minimum and possibly the rest of this week. I cannot stand to read about how the Giants vanquished the big, bad dragon that was the ‘07 New England Patriots team. And it means that we’ll all be treated to the requisite Gregg Easterbrook column in his TMQ feature about how good triumphed over evil and I just don’t have the stomach for that. I mean, seriously, “you ain’t nuthin but a hound dog” Eli Manning beat us for goodness sake. Plaxico Burress wide open in the end-zone at the end of the 4th quarter when a field goal won’t win the game, for goodness sake. David Tyree hauling in that catch above Rodney Harrison’s head during the final two minutes, for goodness sake. No more football, just an entire off-season of highlights from this game, for goodness sake.

Last night, I was simply ill. Today, I feel numb. Bring on the sweatpants and the headphones. The SportsGirl is officially in mourning.

So the day is finally here! Super Bowl XLII kicks off in about 6 hours and I’m ready. For anyone wanting to read it, I’l be doing a running diary of sorts on a new site I have–http://twitter.com/kellysg. Let me qualify already that this will be my first experiment with this type of thing. Can’t promise how often I will comment. But for those of you who don’t care to read the running diary, I’ll have to post my thoughts post-game so be ready for that. Happy football everyone!

And all through the house…oh ok, that’s about as far as I can go with this joke. Seriously though, I think I’m almost as excited tonight as I was on Christmas Eve this year! Is that a sign that I’m getting older and that I don’t feel the same excitement on Christmas Eve or a sign that what could potentially happen tomorrow is really that momentous? Maybe a little of both. 

I’m desperately trying not to be over confident. I find myself defending Eli Manning in casual conversation just to cover my bases, while secretly I’m thanking Plaxico Burress for making his idiotic prediction that the Pats will only score 17 points. You’re one of the biggest stars on the team and you have post-season experience and yet you apparently are the only guy who doesn’t realize exactly what the Patriots can do when you give them “bulletin board” material like this.  I’ve gone over every angle of this game in my head and 1+1 is still equaling two. I just don’t see how the Giants will win. My fav, Bill Simmons of ESPN fame, is not only predicting the Pats victory, he’s predicting that the Giants are cruisin’ for a bruisin’. And he’s a cya kind of guy when it comes to not jinxing your team. So I’m feeling more confident with these feelings of excitement for the game tomorrow. If it turns out that these feelings were completely unwarranted because New England loses, it will be a sad, sad day for the SportsGirl. 

In the past 2 days, there has been a renewed interest in the “Spygate” chronicles. This time, Sen. Arlen Specter wants an answer from Roger Goodell on why the tapes were destroyed. The senator even goes so far as to suggest that the destruction of those illegally-obtained tapes was obstruction of justice and that Specter’s interest in this matter stems from the protection against anti-trust/anti-monopoly laws the NFL enjoys. Give me a break. I find it highly suspect that Specter is also notably a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Congress can’t seem to figure out how to counter-act the effects of a tightening credit market in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage mess, but they have enough time to investigate exactly what was on the tapes that Goodell’s office destroyed? At least the steroids in baseball issue has a more direct impact on the youth of the nation and I can possibly justify the involvement of our Congress in the matter, though I still think it’s overboard.

But in a round-about way, I’m almost glad that there’s a renewed focus on the spying mess. We saw what happened in Week 2 after New England was caught spying on the Jets sideline. A definitive statement was made to say look, we don’t need no stinkin’ tapes to win these games. Our execution on the field is tops and that’s all that matters. If they can feel that same motivation tomorrow to show the world that they belong in the rarefied company with the ‘72 Dolphins, then more power to them! I’ll have to remember to send Sen. Specter a thank you note for lighting that fire. I had been wondering how they were going to feel like the underdogs when nearly the whole world thinks they’ll win the game… 

It all ends tomorrow. One way or another. I can’t say I’m excited about that, even if the Pats pull it off.  A life without football is just not as exciting a life as one with football. Alas, I have no choice. Let’s hope it ends on a good note. If the Patriots lose, it won’t just be like one team losing in the Super Bowl. It won’t be “eh, better luck next year”. This is the perfect season on the line. The chances of this happening again next season or even in the next 10 seasons are slim. The Giants have exceeded everyone’s expectations and Eli has found his game. They can have better luck next year. So let’s go Pats!!