SportsGirl

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.