(no subject)
So here's my NFL "bracket", going into Super Bowl Sunday. Well, not quite "going into", since we're still 13 days away from it. Here's my NFL "bracket", taking its sweet time in getting to Super Bowl Sunday:
Wild Card Weekend
Seahawks d. Redskins
Steelers d. Jaguars
Giants d. Buccaneers
Chargers d. Titans
Divisional Weekend
Patriots d. Steelers
Chargers d. Colts
Cowboys d. Giants
Packers d. Seahawks
Conference Sunday
Patriots d. Chargers
Cowboys d. Packers
Super Bowl Sunday
Patriots d. Cowboys
So aside from the Jaguars nipping Pittsburgh on a 20+ yard 4th-and-2 conversion and picking the wrong NFC East team to beat the Packers, I'm in pretty good shape, at least when considering this totally fictional, consequence-free set of football playoff predictions and not my own physical health. Yay me.
As I watched the respective champs last night embark on their fortnight-long carnival of the absurd, a wave of conflicting and diluted emotions washed over me. For lack of a dominant or consensual one, I guess I'll say that I'm happy the Pats are once again in the big game. I sort of missed them the past couple of years. But strictly speaking, this is an arrangement borne out of my isolation as a football fan, and that my team threatens no one. Mentioning that I'm a Bills fan elicits, if anything, a knowing nod or two and a quick change of subject. There are worse places to be; 49ers fans must be choking on the schadenfreude directed at them now that their team is in the crapper. But this grudging acceptance of the Patriots success is held up by this shaky foundation. I know as soon as the Bills become legitimate again (which, if it can be taken seriously and I'm trying to do just that, is sort of predicated on the Patriots not winning 18 games again next year) that New England can no longer be a convenient hobby of mine during football season, and likewise, Pats fans will once again take their cruel glee in seeing the Bills stomped into the FieldTurf. Unlike with the MetSox, who rarely play each other in meaningful games, once the Bills fortunes are again intertwined with the Patriots, I'm going to have to drop the charade.
Apart from really hating the Giants, the karmic thud that will occur if New England loses its only and last game of the season would actually be excruciating to watch for someone who, while not a fan, won't take pleasure in their demise. No matter which way this game turns out, we will never hear the end of it. Unprecedented 19-0 vs unprecedented botch-job. Gah, it's just sickening either way. But even though I love an underdog if I have no other rooting interest, I have to admit I'd rather hear about it from asshat Pats fans for years to come than asshat Giants fans. So that's settled.
And that's why I'm sort of expecting/hoping that this uneasy truce only needs to last one more game. If the Patriots do win, there will be a golden opportunity for some of their older players to hang it up. Maybe even the coach will go out on top. Randy Moss could end up being only a one-year experiment. They will have more front-office defections to higher positions elsewhere. It'll still be a frustratingly well-run and efficient operation, but no empire lasts forever. Winning four titles in less than a decade is usually where things peter out for everyone except Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. But if they lose, well crap, I guess everyone's going to feel the need to get it right again next season. Okay, maybe not Seau. Which naturally will open up the window at last for Buffalo to squirm their way to a ten win season.
So in conclusion: Go Patriots = Go Bills!