Lamenting The Super Loss

BobbyStompy is bummin'


My name is Bobby. My favorite NFL teams are the Patriots and Bears. Equally. (Yes, I know I'm stupid and dumb. I can't change it. I've tried. I'm sorry.)

My favorite college football team is the Michigan Wolverines.

In a year that began with the Appalachian State upset, how fitting was the Giants toppling the Pats? Pretty fitting, I guess.

I remember when the Bears and Pats both lost in the divisional playoffs two years ago. I remember writing in 2006: "Pats and Bears lost their respective playoff games this past weekend. So that was pretty depressing. Hopefully that's the last time in my life where my two favorite NFL teams are eliminated from the playoffs about 22 hours apart from each other."

You know what's worse than the Bears and Pats both losing in divisional playoff weekend? The Bears and Pats losing back-to-back Super Bowls! Way worse. ARGH.

The worst part is, I don't even mind the Giants. I'm not laughing now, but I know Eli Manning is funny. I know he deserves it. I know Strahan deserves it. I know Coughlin deserves it. I know Barber didn't deserve it. I know the game-deciding play was a fade route (my absolute favorite of all routes). I know the Pats already attained three rings in the last decade, and that alone should give me little to complain about. Am I not grateful? No, I really don't think that's it.

That's the difference between being a Michigan/Pats/Bears/Bulls/White Sox fan, and being a fan of the Atlanta Hawks, or any team based in Philadelphia or Cleveland. Being able to feel the pinnacle of a sport, knowing how great a championship truly does feel -- it just makes it that much worse when it doesn't end up happening.

It's like the Chicago Bulls this year. They suck. They piss me off. And I've pretty much given up on them. But in the end, it's pretty much disappointment combined with reservation. It's horrible, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing compared to aggressively following the 18-0 -- oops, 18-1 -- Patriots and their stumble on the big stage.

With a season that began with the biggest upset in college football history (even though point spreads don't agree), I imagine it's fitting to finish with the biggest upset in NFL history (even though point spreads don't agree).

I'll be the first to say it: if I wasn't a Patriots fan, I'd probably be rooting for the Giants. But I am. And I wasn't.

The only solace I take is knowing that this loss brings Pats fans -- the insufferable ones -- down a notch. The rest of the NFL teams' fans will have this against us for pretty much ever (just like cough cough Appalachian State cough cough). No more full-on smugness. If the Pats pinball the scoreboards next year, we'll know why. But I don't think that's going to happen again.

The solace I won't take is knowing how happy Mercury Morris is right now. Fuck him.

As I made my somber walk home through Iowa City from the Super Bowl party I'd attended, trudging through about 8 inches of snow and twenty degree weather for about 40 minutes, I began to feel like Jack Nicholson during the last five minutes of The Shining...

Just depleted, and about ready to give up.