Ten Things You Learn at a Football Party

1) All conversation stops for THE BIG PLAY, and then starts again as soon as the play is done.

2) It is possible for ten people to empty a fridge of all alcohol over the course of eight hours and still remain sober enough to hold rational conversations.

3) It takes three graduate students (among a room full of them) to figure out how to operate the self-timer on a Canon Powershot.

4) The idea that there will be an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl is beginning to sound like a real one.

5) Steelers fans are crazy.

6) It is always possible to find Syracuse fans.

7) There is a feeling of disappointment when you can't help your parent, being "forced" to watch a football game at a convention, escape the boredom of a sport he or she doesn't like.

8) Kickers have an odd love affair with hand-warmers.

9) Between the Ravens, Eagles and Cardinals, it's a good year to be a (fan of a) bird (team).

10) There's no better way to end the day than with some old teen movies--like, for example, The Craft.

They Might Be Giants

Wow.

I can't really say much more than that.


It doesn't get much more storybook, much more Cinderella, than that. There are games. There are Super Bowls. There are the ones we will remember for the rest of our lives.

This is one of them.

It wasn't just a Super Bowl. It wasn't just a championship game.

It was the New England Patriots going for perfection, dominating nearly everyone on the way. It was Tom Brady, American Icon, and Giselle. It was Randy Moss and an indomitable offense, and Asante Samuel and a perfect defense.

It was the New York Giants finding themselves somewhere no one expected. It was Eli Manning, kid brother of Peyton, wondering what the hell else he had to do to prove he belonged. It was starting 0-2, wondering why Tom Coughlin was still there, and then a turn around for the ages. It was beating Dallas, their biggest rival, and then beating Green Bay, in overtime, on a 47 yard kick that they probably shouldn't have made.


If there's ever a team to make a movie about, this is it.

It's not 'they might be Giants'. They ARE Giants.

NFL Picks: The Super Bowl, Part Two

As promised:

Why the Giants will win the Super Bowl

The only way I can explain it is destiny--teams that start 0-2 don't usually make it this far in a postseason--and yet this exactly what has happened.

At the beginning of the season, the Jets were the ones fresh off a playoff year; there was no question about Mangini as a coach, most experts had them at 9-7. The Jets, however, had what can best be described as a complete collapse...and the Giants didn't.

They had bad losses to Dallas, Green Bay...even Washington...but somehow, some way, they made it into the playoffs, and, as we all know, everything changes in the postseason.

So why will the Giants win the Super Bowl?

They've done that thing where they get better as the season goes on, unlike the Patriots, who struggled for their last win against the Giants, trailing by 12 at one point.

They've won an obscene number of games on the road, and the Super Bowl is many things, but a home game, it is not.

They've survived injuries to Shockey, who hasn't appeared in any playoff game and Burress, who has shown sheer grit through playing through an ankle injury that would sideline lesser men--if Maroney and Moss went down, I'm not sure the Patriots would be quite as immortal as everyone is making them out to be.

They've done all of this without Tiki Barber.

The Giants are kind of like the Rockies were last October--they sneak up on you, you're not expecting it at all because they're not one of the powerhouse teams in their league, yet, before you know it, they're there, in the final round. The difference is, the Giants now just have to win one game, not four.


The Patriots are past due for a loss.

New York is past due for some football glory.

The Giants have the momentum and the sheer bravado to get it done.


Tune in Sunday, February 3rd, to find out which it is!

I usually have a wager with my brother, but as this time he's a Giants fan and I don't want the Patriots to win, we'd both be picking the same side...


If I have to though,

Giants 34, New England 17.

NFL Picks: The Super Bowl

So since there is still another week before the big dance, I thought I'd do two different predictions--one why the Giants will win, and one why the Patriots will win.

I should be clear though, that even as a NY Jets fan, I am rooting 100% for the Giants. Why? When it's New York and New England, there's really only one choice. Unless it's hockey. In which case the choice is the Devils.


So, I'll get to it:

Why the Patriots will win the Super Bowl:


Okay. They're 18-0 so far, which is not only really good, but has never actually been done before. They have a quarterback who is having a 2007 A-Rod like season in terms of stats, but without any sort of opt out controversy.

The Patriots are good. Not just the run-of-the-mill good enough to get to the playoffs and maybe even the third round good, like some hockey and basketball teams, but good like the '98 Yankees, '72 Dolphins, the Bulls that one year, etc. They're Good.


This decade, the Patriots have played like the Packers and Cowboys of old, dominating the league to the point that it's just assumed they'll be in the postseason--and when your division contains the Jets, Bills and Dolphins, well, maybe that's all need be said. However, the Patriots haven't just dominated the AFC East; they've been better than nearly ever other team in the league. Only the Colts have come close to equaling their achievements in the conference over the past few years, and the AFC...well, they have won eight of the last ten Super Bowls.

This year, the Patriots have not just Brady, but Moss and Maroney, and a defense that, well, you know, it wins championships.

So they're good.




Okay, now that was rather hard to right as a Jets fan, but it's true. The Patriots are that good.

They might, however, not be good enough.

Check back next Thursday, same place, to see why the Giants will win!

Giants Among Men

There are football games.

There are classics.

And then, there is Ice Bowl the Second: The Curse of the Missed Field Goal


I'm not a Giants fan. I don't hate the Giants, they aren't a bitter rival like the Red Sox, Rangers or Patriots, they're just not my team.

So I watched the NFC championship game today with a bit of an open mind. Mad respect for the Packers and their history, and Brett Favre, for sure, but also respect for the Giants. They are, after all, a New York team that was playing for the possibility of playing New England...

It seems like such a long time ago that the Giants and the Jets both started the season at 0-2 and the analysts said the Jets would be the ones to pull out of it...

For the first time since 2003, a local team has a chance to win a major title, and they can beat New England while doing it.

Again, I'm not a Giants fan. Any other AFC team in the Super Bowl than the Patriots, I'd be rooting for the AFC team, but the Patriots are a New England team, and most of you know how that sits with Yankee fans.

So on that basis, LET'S GO GIANTS, and bring a little sports glory back home, where it belongs.




By the way, I froze just watching that game. Are the linebackers insane playing with bare arms?


Wait, I'm not sure I want that one answered...