"On Dynasties" or "Why I'm Rooting for the Patriots"...
When I was kid, I never fully understood why at the end of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show there would always be two potential titles for next week's show, but there were, and I found it somewhat humorous.
As most Americans know, the Super Bowl will be played later today. I find myself rooting for a team that the vast majority of my friends are rooting against.
In the past, I've noticed that if most of my friends who follow football are strongly supporting one team, I'm with them. There seems to be a consensus of who is 'good' and who is 'evil' as those who follow the NFL, and possess a soul, will select a team to cheer for based on this. Take for example, the Dallas Cowboys. During the mid-1990s, The Evil of Which We Do Not Speak (as the Deer Slayer and I most often refer to this team) had a good run winning 3 Super Bowls in 4 years. However, of all my friends who follow pro football, only one was cheering for them in any of those games (and he grew up a fan of the team). The consensus was present.
This year, I fear, the consensus is against the Patriots.
So why am I rooting for the Patriots? Two reasons: coach and quarterback.
COACH...As much as I might say I don't care for Bill Belichick, I'm even less of a fan of Tom Coughlin.
QUARTERBACK...Four years ago, I was cheering for the Giants, in part, so that Eli could step out of the shadow of his older brother Peyton. He's a good quarterback and seemed like a nice guy. At the start of this season, however, he argued that he should be considered one of the game's elite quarterbacks. This bothered me...a lot...because at best, he's only the third best quarterback in his conference!
All of this to say...GO PATRIOTS!
Next up..."On Dynasties!"
posted by The Bearded | 3:22 PM
3 Comments:
To be fair to Eli, he was asked in an interview if he considered himself elite. What's he supposed to say, no? And, in my mind, this season proves that he should probably be considered in that camp. After all, he is now 2-0 against Brady in Super Bowls.
Regarding Eli, I think he could have learned from Emmitt Smith's interview with David Letterman back-in-the-day.
Letterman was relentless trying to get Emmitt to declare he (Emmitt) was the man. Emmitt began by stating something to the likes of "Well, there's a guy in Detroit who is pretty good..." Although he eventually gave in to Letterman, the point was made that he was humble enough to recognize his place in the bigger picture.
Time will tell whether or not he should be included in discussion of the best quarterbacks of this era. As of present, I'm willing to rank Eli slightly above another 2 time Pro Bowler and 2 time Super Bowl Champion: Jim Plunkett.
Yes, Plunkett is the classic example of a two-time Super Bowl champion who was not regarded as elite, and certainly will never be in the HOF. And props to Emmitt for keeping perspective, although I don't believe that Eli said that he is better than Brady, et al, just that he should be mentioned in the elite camp. At the time, I probably would have scoffed, but he certainly did a lot to strengthen his argument this year.
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