Kickoff cannot come fast enough...
Usually, the Patriots are targets for absurd accusations and especially at winning time, but there is something downright arcane and outlandish about the Super Bowl 52 edition of trashy, tabloidal buffalo bagels...
...but after a sleepless night full of TVLand, intoxicating combustibles and online searches for anything not football, I gave up tossing and turning in bed and repaired to my dining room table, which is littered with football fodder - charts and graphs and more useless stats disguising as something called "advanced metrics" than any sane person wants or needs.
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| Gisele and Tom relaxing after a game |
What the hell? For the past six months I have been accumulating this impressive pile of numbers for the sole purpose of tossing it all in the shit can on Monday morning, because after the Patriots finish the season against the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's Super Bowl, the only thing that matters is who is holding that Trophy.
But as always, the accusations will persist, following the team into next season just like the various controversies of the past, including those dubbed with the moronic and overused Nixonian-era suffix, those of SpyGate and DeflateGate, and dozens of other odd occurrences attributed more to mystique than to fact.
Have the people in charge of thinking up names for controversies ever considered that the original use of that particular suffix actually derived from the name of the hotel where Richard Nixon's henchmen had operatives break into the Democratic National Party's offices, and wasn't even considered an appropriate suffix at that time.
Since, it has infested journalists that need a catch phrase or clever key word in a hurry when breaking a story, and fall back on the tried and true, though it makes zero sense.
I just find that interesting that the general public will accept something as stupid as attaching "gate" to the end of something to describe a deed of perceived dark malfeasance, while refusing to acknowledge that the New England Patriots' dominance over the National Football League over the past two decades is anything short of just plain greatness...
...and is instead somehow tied to video taping in the wrong location and confusion among supposedly smart people regarding the ideal gas law, and then mixing up the incompetence of the parties in a botched investigation that failed to indict Tom Brady of deflating footballs to levels lower than allowed by rule, yet tied up courts for two years before Brady served a suspension not based on anything in the investigation - rather - to prove to the NFLPA that the commissioner is within his providence to suspend as he pleases.
As a result, most folks would rather select the story that fits their narrative that feeds to the hatred of the Patriots and their dynasty - and will do so again and again until the Patriots fall back to the pack.
The latest media-inspired controversy involving the Patriots is so dark and silly that it makes them look like a modern-day Addam's Family with Brady is the chronically-passionate Gomez who takes selfies with his supermodel wife, Morticia, after each game and is apparently an over-affectionate father to boot - and as if that isn't enough, he doubles as "Thing", the large hand that comes out of a black box and can perform all manner of parlor tricks, even with a few stitches in him...
...complete with Bill Belichick as Uncle Fester, pacing about with a creepy smile and jabbering distractedly about the red area, the Art of War and maybe catching a Timberwolves game, while Bob Kraft has remained largely in the background like Lerch, the somewhat crusty butler who always seems to appear at just the right time to lend a touch of snobbery to the works.
That's not even getting into the incident with the foolish Alex Reimer, who went after Brady's daughter, verbally castigating her for being a kid. Brady was livid over that one, but took care of it the following Monday morning by letting Reimer's employers, WEEI Radio, know that his further participation in their weekly Q&A will be taken under strict scrutiny, and may impact the new contract signed between the Patriots and the station.
No matter, because Brady doesn't care. Brady is used to the accusations of being a cheater and brushes them off like so many crumbs, but he acted swiftly and decisively in dealing with the radio personality taking a dig at his kid, and has been laser focused on doing the same to the Eagles ever since.
As fans, we take exception to people dissing our team and put far more capital on it that the Patriots do, but instead of being offended by it, perhaps we should embrace it as fodder and realize that the hateful words of others only serve to validate the thought in our minds and emotion in our hearts that our team has toiled relentlessly for close to two decades to satiate our thirst for perfection.
And perfection in this instance doesn't mean winning every game, holding the other team scoreless or hanging 45 points on them in contrast - perfection in this case means returning to Massachusetts with a sixth Lombardi Trophy. By that standard, the Patriots will have had six perfect seasons out of eighteen coached by Belichick and seventeen quarterbacked by Brady.
To be sure, 15 division titles - including the last nine straight - and eight conference championships out of twelve tries is the most impressive streak in the history of football, but the six world titles in eight Super Bowl appearances is what these guys play the game for - and anything less is considered a disappointment in Foxborough.
So we stew in anticipation of number six, many Patriots' fans reporting that they feel the excitement that Christmas Eve brings, which does indeed bring the height of emotion out of many people - and retailers estimate that fans will spend $15.3 Billion in preparation for Super Bowl 52, which pales in comparison to actual Christmas spending.
But one thing that must be remembered is that not everyone is a football fan, almost everyone is a fan of Christmas.
That said, Football fans are a special kind of crazy. They are adrenaline junkies who thrive off of the anxiety that accompanies the build up to a regular football Sunday during the season, then amps up incrementally for as long as their team remains in the playoffs - and if they are fortunate enough to see their team make the Super Bowl, the anxiety level reaches a crescendo on Super Bowl Saturday...
...becoming manic in their expression of glee and with some being unable to sleep - but with the anticipation comes a caveat that tempers the occasion somewhat, and adds another level of anxiety to the mix, and that is, unlike on Christmas morning, not everyone gets a present and many are left despondent.
That is why Patriots' fans should be grateful for whatever they do get on Super Bowl Sunday, because more than any other team in the history of the National Football League, the Patriots give their fans the gift of fretful angst, the anxiety that comes with the anticipation of something big and wonderful and increasingly historic.
All the while, the fans of other teams do not get to experience this vortex of emotion and will become agitated and angry at their omission from the festivities. They will call the Patriots' cheaters and claim that the referees are on their side, trolling New England fans at every opportunity in online social media sites, and when that happens it is important for Patriots' fans to remember one thing:
Their anger and defensiveness validates the Patriots' greatness.
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