The Patriots are going to the Superbowl
They won away from home, in overtime, in a real nail-biter. I didn’t watch it—I’m just not a football fan, although sometimes I do tune in.
I also know that a lot of people hate the Patriots. Not me. As a New Englander, I’m happy the team won, but my caring about it is very very shallow.
The Rams stole their way in. I watched most of both games.
The terrible ref call in the Rams game will leave an asterisk on their record. The NFL even admitted it today, I hear. It was at 1 1/2 minutes before the end of the 4th quarter. There was a flagrant foul and it was at the 2 yard line. The Saints should have won.
The only football game that interests me is the Army-Navy game (because it mattered to my dad). Much more important to me is the 21 days to go until Spring Training. The Super Bowl is a minor part of pre-baseball hibernation.
Here is Sports Illustrated on the Rams game.
Because what happened in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday was as bad as it gets, the NFL’s worst nightmare come alive after a year in which the officials were criticized constantly. A terrible officiating failure cost a team a trip to the Super Bowl.
That’s no exaggeration either. There was 1:48 showing when Saints quarterback Drew Brees feathered the ball down the right sideline to Tommylee Lewis, who looked back for it, only to take a crushing head shot from Rams corner Nickell Robey-Coleman, who was on time for the hit like the Giants used to be on time for Tom Coughlin’s meetings: about five minutes early.
My husband watched much of both games. He says in both cases that the referees and the replay cameras now run the games and the sport is dying as a result. When I can see that pass interference non-call was wrong, it’s flagrant.
Gotta hand it to Belichick and Brady, they know how to win. That said, I’ll be rooting for the Rams, a west coast team. (Geography counts.)
Plain tired of New England. Even though the Rams are a rival of my team I hope they win because for most teams winning the SB leads to problems and the Rams have a bunch of combustible players so let them win now I say.
One has to admire the tenacity and professionalism of the Patriots over the last 17 seasons- no losing seasons, and they only missed the playoffs twice in that entire span including one season they finished 11-5 (a record like that gets you in over 95% of the time).
Last night’s 4th quarter/OT was probably as good as NFL football gets, especially given the stakes.
As for the non-call- that is as bad as it gets. If that call is made correctly, New Orleans wins 95% of the time- most likely the kill the clock and kick a 25 yard field goal giving L.A. no time to tie. However, if they win in 2 weeks, it won’t be asterisk to victory- bad calls are a part of the game.
I can’t stand the Pats…I will support ANY team that plays against them. It reminds of of the Cowboys in reverse: the Cowboys (back in the Landry days) used to be known as America’s Team; I think of the Patriots as the team America loves to hate. Outside of New England, of course.
That being said, I have to hand to them. Their play calling is the best I’ve ever seen. Other teams given down and yardage, you know exactly what the next play will be. Not so with the Pats. And Brady’s ability to change to play up is their distinct advantage. I grudgingly give them props for that. Still want them to lose, and big!
And yes, the Saints got screwed.
physicsguy,
Yep, my dislike for New England is just a weariness of them being in it so much. Then mix in some pettiness like it’s easy to dominate when you play in a crap division with three other teams that are perpetual messes and it’s easier to win when your QB takes a below market value contract every year because his wife makes $50 million a year. And they like to cheat.
But yes their game planning is brilliant especially on defense.
I used to be a fan of the Pats, until I simply could not stomach any more of Belichick’s and Brady’s deceptiveness.
I used to be a fan of the NFL, until the ingrates repeatedly spit upon the graves of men who’d died defending their rights.
I haven’t watched any games since then nor will I ever again but I do hope the Pats win… as one more Super Bowl win will help to destroy interest in the game…
Especially after that all too typical ‘bad call’… which ‘coincidentally’ played right into the NFL’s desired demographic Super Bowl audience. Funny how that happens so often in critical games…
To paraphrase; once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. Three times is ‘directed action’…
Once the “handwriting’s on the wall”, only the willfully blind play the fool…
I love the hatred of the Pats, and I suspect that they do as well. I love the charge that Belichick and Brady are “deceptive”, so unlike the rest of the league. Well, they are different in that they win year after year, even after they are “too old”. If for no other reason, I will pull for them to spite the “haters”. (Well, and because I live in SoCal and detest LA pretentiousness.)
Other than that, I really couldn’t care less. I been a fan once, but had been losing interest in the NFL for some time. Now, Geoffrey Britain sums up my feelings: “I used to be a fan of the NFL, until the ingrates repeatedly spit upon the graves of men who’d died defending their rights.”
The video clearly shows that the Trump supporters were the aggressors against the chiefs, who were just defending their own land.
Manju:
Perhaps you should stop before you embarrass yourself further.
Errr…Brady and Belichick are friends with Trump. KC Chiefs = Native American.
Ergo, Chiefs victimized by Trump supporters on their own land!!!
If anything, I’m poking fun at hysteria on the left.
The super bowl is morphing into a rock concert/revue which happens to have a football game for a warm-up act. Geoffrey Britain’s assessment reflects my feelings as well. I’m 3 years clean.
Manju– I got it. Well done.
Manju:
Ah—Chiefs. Not chiefs. Got it now! Sorry.
Football humor goes right past me, apparently.
I knew the Patriots were playing Kansas City, but I forgot that Kansas City was the Chiefs. Well, I told you my interest was very very shallow, and I guess I proved that. 🙂
Buffalo Bills fan, these two are just good athletes,
GRONK and BRADY
As a Bills fan, I can remember the years when the Bills went to four straight Super Bowls, (which we lost all four). Football fans get tired of seeing the same teams winning year after year.
Bills fans will be cheering for the Rams to win the game.
As for me, I would like see GRONK and BRADY win another Super Bowl.
GO PATRIOTS
I semi-follow the NFL. It’s a better sport to watch than the current version of the NBA. If the Patriots win it’s OK with me. I prefer both the Chiefs and the Rams but it won’t hurt either team to wait. The team I dislike is the Saints. I didn’t see that game nor the foul. A lot of what goes on with instant replay I just look at as deus ex machina.
Watching the Cubbies play baseball is a sublime, religious experience. All other “sport” …. pftui
… ducking now … V B G
“Manju– I got it. Well done.”
Nope it’s more fraud from the fraudster. Trolls do this, occasionally post something “lighthearted” to show they’re “one of the guys”. Doesn’t change the fact that manju is a malicious disruptive leftist who comes here with the intention of mocking and belittling us while spreading his lies.
“If anything, I’m poking fun at hysteria on the left.”
See, he’s even-handed! What a crock.