Saturday, February 2, 2008

Some Thoughts and My Prediction




I've started to relax a little bit with the big game now just one day away. Again, I really think that this extra week sucks. I shouldn't be getting worked up and anxious because I'm anticipating the game so much, and then start to relax right before it because it's finally going to happen after what feels like a year. Instead, I should be happy that my team just won their conference championship, take a few days to decompress from the excitement, and then get all worked up again for the Super Bowl. I think that's why I was so manic this week. My cycle was thrown off. I got all worked up for the weekend because that's what my body has become accustomed to, and then there was nothing. This was the first taste of the withdrawal that will set in next week.

Now, I'm going to throw an idea out there, and I don't want everybody to start going crazy. Just think about it. I'm not sure if this has ever come up before, but I'd have to think that it has. Why is the Super Bowl on Sunday? I understand that Super Bowl Sunday has a nice ring to it, and it has existed gloriously this way for many years. But, I think that we need to start thinking outside the box. Think about the following things:

1) We all hate getting up for work the day after the Super Bowl. You're probably tired and hungover. Even if you just stay at home and watch the game, you're still tired and you're still worn out from the emotion of it all. The next day, you're expected to just go in to work like nothing ever happened and perform. You're not even given time to really digest what happened. I remember having a particularly difficult time concentrating in school the day after the Titans/Rams Super Bowl because it was such a great game.

2) No matter how much we all talk about it, the day after the Super Bowl is never going to be a holiday. It's just not going to happen. The people who don't like football will see it as an insult for some reason or another.

3) I have to work today, but if the Super Bowl had been today, I certainly would have taken tonight off (as I took tommorow night off the day the NFL schedule was released). So, assuming you have a year to plan this, you could make all of the neccesary adjustments to your schedule.

4) Now, imagine that we have Superbowl Saturday (or maybe we'd just say "the Super Bowl"). We'd wake up on Saturday, spend all day getting prepared and taking in the splendor. We'd watch the game, you could continue the festivities late into the evening (because, again even for people who just watch at home) how do you just go to bed afterwards. You need time to wind down. And then, the next day, is Sunday! The day of rest. A day for you to relax and watch all of the post-game coverage. A day to sleep in, a day to digest everything before returning to society. This is one of the greatest ideas I've ever had (again, I'm sure someone must have thought of this before, so I don't want people to think I'm taking credit for someone else's idea).


Moving on, here is my prediction:

The Giants season has been amazing. Never in my wildest dreams, even heading into Week 17 against the Patriots, did I ever picture them playing in the Super Bowl. They are a good young team, and I really think that they are going to be good for many years. Eli Manning has gained a lot of confidence from this run, and I think it will help him take the next step to being an elite QB next year. On a side note, here is a great piece on Eli. I love everything about this team, and I think that they have been playing great football. Michael Strahan is a class act, and there aren't many guys that have dominated a position for so long. I would love nothing more than to see him get a ring. If the Giants win tommorow night, it will be the greatest day of my life as a sports fan, hands down. No question. I wouldn't even have to think about it.

Ok, that's out of the way now.

The Giants do have a chance to win. They have a good matchup and they have a lot of momentum going into this game. But, I don't think that they will. As Babcock said, the Patriots have handled tremendous pressure all season long. With the lofty expectations, the Spygate incident, the Rodney Harrison HGH suspension, the perfect regular season pressure, the pressure of the statistical records, they have carried the weight of an entire season every week when they took the field. That is all behind them now, and they just have to win one game. The weather will be perfect, they are healthy, and they have had two weeks to prepare. This team has done everything they could possibly do up until this point. Now they just have one game left. It's hard for me to believe that they won't win it.





Look into his eyes, they're empty. He's not human.