Heading to a Super rematch

As I watched Billy Cundiff’s seemingly “sure thing,” 32-yard field goal attempt sail wide left, I felt the earth shift – all Patriots fans jumped up to rejoice, while Ravens fans fell to the ground in despair.

Throughout the game my blood pressure was on a rollercoaster ride: sure the Pats were going to pull it off; hopefully of a New England victory, but not wanting to feel too confident only to be brutally disappointed; and fearing that the evil Ravens were going to pound my Super Bowl dreams into oblivion.

In the end, it was Vince Wilfork on defense and Cundiff’s missed kick that sent the Pats to Indianapolis (although, if Cundiff had made the field goal, who knows what would have happened in overtime – Tom Brady the assassin very well could have returned.)

Brady, in his own words, “sucked pretty bad,” in the game; though, to be fair, his numbers were far from awful - 239 yards, with two interceptions however, for the first time in 36 games, no TD passes… but he did run in the game-winner. But for Brady, that’s a bad game. Usually he doesn't need much assistance when it comes to big games, but Sunday the Patriots' highly-criticized defense came through and was the deciding factor in the game (Cundiff’s foot aside).

After the game finished, I had only a few minutes to regain my composure and let my blood pressure settle before I was thrown into another game. I wasn’t ready for another championship game; I wanted to savor the Patriots good luck for a few hours. But Roger Goodell wouldn’t have it and I was thrust into the 49ers-Giants rumble.

During this game I was torn – who do I cheer for? I hate the Giants and I like the 49ers, but I also want to Pats to have a chance to avenge their last Super Bowl loss. That being said, I’m just a tad superstitious – because of that, I try to be realistic and not overly confident because my confidence may madden the football gods and cause the Patriots to lose, and I would rather lose to San Francisco than the Giants. So as you can see, I was torn. Seeing as how cheering for a New York team just about makes me physically ill, I couldn’t bring myself to cheer for the Giants (watching them celebrate brings the taste of bile to my mouth).

In the end, it was the football gods (and poor Kyle Williams) who decided the outcome, and now my Patriots have the opportunity to avenge their Super Bowl XLII loss.

With this matchup, I am forced to remember back to that game in 2008. Try as I might to forget it ever happened, over and over I am forced to watch David Tyree and the helmet catch thrown in my face by ESPN, Fox and the like.

I went into that game as confident as a fan can be – after all, my team was 18-0 and the Giants finished the regular season 10-6 (just like this season… I’m feeling sick). As the game wore on I remember asking myself: “Why are the Patriots playing like they’re trying not to lose? My Patriots always play to win! Who is this team? Where are my Patriots?!”

Then the unthinkable happened, and after “the touchdown” I got up, and locked myself in my room. A tear or two may have been shed and I refused to talk about the game or turn on ESPN for a week.

Now the Patriots have a chance to avenge that fateful night… they better not blow it, or I may actually have a heart attack.

Tim Tebow humor

My neighbor just sent me this joke .... it seems like I am obsessed with Tim Tebow, but really I'm not. I must also mention that I AM happy he lost on Sunday, because he was playing Tom and the boys.


Tom Brady, after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven, God was showing him around. They came to a modest little house with a faded Patriots flag in the window. "This house is yours for eternity Tom, said God. "This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here." Tom felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house.

On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a huge 3-story mansion with Orange and Blue sidewalks and drive ways, a 50 foot tall flagpole with an enormous Broncos logo flag waving, a swimming pool in shape of a horse, a Broncos logo in every window, and a Tim Tebow jersey on the front door.

Tom looked at God and said "God, I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was an all-pro QB, I won 3 Super Bowls, and I even went to the Hall of Fame."

God said "So what's your point Tom?"

"Well, why does Tim Tebow get a better house than me?"

God chuckled, and said "Tom, that's not Tim's house, it's mine."

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I have thought long and hard about what I want for Christmas this year. I’ve been pretty good and I hope you take that into account when you look at my list.

First – please make the lockouts stop! First the NFL over the summer, then the NBA this fall... I can’t take the stress!

The NFL locked players out, postponed training camp and cancelled a couple preseason games … but they were smart enough to end the lockout before any regular season games were cancelled. The NBA, on the other hand, cancelled about a month of games and turned off a lot of fans in the process.

The worst part of the lockouts is that of course both sides waited until the very last minute to negotiate, when both leagues knew they were coming for years. Because of that, the looming lockouts put a dark cloud over the previous seasons. And I’m sorry but millionaires fighting billionaires? The world has a lot bigger problems to worry about.

Santa, I hope athletes, players and commissioners in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL have learned their lesson from these two lockouts and work to prevent them from happening rather than waiting to negotiate until the final hour. But I am not naïve and realize that they probably haven’t learned a thing.

My second wish is for safety changes in IndyCar.

Twelve laps into the IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a horrific crash unfolded that enveloped 15 cars, killing Dan Wheldon, winner of the 2011 Indianapolis 500. His car launched into the air, then slammed against the catch fence – cockpit first. He was 33.

The sadness of this accident is undeniable, the young husband and father of two loses his life after finally getting to the top of his profession. The sad part of the accident is that no one was shocked that it happened.

One journalist covering the race wrote: “Conditions in the race were such that everybody kind of expected that there was going to be at least one or two really big crashes."

During practice runs, drivers expressed concern about the track, where cars could reach speeds of 225 m.p.h. One driver, Oriol Servia, said: "We all had a bad feeling about this place, in particular just because of the high banking and how easy it was to go flat [to the floor with the accelerator].”

Ironically, Wheldon was racing for team owner Sam Schmidt, a former Indy driver whose career was cut short in a horrific crash that left him a quadriplegic.

Santa, please talk to IndyCar officials and make them take a look at these tragedies and do everything in their power to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, that no other children lose their father, no wife loses her husband. Remind them that safety of the drivers should come above all else – speed is exciting, but not worth the loss of life.

My final wish is for college football to chill out with the conference changes. So many schools changed allegiance this year, I don’t know who is now where or what the conferences are called – Pac-10 or Pac-12? Shouldn’t the Big 10 and Big 12 swap names?

Missouri and Texas A&M moved to the SEC; Texas Christian to the Big East – wait no, make that the Big 12; Pittsburgh and Syracuse left the Big East for the ACC;  Boise State and San Diego State join the Big East (yes, you heard that right, the Big “East”) … it’s all enough to make my head spin. Now the Big 12 will have 10 schools; the Big 10 will have 12 schools; and with Houston, Southern Methodist, San Diego State and Boise State joining the conference, less than half of the football teams in the Big East will be East Coast schools.

I hope I got all of the changes right… but if not, you’ll have to excuse me – it’s too confusing to keep straight.  Santa, please talk to all of the university deans and conference commissioners and politely ask them to chill out – we fans can’t keep up!

Well Santa, that’s all I have. Oh, and of course heath, wealth and happiness for myself, my family and my friends.

Merry Christmas!

Jen H., Savannah, GA

All he does is win, all-all-all he does is win

Why all the Tebow hate?

 

Throughout his career at the University of Florida and now in his second year with the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow continues to be one of the most polarizing athletes … and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I’ve always been a Tim Tebow fan; I think he seems to be a truly good person and a great athlete – you can debate his game as much as you want, there is no denying his athletic abilities.

A guy who is a great athlete and is a man of faith is constantly bashed for both things. There seems to be no middle ground with Tebow: you either love him or you hate him; you think he’s a good quarterback or you think he’s overrated; you think his constant comeback wins are a result of skill or are all luck. Tebow’s athletic ability, his quarterbacking ability, his faith and even his “purity” have been mocked and questioned.

It’s like people think he’s too good (i.e. too virtuous) to be true. They think he is too perfect in his persona and are just waiting – and have been waiting for years – for him to be revealed as a hypocrite. Yet after nearly six years of no closet skeletons appearing, people turn to ripping his game and mocking his faith. You can rip his game all you want, but mocking anyone’s religious beliefs crosses a major line.

As a devout Christian who is very upfront about his faith, Tebow regularly drops to one knee to thank the Lord. Recently, his praying has gone viral, with people around the world posting pictures of themselves “Tebowing” — dropping to one knee with their head on their fist in “prayer.” Yes, "Tebow" has become a verb. But even within this viral sensation there is a split – those who do it in admiration of Tebow, and those who do it to mock him.

It’s not only fans who openly mock him – some of his fellow NFL players have jumped on the boat. When Denver took on Detroit about a month ago, Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch sacked Tebow during the first quarter and instead of screaming or standing over Tebow, he instead dropped to his knee and “Tebowed.” In the second quarter Lion Tony Scheffler caught a touchdown pass and celebrated by “Tebowing.”

Whether they realized it or not, they were mocking his religious beliefs. What Tebow is doing when he drops to his knee is thanking God – it is similar to a Catholic blessing himself or a Muslim bowing to Allah. Do we mock athletes who do those things? Of course not, because it would be viewed as distasteful. Yet it seems “OK” to do it to Tebow. The defense that those haters spew out that Tebow’s decision to be so open about his faith opens him to scrutiny makes me question where all of our values are.

I’m certainly not as devout as Tebow is, but I respect the fact that he is, just as I respect a Muslim woman who dresses according to the hijab or a Jewish man who wears a kippah or yarmulke – it is not my right to question another person’s beliefs.

What makes me respect Tebow even more is that he stays quiet in this debate. He lets people “Tebow” – whether it’s mocking or complimentary – and continues to live his life the way he believes is right. He lives quietly; we know little about his personal life other than he is a Chrsitan and does charity work in the Philippines, and  he is humble.

On the field, his stats aren’t great but his record is; and every fan must admit that they would rather have a quarterback with bad numbers and wins than great numbers and no wins. It may not be pretty or conventional, but time and time again Tim Tebow has proven himself to be a winner.

Love him or hate him, you have to respect Tim Tebow.