Sunday, December 04, 2005
Some NFL notes. Like any conversion experience there have been signpost moments along the way for me. Perhaps the first time I realized that I had abandoned the pain of rooting for the Jets was driving around somewhere in the Fall of 1989 listening to the Bills-Oilers game. The House of Pain had been a tough place to visit, and all of a sudden I realized that I really cared about the result. That sick, sour taste that I used to get listening to the Jets wasn't there, but my driving suffered-- I was speeding up and slowing down in a random seeming way that was actually tied to what Van was relating from second to second. If there'd been anyone else out driving, they'd have noticed, I guess, or maybe we all would have been synchronized.
I suppose I really knew in 1990, when I realized that I was completely rooting against my hometown Giants-- and feeling doomed as I did it.
But what really established me, I think, was that during the lean years that have followed I have been able to take solace in some otherwise miserable seasons when the Bills sweep Miami. Some years just beating Miami once is enough, but not this year-- there is no excuse for doing what they did to my Sunday afternoon today. Damn.
I think a lot of Bills fans are hoping the Colts go undefeated: anti-Dolphin schadenfreude extends backwards in time, across generations. I wonder though, if a Colts Super Bowl win would be as meaningful in a year where the Patriots are not likely to really be a factor. The way it looks today, the Lucky Charms will face either Denver (Jake Plummer-- deal with the Devil, or just waiting until the right moment to blow up?), Cincinnati (who wouldn't be pulling for the Bengals? Anyone who isn't colorblind, that's who) or whoever emerges from the AFC East. Oh yeah, Jacksonville is probably in the mix, too. There's a reason they play the games, but as good as Carolina looks, or Seattle, I suppose, without Bill Belichick will it really feel as though they have beaten the best?
I suppose I really knew in 1990, when I realized that I was completely rooting against my hometown Giants-- and feeling doomed as I did it.
But what really established me, I think, was that during the lean years that have followed I have been able to take solace in some otherwise miserable seasons when the Bills sweep Miami. Some years just beating Miami once is enough, but not this year-- there is no excuse for doing what they did to my Sunday afternoon today. Damn.
I think a lot of Bills fans are hoping the Colts go undefeated: anti-Dolphin schadenfreude extends backwards in time, across generations. I wonder though, if a Colts Super Bowl win would be as meaningful in a year where the Patriots are not likely to really be a factor. The way it looks today, the Lucky Charms will face either Denver (Jake Plummer-- deal with the Devil, or just waiting until the right moment to blow up?), Cincinnati (who wouldn't be pulling for the Bengals? Anyone who isn't colorblind, that's who) or whoever emerges from the AFC East. Oh yeah, Jacksonville is probably in the mix, too. There's a reason they play the games, but as good as Carolina looks, or Seattle, I suppose, without Bill Belichick will it really feel as though they have beaten the best?
