My Blue Heaven

This time around, the Giants play the giant-killers. And the part of Goliath, aka Kurt Warner, aka Earl Morrall, will be played by Tom Brady.

Eli Manning is in much the same situation Tom Brady faced after the 2001 season, three super bowl rings and two supermodels ago. Back then the Brady was the unproven phenom on the rise, facing huge odds against the offensive juggernaut Rams. Now Page Six Tom is the establishment.

Thus the upside for Manning this year is that much higher, as the juggernaut Pats he is facing are Pursuing Perfection. Unprecedented all-time glory is there for the taking – or at the very least the biggest glory since lamb chops Namath in SB III.

Plus, every decent American not afflicted with Patriotitis is rooting for the Jints. “Unless you’re a cheater-loving chowderhead” is how the loveable NY Post drew the battle lines in this morning’s paper, including their political style USA mockup with the continental US all in blue save the New England states, including the classic halving of Connecticut down the CT river. Clearly the Post editors has some lingering Yankee bitterness to expunge, and lest they get too caught up in their us vs. them mentality, I’d like to remind them not to exclude Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Western Samoa who I understand all are blue as well.

There were so many bright spots in an absolute classic NFC Championship Game at Lambeau. Plaxico times three great catches in the first half, laying out tipping balls to himself, domination over the Packers corner Al Harris. The ageless Amani Toomer’s tiptoe act, touching a single blade of grass with each toe before going out of bounds. And you had to applaud Coughlin’s handling of the two pronged running attack. After the Packers got punched in the mouth by the bruising Brandon Jacobs, Ahamad Bradshaw would come in with a whole other gear and knife through the secondary for 10+ yards.

Sure there was plenty of bad play and bad luck. None worse than McQuarters Fumble #1, which lodged itself in the stomach of wayward Packers lineman Mark Tauscher to preserve the possession within the red zone on the way to a TD. But listen, Domenick Hixon seemed to have radar tracking on the ball amongst a sea of green jerseys while recovering McQuarters Fumble #2, and then you had Corey Webster in the right place and not dropping Brett Favre’s interception in OT. And of course one good kick out of three.

And that shows me enough game plan, enough game-ready performances and enough luck to believe the Giants won’t embarrass me when I prepare to make The Greatest Prediction in the History of Sports in one sentence from now. The Giants will win Super Bowl XLII.

Editors Note: That would come exactly one year to the day from the current Greatest Prediction Ever, which was my call of a return TD by Devin Hester on the last Super Bowl's opening play. More on that this week when I return with this years edition of my Super Bowl Magic Moments.

Pats Light Shines On

As the Pats prepared a fourth and 1 quarterback sneak, their fragile gem of a perfect season on the line, a jumpy-handed Ravens assistant coach signalled the time out. At that moment the future fractured into two paths, What Might Have Been, and What Is. The attempted quarterback sneak by Tom Brady only existed in the land of What Might Have Been, but in that land Brady got popped! Halted in his tracks a yard behind scrimmage, he toppled over, defeated, the Pats perfect run ended. Demoralized, the Pats lose their mojo, lose to Pittsburgh, lose to Indy in the playoffs again and see the reputation of their cantankerous head coach sullied by their epic collapse as the rest of the league delights.

But none of that happened, because in the Land of What Is, the Pats are protected by a glowing light, a mysterious force which guides them and made the Ravens call timeout. It doesn't matter whether this magical light is in the "T"-shape of that Ravens coach's hands, in the eye of the referee who ruled Jabar Gaffney's hot potato routine in the endzone was a TD catch, or in the mouth of the back judge who rattled Ravens defender Samari Rolle with his alleged in-game epithets. Any one of these ripples in the space-time continuum might have been sufficient to derail the Ravens upset bid by itself.

On a night where the Pats were outhustled and outplayed, and looked far from dominant, its amazing that they always seem to have just enough pixie dust to sprinkle on the field when they need a little luck. One thing is clear, the Pats "We're not on a quest" quest for a perfect season has taken on a life of its own. Emboldened by a chance at football immortality, Pats opponents are taking aim at The Streak itself and coming up with the games of their lives.

Unheralded, uncelebrated and most would say unskilled QBs A.J. Feeley and Kyle Boller had career days chasing anti-Pat history on consecutive weeks. That is a clear indication that The Streak is exerting a powerful influence on Patriot opponents, an influence which is growing exponentially as the season approaches its final chapters.

Next on the Pats agenda are the Steelers, in great shape to end the perfect season and have their efforts live on for years of NFL Films glory. Steelers are no 25-point underdog like the Eagles, the Steelers have a revitalized Big Ben, Steelers have that D, Steelers have something to prove for their youthful new head coach who bravely declared "This is no Appalachian State vs. Michigan." All of which would only lead one to the conclusion that this time the Pats are REALLY going down.

However, until the spell is broken and someone finishes a victory to the final second, its hard not to believe the orb of light will rescue the Pats once again. Furthermore, Tom Brady's desire to silence the annoying Mercury Morris of the 72 Dolphins has gotta be considered another exponentially growing force.