Fourth and Long: ‘It Was the Best of Times…’
Back in 2007 and 2008, I wrote a weekly online pro football column dubbed “Fourth and Long” for the late Football for Breakfast website. One hopes the gentle reader will enjoy this blast from 2/01/08…
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
And the two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl are really no different.
The best is that only two teams remain, preparing to battle in the biggest sports spectacle the world has ever seen.
Two teams, two cities that can envision only victory and glory on the horizon, talking about destiny and a date with football immortality ignoring for a moment that their dreams are mutually exclusive.
And the worst is that this agonizingly long gap between games only serves to encourage these modern-day gladiators to talk trash. And when they do, we act surprised and put them up on a stage we conveniently built ahead of time. And when one of them has the audacity to publicly tell the truth that they actually believe they will win the game, we put them under a piercing spotlight with cameras and microphones for all the world to see.
And still we have another five days to fill.
This year is even more pronounced what with the New England Patriots flirting with a perfect season.
A perfect season.
Can you believe that in this day and age of parity and salary caps?
While Tony Kornheiser may have predicted the undefeated season back in April, remember that the Patriots were a team under intense scrutiny as the season approached. Career malcontent Randy Moss was rumored to be on the cut list before the season even began because he would never fit in with the ‘Patriots Way.’ Defensive leader Rodney Harrison was suspended for four games after admitting to using the banned Human Growth Hormone (HGH). And of course, Bill Belichick was found guilty of cheating and fined an unprecedented $500,000 by commissioner Roger Goodell just after the first game of the season in a scandal now known as Spygate. And yet 17 games later, they are on the cusp of the greatest season in the history of the NFL.
And to be honest, the New York Giants are no different.
Their All-Pro and telegenic running back Tiki Barber embarked on a very public retirement last season, preparing himself for the world of the Today Show and Football Night in America. And after the Giants lost their first two games, everyone, including (or more appropriately, especially) Tiki, excoriated then lame-duck head coach Tom Coughlin and under-achieving (or in some cases never-achieving) Eli Manning for their failure to produce once again. This was a team adrift without Tiki. A team adrift until a new coach and a new quarterback could salvage the legacy of Parcells and Simms. And even after they secured a playoff spot for the third straight season, everyone asked if they could win in the post-season, pointing to their failures of the past two years.
And yet it was in week 17, when the Giants were expected to rest their weary players with the undefeated Patriots coming to town that everything fell into place. Even though the Giants lost that game 38-35, the closeness of the score, the competitiveness of the game, the intensity of their play, was enough to carry them through the playoffs.
So now these two teams of hobbled warriors prepare for their final confrontation in Super Bowl XLII.
Two teams who can only see victory. Two teams that can only make history.
The Patriots finishing their quest for the greatest season in the annals of the NFL. The Giants pulling off the greatest upset in all of sport, heroically defeating the greatest team ever.
Come to think of it, maybe it’s only the best of times…
