Superbowl XLII is in the books and while it wasn’t the greatest first half it sure turned out to be everything I had hoped.  Let me first say I am not a Giants fan and I enjoy watching them lose being a Philadelphia Eagles fan and all but rivalries aside it’s always great to see the underdog pull off the big upset.  Superbowl XLII was exactly that.  All season long I’ve had to listen to how great the Patriots are, how classy they represent the NFL, and how people should look up to the entire organization because they were apparently full of class.  Yet it seems the NFL and media fail to realize how untrue that actually is.

First lets take a step back to the 2006-2007 NFL Post Season.  The San Diego Chargers were the cream of the crop in the AFC and many experts were expecting big things from them that season but they had a major hurdle trying to dethrone the Patriots.

January 13th 2007: The Patriots travel across country to play San Diego in an AFC Divisional playoff game. Looking like they are in charge most of the game the Chargers end up making some crucial mistakes as New England wins 24-21 and revel in their upset by mocking Shawne Merriman’s absurd “Lights Out” dance at midfield on San Diego’s logo. Chargers are aghast and in one of 2007′s great moments, LaDainian Tomlinson labels the Patriots classless for mocking a celebratory dance. LT says the classlessness started with Bill Belichick.

January 21st 2007: A week later in the AFC championship game against the Colts Bellichick snubs Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning in the post game handshake after suffering a loss. Then Belichick grunts through a postgame interview with CBS’ Solomon Wilcots.

Fast forward to the 2007-2008 regular season.

August 31, 2007: Patriots Safety Rodney Harrison gets busted using banned substances, reportedly HGH  (Human Growth Hormone) .  Harrison gets suspended for the first four games of the season.

September 9th, 2007: In one of the most memorable publicized storiesin the early season the Patriots are busted in New York after Jets security removes Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella from the Giants Stadium sidelines. Instead of pressing the button that would cause the camera to explode and swallowing the cyanide pill, Estrella has the camera confiscated. The contents? Jets coaches sending in hand signals to their defense and shots of the scoreboard.  By week’s end, the Jets tapes and others that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said were against the rules will have been destroyed, the Patriots will have been docked a first-round choice, the franchise will have been fined $250,000 and Belichick will have been fined $500,000. Belichick apologizes twice during the week. He says his interpretation of the rule was faulty but won’t publicly share what the interpretation is. Each effort to get him to talk about the incident further is met with a variation of the reply, “We’re moving on to San Diego,” the Patriots’ Week 2 opponent.

September 16th, 2007: After a week in which every U.S. citizen with a mouth gave an opinion on Belichick, the Patriots, signal swiping, videotaping and whether the Patriots should be stripped of their three Lombardi Trophies, New England was on the field at Gillette Stadium to play San Diego on Sunday Night Football. At halftime, Patriots owner Robert Kraft told NBC’s Al Michaels he knew nothing of the videotaping practice and showed proper contrition. After the Patriots demolished San Diego 38-14, emotional Patriots veterans like Tedy Bruschi said they wanted to send a message that questioning of the Patriots legacy during the week spurred the domination. Kraft gives Belichick the game ball.

October 21st, 2007: The Patriots get up on hapless, helpless Miami 42-7 by halftime. When Brady’s backup, Matt Cassel relieves the starter and throws an interception to Jason Taylor that goes for a touchdown, Brady is sent back into the game and throws his sixth touchdown pass to get New England a 49-21 lead. They win 49-28. After the game, ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio asks Belichick why he brought Brady back in, Belichick got riled. “I did it because of the score. One more turnover and it’s a 14-point game in the middle of the fourth quarter. I was at the game.”

October 28th, 2007: A week after pouring it on Miami the Patriots rub it in even worse against Washington. New England builds a comfortable 52-0 lead in the fourth quarter. Despite the massive lead, the Patriots don’t follow perceived etiquette and continue to throw the ball. Inside the Redskins 10 late in the fourth, they eschew a field goal, go for it on fourth down and add another touchdown. A source tells NBCSports.com that the Redskins players and coaches were, to a man, enraged. Redskins coach Joe Gibbs says after the game he has no problem with anything the Patriots did (even though Gibbs opted to skip the post game handshake), but Redskins linebacker Randall Godfrey tells NBCSports.com that he told Belichick after the game to, “get some class.”

December 3rd, 2007: In an otherwise forgettable season, the Baltimore Ravens play a tremendous game, running roughshod over the Patriots defense and taking Randy Moss out of the game almost completely. In the ESPN broadcast booth, Shula and third-man-in Tony Kornheiser are positively giddy at the prospect of a Ravens upset as Baltimore led for much of the game. The Patriots got the game-winner on a Brady to Jabar Gaffney touchdown pass with 44 seconds left. A litany of weird occurrences kept the Pats winning drive alive — a Ravens timeout just before a failed Pats run on fourth down then a New England conversion; defensive holding on another fourth down and the bang-bang catch by Gaffney. The Ravens melted down after the loss, assailing the officials and alleging that the league wanted New England to win. Debate on several fronts ensues.

December 4th, 2007: Amid chatter that the Patriots are suddenly vulnerable, second-year Steelers safety Anthony Smith guarantees a win over New England (halfheartedly, but a guarantee nonetheless). Indignation follows. So does a beating. Brady gets in Smith’s mug after a touchdown pass. New England twice victimizes Smith on deep balls. Belichick says after the game that the Patriots have, “seen better, believe me.”

December 17th, 2007: With Spygate back in the headlines and the Patriots dominance well-established, speculation about how lopsided the score will be is everywhere. So too is how Belichick will interact in the postgame handshake. Belichick says he won’t do cartwheels. After a boring 20-10 win, an effusive Belichick goes to midfield, grabs Mangini’s hand and says, “Great game, Eric! Awesome!” And if you don’t get the humor in that, you’re not going to get that kind of humor ever.

January 15th, 2008: News seeps from Florida that wide receiver Randy Moss had a temporary restraining order taken out against him by a friend after an incident occurred on January 6. Moss says he never laid hands on the woman but says there was an accident. His attorney terms it “consensual horseplay.” Sources close to the woman say that Moss didn’t touch the woman but that an injury occurred in his presence and that he tried to prevent the woman from getting medical help. Moss accuses the woman of a shakedown. The woman’s side accuses Moss of trying to pay hush money. The midweek rancor and weirdness seems to quietly pass by the end of the week.

January 17th, 2008: In advance of the AFC Championship game, San Diego’s key offensive players LaDainian Tomlinson (MCL), Philip Rivers (ACL) and Antonio Gates are in disrepair. Meanwhile, when asked about the San Diego Superchargers fight song, Belichick divulges that he “hates that song.”

and finally..

February 3rd, 2008: In perhaps the apparent biggest match in Superbowl history the New York Giants upset the Patriots and ruin there perfect season.  Post game aftermath follows as Bill Bellichick abandons his team on teh field with one second left and blurbs through another post game losing interview.  Above all the widely publicized  shots of Bellichick rumours swirl that during the game, some of the Patriots players were inviting the Giants players to their post-game parties. They showed the Giants no respect whatever and considered their victory inevitable.  To top if off owner Robert Kraft put in a bid to trademark the expression 19 and 0.

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I for one am more then ecstatic that the Giants pulled off the upset especially with all the media trying to portray the Patriots as golden boys for the NFL.  Why is it we never here about all the crap that this team does, from spygating, to running up scores, to mocking other teams?  I know trash talk is apart of every professional sport but being a classy loser is another.

Hopefully we dont have to put up with all this Patriot propaganda again next season.

Walks
www.hotstickybun.com