You know, maybe it's just me, but one of the things that has been (for lack of a better term) pissing me off to no end is how the major sports media has stumbled and drooled all over itself this past football season in a frantic attempt to line up and effectively kiss Tom Brady's ass. Seriously, it's almost as if a double super secret memorandum went out from the NFL to all sportscasters, sportswriters and even to all NFL officials which stated that, regardless of success or failure, the Patriots are the NFL's golden boys and Tom Brady is the favorite son. Not only did all of the various media go out of their way to heap undue praise on the Pats while simultaneously spinning or, in some cases, blatantly ignoring their failures, but more than one officiating crew made egregious errors during games which greatly benefited New England. The Worst example of an officiating bias toward New England during the regular season was during the game on Sunday, October 9 when the Patriots faced Atlanta. Matt Schaub, subbing for an injured Michael Vick, ran for a first down late in the game which would've set up the Falcons for a game-tying field goal. An official errantly called Schaub out-of-bounds short of said first down, however, making sure to blow his whistle, which rendered the outcome of the play "non-reviewable." Replay later showed quite conclusively that Schaub's foot never came CLOSE to the sideline, let alone touched it. Ultimately, with the help of the officials that day, the Patriots won that particular game. I would question How a professional football official with the best possible view of the play in question of anyone on the field could completely blow the call, let alone sleep easy at night. I have no choice other than to say that particular officiating crew on that particular day was up to "no good"...Believe me, they were also far from alone this past season...

You see, the "blind eye" conspiracy theory doesn't end there...Oh no, take into consideration that Tom Brady was not only named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated (which seems to be yet another sports media ass-kiss), but he was named to the Pro Bowl ahead of several significantly more deserving AFC QBs and, to top off this steaming mound of horseshit, Brady finished 3rd in the MVP voting this season when he shouldn't have been considered for the honor AT ALL...To me, it's the emperor with no clothes all over again: tell someone enough times that they can walk on water and they'll eventually drown trying to do just that...Not surprisingly, that scenario manifested itself on Saturday evening at Invesco Field at Mile High when the Patriots squared off with the Broncos in the AFC divisional playoffs...Tom Brady was finally too wrapped up in his own ego and all of the "Brady as God" hype to remember how to win a football game...

Before we go any further, we should rewind to week 6 of the NFL season. It was then that the Denver Broncos defeated the New England Patriots 28-20 to notch their 5th straight win. The Broncos dominated the first half of play in that particular game and held a 28-3 lead at halftime. During the second half of that game, however, the Broncos did little offensively and nearly blew said monstrous lead, settling for a 28-20 victory. The Broncos learned a hard lesson the following week as it pertains to "sitting on their heels" and trying to simply protect a lead rather than putting teams away. Burned by a heartbreaking, last-second loss to the New York Giants in the final seconds of their week 7 game, some might have assumed that Denver was on a slippery slope, destined for failure...The following week, however, the Broncos began "hammering nails into coffins," so to speak, when they not only held off a hard-charging Eagles team in the second half of their week 8 game, but ultimately put up 49 points in a convincing victory. From that point on, outside of a tight game lost to Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium in week 13 and a questionable effort against a weak Baltimore squad in week 14, the Broncos played efficient football, both offensively and defensively, enroute to a 13-3 record and the 2nd seed in the AFC playoffs.

True to form, however, leading into the playoffs, the only game which the talking heads at ESPN wished to bring up was week 6 and the fact that New England, in their eyes, nearly beat Denver and oh how many injuries New England had going into that game and oh, there are a lot of players healthy now and hey, those Broncos better watch out: this is Tom Brady and he's undefeated in the playoffs...No mention of the Broncos having raised their level of play since then...No mention of how solid the Broncos had been playing defensively...Certainly no mention of the earlier Patriots games where Brady had looked mostly inept and, God forbid, no mention of the strong home field advantage which Invesco Field at Mile High affords the Broncos...Surely, why should the chatter be about any of THAT?

The Patriots had the game in the bag...

Indeed, if you believe what the aforementioned ESPN (headquartered conveniently in the heart of Patriots country, by the by) had to say, by Sunday of last week when the matchups were set, the Patriots were primed to "exact revenge" over the Broncos. By Monday, Tedy Bruschi was set to intercept a now completely inept Jake Plummer several times. By Tuesday, Tom Brady was no doubt going to throw for 400-plus yards and 4-plus touchdowns while simultaneously saving 4-plus elderly ladies (and a down syndrome kid) from an apartment fire. Come Wednesday, Richard Seymour was officially anointed a god and, it was said, would verily cast aside the entire Broncos team with a mere wave of his meaty hand. By Thursday, Bill Belichick had already single-handedly (and psychically) stopped the Broncos passing game in it's entirety with his defensive schemes. Come Friday, the Broncos running game was not only surely going to be stopped cold by the Patriots, but Mike Anderson would be forced to give up his lunch money for the week, lest he receive a serious beating...On Saturday, the day of the game, the various pregame shows wondered why the Patriots-Broncos game should even be played: the Broncos surely stood no chance versus such a team as the Patriots. Aditionally, these retards football geniuses informed us to the finer points of why Shanahan couldn't possibly outcoach Belichick...As I already outlined for you folks: the game was already in the bag and Brady would, of course, once again be the hero...

This all sounds familiar...Yes, certainly I've heard this whole line of bullshit before...I mean, I know it's 2006, but I have a really clear memory off all of this from way back in 1998...

You see, back when the Broncos faced the Packers in SuperBowl 32, many "analysts" and "experts" spouted these same themes...Why should the Broncos even show up, they asked...How could John Elway possibly believe that he could beat Brett Favre? How could Mike Shanahan possibly outcoach that fat whatshisname? Why should the Broncos even begin to believe that they belonged on the same field as such a storied football franchise as the Packers? Well, kids...When you strip away all of the meaningless jabber, there's a real clear reason why the games are played and it's not just to expose the false prophets: it's because you cannot underestimate ANYBODY. The Broncos not only went on to beat the Packers (and then golden boy Brett Favre) in SuperBowl 32, but they were able to claim back-to-back SuperBowl titles by destroying the Atlanta Falcons (and former Broncos coach Dan Reeves) in SuperBowl 33. All this just goes to show that, regardless of what is said and by whom, it's nothing more than talk...Idle chatter...The ramblings of idiots...Individual's opinions...

What matters is the final score: Don't believe the hype...

Fast-forward back to this past Saturday and my previous comment about Brady beginning to believe that he was some sort of "chosen one." It was apparent very early on in the Broncos-Patriots game that Tom Brady has not only been listening to and believing the hype, but that he brought an over-inflated notion of entitlement to match that ego of his into the contest...During New England's initial offensive possession, the Patriots were flagged for a false start, which is a "dead ball" foul...John Lynch, who is a hard-hitting Broncos Safety, was excited about the penalty call (as he should be) and proceeded to celebrate in an attempt to rile up the home crowd. Obviously offended by this, Brady rushed over to where Lynch was pumping his fist, got in Lynch's face and proceeded to mock his celebration...I can't say that I was shocked to see this: Brady is basically a "spoiled brat asshole" (which is a technical term)...I think that what I was most surprised about was that Brady would choose to personally rile up John Lynch...

That's right...John...Effing...LYNCH...Just a piece of advice: you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger and You don't give one of the few men in the NFL which could literally separate your body from your soul with a well-timed hit any more excuse to do just that...Don't get me wrong, it's well documented that John Lynch is a very sportsmanlike individual: he's always the first to offer a helping hand up after he plants your ass in the turf with yet another patented crushing blow like so many things crushed into turf...However, it's that last part (about planting asses in the ground) which I would use as an example of why not to taunt him...The man is fast...The man is powerful...The man's hits register in decibels AND on the Richter scale...If there were a chief export of John Lynch, it would be "pain"...If you can see John Lynch, trust that he can see you. If you can't see John Lynch, you may be only seconds away from a bowel-shattering hit...Look, what I'm trying to say is that if you're gonna make fun of someone, maybe the diminutive Dominique Foxworth or, someone who's already retired or, better yet, one of the practice squad players might just be a better choice...They don't have as good a chance of landing your dumb ass in la-la land...Regardless, when I saw Brady throwing his tantrum, I knew it was "all over" for him. I immediately stated to those around me that what Brady had just done would come back to bite him in a big way...

And it SO did...

From that point to the end of the game, Brady was John Lynch's bitch...When Lynch wasn't blitzing around the end, forcing Brady to hurry his throws (and scream like a girl, no doubt), Al Wilson was blitzing and smacking Brady from up the middle. When Lynch and Wilson tired of toying with Brady, they allowed the ENTIRE DEFENSIVE LINE to "clean up the trash," so to speak. Heck, Lynch even recording an acrobatic interceptionof the "golden boy" in the latter minutes of the game which served to drive that elusive "final nail" in the Patriots' coffin...True to form of course, after the game, the CBS announcers only wished to talk about how "valiantly" the Patriots had played in defeat and how "nothing went their way" from the start of the game on and how they were probably the better team but, boo hoo, they got bullied by those mean ol' Broncos who just didn't get the message about how every team should roll over and allow this Patriots "dynasty o' destiny" just roll along like so many caissons...cry me a damn river: your poster boys lost to a scruffy quarterback who, a couple years ago, nobody wanted, an ex-marine who played in the band in high school and just last year was converted to fullback and a handful of defensive linemen that had worn out their welcome with one of the worst teams in football...Certainly, it might not be "suitable for framing," but it's reality: deal with it...Oh yeah, regarding whether Shanahan can possibly outcoach Belichick?

Oh, I think so...In fact, I'll take Mike Shanahan every friggin' time...GO BRONCOS!..

Labels: misguided rantings, sports