Well, tonight is the day after the Super Bowl, and I shall be writing about the events of last night....
I've never liked the Patriots. I've always seen them as a horrible team thats gotten too much attention from the Boston Media, full of pompous jack-asses who don't care for the team, only themselves.
And, I've always seen them as a team thats worse than their talent, they couldn't even win the games they were supposed to win. This season, I figured would be pretty much the same this season, especially given their pre-season episode with Terry Glenn (I think).
Then, when they lost their starting quarter-back, I assumed that their season was over. It was the game where they beat the Dolphins that I realized that the Patriots were actually a good team, and I guess it was then that I started to like them, because I realized that they were not what I believed they were.
Everything this season played like a generic sports movie. New coach comes in to tell the team about teamwork, and after losing their star quarterback in the third game, they play their hardest, and, against all odds, make it to the playoffs, where they are underdogs in every game they play.
And, when the championship comes up, they, through teamwork, win the game in the final seconds. Everything we want sports to be, the Patriots were. Everything we complain about (over-paid, show-boating athletes), was absent from the Patriots. Coming out all at once, instead of individually, is something we wish we could have somewhere outside of a Disney movie about hockey.
We got that last night. The Rams had all the talent. Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Aeneas Williams are all better than anything the Patriots have. But, even though the Rams had better players, the Patriots had a better team. There is no star on the Pats, they suceeded because they were a bunch of above average players who were willing to play as a team, to make the sacrifice needed, and to put the good of the team above their own good.
They were champions, because an individual would come up to the plate when needed, and have the great plays when great plays are needed.
Nobody illustrates this sacrifice like Drew Bleadsoe, their back-up quarterback. He is one of the highest paid athletes in football, and was replaced by a second year player. Did Drew whine about it? Did he bitch about he should have been the one who started during the season, or especially during the Super Bowl? No. He knew that the team would be served best by him being the best back-up quarter back he could be, and nothing else.
Which he was, when he was called to the plate during the AFC championship, where he guided the Patriots to victory. He was a mentor to the person who would replace him, and he helped the team as much as he could. He could have been a distraction, when instead he was a support. Even though he knows he'll be traded soon, and he knows he didn't get the chance to be the Super Bowl MVP, but he didn't let that get to him.
Speaking of the MVP, I don't think that Brady should have been MVP. There shouldn't have been an MVP, because everybody was the most valuable player. Everybody did their best to win, there was no individual performance that was overpowering. The team won that game, not any individual.
The best part of the whole game, however, is that we see how nobody gave the Pats a chance, kind of including me. I knew they'd do their best, and I knew it would be a good game, but I will say that I was suprised about their game, which is good. The Rams had better players, and, nine times out of ten, the team with the better players wins the game. Its not often that the MVP and the MVP runner up are on the same team.
It would have been a great game had the Patriots not been underdogs. But it so much better because they were.
Anyway, enough of the game, lets talk about riots!!! I kind of expected riots to break out over the city if the Pats won, but most of the celebration was good natured, although a bit rowdy. However, there was at least one place where things got a little out of hand. At 129 Hemenway Street, drunken fans formed a mob where according to the Boston Globe "a crowd of at least 3000 flipped over a parked sedan, igniting a small fire in it."
That was the worst thing mentioned in the paper, which I find funny, because its right outside of my dorm, (I mean directly outside of my dorm, I watched the whole thing through my friends window, situated almost directly in front of the car). Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, nobody was hurt, and, hopefully there will be enough footage from video camars and photographs that will lead to the expulsion of several students. If you want a tape of this, you can go to www.myearhertz.com. (Warning, it contains a few expletives)