Eli, I'll Drink to That

I've gotta say, hats off to Eli Manning. The photo above is one of my favorites of the young man, and apparently is now the number one returned result for a google image search of "Eli Manning." I'm not sure how I feel about the choice of MGD, but I'll also give Eli the nod on the generic blonde skank. Apologies if she is in fact wholesome and/or his actual girlfriend. If you watched last night's game as more than 100 million people did at some time or other, you know what I'm talking about. It's no secret that Eli was doubted all year and I was among the doubters, but I am going on record, obviously much too late, as saying the Giants victory was not a surprise to me.

The Patriots were, to almost everyone, heavy Superbowl favorites, but to me that was not the case. I couldn't see how everyone was so easily disregarding how good the Giants defense is, how good Eli was capable of being and, most importantly to me, that the Giants could easily have beaten the Patriots a month ago. As Brady says so eloquently in that article: "It was kind of a strange game. It really doesn't mean much to either team, but it means a lot." That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from high school teammate Neal Jordan: "If you do less, you don't have to do as many." His is merely redundant while Brady's is paradoxical, but they're undoubtedly both taken out of context.

So am I saying I was 100% picking the Giants? No way. I just thought they had a good chance. So when it's said over and over that this could be the biggest upset in history I really have to take it with a grain of salt. Yes, the Giants entered the playoffs as a wild card, but when they successively knocked off the Bucs, the Cowboys (America's team my ass), and the Packers, some people out there had to be thinking this might be a pretty good team right? Especially after blowing a lead against the Pats the final game of the season right?

But you know what, it hardly matters. I'm sorry I had to root for the Giants by way of an intense dislike of the Patriots, but either way that final two-and-a-half minutes was the greatest sports experience since I attended the Rutgers upset of Louisville a year and a half ago. Being in the tri-state it was one of those wonderful you'll-hug-even-your-mortal-enemy-or-at-least-a-whole-shitload-of-strangers moments where everyone is united by a bizarre joy that is unique to athletics.

And if there's a little more insight into what helped the Giants win, it could indeed be the fear factor. In the words of Giants running back Brandon Jacobs: "Most definitely, other teams gave the Patriots too much respect. Our attitude was, '(Expletive) them (expletives). We're gonna beat these (expletives)." I think that says it all.