Short Nerd Chief

Old news by now of course, but watching the final 35 seconds of Sunday’s big game, one overriding thought dominated — it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch. Not the Giants, who probably did deserve to win given the 11 straight road wins, rallying behind the beleaguered Eli Manning, etc.  No, the deserving bunch was the Patriots, who really needed a cosmic slap upside the head.  And there isn’t a better slap upside the helmet than to be the only team to go 18-0 and lose in the Super Bowl.  There’s a lot of reasons watching the Pats lose was sweet, sweet relief, and it’s not because they cheated at least once by videotaping their opponent, and it’s not because they’re arrogant (even though they are) and it’s not because I have some secret affection for the 1972 Dolphins.  It’s because they really are the Evil Empire, to an extent even the Yankees never achieved.  To wit:

• They’re led by a head coach who, when named coach of the Browns by Art Modell, managed to turn a perennial playoff contender into the Baltimore Ravens. That’s bad enough, but not only does he apparently feel no remorse whatsoever for what he did to Cleveland fans, he refuses to even talk about it, requiring that any interviewer talking to Belichick avoid any questions about the “Cleveland Years.”  Nevertheless, he’s routinely put into the same class as Lombardi, Noll and Shula.
• The east coast media establishment fawns over Belichick anyway, conveniently ignoring his record in Cleveland and giving credit to the coach, rather than acknowledging that the Pats win because they got lucky when Brady turned from a seventh round toad into an MVP prince.  A hobbled Brady exposed Belichick’s real weaknesses, as he got soundly outcoached by Tom Coughlin on both sides of the ball.
• The defense is led by spiritual leader Junior Seau, who “retired” from the Dolphins only to sign with the Patriots two days later, in a blatant ploy to go from a crappy team to a good one.  The media gives him a pass anyway, believing the story he spins about Belichick talking him out of retirement.
• The defense also includes Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison, whose only competition for League’s Dirtiest Player is each other.  They were at their pushing, shoving, slapping and kicking best in the Super Bowl, so it was nice to see them get stomped in the end.
• On the other side of the ball you have gems like Randy Moss, who had a long paid vacation while a member of the Raiders, taking their paychecks while doing absolutely nothing to help the team.  He improved himself in Foxboro as long as they were winning, but still mailed it in on occasion.  Moss could have pulled out at least a tie on Sunday, but his effort on the two hail marys was mediocre at best.
• In the end, the team’s arrogance was its undoing.  Belichick went for it on fourth-and-13 rather than kicking a field goal; after all, it’s the Patriots, who don’t need any stinking field goals. Even though Brady was getting mauled by the Giants D-line, Belichick never put in max protection sets or multiple tight ends; it’s the Patriots, so those sacks were obviously just flukes.
• The Pats’ true colors showed in the end, when Belichick left the field with 0:01 still on the clock, an exercise both incredibly disrespectful and entirely within character.  The Pats are a team led by a master with no class, a study in arrogance and spit in your face trash talking.

Karma is a bitch.  Watch this again and smile: