NFL Postseason: Wildcard Weekend Reflections From the Point-of-View of a Giants Fan

Disclaimer: This next post will combine facts with opinions, but it's my blog, so I can.

I am a die-hard New York Giants fan, so the progression of the 2009 NFL season started off great for the G-Men, me and the rest of the loyal fan base -- but then crashed hard into disappointing, gut-wrenching oblivion as the traditionally-ballin' defense of the Big Blue Wreckin' Crew accomplished little more than wreck their chances at another postseason, and now I'm bleeding blue. Now, the season is obviously over for Big Blue, except for the Pro Bowl (which I actually watch, judge me) and the Giants' lone representative for the NFC squad -- cue former public address announcer Bob Sheppard's booming voice: "The Center, numba 60, Shaun O'Hara, numba 60."


So now, all I can do is just sit back and hope the teams that I don't like/despise perish into historical obscurity by suffering the agony of defeat -- and the opening round of the playoffs certainly made me very happy, and here's why:

1) The Philadelphia Eagles: ELIMINATED! This matchup presented two NFC East teams that I hate/highly dislike: The Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys, so I had to make a choice, a lesser-of-two-evils kind of paradox (would I rather die in the electric chair or by lethal injection?) so I decided to side with Dallas. Going to high school in New Jersey, it was primarily the Giants and the Eagles as the two favorite teams (toss the Jets and Cowboys in there too). More-or-less, I noticed most of Hunterdon County's native-born football fans went for the Eagles, while most of the people originally from eastern NJ/NY/CT pulled for the G-Men.


Throughout high school (2000-04), the Giants were a very inconsistent team. They went 12-4 my freshman year (2000) and made it to the Super Bowl, but they mixed in sub-.500 seasons in that relatively short period of time, including going an abysmal 4-12 in 2003 during my senior year. The Eagles, on the other hand, displayed consistently good football in the early-mid 2000s.

Philadelphia Eagles fans are known for being very hostile -- they booed Santa Claus for cryin' out loud! Their home venue, Lincoln Financial Field, even has a courtroom where they conduct cases during the games for disorderly fans, which is necessary for your fans if they can neither handle winning nor losing with class. The Cowboys beat them 34-14 on Saturday night, ensuring the Eagles don't have a chance to win their first Super Bowl. Adios Philadelphia!

2) The New England Patriots: ELIMINATED! The Patriots used to be my second favorite team and favorite AFC team. I made my grand return to my native state, Connecticut, to attend college in 2004 and subsequently graduated in 2008, and lived (and made friends) with many people from Massachusetts, and here's where my cognitive image of the Pats took a turn for the worse. Many of the fans of Boston teams (Pats as well as the Red Sox) I met at Quinnipiac are very knowledgeable and classy when it comes to sports, but they like to rub it in when their team does better than your team (typical of fans of any team), but you can hold an intelligent conversation with this segment of Boston fans, so they have my respect.


But I also noticed that many fans of Boston teams are bandwagon fans (i.e. becoming fans of the Sox in 2004 -- and I won't even mention the 2007-08 Celtics). During my freshman year alone (2004-05) the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, and the Pats beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, repeating as the NFL Champions and winning their third Super Bowl in four years, so you could imagine how high-and-mighty the Boston fans (and Massachusetts) were at this time.

Enter 2007. My Yankees made the MLB playoffs as the American League Wild Card team, finishing second to Boston. Then the Yanks got utterly embarrassed by the Cleveland Indians after sweeping the regular season series against them. The Tribe then relinquished a 3-1 ALCS lead to those damn Red Sox, who went on to win another World Series -- good thing I shut my phone off in disgust because I had several voicemails and text messages waiting for me that would have blown up my phone, if I had left it on, to compound my frustration even more.

While this was going on, the Patriots were having an incredible season. Golden-boy Tom "Terrific" Brady and his faithful companion Randy Moss went on to break the single-season touchdown records (passing and receiving, respectively) while the team was undefeated and on ESPN every single day as a series of sappy feature segments of coverage conveniently alliterated as "The Patriots Pursuit of Perfection." It absolutely nauseated me. The Giants, meanwhile, were struggling. Head Coach Tom Coughlin's job was constantly on the line. Eli Manning's leadership skills at QB were questioned every day. They finally met in the Super Bowl and the underdog Giants got the best of them (how does it feel to choke, Boston?) on the grandest of stages (one of my greatest sports memories of all-time). The exclamation point was an unbelievable pass from Manning to David Tyree in which Eli narrowly escaped a would-be sack and tossed one up to Tyree, who made an unbelievable helmet catch to help move the drive along and ultimately allow Plaxico Burress to catch the game-winning touchdown pass. 17-14, Giants Win!


So this year, the Pats got destroyed by the Baltimore Ravens, and I couldn't be happier. Now I just need the Cowboys to lose next week, and that will be great. But I think a classic matchup for the Super Bowl would be a duel for the ages between two absolute gunslingers, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts vs. Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings (I would've wanted Saints/Colts if they were both still undefeated, and I won't even play devil's advocate with the Giants because of how disappointing they were). Say what you want about Favre, coming in and out of retirement more than Michael Jordan for the purpose of skipping preseason training (which really is highly unprofessional of him), but he is a living legend with just about two full decades of greatness; and I believe Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the NFL right now. After all, he just completed his fourth MVP season (take that, Tom Brady). That matchup would truly be a classic that would be talked about for generations.

Open "Mike" Night

My pal Mike Fortino has decided to take up a career in stand-up comedy. Vinnie Brand's Stress Factory in New Brunswick offers aspiring stand-up acts the opportunity to show what they've got like Seth Rogen in the movie Funny People on select Wednesdays throughout their calendar, so he has decided to go on 1/6.


He debuted around the time of Halloween a couple of months ago at my other friend Bernie's father's 50th birthday roast where he had the crowd going with ethnic jokes (looks like MTV's Jersey Shore will provide a blowout of new material with this one), towns in NJ where people are from and why they turn out the way they do as a result, his own struggles with alcoholism, and the dick & fart jokes inspired brilliantly by his heroes Jay & Silent Bob - New Jersey's Finest. At the roast, he pushed the envelope but couldn't go much beyond that because there were children and grandparents present (the same grandparents I chugged Sambuca in front of during Bernie's high school graduation party...class, class, class). At the Stress Factory, however, there will be no holds barred.


The stakes are high during Open Mic Night. Careers can be launched if the comics steal the show and the laughs flow like wine and beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. Or dreams can shatter in five uncomfortable minutes of jeers and comments from a tough crowd (they don't call it the "Stress" Factory for nothing). New Brunswick is located on Route 1, by I-287 and is very close to Rutgers - chicks bro, chicks - and according to Marilyn Monroe, "If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything," - anything, eh?? However, if the roast was any sort of a preview for Mike's performance this coming Wednesday, it should make for a good show. Doors open at 7, $5 cover, and there's a two-drink minimum per person (except for the recovering alcoholic on stage). Come through, it should be a good time, and I won't be job-searching.