Sportsing with the Pats

(Note: the following is 100% football. If that's not your thing you should probably tune out in 3...2...1...)

It's really difficult to focus on Don Jr.'s weak reasoning for lying about why he met the Russians last Summer when there's football on TV.  Say what you want about a sport where each team plays a measly 16 regular season games over 4 months and then (most of them) are done until next September, I'm hooked.  But, maybe that's why American Football is so damn alluring and popular as a sport: every meeting matters.

Which is why last night's game was so satisfying.  It's easy to dislike the Patriots when you're from the New York metropolitan area.  Frankly, any team that's been to the "big game" as often should draw ire and consternation from those (read: Philadelphia, et. al.) who have never been and won.  So, unless you're from New England, it makes sense that last night, during the regular season's first game between the Patriots and the Chiefs, that most people would be rooting for the Chiefs...but picking the Patriots to win due to history.

Except for me.  I picked the Chiefs.  I was right, and oh, and how sweet it was.

I didn't really care what the score was as long as the Pats lost.  Why?  Every year, a player who was a fantastic performer last season gets featured on the Madden videogame cover.  This year Madden was adorned with an image of Tom Brady...the G.O.A.T. edition: Greatest Of All Time.  That's a pretty bold statement.  I understand that only one other player has been on five Super Bowl winning teams...and he's the only one to do that on the same team.  He's been named MVP of the Super Bowl four times...more than anyone else, ever.  And, in the post-season, he's 25 wins, 9 losses for the best record ever.

The team has never lost their first game back after a Super Bowl win...until last night.

So, why am I so happy with last night's result?  First, Tom's been to 2 more Bowl games than he won...both times defeated by the NY Giants, so he's a natural enemy to both New York teams as the JETS are in the same AFC East division with the Pats.  Second, they made such a huge deal before the game started last night, having Mark Wahlberg narrate scenes from last February's game where they came back from the largest deficit to win, ever.  They wheeled out 5 massive replicas of the Super Bowl trophies, and they unveiled a fifth banner to hang in the stadium representing the unlikely win.  The crowd was foaming at the mouth, waiting for their Football God to take the field and rip the Chiefs a new one.

Early in the game, it looked as if that was going to happen.  Chiefs fumbled on their first possession setting the Pats up for another quick score (which didn't happen, thanks to Kansas City's stalwart defense).  But the Patriots were driving and moving the ball well in the first half.  They went to the locker room with a 3 point lead at 17-14.  However, when they came back, Tom was largely impotent with nary a touchdown pass thrown.  The final score of the game was 42-27, Chiefs.  Alex Smith, rookie Kareem Hunt and his wide receiver, Tyreek Hill were able to maul the Patriots defense late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.  The Patriots defense was porous at best. And thanks to sub-standard play by the Super Bowl champions, the Chiefs won.  "Where is your messiah now?"

I believe each player going into that game last night, Pats and Chiefs, were not exclusively thinking of their last year's performance.  No coach would encourage their players to coast on previous successes, and each player should have been living in the moment.  But, with the fanfare before the game, and the public expectation of greatness, I'm sure the Patriots embodied some lingering expectation of greatness, it was fantastic that they crashed and burned.  Oh, I'm sure that they'll recover.  Coach Belichick will fix what's broken, that's what he does.  However, the team will have to start week two preparations with one more record for the record books, thanks to the Chiefs: most points scored against the Patriots in a regular season game under Coach Belichick's purview.

G.O.A.T. indeed.