Pats - Giants...Cross Your Fingers

My family raised me to watch and root for the New York Giants. My uncle has great seats at Giants Stadium, and has held on to the tickets (technically in my father's name) for decades. I usually end up at a game or two each season, but for some reason this year never got the call. Hmmm.

In the 80's and very early 90's, they were often the solace to a consistently underperforming Yankees team. Super Bowl wins against Denver and Buffalo, the latter one which I remember watching during a party that we hosted in our hotel room during a high school ski trip, everyone screaming "Giants" in unison as Scott Norwood of the Bills pushed the potential game-winning field goal wide right.

The Giants made a surprising (but unsuccessful) appearance in another Super Bowl during the 2000-2001 season, another year few gave them credit for being a dominant team. They walked into the NFC Championship game as underdogs against the Vikings, and scored two touchdowns before the first pee break. 27 more points later, and they shut them out 41-0.

Ever since college, I have been able to cheer for both the Pats and the Giants. They rarely played each other during the year, and being that I have lived for much of the better part of 17 years in New England, I qualified.

During the final regular season game this year, I was finally forced to make a decision. I went with the Giants. Along with most other Giants fans, I believe that their decision to play their starters and play them hard during that game is what has propelled them to where they now stand.

Here's why I would love to see Giants - Pats.

I think Philip Rivers is as much of a bonehead as Patriots Nation does. The Giants drafted him as a first round pick a few years ago, and then traded him to San Diego after Eli, who was drafted by the Chargers, basically refused to sign with SD and was sent to the Giants. Ever since, both quarterbacks had led their teams to similar annual conclusions - early playoff exits twice, and now their respective conference championship games. Eli kept his nose clean and suffered the brutality of the NY media and fans over his lack of poise and confidence, and somehow got the Giants to this point this year. While I don't know much about how Philip is perceived in Southern California, I remember him behaving like a crybaby and whiner after the Pats beat him last year to advance to the Super Bowl.

Every possible Super Bowl matchup besides Packers - Chargers would be an interesting one.

Pats - Giants? No brainer - Boston - NY, with the turnabout in full effect and the Giants playing the role as underdog spoiler to the Pats obvious dominance. (I suppose these days, the Yankees would also be the underdog)

Pats - Packers? Who doesn't like Brett Favre, especially after his performance this season, a year he should have been watching on his sofa or as a TV analyst. This would truly be the two best teams in the big game.

Giants - Chargers? Eli vs Philip Rivers. A Manning in the Super Bowl again, just not Peyton. QB's who were traded for one another.

Packers - Chargers? Who cares...everyone would want the Pack to win. You bet FOX would hate this matchup as the network broadcasting the game.

So, here's for an exciting Sunday, and for two full weeks of anticipating the Patriots and Giants in the Super Bowl.

I almost forgot why I wrote about this. I happened to see a couple links to this item on NE Wisconsin's FOX affiliate's website, FOX 11. Seems Eli watched Seinfeld before each game, so the local affiliate decided not to broadcast the syndicated Seinfeld episode on Saturday night. I'm sure someone will bring a laptop and buy Eli the DVD's. We should be all set.