I was wrong. Dead wrong. I'll take my lumps and will go on. But you know what? I love it! If there was ever something I'm glad to be wrong about, it's the Stupid Bowl. I'm glad to see the Giants win. They're the team of my childhood, and although I don't root for them as much now that Fran Tarkenton is retired, I'm still glad to see them win.
But more than that, I'm glad to see the Patriots lose. Don't get me wrong. I like Tom Brady. He's a very good quarterback. Everyone on the Patriots is a good player. The coach is probably one of the top five in the history of the game. I just don't like him. He showed no class in walking off the field with one second left yesterday. He showed no class by giving monosyllabic answers to reporter's questions after the game. And he has shown no class throughout the season, and indeed throughout his career, by never cracking a smile, never giving a straight answer, and always thinking that he's above the rules.
I don't respect people like that. When it comes down to rooting for one person or another, I'll always root for the person I respect more. I don't respect Randy Moss. I don't respect Bill Belichick. Therefore, I won't root for them. I do respect Eli Manning (although I dumped him in my fantasy football league). I do respect Michael Strahan. I do respect guys who've shown through the years that they are worthy of respect. Therefore, I do root for them.
Baseball is really the only sport in which I have "a team". I root for the Yankees. I have since I was a kid. But I haven't always rooted for all of the Yankees. I didn't like Reggie Jackson. I didn't like Ricky Henderson. I didn't like Hideki Irabu. But that's because I didn't respect them, so I didn't root for them. I do respect Derek Jeter, a lot. I do respect Joe Torre, a lot. I do respect Jorge Posada, a lot. Therefore, I root for them. I root for that team...always.
But in other sports I root for teams that have guys on them that I respect. I respected John Stockton because he turned down millions of dollars to play with the Jazz. So I root for the Jazz. I respected Larry Bird because he worked hard at his game, even though he was already a great player. So I root for the Celtics. I respected Wayne Gretzky because he was never good enough. He always had to work hard on his game and get better. So I rooted for his teams.
So much of this world comes down to respect. You either have it or you don't. The Patriots, at least some of them, do not have mine. Therefore, let the parade down the Canyon of Heroes begin. The Giants are World Champions!
