At times like this, it's hard not to be cocky.

Doug:
OK, so are you ready for two weeks of the Giants as king slayahs hype?

 

---

Mike:
You mean like how because the Giants the first team in league history to win 10 consecutive road games in the same season they are somehow anointed?

 

---

Al:
Yeah, and how they played the Pats so well in game 16 that they learned how to beat the Pats?

 

---

Mike:
And how Eli Manning has "matured" and is now "poised" and has "so many weapons"?

 

---

Doug:
All I know is it's going to feel especially warm and fuzzy for the 19th consecutive, perfect season, Lombardi hoisting win to come at the hands of a NY team.

 

---

Al:
Absolutely. I actually have a soft spot for Green Bay and Favre. Flicking them away like the detritus of the 18 that came before would have made me bittahsweet for, you know, all of 5 seconds.

 

---

Mike:
Poor New Yorkahs. First the Yankees dashed their hopes, and now the Giants.

 

---

Al:
It's funny to tell kids that there was a time, way back, when New York teams actually won championships.

 

---

Doug:
Yeah, and the look of disbelief on their little faces is so precious.

 

---

Comments

[Harwich Rich]

Any Manning is one too many for me

[Harwich Rich]

Everybody must be lucubrating :)

[h.b]

I think you're right! Damn, I should have taken today off...

[yazbread]

The Giants beating the Pats would have to rank alongside the Jets beating the Colts. I'll admit that the NFC title game was more enjoyable to watch - no need to sit on the edge of the couch for that one.

[SoCalBoSoxFan]

I for one am glad you didn't HB.

Not only is it great that we get to break the hearts of New Yorkers again, but we get to make Payton Manning's little brother cry in the process!

[Natalie]

I missed the Pats yesterday as had just arrived in the UK for the week and was dead on my feet. Have to say though, the Brits cover American sports news on Sky Sports TV quite regularly so that is a bonus. Was glad to see we dispatched those Chargers so readily. This Boston sports dominance is fun!

On a Soxaholix note, it's going to be weird checking in on comments come April at the end of my day rather than the beginning. On the bonus side, Bob, it's cocktail hour here now. :)

[vasoxfan]

Nat,
I am not sure its a good idea to tell Bob that. Do you think his liver can take it after his weekend in Foxboro should he decide to join you? I mean he's probably just coming to now.
:)

[Kaz]

Damnit, I wanted to go through the Packers to get to 19-0. They were the only good team out there we didn't knock down. It would have served to bolster our claim to fame rather than having every troll be able to fall back on "you already beat the Giants/you never beat the Packers that year" bullshit logic.

It's bad enough they latch onto garbage like Spygate. It's also a pile of crap to hear about how the '72 Dolphins did it "first" (yeah, great, but they stopped at 17 that year and the league parity is better now than it ever was back then).

It's one thing to say "I hate the patriots and everything they stand for...but wow, what a team." And another entirely to say "Your claims of greatness are illegitimate." Looking at baseball, one of the things that makes 2004 so sweet was the fact that we did it by overcoming the Yankees and all of the baggage that brought because their teams were so good before.

The haters need to give the Pats some credit even if they want to go on hating them.

[louclinton]

Oddly, I am actually working.

I was trying to explain to Mrs. LC how Giants-Pats is equal to MFY-RS. Yankee fans are Giant fans, for the most part. You know, the "true fans" from Westchester via MadAvenue. At any rate, if you were born in the Truman administration (look it up) as I was, then you were a Giants fan back in the day when Chris Schenkel would call every game on TV. The Giants were the home team for all of us. YA Tittle bleeding on the field was one of the enduring images of my youth. Of course, he's dead.

In all a glorious stretch for all of us, not the least of which was Glenn Geffner's appointment with obscurity as the new #2 (appropriate) voice of the AAAA Florida Mahlins.

love you, love the show.

lc

[Scott]

A chance for revenge for the SB loss at the hands of the Packers in SB 31 would have been sweet. My prediction for a Packers blowout of the Giants was way off base which is why I don't bet on sports (often).

On the other hand a chance to see the Manning face in the SB is a great consolation prize.

Also we miss out on 2-weeks of Lord Farve worship. Be thankful for that.

Bob, any Super Bowl party menu suggestions?

Go Pats!

[vermonter]

Eli...meet Coach Belichick's defense. Defense, this is Eli.

[SoCalBoSoxFan]

"YA Tittle bleeding on the field was one of the enduring images of my youth. Of course, he's dead."

Jesus Christ!!! I know the NFL was tougher back in the day but they just let the guy bleed to death on the field!

[Dave, Pretoria, South Africa]

Beating anyone named Manning is sweet to Patriots lovers everywhere.
To the whiners of Spygate and other such crap...dial 1-800-get-over-yourself, to even suggest that a tape half way through the first half of the first game that could not have been used in real time for that particular game somehow negates all the skill and teamwork required to go 18-0 is a world of ridiculous not yet reached in our universe.

[pudge]

Awesome strip hb. I am dying.

I have about 30 hours of NFL Network set to record over the next two weeks, plus, I've got all my Patriots DVDs for 2001, 2003, 2004. Plus I need to watch and study the footage from the Dec. 29th game. I need to be ready!

[Yossarian]

OK, I'm prepared for my beatdown. I'm a Giants fan. Being from CT, we sometimes have mixed loyalties between sports. LC, Giants fans do NOT equal Yankees fans. Those of us who are not Yankee fans lack their arrogance. Or maybe it's just those of us who aren't New Yorkers.

That being said, even as a Giant fan, Spygate IS bullshit. I never understood the big deal about it from Day 1. It was just a reason for the haters to unleash their fury. I have a lot of respect for what the Patriots have done so far. I wish we had Belichick for a coach. The man knows how to prepare. I think the Giants are in it in spite of Coughlin, not because of him. Coughlin is football's Grady Little.

Fire away.

[soxdownunder]

I'm very sad that the Packers lost. It may have been Favre's last chance for another Superbowl. On a bright note, at least I can now cheer unambiguously for the perfect season. And congrats Yossarian, your team thoroughly deserved to win that game.

[vermonter]

I think it's gonna be hard for Manning to not be in awe of the Pats. Going to the SB is old hat for them. I actually think what the Giants did was awesome. Eli DID show poise and really HAS grown into his role...he won 2 big games, one at Lambeau. But playing the Pats in the Super Game is a different story. It's been a nice run, Eli.

And the Bruins are 3-0-1 over their last 4. Lest we forget.

[Kaz]

Two of those 4 were against the craptastic Rangers, vermonter, and I think 3 of the 4 went to OT. Not a totally convincing team right now, those Bruins. If they don't win tomorrow's game against Montreal, then I don't see them pulling it together in the playoffs. Ottawa and Montreal are just better than us this year (we haven't won a single game against either team so far).

[Jeffrey]

My Dad, having grown up and still living in CT, is a big Giants fan. We have a little wager going, loser buys dinner.

Go Pats!!

[vermonter]

Understood, Kaz. There will be no cup in Beantown this year. But they are much improved from last year and are playing well enough to be in the hunt. A Bruins playoff game would be a welcome sight.

We don't need to beat Ottawa and Montreal to be playoff contenders. We need to beat the Rangers to get in and get some playoff experience. For hockey fans around here it's fun that they don't suck.

[vermonter]

...as much as usual, anyway.

[Kaz]

I totally agree. It's nice that we're able to even think about playoff hockey again, but I just hate watching the Bruins get their heads beat in by Montreal every year come playoff time (it's even worse having some Montreal fans for friends). Add to that the absolute disappointment that is BU Hockey this year (come to think of it, most of Hockey East has been pretty crappy this year). I really want to see the Bruins succeed, but I have doubts about this year's team being able to pull it off beyond the first round.

When I want to turn to another sports team showing out-and-out success and continuing to make the region proud, I'd rather look to the Celtics right now. Their attitudes mirror those of the Sox/Pats much better than what I hear from the B's and I think it definitely shows in their play.

[pinstripe thunder]

You all are living through one of those moments in history that most people savor only in retrospect. Someday your grandkids will come to you and ask if you remember the Boston sports season of 2007-2008. Except maybe for you, Bob. You don't plan to have issue, do you?

I wonder what we did to displease the gods.

[bg]

FYI to SoCalBoSoxFan

Y A Tittle is alive & well on the San Francisco Peninsula...

http://www.yatittleins.com/

[Bob]

Good Lord. My ride to the game got, uh, somewhat "delayed" on the way back to the car after the win. I ended hitching home.

I think I'm still partially frozen.

[SoCalBoSoxFan]

Not only is Y.A. Tittle alive it sounds like he is doing very well.

I actually know nothing about the guy. I was just making a joke (maybe not a very good one) about what L.C. said.

Is this the image you were talking about L.C.? http://blogs.abqtrib.com/albq/parker/tittle.jpg

[soxdownunder]

//I ended hitching home.//

What kind of self loathing, masochistic individual would have picked him up? ;-)

[Kaz]

Oh no!

Gisele what did you do to him!?

[Kaz]

Also, it seems that Clemens isn't as BFF with Pettite as previously thought.

[Kaz]

Also, it seems that Clemens isn't as BFF with Pettite as previously thought.

(It is NewsDay however, so take it with a healthy dose of salt)

[Bob]

SDU, let's just say I was constantly eyeing the plastic fork on his dashboard.

[bigyaz]

I've been around almost as long as LC and thus have extra hatred for the New York Football Giants. They were rammed down our throats back in the early days of the AFL, and we had to have the exploits of "stars" like Tucker Frederickson broadcast into our homes week after week.