The Superbowl or the season?

NHLife — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:42:00 GMT

I figured it out.

That is, the reason why I never cared for football.

You see, I'm a baseball fan. In baseball, the best teams compete in a series of games to determine a winner. Now, I understand that you can't play seven football games in a row or you'd be ripped apart from limb to limb. But, I also think it's unfair to call one team, in this case a "Wild Card" team "the best team in football" when their record indicates otherwise.

Am I the only one who thinks the New England Patriots still has a better team? Eli Manning and his New York Giants won one big game and they won by one toss of the football. Dramatic, yes. But is it reasonable? To now deem them the "best team in football"?

The other night Bill O'Reilly called them that. I wanted to tell him to look at the numbers. I think the numbers tell a different story. They show an undefeated team (in the regular season), a superstar quarterback in Tom Brady, a number of high scoring games, and a wide receiver named Randy Moss, who now holds the NFL's single-season touchdown reception record. That reception was made on a record-breaking touchdown pass by Tom Brady. You see, the numbers tell a different story.

Now I'm sure that this controversy has come up before. There must have been other Superbowls in other seasons in which the team that won was not indeed the "best team in football". But then again, what do I know?

And, I'm not going to check, either.

For what it’s worth, this isn't about me being a Patriots fan, although I admit I have become a casual spectator in the past few years and I have been awed by their ability to win. But, if I had to choose between football and baseball, my money is on the All-American Pastime. In baseball, the numbers matter more than the individual plays. You can't have one bad game and suddenly become irrelevant.

There’s always next year, as we like to say. Maybe I just don’t understand football, but one thing I do know: I’m ready for some baseball.

Live Free and Blog : Eli Manning

The Superbowl or the season?