Bill Simmons: 'Free fallin' out into nothing' - New England Patriots Forums

Disco Volante · 02-04-2008, 10:17 AM

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/080204

Quote:

Free fallin' out into nothing'
By Bill Simmons

GLENDALE, Ariz. (Monday, 3 a.m. MT) -- Now it all makes sense.

You bleed for your team, you follow them through thick and thin, you monitor every free-agent signing, you immerse yourself in draft day, you purchase the jerseys and caps, you plan your Sundays around the games ... and there's a little rainbow waiting at the end. You can't see it, but you know it's there. It's there. It has to be there. So you believe.

Of course, there's one catch: You might never get there. Every fan's worst fear. All that energy over the years just getting displaced, no release, no satisfaction, nothing. Season after season, no championship ... and then you die. I mean, isn't that what this is all about? Isn't that the nagging fear? That those little moral victories over the years won't make up for the lack of a big payoff at the end -- that one moment when everything comes together, when your team keeps winning, when you keep getting the breaks and you just can't lose.

And if none of this makes sense, well ... it does to me. I just watched somebody else's team win the Super Bowl. Giants 17, Patriots 14.

If you're wondering why this column feels familiar, it's because I pulled the previous three-and-a-half paragraphs from my postgame column after the Patriots stunned the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. This time around, we were the Rams. We were rooting for the unlikable double-digit favorites with an unstoppable offense. We were the arrogant fans who dismissed the chances of the other team. We had the Super Bowl postgame party looming that had been a hot ticket all week. Then the game started, and everything went right to hell. We looked flat from the first minute. Our underdog opponent gained confidence, punched us in the mouth a few times, kept punching and punching, caught a few breaks, threw a few more punches, ran out of gas near the end, looked to be done ... and out of nowhere, rallied for a miracle drive to steal the championship. We stood there slack-jawed while the other fans celebrated; we were unable to breathe and wondered what the heck just happened. And then we hustled out of the stadium like we were fleeing a crime scene.

....

Patriot_in_NY · 02-04-2008, 12:04 PM

A good article. It made me feel better. You know, I never once gave a thought to how the Rams felt back in 2001 (as I shouldn't have), so this part really rang true.

The Giants deserved to win. They were better. They peaked at the right time. And watching their fans celebrate afterward, a small part of me actually felt happy for them. Envious, even. It's one thing to win a championship ... it's another to win a championship like that. You can't possibly understand unless it happens to you.

Remember how we felt that day? Perhaps we've come too far?

By the way, in the other "temp forums" I posted a thread entitled "19-0 is impossible, because I don't think any team can handle the pressure, at least nowadays. This passage kinda confirms it

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To finish 19-0, you really need a perfect storm of things to fall your way -- not just off the field when you're building the team, but for 19 straight games over the span of five months, and on top of that, the pressure builds every week because of the streak, so it's inevitable you'll wear down in the final two months. I don't think we'll ever see a 19-0 team. If this particular Patriots team couldn't pull it off, nobody's doing it.

I agree with that.

Thanks for the link.

Disco Volante · 02-04-2008, 12:17 PM

Helped me as well, always good to have your fellow fans to mourn with.

TomBrady'sGoat · 02-04-2008, 01:34 PM

Let me guess, there's a whole lot of revisionist "I should have seen this coming" or "you could tell in the second quarter the Giants were going to win" crap. It is Bill Simmons, afterall.

The funny thing is that if Asante catches a ball he should never drop or one of the three guys tugging on Eli's jersey actually took him down NE wins and they would have been a team of destiny that was never really in any threat of losing.

I prefer reporting on what happened rather than predicting what will, but Simmons ALWAYS makes things out to have been destined.

Patriot_in_NY · 02-04-2008, 01:37 PM

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Originally Posted by TomBrady'sGoat

Let me guess, there's a whole lot of revisionist "I should have seen this coming" or "you could tell in the second quarter the Giants were going to win" crap. It is Bill Simmons, afterall.

The funny thing is that if Asante catches a ball he should never drop or one of the three guys tugging on Eli's jersey actually took him down NE wins and they would have been a team of destiny that was never really in any threat of losing.

I prefer reporting on what happened rather than predicting what will, but Simmons ALWAYS makes things out to have been destined.

But this time he turned out to be right

02-04-2008, 01:40 PM

Simmons always writes about destiny, and karma & the football gods, and all of that stuff. It's part of what makes his writing so colorful, and fun to read.

You have to admit, there were some STRANGE things going on in that game. Not least of which, which I found really eerie, that the Giants scored the go-ahead TD with 11:06 left in the 4th, and the Pats scored theirs with 11:05 left in the 4th in week 17. The rest of both games played out differently, but it was kind of bizarro world, as Simmons writes, as was the fact that this year, it was the Giants beating "the greatest show on turf," while things went full circle for the Pats since '01.

letekro · 02-04-2008, 01:41 PM

I hate Bill Simmons. In that article he says he knew that it would be close. This, after predicting a 42-17 win. Like someone else said, his M.O. is pure revisionist history designed to make him look smart. Clearly, he doesn't understand the game very well. He should stick to basketball.

roman_maroney · 02-04-2008, 01:47 PM

typical simmons article. I used to love him, but ever since ESPN gave him that gig he has basically been everything everyone hates about the Boston sports fan. He is the stereotype that casts us all in that light. His," even in losing, I still won because I predicted it crap" is old. His passive aggressive digs at the giants "luck.. bounces.. luck... bounces" is transparent. He should just leave them out. You make your own luck. He should know that. You wonder why us sox/pats fans have so many trolls? Yes, a lot is jealousy because of success, but moreso, at its root, its because of people like simmons as the unofficial voice of the New Englander. Have some dignity, Bill. You didnt need to stay up til 5am to write a ranting piece about how your father feels. Its as if he thinks he (and we) are bigger than the game. that is why people hate us.

letekro · 02-04-2008, 01:52 PM

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Originally Posted by roman_maroney

His passive aggressive digs at the giants "luck.. bounces.. luck... bounces" is transparent. He should just leave them out. You make your own luck. He should know that.

That's the other thing that bothered me. What luck? What bounces? The Giants physically dominated on defense, and made all the critical plays on offense. Did we win in 2001 b/c of "luck and bounces"? Clearly not. Like you said, I think ESPN uses him as some sort of Boston Sports Everyman, but 99% of the time, he doesn't speak for me.

roman_maroney · 02-04-2008, 02:09 PM

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Originally Posted by letekro

That's the other thing that bothered me. What luck? What bounces? The Giants physically dominated on defense, and made all the critical plays on offense. Did we win in 2001 b/c of "luck and bounces"? Clearly not. Like you said, I think ESPN uses him as some sort of Boston Sports Everyman, but 99% of the time, he doesn't speak for me.

its amazing. was it luck that pierre woods fell on that fumble and lost it in the pile? was is a bounce? No, it was the fact that the other guy was hungrier, or stronger, or whatever. Deal with it Simmons.

Was it luck that asante and merriweather whiffed on picks on the final drive? Was it a "bounce?". The only bounce I saw was off their fingertips.

Where was the luck or the bounce on the missed sack opportunity on the tyree play? What I saw was something we saw flashes of all season, even throughout all the wins. Poor tackling, limited intensity, and not going all out until the whistle. what luck! ::rolls eyes::

This article, is exactly why you dont give a man who just watched the most crushing defeat I can remember since october 25, 1986, a typrewriter 5 minutes after it happened. He says in that article that he wishes he could take some of his earlier columns back. Ironic, because he should take this one back as well. Hang it up for a couple of days, gather your thoughts...

look, we are all gonna say things we will regret over the next few days. Some will rationalize, make excuses, others will overcompensate the opposite extreme by calling for the head of everybody in the organization. There is a happy medium, and if you are representing US, make sure you are there before you pick up a pen.