and i love your tag line: "ESPN delenda est"! Brilliant, funny and a product of a classical education.
Well, in honor of the seemingly soon to depart Patrick Swayze, I'll explain my tag line by referencing one of his more subtle and nuanced works, "Red Dawn".
The Colonel: All that hate's gonna burn you up, kid.
Robert: It keeps me warm.
I've long since written off ESPN, who have taken it upon themselves to be the moral scolds of sports, while maintaining their track record for self-indulgence. They're like hippies (ESPN of the 80s, early 90s) who got older and turned into yuppies (ESPN of the last ten years).
My disdain for ESPN helped fuel my passion for this past Patriots season, and it certainly played a large part in why I went so incommunicado with any form of media. My dad's first comment to me post-Super Bowl was "you should hear Mercury Morris running his mouth..." and I interrupted him to say, "Stop. I don't want to hear anything more." I didn't need to hear and I still don't. I can imagine quite clearly what is being said. Whatever lingering nostalgia I might have had for the channel went away when they had Earl Campbell (I think) in for an interview in January. The guy was clearly in no condition to be interviewed or the cogently express his thoughts, but they put him out there just so they could have a headline about "NFL Legend blasts Pats".
Getting away from ESPN and back to the Patriots, I have to say this: besides the pain of the loss, the first thing I felt after the Super Bowl was an immense pride in the organization. Free agency in professional sports has pretty much sapped my interest and left my fondest memories in childhood. I always rooted for the people, not the laundry. I think sports is primarily about the people and it's why I love Boston sports fans so much. They'll boo Cal Ripken for twenty years, and then in his last visit to Fenway, they'll give him three-minute standing ovations each and every at-bat.
The Patriots handle the free agency paradigm better than any other organization, even though it sometimes means saying good-bye to players you wish could stick around. They pride themselves on conducting themselves a certain way. They bring in troubled players and give them a second change. They don't hang anyone out to dry publicly and they don't play the blame game (unless an individual blames themselves). The organization is invested in the greater New England community through its various charitable works. The team is owned by someone who tries to cut the average fan as many breaks as he can, even while coping with the economic realities of fielding a top-tier team. If there was ever an organization to root for in any sport, this is the one.
I hope they win another Super Bowl (and soon).
