So, how is your recovery going?

Four plus months have passed since that devestating disappointment of a Super Bowl robbed us of immortality. But, time heals all. So, I'm just curious, how is your recovery going? Where do you currently sit on the famous "Five Stages of Grief" scale?

The stages are:

1. Denial:
   • Example - "This can't be happening. That ball hit the ground! And how could the refs have missed that holding call on Seymour!"
2. Anger:
   • Example - "Why me? It's not fair! There should be a rule against catching the ball against your helmet!"
3. Bargaining:
   • Example - "18-1 is still a great accomplishment. Isn't it? We were 35 seconds from Perfection. That's pretty much the same as actual perfection, isn't it?"
4. Depression:
   • Example - "I'm so sad, why bother with anything? I'm going to die . . . What's the point? I may as well go root for the Bruins..."
5. Acceptance:
   • Example - "Wait until next year..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kübler-Ross_model

Acceptance at this point, although all five stages have hit me in the successive months following. But at this point, I've accepted the defeat and am trying to move on. It still hurts, but the joy of looking forward to next season has now outweighed the sorrow of last season's defeat.

I said depression, but in reality I'm partway between there and acceptance.

Acceptance. It is what it is. And the 16-0 season and a SB appearance still add to the resume of this team, as much as we may hate it.

I'll never get over it though. I still replace the Tyree catch, the Samuel non catch, the almost sack and the almost miracle Moss catch at the end once in a while and it just grates at me.

I'm going with "acceptance", at least until FB season actually starts. That's when I'll be able to fully guage how I feel. The Celtics really helped me get my mind off of it, especially lately. Their Championship will be a good "FU" to the haters...

Thanks Paul Pierce & Co!

BelichickFan said:

Acceptance. It is what it is. And the 16-0 season and a SB appearance still add to the resume of this team, as much as we may hate it.

I'll never get over it though. I still replace the Tyree catch, the Samuel non catch, the almost sack and the almost miracle Moss catch at the end once in a while and it just grates at me.

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It actually sounds like you're still a little bit in Anger, Denial and Bargaining some of the time, too. That's part of the normal process of grief recovery, from what I've heard. It's not a linear process.

PromisedLand said:

It actually sounds like you're still a little bit in Anger, Denial and Bargaining some of the time, too. That's part of the normal process of grief recovery, from what I've heard. It's not a linear process.

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Damn

Now, when people throw "18-1" at me I calmly explain that's not a very good insult as it was a stunningly impressive accomplishment despite the "1".

BelichickFan said:

Damn

Now, when people throw "18-1" at me I calmly explain that's not a very good insult as it was a stunningly impressive accomplishment despite the "1".

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While you were posting I was updating the examples in the original post - see "Bargaining" ...

When I read about Rodney's doing the intro for Tyree's book and saying that he was over the loss, I figured it was time for me to move on too. Also, Rodney put it in a way that helped when he said that the Giants could run that play (the Manning sack evasion and the Tyree helmet catch) a million times and not complete that pass again. That helped a lot.

i had to drive for 3 hours by myself immediately following the game, so i went through all 5 stages on that drive.

I will never be able to "accept" going 18-0 then losing the final game at the hands off a 86 yard comeback drive led by Eli Manning and ending with a wide open Plaxico Burress in the endzone.

It angers me. It depresses me. It confuses me.

Bottom line is Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were unable to win the biggest game of their lives. I have a hard time accepting that. And the fact we directly led to two back to back Manning championships is sickening.

The last two years of Pats football have ended in historic chokes.

Regardless, maybe #4 will take some of the bad taste out of my mouth. However I will not be one of those sobs who rehashes this subject over and over again, nor will I ever bring up actually. Only reason I'm talking about now is because there's a thread about it.

Somewhere between acceptance and regret,especially when we could have done something no one else has twice. Win three championships in one year,and gone 19-0. It will get worse when training camp starts.

Disco Volante said:

I will never be able to "accept" going 18-0 then losing the final game at the hands off a 86 yard comeback drive . . . .

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I understand where you're coming from, but, in the grand scheme of things, I still believe--and will believe, until I get some sort of evidence to the contrary--that had the Pats won the Super Bowl, it would have amounted to a Pyrrhic victory.

ctpatsfan77 said:

I understand where you're coming from, but, in the grand scheme of things, I still believe--and will believe, until I get some sort of evidence to the contrary--that had the Pats won the Super Bowl, it would have amounted to a Pyrrhic victory.

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Are you saying that a Pats victory would have generated so much backlash that the victory would not have been worth the collateral damage? If that's what you're saying, that's an interesting thought ... but I don't think I'm buying it.

Honestly, I'm still in shock and pissed off. Yea, a perfect regular season and Brady breaking Peyton's record is nice. But the Pats were one game away from doing something that had never been done before and they blew it. Of course it doesn't help living in Dallas and having idiot Cowboy fans constantly bring it up.

I was in acceptance fairly quickly. When the Giants went into Dallas and mandhandled that OL, I initially thought it was a fluke, but it turned out to be an omen. Then they went into Green Bay and absolutely dominated the Packers. How that game went to OT was beyond me. As for SB42, I knew the Pats wouldn't allow another 35pts and would concentrate on stopping the running game and Burress, daring Eli to beat them throwing to other guys. That's exactly what Eli did, even though it was only to the tune of 17 points, but that was enough. The same DL that manhandled Dallas showed up and manhandled the Pats, allowing the Giants to keep the Pats from blowing up on the scoreboard. Poop happens.

Regards,
Chris

PromisedLand said:

Are you saying that a Pats victory would have generated so much backlash that the victory would not have been worth the collateral damage? If that's what you're saying, that's an interesting thought ... but I don't think I'm buying it.

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Yes--and, specifically, further sanctions by Goodell.

I went from Pissed Off to Shock to Acceptance and now I no longer care.
What's the point in dwelling on the past? A new season is upon us. :rocker:

ctpatsfan77 said:

Yes--and, specifically, further sanctions by Goodell.

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I don't think ANYTHING that he could have done would have overshadowed being the only team to go 19-0, along with all those scoring records and 4 Super Bowl victories in 7 years. Maybe I'm wrong.

DefenseRules said:

I went from Pissed Off to Shock to Acceptance and now I no longer care.
What's the point in dwelling on the past? A new season is upon us. :rocker:

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Stage 6 - Apathy?