Lost Season

I had flashblacks to 1975 watching the Birds get crushed by a west coast team on a Monday Night Football game in Philly. Then it was the Rams and a 42-3 final; now it is the Seahawks and a 42-0 shutout.

TO took the whole season down so that he could get more money. He gets no more money, the season is lost, and that butt hole will be cut as soon as the season ends (or maybe they will cut him before the final game, so that there isn't time for him to go elsewhere, but they can rid their roster of him for posterity's sake). Yes, injuries played a large part. But if TO hadn't been running the team into the ground, I think it's conceivable that McNabb wouldn't have been so pig-headed about playing and might have had surgery early in the year. If they had limped along at 4-5 with McNabb returning, then maybe it's a different season. But this was a star-crossed year; many more players than just McNabb got hurt, and the defense went south inexplicably.

Now it's time to revert to a posture I adopted often in my youth: how to follow the rest of the season without a team in the hunt. Time was, I would just start pulling for the Raiders (or, before that, the Dolphins of the Griese/Csonka/Warfield era). Now I am pulling for the Colts to run the table and win the title. If the Broncos do anything (I don't think that they will), I will feel good for Bruce. Otherwise, here's hoping that some upstarts make some noise (such as those Best of Carson Bengals).

Here's something that struck me yesterday, as I flipped between the Bills-Dolphins and the Giants-Cowboys: Why is it that I like to watch the NFC rather than the AFC, even though the AFC has won a lot more SB's lately, and will almost certainly do so again? Is it just me? Is there really that much of a difference across conferences? Or is it just some latent rooting interest when I see teams in the Eagles' conference play that holds my interest?