A Sad Day in Boston and New England :-(

Congratulations to New York Giants for winning Super Bowl !!! Hope to see you next year... As fans in Boston and New England wake up this morning with the shock of their lives, they will stunned by a couple of facts from yesterday's game:

1. How come Brady got whacked so badly throughout the game??? Even though Steve Spagnuola ( a native of Boston suburbs) had lots of blitzes in his sleeve, I am still stunned at the ease with which New York's front four rolled over the famous New England offensive line...
   
2. Bill Belichick (New England's head coach) is widely regarded as a grandmaster of defensive schemes. But even Bill's schemes couldn't really dominate Eli Manning and his offensive linemen !!! For most part of the game, and especially during the clutch drive, they did "just" enough to walk away with the game winning touchdown... that really hurts...

I am so shocked even right now, just as most New England fans would be, and even had difficulty sleeping last night. But I am very very proud and happy of being a New England Patriot fan. What they have achieved this season is still phenomenal under any standards of parity in any sports !!! Its a bit unfortunate that they wouldn't wipe that bloody smirk in the face a few grumpy old men from Miami http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AsAdRjN1_3U_RyGM09I82VFDubYF?slug=ap-superbowl-dolphinscelebrate&prov=ap&type=lgns

I am sure you could google "1972 Miami Dolphins" or "Don Shula" or that arrogant old man "Mercury Morris" to learn more about what I am saying...

But I am happy for 2 people in New York Giant's team.

1. Tom Coughlin - finally got to win Super Bowl as a head coach. He is in his 60s already, so chances are that he may not get many opportunities in this increasingly difficult NFL. Congrats to you Tom and your family.
2. Michael Strahan - finally this fine player wins a trophy of his life... He went through a very difficult time at the start of the season with his divorce from his wife, in which he lost all the money he earned (due to a bizarre pre-nuptial agreement he signed) that he even sold his micro-wave and other things... He overcame doubts and lack of motivation, and finally had his hands on the Vince Lombardi trophy. Congrats to you Michael. I am very happy for you.

Ona lighter note, everyone knows that New York Giant's team has a huge fan base in Manhattan, and New York City. If one good thing thats going to come out of Patriot's super bowl loss, that has to be avoiding recession !!! Yes, some bizarre articles had been floating around the web the last week, correlating success of NFC teams (Giants this year) with the positive effect it has on economy !!! For more details, check out
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22781437

If somehow this turns out to be true, even though it sounds as a ridiculous superstition, I guess most people in this country and beyond will be happy !!!

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

from John Keats' epic poem, Endymion, 1818

Life is full of riveting contrasts. Brightness:darkness, success:failure, happiness:sorrow, boisterous laughter:requiem, and many more... We tend to appreciate the bright side of life only if we experience or did experience the dark side at some point in our lives. Almost all the time, transition(s) from a regime of negative things to more positive things are aided by a stimulus/(stimuli) ( analogous to Newton's 1st law of motion), either exogenous or endogenous, either intentional or unintentional... For instance, to avoid a recession or a downturn in an economy, the Fed has to cut interest rates, to overcome inflationary pressures the Fed has to do the opposite. To overcome pressures from both the factors along with massive credit crunch and a possible risk aversion among investors, the Fed has to pump in $ 100 billion or more to revive ailing financial markets, as we face today http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/news/economy/fed_bernanke/index.htm and
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/01/17/ap4544823.html

Of course, by no means this is exhaustive. But once in a while, certain events occur that are deemed to be called special. My definition of "special" is "rare", odds of which are very close to zero, if not zero, as from probability theory, an event with zero probability is defined as an impossible event, and one that gives unbounded happiness to those who follow it. One such special event that we happened/happen to witness was/is the performance of the brilliant bunch of New England Patriots in 2007. And it didn't require any stimulus from our side. All we had to do is to turn on the telly on Sundays and savor Patriots ripping apart conventional wisdom about American Football. Sundays have never been more enjoyable !!!

Yes, winning the Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ is the big deal and big goal. That is definitely a pathway to immortality to this great team of winners. In the event of New England falling prey to San Diego Chargers or later in Super Bowl, that should not take any credit away from what they have achieved this season, as we might never get to see a team winning 17-0 in this world of salary caps and free agency. I think this is a truly remarkable feat under any standards, a feat that is tough to replicate. This is a testament to the dedication and toughness of the players, and innumerable hours of preparation that went into winning 17 games.

My great thanks to all those associated with the New England Patriots for the unparalleled entertainment they offered this year, right from Bob Kraft, Scott Pioli, the genius Bill Belichick, Tom Brady to the unsung players like Kyle Brady, Heath Evans, Russ Hochstein and all the backroom staff, who have a played a huge role in this successful year. Images that come to my mind readily include those of destroying the Miami Dolphins, outplaying the Washington Redskins, grinding out the Philadelphia Eagles and surviving the physical pounding of the Baltimore Ravens, and will stay in our thoughts for a long time to come. But if I had to name one game and one play that will be impossible to forget, that would the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the "guarantee" by Steelers Safety Anthony Smith, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22173105/
The standout play I am referring to is the "double lateral" play by Tom Brady and Randy Moss, and the eventual touchdown by Jabar Gaffney to burn Anthony Smith. Truly a sight to behold for all purists of all sports.

In this light, it is very interesting to go through what went behind in transforming one of the most under-performing teams in the NFL to the 1st dynasty of this century. This is an article that I had come across a while back that details humble roots of this wonderful organization called New England Patriots. http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2005/0919/122.html

As Bhagavad Gita says that "impermanence is permanent", like all dynasties in the past, this one will not be on top for ever. But lets rejoice the beauty while we have this moment.

Beli-genius and Beli-hating morons

In my previous post, I had referred players of Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers as sore losers, for questioning Patriots' superbowl victories. Their views can be found at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-eagles-nflspying&prov=ap&type=lgns

To some extent players' comments are understandable given the amount of pain they go through trying to win a super-bowl ring. I don't know if footballers' IQ levels drop as a result of constant pounding and battering they are subjected to as part of the game, due to which they make extravagant extrapolations. But it is disgusting when people in the media try to drumbeat along those lines. Aren't journalists supposed to have higher IQ than players? As the above link shows, Philadelphia Daily News ran a headline on Thursday that reads as, "Counterfeit RING: Spy Scandal Helps Explain Birds' Super Bowl Loss." WTF !!! Seriously, WTF !!! Hows the f@#k does this spy scandal explain Eagles' loss ??? The purported crime under scanner is that Patriots had a member of their staff, dressed in Patriots' jersey, videotaping opposing team's signals from the sidelines. I mean this guy was physically present videotaping. If Patriots' did videotape Eagles at some point in time in the past, someone would have obviously seen it, as I guess it is impossible to miss a 20 something man wearing your opponents jersey and viedotaping you from the sidelines. If they did actually see someone, they would have caught him, and lodged a complaint with the NFL. To my knowledge, no case was ever registered against Patriots or Belichick by Eagles. So in all fairness, if there is no complaint or any evidence, then its highly probable that the crime didn't happen. So Patriots simply outplayed and out-thought Eagles. It is unbelievable that a newspaper will hire a moron journalist to write such articles.

Looks like there are a lot of jealous and stupid people in the media. Check this out http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AtVpX37gZp5OGsxtSLOrKgFDubYF?slug=belichickslackofarespons&prov=tsn&type=lgns

For starters, Belichick is not media savvy. He literally states the obvious in the most boring fashion possible in all his press conferences. He is known to be a man of few words, a very professor like. Obviously, he does his job of coaching Patriots extremely well, and thats what he gets paid for. So when Mike Nahrstedt is spitting venom on Belichick, he conveniently forgets that Patriots are having an extremely important game against fellow title contenders from San Diego, and that Belichich wants to focus on the game in front of him and not get distracted. Belichick admitted in the press conference that he made a mistake, and accepted punishment imposed by the NFL. He didn't cry like a petulant kid. So, I don't see anything wrong when he wants to focus his energy and attention on LT, Merriman, Gates and Co. instead.

Even more funny is this article, http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AlDYfimbKINS0pvVPSjXvElDubYF?slug=belichickscheatingtarnis&prov=tsn&type=lgns

Patriots are one of the three teams that is heavly favored to win this year's super bowl. The author claims that "Belichick has sullied his team's season. Even if the Patriots hoist the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl 42 in Glendale, Ariz., the trophy should feel tarnished in Belichick's hands." Lets take a step back, and look at this statement assuming Patriots do win this year's superbowl. Patriots were caught videotaping in the 1st game against Jets. NFL commissioner agrees with the view that the tape didn't play any role in Patriot's resounding win over New York Jets. Since Patriots, now, don't have the tape, it is not going to help them beat Jets if they meet again this year. And its unlikely that Patriots have tapes of other teams' signals, as I said before, it is impossible to miss a stranger from opposing team videotaping on the sidelines. Someone is going to catch him for sure in a stadium that houses 100,000 people. And Patriots are unlikely to repeat this viedotaping stunt again. So if Patriots do win super bowl this year, it is unlikely that this "spy-gate" scandal would have played any role in it. Patriots would have won due to their well-documented teamwork, mental toughness and meticulous planning. Its as simple as that. So to all those morons trying to come up various theories to discredit Patriots, stop whining and assess situations objectively, and not subjectively.