2004-01-25 - 12:05 p.m.

OKay, this is weird...for the first time in my life, I am faced with the situation where the Championship game of a Major sport is coming, and the team I root for is favored to win (6 1/2 last I saw in Vegas...).

For the Boston Sports fan (back me up here, Gyrth), this is almost certainly one of the signs of the Apocolypse.

The Patriots have been to the Super Bowl three times before, and all three times before they've been heavy, heavy, heavy underdogs.

First there was the 1986 game against the Bears...we were supposed to lose big...and did...biggest margin ever, at the time.

Then there was the 96 game against Green Bay. Again, we were supposed to lose big, and didn't...it was actually a game right up until that stupid, stupid kickoff.

Then, of course, there was two years ago against the Rams...where we weren't even supposed to bother showing up...the game was supposed to vault us into the realms of the Vikings and Bills as "Oooh, they keep making it, but lose" teams.

One problem...we won. Ooops.

But in all of those cases, the buildup was one of those "well, we've got nothing to lose, happy to be here, wouldn't it be cool if we defied expectations and won?" kinda things...no real expectation of anything.

This time though, we're expected to win. So if we don't, it's a failure. That kinda thing is weird.

The Red Sox? Yeah...right...that's always a feeling of impending doom...kinda like going into an audit...you *know* you're gonna get screwed coming out, it's just a question of how they're going to tear out my heart every year (this year was a new one...anymore and they'll have to start actually killing people on the field).

The Bruins? Well, they've been to the Cup a couple of times, but never really *there*. They've won once in my lifetime, but I was like 3, so all I know is the picture on ESPN SportsCentury.

The Celtics? Well, aside from those few years in the 80's, they've mostly sucked. And even then, the Championship Series' were of the "This is an Epic Confrontation between Good and Evil" sorts of things...losing was just a setback in the fight.

This year, though...we have to win, or else the entire year is for naught...and will be forgotten about soon.

Fortunately, our opposition, the Carolina Pussycats...err...sorry Colin...Panthers...shouldn't put up much of a fight at all...they're in the "Just Happy to be here", unexpected, Cinderella role.

Sorta like we were 2 years ago...except for one thing, we have the Bill. Coach of the Year....should be Coach of the Century...who else could cut his defensive captain three days before the first game of the season, let that player get picked up by the team you were playing in week 1, get completely thrashed, and yet go on to a 14-2 regular season record, using an NFL record number of starters (for a team with a winning record at least), capped off by an *exact* mirror image victory over that same team in the final week of the season?

Our coach is the best. Our Quarterback has ice water running in his veins. Our defensive lineman weighs about as much as an elephant. Our kicker has the rest of the ice water in his veins. We've been there before.

Final score...New England 24, Carolina 10.

Yeah, that feels about right. Sorry, Colin, this just isn't your year.

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