A friend of mine sent me a brilliant text message last night, as Brady’s last chance chuck-and-duck heave fell flat on the Meadowlands turf last night.
The phone beeped almost the same time the pigskin hit the turf.
It simply said;
‘’I guess they won their Superbowl’’
Those six little words summed last night up perfectly. Even as a Patriots fan, you would like to be able to tip your cap to a better opponent, say, ‘well done’ and get on with things. However last night’s game was always going to be unusual, after the week long carpet bombing like propaganda campaign the Jets waged fanatically. The game almost seemed like an after-thought, after a week of inane comments from Ryan, Rhodes, Jenkins and company. At the end of the day, the Jets certainly did back up all their childish trash talking, there is no doubting that, but, at what cost?
They have already won their Superbowl, what now?
Will the Jets be able to maintain that level of Nazi-rally like fanaticism at home games against Miami or Buffalo? Is their head coach going to take a time out from trips to McDonalds to leave voice mails at season ticket holders before every game?
We are two games into the NFL season, and the Jets have now won their Superbowl. Not my words, theirs. Their own players declared this game, this second game of the season as their Superbowl. You can see how much it meant to them, players whooping it up after the failed fourth down. Players jumping up and down like excited twelve year olds, climbing on sideline furniture to wave towels and scream. Great stuff, probably pretty invigorating if you are a Jets fan. Only one problem. We aren’t even in October as yet. The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets are still playing baseball (well, the former anyway, you could argue the latter isn’t doing that right now). The leaves have as yet to start changing colour. Week two and the Jets were celebrating like, well, like they had just won the Superbowl.
It will be rather interesting to see if they can maintain that level of competitiveness throughout an entire NFL season, not just past week two.
Heads down, bowed, faces dejected and disappointed, the Patriots players slipped quietly into the dressing rooms as the Jets players partied like it was early 2010. The problem for the latter, we have a long, long way to go before wins really mean anything.
In 1998 the Irish National Baseball team was two years old. We were playing in our second European Championships, very raw, very eager. We came out of the gates fast and managed a surprising opening fixture win against Lithuania. In retrospect, we celebrated too vigorously. It was innocent enthusiasm, but definitely over the top. I doubt Lithuania enjoyed it, for example. In our second game we stood on the verge of victory in the 9th inning. Our coach, the brilliant Rick Steen, gathered us together for a quick talk. With the win almost in the bag he gave us a simple and yet meaningful instruction. ‘’Guys’’ he said, looking each of us in the eye ‘’when you make that final out, do one thing for me, act like you have been here before.’’
Sure enough, we pulled off the win to start the tournament 2-0, however this time we celebrated in a vastly more dignified manner. At least until later that night, but as far as our opponents are concerned we were a class act. Good thing they didn’t see us around 4 am that night.
Act like you have been here before.
Might be something the Jets might want to look into. Probably should check into it before November 22nd. Just saying, that's all.
.
The phone beeped almost the same time the pigskin hit the turf.
It simply said;
‘’I guess they won their Superbowl’’
Those six little words summed last night up perfectly. Even as a Patriots fan, you would like to be able to tip your cap to a better opponent, say, ‘well done’ and get on with things. However last night’s game was always going to be unusual, after the week long carpet bombing like propaganda campaign the Jets waged fanatically. The game almost seemed like an after-thought, after a week of inane comments from Ryan, Rhodes, Jenkins and company. At the end of the day, the Jets certainly did back up all their childish trash talking, there is no doubting that, but, at what cost?
They have already won their Superbowl, what now?
Will the Jets be able to maintain that level of Nazi-rally like fanaticism at home games against Miami or Buffalo? Is their head coach going to take a time out from trips to McDonalds to leave voice mails at season ticket holders before every game?
We are two games into the NFL season, and the Jets have now won their Superbowl. Not my words, theirs. Their own players declared this game, this second game of the season as their Superbowl. You can see how much it meant to them, players whooping it up after the failed fourth down. Players jumping up and down like excited twelve year olds, climbing on sideline furniture to wave towels and scream. Great stuff, probably pretty invigorating if you are a Jets fan. Only one problem. We aren’t even in October as yet. The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets are still playing baseball (well, the former anyway, you could argue the latter isn’t doing that right now). The leaves have as yet to start changing colour. Week two and the Jets were celebrating like, well, like they had just won the Superbowl.
It will be rather interesting to see if they can maintain that level of competitiveness throughout an entire NFL season, not just past week two.
Heads down, bowed, faces dejected and disappointed, the Patriots players slipped quietly into the dressing rooms as the Jets players partied like it was early 2010. The problem for the latter, we have a long, long way to go before wins really mean anything.
In 1998 the Irish National Baseball team was two years old. We were playing in our second European Championships, very raw, very eager. We came out of the gates fast and managed a surprising opening fixture win against Lithuania. In retrospect, we celebrated too vigorously. It was innocent enthusiasm, but definitely over the top. I doubt Lithuania enjoyed it, for example. In our second game we stood on the verge of victory in the 9th inning. Our coach, the brilliant Rick Steen, gathered us together for a quick talk. With the win almost in the bag he gave us a simple and yet meaningful instruction. ‘’Guys’’ he said, looking each of us in the eye ‘’when you make that final out, do one thing for me, act like you have been here before.’’
Sure enough, we pulled off the win to start the tournament 2-0, however this time we celebrated in a vastly more dignified manner. At least until later that night, but as far as our opponents are concerned we were a class act. Good thing they didn’t see us around 4 am that night.
Act like you have been here before.
Might be something the Jets might want to look into. Probably should check into it before November 22nd. Just saying, that's all.
.
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