SemiConscious Dot Org

Superbowl Sunday, at last. And man, I can’t wait for this thing to be over with.

One would think that watching one’s team go undefeated and clobber opponents week after week would be fun and relaxing. Not for me, anyway. As the winning streak goes on and the pressure mounts, each game becomes less enjoyable to watch than the one preceding it. I’ve felt relief after some wins, and a smug, malicious sense of vindictive spite towards defeated opponents and their fans after certain other wins (ie. Indy, San Diego, Baltimore, both Miami games, both Jets games) but no real pleasure.

Certainly, the controversy surrounding this season is responsible for much of its tiresome character. Ever since the Spygate scandal broke in September, I’ve defended my team in increasingly vitriolic language. I felt personally offended by people who suggested that, because the Patriots videotaped their opponents’ signals, their dynasty was somehow “tainted.”

Now, however, on the very eve of their elevation into the pantheon of Greatest teams Ever, a new allegation has surfaced: that the Patriots videotaped the St. Louis Rams’ last practice prior to Superbowl XXXVI.

This allegation, if true, is far more serious than what they’ve already been punished for doing. There’s a world of difference between videotaping hand signals your opponent is making out in the open during the course of a game, and sneaking into their closed practice before the game. One is a relatively minor infraction, akin to stealing signals during a baseball game. Everybody does it. The other is far less ethical, and indefensible. They might as well be planting bugs in the opposing coach’s office a la Tricky Dick.

Of course, I’ll need far more convincing before I actually believe the new charges are true. The character of the main source, Matt Walsh, seems questionable at best. His whole “I have information, but I have no motivation to reveal it” schtick is going to get old very fast.

Regardless of whether Walsh’s insinuations are actually true, or just the sour grapes of a disgruntled fired employee angling for his 15 minutes of fame, this season and its attendant scandals have caused me some to rethink a lot of things. I’m seriously considering whether I’ve invested too much emotional energy in this team – and, indeed, in professional sports in general. The whole “tribal” facet of fandom has seemingly overtaken all others. Attending a game in person is becoming markedly less pleasant, more an opportunity for liquored-up groups of opposing fans to yell insults at and pick fights with one another, than to actually enjoy their teams’ accomplishments.

So after today’s game is over, win or lose, it’s time for a self-imposed sports hiatus. Time to read more books, listen to more music, think more about issues that actually have some impact on the quality of people’s everyday lives, and less about the exploits of ‘roided-out behemoths being paid millions of dollars per year to play a children’s game.

Oh yeah: Patriots 37, Giants 27.

UPDATE: Well, that sucked. I don’t know, though, I’m having a hard time getting particularly upset about it. They were completely outplayed on both sides of the ball for 60 minutes. Manning’s unbelievable escape from a sack and 33 yard heave to Tyree during the final drive was the play of the game, but the call of the game was Belichick’s inexplicable decision to forgo a makable field goal and go for it on 4th and 13. If I live 100 years, I’ll never understand that call. And sure enough, a field goal ended up being the final margin.