by West Coast Craig
VULCAN – Once again the aging master, having had one of his best seasons ever and still proving he’s just having fun out there, was thwarted. Fate and the Cardinals had denied emotional fans of an enormous grudge match against his old Packers mates already in these playoffs, but a magical performance to upset the top-seed and get into the Superbowl would’ve rendered it all moot… And for a split second it looked like it would happen.
Sadly, Ryan Longwell never got his chance. Oh why, Ryan Longwell, why? He’ll have to remember those last few minutes, kicking balls off a tee into a net on the sideline, then watching some young surfer punk drill a no-doubter forty yards in OT… It’ll haunt him all off season. And now, all the FRS (Favre Retirement Speculation) begins anew.
In my and the Saints 42 year old history, we share one thing…for another two weeks, neither of us have been to the Superbowl. My history hasn’t been a very storied one, and frankly neither has the Saints’…though I don’t think any of my fans back in the early eighties wore paper bags on their heads (they wore Groucho noses and glasses, but only for a brief two year period). Up till now, the most memorable thing about this franchise was “Playoffs?!†It was hiring coaches past their prime, like Bum Phillips and Mike Ditka, one who rode George Rogers like he was Earl Campbell, the next traded an entire draft for Atticus Bongman, then put on a dreads-wig. It was never winning a playoff game…though now Sean Payton has won three of them. It was Archie Manning.
Speaking of a Manning, anybody else notice the nepotism running rampant these playoffs? Wade Phillips. Rex Ryan. Brian Shottenheimer. Sean Payton’s dad Walter. What? My editors are telling me to scratch that last one. Let’s look at Rex’s dad in action instead.
This is a term that’s been thrown around too often, but I think that the phrase roller coaster can truly describe the Jets’ season and definitely yesterday’s game. They started the season with a nice win streak, then came straight down in a hurry, followed by a series of ups and downs until finishing with a flurry. I’ve never ridden it, but I was hoping that analogy holds up for yesterday’s game with the nearby Kingda Ka Coaster at Great Adventure?
The Jets beat the Colts for six out of eight quarters in the last month, but lost the final two of them too handily. You could even argue—and many will—that Green and Strickland were the difference, and they might even be right. At any rate, you Jets fans have to take some bittersweet joy in this, It was a fun bunch that made a good run at the right time, and you haven’t had to go through playoff heartbreak year after year yet so it couldn’t have seemed so life-and-death already, right? At any rate, take some courage in this…watching his post-game press conference, I realized that Mark Sanchez might be part Vulcan…
- …and if that’s true, he bleeds green.
