Monday, September 22, 2008

The Curse of the Big Sey

So...the Patriots' loss was ugly. A special sort of ugly. And, from an on-field perspective, the loss can be laid squarely at the feet of New England's vaunted defense that was a complete no-show for the game.

If the defense continues to play like that, look for a repeat of 2002, not 2001.

Off the field...well, let's talk superstition...

Some background first, I suppose. I have been involved in sports long enough to give in to superstition. When in high school I ran track for seven seasons. Seven seasons of wearing the same sweats to meets, seven seasons of wearing the same green bandanna around my left ankle until it was little more than a frayed green piece of cloth.

Fast forward - I have a handful of Pats jerseys. Two Bledsoes, a Coates, a Brady, and last Christmas my wife got me a Richard Seymour. Through almost every game of last season I wore the Brady.

I have worn the Seymour three times.

The Super Bowl.

The recent Chiefs game.

And this past Sunday's game.

Some of you out there might have noticed a pattern. Every time I have worn the Big Sey jersey, bad things have happened for the Pats. At this point, the jersey is looking at one of three fates - retirement as game-day attire, to be worn only during the week; treatment by the best voodoo experts and witch doctors money can buy; ritual burning.

If that loss wasn't weird enough, just look around the league at what happened yesterday - doormats took contenders to the limit, up was down, east was west, dogs mated with cats - it was anarchy. Currently the kings of the AFC are all upstarts - Denver, Buffalo, Tennessee, and Baltimore, displacing annual powerhouses San Diego, New England, Indianapolis and Pitsburgh respectively.

Over on the diamond the Sox keep inching closer, but they don't seem able to close the deal. With less than ten games left, they can still take the division, but that's going to take a little more consistency than what the team has been showing.

And now for something completely different...


Regardless of the pimp slapping the Pats took, the weekend was not a total loss from a sports stand-point. As many of you out there know, I play Australian football for the Baltimore/Washington Eagles. I started back in 1999 with the Philadelphia Hawks (at the time it was the Philly Crows).

I am wrapping up my tenth season as a human pinball, and we closed out against the Hawks, for whom I played five seasons.

We wrapped up the final by a score of 121 - 22. It allowed us to close out our second straight Eastern Australian Football League undefeated season and championship. It also allows the team to go to Nationals in Colorado Springs likely as the number one seed in Division I.

As I won't be making the trip myself, I'd like to wish my team luck on their Rocky Mountain sojourn.

7 comments:

Suldog said...

121-22? Good Lord! That's a mauling!

Anonymous said...

I almost called to gloat Kev, but 3 wins in 20something games, i wisely resisted. Bruschi et al forgot their jocks yesterday. I couldn't believe what I was watching.

Kevin Smith said...

121-22 is a beatdown, but what New Zealand did to India in the recent International Cup in Australia (229-0), that's a mauling.

BTW - Not thrilled that the Pats lost to the Phins, but I gotta admit, I'm glad that Pennington is looking better in his new offense than Favre is in his. I can't figure out what was going on with the Pats D - It's like they were playing as though they should win just because they showed up. Miami deserved it. It was a good win for them.

Chris Stone said...

What killed me was... that play that netted the Dolphins 3 touchdowns? it was a play I saw used maybe 6 times in that end of the year game when Arkansas was playing LSU. (I think it was LSU). Arkansas won that game. Darren McFadden was a stud. and the relationship to this past Sunday? Is the offensive coordinator for Miami. Same offensive coach. A definite triple "d'oh" for the Pats. I forget whether Miami waited until after halftime to use it. Wouldn't be surprised if that was so. But I'm way surprised Belichick didn't see that one coming....

David Sullivan said...

Burn that shirt dude!!!

Dave said...

Seriously. You have to burn that shirt.

Teresa said...

Denver might be a real contender in the AFC, but the rest are pretenders. You will be fine and so will we.