The Sports Guy contemplates the Ultimate Betrayal:
Vinatieri shanks the game-winning field goal, rips off his jersey to reveal a Pats jersey, then runs across to the Pats sideline and jumps into Belichick’s arms as Jim Nantz screams “Noooooooooo! Noooooooooo!” and Peyton Manning breaks out the greatest Manning Face of all-time. Would I sacrifice three months of my life for this to happen? Yeah, probably.
That would officially be the greatest NFL moment ever, and I’m not even a Patriots fan. (Well, they are my fifth favorite team. They were third, after the Vikes and Cowboys while I was growing up, but Jax passed them up and I found myself rooting against them when they played the Pack in the Super Bowl, partly because I like the Packers ownership setup, partly because of Reggie White and partly because I did NOT approve of their uniform change. Yes, I spend more time than you would imagine thnking about these things, including who I like less, the Seahawks or the Cardinals. (Answer: Seahawks, because Jim Zorn broke Fran Tarkenton’s rookie passing records. And they’re AFC.))
Upon further contemplation, it goes like this:
VIKINGS
Cowboys
Jaguars
Packers
Patriots
Bears
Saints (somewhat less now that they’re no longer lovable losers, except I like Drew Brees. A lot. Why didn’t we sign him??!!)
Rams (although still not keen on the St. Louis thing or the new jerseys)
Broncos
Dolphins
As for my bottom ten, from most-hated to least:
49ers
Redskins
Giants
Raiders
Falcons
Colts
Steelers
Browns
Seahawks
Buccaneers
Not keen on the Bengals, Lions, Ravens, or Cardinals either.
I hate, hate hate the 49ers because I was dating a girl from the Bay Area back when they were winning all the time and all the fake football fans who were lording it over everyone made me sick. The Redskins and Giants kept the Vikes out of the Super Bowl during many winnable years of NFC supremacy, the Raiders should be obvious, as with the Steelers. The Falcons have Vick and they just generally suck, plus the move to black was lame, the Colts = Manning, the Browns are contemptible, I already covered the Seahawks and the Buccaneers were NFC Central imposters who didn’t belong in the Black-and-Blue division. LOVED the move to new divisions, one of the best, most sensible move by a sports league in ages. Also, I liked their funky orange-and-white uniforms much better than the stupid “pewter” that they wear now.