Don't Tell My Heart...

Listen. I'm a NY guy. I'm a big Yankees guy. But, with the exception of the Yankees, I don't really perceive sports in any emotional context. I like athletes who play the game well. I like smart athletes whose intelligence shows on the field.

Thanks to all the national media coverage that the "Boston Vs. New York" rivalry has received recently, all U.S. Americans know that NY sports fans hate Boston sports fans and vice versa. Boston fans love to talk about NY's lack of chemistry, the fact that they try to buy championships. If you don't know exactly what most NY sports fans hate about Boston fans, listen to Jay Mohr's Boston take which was posted by the Prodigal Son a few weeks ago on this blog. The point: Boston sports fans are douchebags. Maybe Yankee fans are arrogant and condescending. But why wouldn't they be? They're the best franchise in the game's history and it's not close. I'm part of the NY hate on Boston.

But all of this is preface to the biggest news of the NFL's opening weekend. Tom Brady is out for the season with "a serious knee injury". Look at him. I hate Boston, and I love Tom Brady. That is a love against all odds, a beautiful story. I was sitting at a bar with 30 TV's in Williamsburg, VA a few years ago. I remember everything. Cool, crisp day. The bar had it's windows open, and I was about to ask them to close them because I had a chill. When I turned around (to the left) to find my waiter and make my request, my eyes passed over a TV showing a male model in what seemed to be an elaborate commercial resembling a football game. He was floating up above the pocket on a cloud. He hit some extra 70 yards down the field, in stride, for a touchdown. But then it hit me. A hot flash. Keep that window open Mr. Waiter. It wasn't a commercial. He wasn't a model. It was Tom Brady. That "extra" was one of New England's hapless receivers trying not to embarrass himself by dropping one of the 30 passes that Brady would put into his receivers' hands that day. A few years later, N.E. would get Brady some real targets, and what do you know! He throws more touchdowns in a year than anyone in the history of the NFL.

This is a sad day, my friends, my enemies. Boston or NY. America or Africa. It doesn't matter. Tom has fallen. He will rise again. Pray with me for 8000 puff pieces on what underwear commercials Tom's doing with all his free time.