So I’ve had a couple of months to digest this one. I didn’t want to post anything until I could step back and look at the issue without confusing my thoughts. The Patriots are my home team and as such there is always a resentment when they lose. As any loyal fan I pass blame - the referees didn’t call the game fairly, we had a freak injury, the other team got away with something they shouldn’t have, etc.

In the end though, the more I think about it the more I come to the same conclusion. The Giants simply outplayed us. They wanted it more. This very thought frightens me.

The Patriots always won because they wanted it more than the other guy. They might have less talent, less speed, lack of star players - it didn’t matter. Somehow they’d pull it through at the end. My fear is that after 3 Super Bowls, after years of success, and after being labeled as the new dynasty by everyone else that they started believing their hype.

We’re used to seeing Brady with the ball, under 2 minutes on the clock, and seeing fear in the other teams eyes. They know he’s going to drive down the field. They know he’s going to pull the come back. They know that their worst nightmare is about to be realized.

The last 2 years we’ve gotten used to a different sight. Brady with the ball, under 2 minutes on the clock, and the other team stopping us.

Maybe it’s just other teams catching up. Maybe it’s parity catching up. I really hope it’s not us losing the core of our team. That hard work, blue collar, underdog philosophy that made us all proud to be Patriots fans. I’m thankful for what the Patriots have given us and for players like Bruschi. I realize we can’t win every year. But to get so close to the perfect season, to the greatest season in football history, to Mercury Morris finally shutting the hell up… and to fall short. I just don’t know.

Sadly, I find myself for the first time in a long time not wanting to watch football. Not caring about the draft. Not caring that we let possibly one of the best cornerbacks in the league go to sign an aging and (playoff) under performing wide receiver. Not looking forward to next season.

I miss that anticipation and love for the sport. I want it back. I fear it’s death on a Sunday in early February when the undefeated became perhaps the greatest disappointment in football history.

I wish I knew where we went wrong.

Random Tidbit:  Being a self-proclaimed - ok maybe publicly proclaimed - geek I found this blog post on why geeks make good lovers to be self-satisfying.  Is it true?  Find out.  Date a geek.

So I just finished watching the Patriots beat the Chargers 38-14 and the general feeling I get is one of vindication.  All week Coach Belichick has been villainized for what happened against the Jets.

Let me say that what he did was wrong and we were punished severely - to the point that it went beyond what we deserved because I feel they wanted to make an example that not even the Patriots can get away with something like that.

What stands out most in my mind is all the people that said this has been going on for years and that the Patriots don’t deserve the reputation they’ve gained and the Super Bowls they’ve won.  In my mind it’s obvious that there are too many coaches and players that have left the team - McGinest, Romeo, Mangini, Givens, etc. - that would have had to have been in on it for this to have been a long running thing.  Someone would have spoken up before now - even Mangini just last year - if we had been cheating all along.

We proved tonight that we have quality players, superior coaching, that we’re hard working and are simply better than anyone we’ve faced so far.  We don’t need any edges - which by all accounts we didn’t even get from the taping - to plain and simply outplay you.

With the Bonds and the McGwires making us so cynical about our sports heroes has it come to the point that a team that has defined what makes football great, that has been a model franchise and has grown to take the Cowboys spot as “America’s Team” can make one mistake - granted a big and stupid one - and blow all of their goodwill in one shot?

Watching the Patriots’ players crowd around Belichick after the game and congratulate him you know those closest to him believe and trust in him.  I think if Tom Brady and Tedy Bruschi - two of the finest players in the NFL - can vouch for him then we should too.  If I’m wrong and we did really get this far by getting an illegal edge than there really is nothing good left in sports.  But I don’t think I’m wrong.

Random Tidbit: Andy Rutledge provides another strong argument to design with web standards.  I know one of my goals is to continue to make my code better and more standards compliant for many of the reasons he mentions - is it one of your goals as well?  Trust me, when it comes to making large site wide changes down the road, you won’t regret it.

I’ve waiting a few days to write this to get my thoughts together better. For what we paid for him - a 4th round pick that might not even make the team - to get one of the best wide receivers (talent-wise) in the NFL was highway robbery. Add that to the fact that we already have Dante Stallworth and you really have to start to fear the Patriots.

Oh, and did I forget to mention the addition of probably the top free agent available Adalius Thomas?

Peyton Manning - start preparing your excuses now. And leave your poor offensive line alone this time. Or maybe now that you have a ring you can start taking responsibility for your teams failures as well as you do their successes.

As for Moss’ attitude problems - both Belichick and Brady wanted him and with our veteran leadership I have no doubt he’ll shape up.  Look at how the Corey Dillon experiment went.

Random Tidbit: Some really bad Star Wars collectibles. I really like the “What Can You Get A Wookie For Christmas (When He Already Owns A Comb?)” book.  Priceless

So I was watching the Patriots game this weekend and I realized that every other commercial was Peyton Manning trying to sell something.  Now, being a Patriots fan I have about as much love for Manning as I do for Derek Jeter - that is, less than zero, so this is not an unbiased opinion.  However, does this guy really need to sell this much crap?  I might be mistaken, but I think he is one of, if not the, highest paid player in the NFL.  I think he does ok.  And every good player does commercials for something.  But I saw this guy selling cell phones, gatorade and even DirecTV I think.  The funniest was the Gatorade commerical - the rebirth of cool?  When was Manning ever cool?  I’m convinced if someone would cut him a check, he’d sell dog crap - “it’s steaming poo, buy it, I need another car!”

Now, besides the fact that he is the leader of our current rivals, I think what really gets me is he is the single most overrated player in sports.  Not only do I feel he is not the best quarterback in the league - how many rings does he have again? - but, I think he has a major character flaw for the leader of a team.  He never takes responsibility for anything.  I think that’s what sets Brady apart from him - not the rings.  A few years ago when the Pats beat him what did he do?  First, they complained about the field before the game - ok, that was brilliant by Belichick and maybe they got us on that one.  But, most importantly, was it his fault his team didn’t win and he threw those picks?  No, our cornerbacks were harassing his wide receivers.  So the league changed the rules for him.  The league changed the rules for one player.

Fine, we laid off his receivers and still beat him after that.  Then last year they almost go undefeated.  They get home field advantage.  Everyone is healthy.  This is the year of the Colts.  No snowy, cold loss to the Pats or anyone else.  And they choke in the playoffs, again.  I would have given him all the credit if he’d stood up and said - I sucked, end of story.  What’d he do?  “We had some breakdowns on the offensive line.”  Right.  If I was his offensive line I would have “missed a block” first preseason game and let some 300 lb defensive lineman knock the snot out of him.

I just wonder when someone will realize he’s not worth the money, he’s never going to win when it counts and stop giving him big checks.  I doubt it will ever happen.  If he ever does, I’ll eat some crow.  Somehow, I’m not worried.  Go Pats.

Random Tidbit: The total hits for my blog for the last 3 days have been higher then in the entire existence of my blog - which isn’t saying much, I know.  I wish I could say it was because of my stellar literary ability, stunning good lucks and immense web design capabilities - stop laughing, I said I wish I could say that.  In actuality, it is because of a site I’ve never heard about called StumbleUpon.  It’s rather interesting, sort of similar to the random del.icio.us button I guess.  So I figured, since they exposed me to so many new readers I would give them a plug.  Now buy my crap, I need a new car.

Found an interesting article about viral marketing and link baiting, which is a term I had not heard before.  Viral marketing is something that I have been thinking a lot about lately as I try to not only provide content, but also to get people to actually see the content I have provided.  Nothing worse then a good idea that no one knows about.

Basically, the two ideas are ways in which to use the new web - mainly web 2.0, community content driven sites - in order to introduce your site to the masses for free.  Essentially, word of mouth advertising meets the web.  The benefit is that it, hopefully, has a snowball effect.  As people find out about your content and find value in it, they link to it from their sites, blogs, myspace’s, etc.  This grows your linked-to rating, which helps in SEO, especially for Google.

The article also has a beginner’s guide to SEO.  If you don’t know what SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is - it’s basically a way to get your side indexed, preferably indexed high, under the searches that your content matches.  So when someone is looking for widget toolboxes and you have the site 1001widgettoolboxes.com then they can find your site easily.  This is especially important for smaller businesses since they do not have the funds to use conventional advertising - tv, radio, newspapers - or to become a sponsored link for those searches - paying per click.  It again goes back to word of mouth advertising on the web - and ask any salesmen, word of mouth advertising is the strongest kind.

So besides using CSS and good XHTML to design your site, you should also keep in mind what you need to add - keywords, metatags, etc - in order to give yourself the best chance of getting your content in front of your audience.  And using sites like technorati, digg, slashdot, etc to create buzz is even better.

Random Tidbit: I can’t believe Boston is 7 games back of the Yankees.  The Yankees have no pitching and usually when I can’t watch them, which I haven’t been able to lately, the Red Sox do well.  At least the Pats are 2-1.  Although having a good preseason is rarely a good thing.  I don’t have any solid stats, but I remember hearing something along the lines of more 0-4 preseason teams have gone on to the Super Bowl then 4-0.  Not sure what finishing 3-1 or 2-2 does for you.  Time will tell.