Party Like It’s February 3, 2002

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(Prescript: This is the first time since (I believe?) 1972 since a New York and Boston team has gotten it on in a league championship game.)

February 3, 2008 (Six years to the day the underdog Pats defeated the mighty Rams.)
The New York Patriots
The New England Rams

No, Troy the homertistic Rams fan didn’t just authorize two typos by accident.

Super Bowl XLII is the second coming, to me. It’s Super Bowl XXXVI version 2. (NOTE: I will explain) I’m just gonna throw some fodder out there for you on why Super Bowl XLII is similar — a WHOLE lot similar — to Super Bowl XXXVI.

- I already listed the date. February 3, 2002 was XXXVI — February 3, 2008 is XLII.
- The 2001 Patriots began their season 0-2. The 2007 Giants began their season 0-2 as well.
- The 2001 Patriots were 14-point underdogs to the heavily favored Rams. The Giants — likewise to this Super Bowl.
- This is the first season two teams from the regular season are playing against each other since Super Bowl XXXVI — Rams vs. Patriots!
- The Patriots showcased an offense that was compared to the Rams of old the whole season.
- In 2001, Adam Vinatieri booted a field goal against the Raiders that virtually vaulted the Patriots to the AFC title game and later to the Super Bowl (for another game winner). Kicker Lawrence Tynes did something similar, but he sent his Giants straight to the Super Bowl.

Not that I think the Giants are going to win this game (I don’t see it happening, but the sun shines on a dog’s ass every now and then), but I just thought those facts were awfully similar to when my Rams were upended in their last Super Bowl appearance. Though Lawrence Maroney is no Marshall Faulk and Tom Brady is his own man (levels and levels of what I wished Kurt Warner could have consistently stayed in as to of a zone), you can’t deny that this makes everything completely different.

In 2001, no one expected the Patriots to head to New Orleans. Everyone (or, most people) expected the Rams to strap on helmets on February 3, 2002. All of my Steelers-loving buddies hyped up a Steelers/Rams 1979 Super Bowl rematch and kept telling me, “man, just like we did in ‘79, we’ll knock y’all off your high horses!” Or, people expected the Oakland Raiders to step in and be the AFC champs. The Patriots threw up a gangster sign, kicked their asses and headed on to the Louisiana Superdome to play against St. Louis.

The Giants, similar to the ‘01 Patriots, were not favored in their previous two games. The Dallas Cowboys — even though they haven’t won a playoff game since 1996 — were favored over the Giants due to the lone fact they had defeated their division rivals twice in the regular season. Eli Manning and the whole Giants team managed that game — and the game against Green Bay — so well that they earned their stripes to play in Super Bowl 42.

The 2001 feel-good Patriots are no longer feel-good to most football fans. The 2007 Pats have been involved in a heinous scandal, have been touted and jeered as classless and have been disrespected by the ‘72 Miami Dolphins. (geez, the 2001 Rams were never involved in such acts. They just scored points.) As far as I know, from seeing how people react to New England, they’re known unanimously as the most hated team in the NFL (to mostly younger generation batches of sports fans I’d say).

Before I leave this post as it is (I’ll add more thoughts on the Super Bowl when I can), I want to mention something. 2nd string RB Ahmad Bradshaw, is from Southwest Virginia (yes, I live in Richlands, which is located in Southwest Virginia). Southwest VA is known to most people as ‘hick country.’ But boy, let me tell you, it’s not hick country — it’s football country. Before I speak any more on Bradshaw, let me voice a little bit more:

The last three Super Bowls have had a team with a player from Southwest Virginia. (Or, well, the last two, and soon to be three)

Super Bowl XL: Heath Miller (grew up from where I live, in Richlands, Virginia, and attended Honaker High School)
Super Bowl XLI: Thomas Jones (grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, with his brother Julius (has not appeared in a Super Bowl), which is just right around here)
Super Bowl XLII: Ahmad Bradshaw (grew up in Bluefield, Virginia, and attended Graham High School)

And I will leave a final note — one that I’m not too fond of because the guy is a complete asshole, but Mike Compton grew up in Richlands (he attended my high school) and won two Super Bowls with the New England Patriots in 2001 and 2003.

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Filed under 1972, 2001 Patriots, 2001 Rams, 2002, 2008, Ahmad Bradshaw, Dallas Cowboys, Eli Manning, February 3, Football, Giants, Greatest Show on Turf, Green Bay Packers, Heath Miller, Julius Jones, Mike Compton, NFL, National Football League, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Patriots, Playoffs, Sports, St. Louis Rams, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLII, Super Bowl XXXVI, Thomas Jones, Tom Brady, Troy Sparks