The Day After

One of the hardest mornings of my life. My emotions went like this: utter and complete devastation , strange calmness, denying excitement, second wave of reduced devastation the next morning, slow recovery, acceptance and looking ahead to next season. I can say that I probably have never been more immediately crushed by a loss- I could not put my grief into words, and expressed myself through actions. My excitement after they scored was surpassed, and then some, by my disappointment when Plex caught that fade in the endzone. For a few moments, I was wondering whether it was worth it to invest so much in a team, to follow one as much as I had. The next night, 24 hours later, I am just beginning to gain some perspective on this.

Reflecting on this season, I have never lived and died with a team the way I did with this one- For better or worse (almost completely better) this team was a focal point of my life over the past 6 months. I'll remember so much from this season for the rest of my life- Hearing we got Randy for the first time, the explosion against the Jets in week one, murdering the Chargers in week 2, the hype to the Duel in Dallas, the ridiculous running up the score arguments, the team reaching a high in the 52-7 destruction of the Redskins, my incredible excitement when Kevin Faulk, Rosie Colvin, and Wes Welker beat the Colts; Sprinting home to see the end of the Eagles game, growing more and more frustrated during the most dramatic moments of the regular season, believing that we could will ourselves to victory, and going from some of the tensest moments of my life to jubilation; the flea flicker with Brady, Moss and Gaffney and the constant jawing with Anthony Smith, beating the Jets and Dolphins again with little care invested in each game, and closing out the regular season with an incredible game in New York, with a perfect strike to Moss to set a multitude of records on one play. The Jaguars, the Chargers, and even the Giants- each game instilling a little for nervousness and doubt, climaxing in one night where the best team of all time was outplayed by a valiant challenger. People may be calling them chokers, and people (Mercury Morris especially) may be taking joy in their defeat, peole might accuse them of cheating and classlessness, but no matter what is said, this is my favorite team of all time, for better or worse, and I'll remember each and every moment fondly and celebrate the joy they brought me for one historic season.