Dynasty schmynasty
I like how American sports pundits preface most outbursts of criticism with that wonderful phrase “not to take anything from.” “Not to take anything away from the Philadelphia Eagles, but my grandma showed more urgency at her wake,” would be a polite way of saying that Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb and the Eagles can’t bleeping run a bleeping hurry-up offense. Not to take anything away from Philadelphia’s ability to win the worst conference in football since theyear the San Diego Chargers represented the AFC in the Super Bowl, but that just blows.
If you’re the Eaggles, you can’t hurry up, no you just have to waste, time cause scores don’t come easy bom bom bom. Or something like that.
But, what I do want to take away from the Patriots is their Dynasty. No way they are a dynasty. 3 out of 4 is great, but it’s not a dynasty. Hell, 3 out of 4 isn’t even unique to the Super Bowl era. Those awful Cowboys pulled it off in the early 90’s. Having done that, they all decided to terrorize broacast booths and pregame studios instead, and Dallas has ever since been about as relevant to the playoffs as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Oops. Sorry, ‘Boys, that one must have hurt.
Look at it this way: Conventional wisdom used to be that in the salary cap era, any team at any time could go from worst to first in just a season or two. However, a handful of teams have established a new world order: The road to the Big Game goes through Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and, of course, New England. Maybe the Patriots are about to be displaced by another team that goes three-for-four. Maybe three-for-four is the new one-and-done that teams like Saint Louis, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay established as The New Reality around the turn of the millennium? Maybe the Patriots are to the NFL what 300-yard passers were to college football in the late 80’s? In hindsight, Andre Ware’s and Ty Detmer’s Heisman Trophies seem a little silly, don’t they?
I would like nothing more than for the Patriots to become the Team of the Decade (actually, Team of the Century would be even better), but right now they’re the Team of the Half-Decade. That’s a little like a company procaliaming itself to be part of its industry’s Big Seven.
Besides, what’s more important to the Patriots: To be acknowledged as a Dynasty, or to win the 2005 season opener?
