... that the Packers were relevant for the first time in ten years and Mighty Brett Favre shat the bed at home in the biggest game he's had in all that time. You'd think that he's old enough now to realize that heaving a pass into the air and hoping for the best doesn't always work. Yup, a real shame.

Call me defensive if you want, but it sure seems to me that the better the Pats do, the louder bitter little biddies like Lynx will scream their one-word refrain of "Cheater!" I love watching the haters gnaw their livers in rage and jealousy. I've made no claims to moral superiority for myself or my team. I just enjoy watching you guys debase yourselves to the same level as the people you claim to be above, and put the lie to all your "Waaaah he called me a name!" rhetoric. You were looking to take a cheap shot at the Patriots by bringing up your brother's moronic theory, so you deserve all the ridicule you get back.

You know, you're right. I shouldn't stoop to your level. Then again, my comments are initially reserved for the team while yours immediately attack the other letter writers, so I guess I'm still above the fray.

Because whining four months later about the Patriots getting caught with that camera really punches your ticket into the Maturity Hall of Fame. You still don't get it, do you? The scorn and disdain of whiny Patriot haters like you is a balm to my soul. I'll be down here in the mud as long as you want, Lynx. I suspect you'll keep to your resolution as long as Favre kept to his resolution to stop heaving it up for grabs: that is, you'll break it at the first available opportunity.

As someone who is nominally and culturally Catholic, it sure is discouraging to hear about things like this Majerus issue or the asshat bishop in Colorado who wanted to excommunicate or deny Communion to John Kerry. Dear Mother Church, please lay off the abortion and the stem cell stuff for a bit and direct this activist energy to war, poverty, and social justice. Isn't that what Jesus and probably even Peter and Paul would have wanted? I'd lived my whole life in the papacy of John Paul II and I have to say, Pontiff Benedict is... making things awkward.

Has anyone actually asked Father Biondi, the school's president, what he thinks? If he's from the good old Society of Jesus, in my experience, he's probably got something nuanced and possibly subversive to say.

Droogoy, I think you're placing too much stock on the dominance of Ladainian Tomlinson. Turner and Sproles are excellent runners, and showed it that game. The Pats did fine against Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor the week before. It's possible that a healthy Tomlinson punches it into the end zone for them two more times. I don't think his replacement value is that much higher. That gets them eight more points. They lost by nine. And do remember that the Pats were deep into Charger territory at the end of the game when they started kneeling on the ball to kill the clock. Maroney rumbled to the thirty yard line with over three minutes left. The way they were running, against a healthy but beaten Chargers defense, they could have gotten another score easily -- if they'd needed to.

I think a healthy Tomlinson makes it closer, but I don't think he changes the outcome.

Not the game I watched! While Turner & Sproles turned in respectable performances, I wouldn't call them "excellent" by any stretch. LT is the Bolts bread and butter and it showed in earlier games (e.g. vs. TN). He would have had a much better chance of getting key third and short conversions than Turner - who I saw fail at least three times. Sproles, for his part, was way too inconsistent.

Are you not allowing for the possibility that the Patriots played run defense well? Or that the Chargers' line underperformed? Junior Seau made that key stop of Sproles on 3rd and goal to hold the Chargers to a FG because he read the play, knew a guard was going to pull, and there'd be a gap for him to catch the running back from behind. No one would be surprised if the Patriots of three years ago had stuffed a high-ranked running game like this in the playoffs, and this defense is arguably more talented.

The Bolts also needed LT out there for his leadership role - like they needed Rivers. Sproles and Turner may be ok as far as it goes, but they aren't leaders.

Ladainian (sorry, there was only one LT, and he played linebacker) wasn't much of a leader sulking on the sidelines in his parka and dark visored helmet. He could have displayed leadership by pumping up his teammates, consulting on strategy, or just standing up and cheering, instead of hanging out by himself. His leg was good enough to run on, after all. He's going to get questions all off-season about being so gloomy on the sidelines while his team was playing for the Super Bowl.

You're not the only one who found the progression of logos fascinating, King. For my money, 1997 is the ugliest Super Bowl logo. The centerpiece of multicolored Xs really makes it look like they tortured Andy Warhol to design that for them.

And thanks for the "14 hippies" line, it made me LOL.