Don't know what got up the asses of the readers who thought this was the Worst Article Ever or something. I laughed at the interchange, which I found to be an effective parody of the sort of mind-numbing sports talk I've been hearing too much of in the dead space between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. Of course, I laughed hardest at Lynx, who's apparently still got sand in his pussy. Oh, and there's been one other coach who had a first-round draft pick taken away from him for rules violations: Mr. Perfection himself, Don "I'm Considered Classy Because People Have Short Memories" Shula.

Lynx, you misunderstand me (what a surprise). I would never joke about you having sand in your pussy. I believe it is a serious affliction and I commend your courage in beating the Spygate dead horse so relentlessly while you suffer so.

By the way, Lynx, next time you want to invoke the name of Roger Goodell as a witness against the perfidy of the Pats, please include this sentiment (bolding mine) from his State of the NFL speech:

"The reason I destroyed the tapes is they were totally consistent with what the team told me. It was the appropriate thing to do and I think it sent a message. The actual effectiveness of taping and taking of signals from opponents -- it is something done widely in many sports. I think it probably had limited, if any effect, on the outcome of games. That doesn't change my perspectve on violating rules and the need to be punished."

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AlzyFcPXjC.kyDKhJiTfb6BDubYF?slug=ap-superbowl-goodell&prov=ap&type=lgns

Try and catch up on the reading. Lynx throughout this thread has been using Goodell's words and judgment as a stick to beat the Patriots with. That's fine, but likewise you can't then proceed to ignore Goodell when he says something that mitigates the case against the Patriots.

Actually it was never my intent to imply that you should have retroactively been able to read the quote that I posted. I'm simply saying, in the light of Goodell's most recent comment, Lynx's points about using Goodell as a character witness suffer. The "you can't then ignore it" part was directed at Mike, who clearly wanted to dismiss Goodell's statement. Which, to help you with your reading comprehension challenges, is why that post was titled "@ Mike".

You're the only one who's got a revisionist history problem, Lynx. You're referring to Goodell as an inconsistent arbiter and a cover-up artist, yet you invoke his name and the penalty he levied as evidence of the sui-generis foulness of the Patriots' misdeed. Are we only to believe Roger Goodell when he is saying bad things about the Patriots?

And you know, I'm a rabid Pats fan who's not even going to go so far as to say that a 19-0 season would make them the greatest team ever. It would be considered the greatest season a team ever had, perhaps. But to me, "greatest team ever" is about the debate rather than the conclusion. Dominant teams that rack up multiple championships over several years get included in the debate. So the debate includes the 60s Packers, the 70s Steelers, the 80s 49ers, the 90s Cowboys, and these Patriots (of the "oughts"?). I'm happy enough that my team is in the conversation.

That being said, I'm perfectly happy to turn on the flamethrowers when Lynx and the Cheat Chorus starts whining.

Yeah, it's funny, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop all season. It's been tense. I have taken nothing for granted this year.

Congrats to the Giants and their fans for a well-deserved victory. Their defense was ferocious and well-directed all night and Eli Manning came up big. The Pats were too inconsistent and I felt like the offensive line didn't play well. And even after all that, it comes down to Eli Manning shrugging off a sack by like six Patriots and winging a pass to David Tyree (who'd apparently been dropping everything in practice), who trapped the ball against his helmet with one hand while Rodney Harrison was trying to put him in a half-Nelson. Unbelievable.

Well, this is a bitter defeat, and I won't pretend it doesn't rankle. But it's just a game, after all, and there are other things to worry about.

We Pats fans have been spoiled by the team's overwhelming success in the last few years. A lot of us have felt like we've been playing with house money since Super Bowl 36. This kind of disappointment is much more familiar...

There have been no charges filed against Moss. A restraining order was filed. Anyone can get a restraining order, without the burden of proof. The woman who filed against him has since hired a new lawyer.

Of course, I'm sure Lynx would be just as quick to assume Moss's guilt if he'd ended up a Packer this season.

Yeah, I thought of the Moss coincidences too. It's the old aphorism, great defense beats great offense. Somewhere along the line I guess the Pats lost sight of that and they seemed too eager to force the ball deep to Moss. The Pats' offense only really looked like themselves in that go-ahead score when Brady was hitting the short and intermediate routes.

Maybe this year they'll actually draft a damn linebacker.

I believe you meant the 85 Bears. The 86 Bears did not make it back to the Super Bowl.

Bill Walsh won three Super Bowls with the 49ers. Montana won four, but the fourth, Super Bowl 24, was with George Seifert as head coach. Walsh (to his later regret) retired after Super Bowl 23. But please, keep enlightening us on where Tom Brady and the Patriots fit in your breathtakingly authoritative sweep of NFL history.