Patriot Games

The time has come to start again.  I am planning to start writing again on this blog on a regular basis and with daily topics once again.  So with that said, the topic for Mondays have in the past been sports, so here we go.

Lots of great stuff in the sports world over the last 5 days it seems like.  From the BCS National Championship game in college football (The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled over the Texas Longhorns 37-21 to win their 13th national championship) to the first round of the NFL playoffs (Cowboys won their first playoff game in 13 years; the Cardinals won a shoot-out, 96 combined points, on, of all things, a defensive play in overtime) it was a great 5 days of football (I honestly didn't pay close enough attention to any of the other sports that were going on).

But in all of that there was one thing that did seem to stand out and it happened yesterday.  The New England Patriots showed that they are possibly on the downside of being a dynasty when they lost to the Baltimore Ravens 33-14.  Not that big of a deal really just to look at the score.  The thing that IS a big deal about it is the fact that it was a loss at home for the Patriots.  And in the playoffs, well, that just doesn't happen.  Not since 1978 at least, which they showed yesterday was over 11,000 days since they last lost a home playoff game.

Lets think about that for a moment.  It has been 32 years since the last time these guys lost at home in the playoffs.  That's three decades of dominance for them on their home field.  I mean what kind of crazy advantage is that?  There have been so many things that have happened in that time span.  Here is a list of things that have happened in my life alone since the last time the Patriots lost at home in the playoffs: 

1. I had three brothers born in that time.
2. I went all the way from elementary school through college graduation.
3. I got married.
4. I had three children.

So yeah, that's a pretty long time and so much has happened.  But guess what. The world didn't fall off it's axis, the ice caps didn't spontaneously melt and flood the world, the world didn't go dark and flags were not flown at half mast (except maybe in New England).  It was a heck of a run by the Pats.  They will do what they do in the off season and will come back next year and give it another go.  Here's to hoping they can reclaim their former glory days, when they were routinely 1-15 or 4-12 at best.  Well at least I can dream.  Peace and Love y'all.