Bleak. Drab. Dreary. Lonely. Lifeless. Alone. Depressed. Desolate. Dull. Miserable. Bored. Unexcited. Comatose. Glum. Abandoned. Hopeless.
If you're a football fan (God help you if not), then most likely you are feeling the effects of a post-SuperBowl, NFL season hangover, and your mood can be described by one of those words up top.
Life seems pointless now that the SuperBowl is over, and there is nothing left to look forward to between now and Week One of the NFL season. We sit there and stare at the television for hours after the big game has ended, savoring those last morsels of another season gone by, knowing that this is the end of something great and the beginning of an eight-month fasting.
And for us Buffalonians, it's even worse. We get to endure the two longest, coldest, mind-numbing months of winter without our beloved football. What's the point of the weather being cold if we are not using it toward home-field advantage? There is no point. And looking at the weather for the next day and seeing the high of 2 degrees is just one straight up kick in our collective "joey kookamungas." Pain, I tell you.
But despite all this, we football fans just witnessed another amazing football season worthy of what we have to endure now. A season full of highs and lows, breakout performances and classic games.
The emergence of new stars along with the old stars breaking records made this season one to remember. Mike Vick running through the Vikings defense, Chad Pennington sparking the J-E-T-S Jets, Jeremy Shockey's mouth and hands, and Clinton Portis' running all were major events this season, while the old timeless guard kept doing what they did best, winning. Brett Favre was still God, Steve McNair ran on fumes, Emmitt Smith shattered records, and almost the entire Raiders team proved that football players, not unlike wine, get finer with age.
And what about Steve McNair? For years people, myself included, trashed him, saying that he was overrated and wasn't that great of a quarterback. But this man truly proved himself this year, showing the grit and toughness week in and week out that makes champions. I believe he was the real MVP this season and not Rich Gannon. McNair was stapled together before games and carried the entire Titans team on his back and into the AFC Championship. Balls.
The city of Buffalo was resurrected as its own personal messiah, Drew Bledsoe, came to town and brought the Bills franchise back from the dead, giving all the fans something to believe in and allowing them to forget the sorrows of the Flutie-Johnson debacle.
For the fourth year in a row, a new champion was crowned in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers giving hope to every team in the league for the upcoming season. When the '99 season kicked off, would anyone have imagined that the next four champions would have been the Rams, Ravens, Patriots and Buccaneers. God no.
Speaking of predictions, the Colts gave all those who bet on NFL games some joy in the playoffs. Everyone that bets on football games knows that you bet against Peyton Manning and the Colts in the playoffs, and then throw in Tony Dungy into the mix? Holla. Gamblers paradise was enjoyed as the Jets went on to romp the Colts 41-0 in one of those games where you never worry that your money is as good as gone.
The playoffs themselves were incredible with two of the top five biggest playoff comebacks of all time occurring in the same day during wild-card weekend. And you know what was the BEST thing of all during the entire playoffs, including the SuperBowl? Not one game was held in a dome. Having games outside make things so much more exciting. Just watching the Atlanta-Green Bay game at Lambeau field made me so happy. It was just beautiful to look at. But had that game have been held in Atlanta, then so much luster would have been taken away from the game.
Let's not forget that extra week of playoffs we got as well. Week 17 was just as exciting if not more than any of the playoff weekends. The Dolphins's unholy collapse in the waning moments of their contest against the Patriots allowed for one half of New York to rejoice while the Browns goaline stand against the Falcons gave them their first playoff berth since 1995 and redeemed Dwayne Rudd's week one helmet incident.
Sunday Night Football hosted perhaps the game of the year between the Dolphins and the Broncos, where hard hits were delivered and the game itself came down to kickers Jason Elam and Olindo Mare in the final minutes of a barnburner that Dolphins somehow pulled out.
Donovan McNabb's gutsy performance against the Cardinals was something to be remembered as he gutted it out on a broken ankle. The Eagles seemed like they were on a run to the SuperBowl despite losing McNabb to that ankle. First Koy Detmer and then A.J. Feely got them to the playoffs, but unfortunately for Eagles fans, the run came to an end in the NFC title game, the final game played in the horrendous confines of the Vet.
Unfortunately I can't keep writing this forever, although I could because this season was just so much fun and more and more memories keep coming back. Like does anyone remember when the Panthers led by Rodney Peete were 3-0?
Well, anyway, football fans, let's try to be like McNair and tough out this off-season, because we all know that sooner or later the NFL will be back in our lives and sanity will be restored.
Week One of the 2003 season is on the clock. I'm calling a New York champion next year, too; whether it's the Giants, Jets or Bills, though, I'm not sure. But to quote Chris Berman, "That's why they play the games."
God bless you,God bless America and dammit, God bless the NFL!
