I was sitting here thinking about today's post and when there was finally nobody else in the bathroom, I realized why I was having a block of sorts.... and it's because I'm not really pissed off right now.
I think the site works better when one or all of us are angry about something... hateful writing is the easiest to do and it sparks the most debate and emotion in others. And usually we've got plenty to talk about, but right now we're heading towards the dead zone of the sports year -- February. When football is done, baseball hasn't begun, NBA and NHL playoffs are still two months away, and March Madness is still a month away. Sure, there's a little bit going on, but that's when all writers do their filler pieces and those ideas they've had stored up but haven't used because there have been actual interesting things to write about.
And why aren't I pissed about anything?
Well, sure, there's the whole steroids thing in baseball and I love baseball, BUT... I mean, how worked up can we get at this point? Unless you're Mike Lupica, how pissed off can you get? How shocked can you act? How betrayed can you imply you are? I mean, it's an epidemic, it's permeated everywhere (especially when guys like Andy Pettitte have used) so what is there to do? Not much. Complaining and chastising those players will do nothing.
What about Purdue? Well, the Baby Boilers are impressing us. They're playing well, they're developing into a really good basketball team right before our eyes and the future is bright thanks to Coach Painter. After a long span of mediocre years, we're on the upswing and it's a good feeling.
And my Giants made the Super Bowl. So how could I be anything but thrilled about that? I mean, it's a freebie Super Bowl appearance. The season began 0-2 with two awful losses, and I definitely remember thinking it was going to be one of those years where I knew what it was like to be a Jets fan. And then suddenly it all came together instantly. Sure, there were bumps along the way, but it was a steadily positive ride after that. They even won games they played poorly in, and isn't that one of the marks of a good team?
I remember before the 2006 season, I was asked by friends from outside the NY/NJ area how the Giants season was going to go. They were coming off an 11-5 2005 season and Tiki was still there, Eli was improving, etc. I said I didn't see why they couldn't make the Super Bowl that year, especially in light of how weak/mediocre the NFC had become. Well, I was off by a year on that. But I wasn't wholly wrong -- the Bears, quarterbacked by Sexy Rexy Grossman cheered on by Purdue alum Kyle Orton, managed to crawl into the SB, narrowly edging the team I had put money on from the NFC, the Saints. Talk about looking like a missed opportunity. Then this season came around and the Cowboys and Packers pulled away early and every media outlet annointed them the NFC title game participants. And then the Giants crashed the party, fulfilling the potential that many Giants fans saw for a while now. So, as I said, how could I possibly be anything but happy about this right now?
So yeah, we'll surely get back to being angry soon because we do it well.