The Lamenting of a True NFL Bigamist

It's my dirty little secret -- or not-so-secret because I'm so overt about it.

The Chicago Bears. The New England Patriots. My two favorite pro football teams. My two equally favorite pro football teams.

I was raised a Bears fan in the Chicago suburbs, but also a Michigan (Ty Law, Tom Brady) and Washington State (Drew Bledsoe) fan. These guys hooked me into the Patriots, and when they fell to the hated Packers and Brett Favre in Super Bowl XXXI, I was hooked for life. I had two lovable losers on my hands.

I never really knew who I liked more, and I never really had to think about it, but when the Pats won three titles in four years, let's just say I started to lean more towards the East Coast.

Although some people think of the Bears as the dominant team from '85, I don't. I was in the womb when they won the Super Bowl, and to my recollection, I'd never seen them win a playoff game until the beat the Seahawks last week.

But then Lovie Smith happened, and the Bears experienced a resurgence.

Both teams were so pitiful for so long, that when I made them both my favorites (around age 9 or 10, I'd guess), I don't think I ever could have dreamed they'd both be Super Bowl contenders, ever...especially not in the same season. But they both ended up making the final four this year, and I really had to do some thinking.

--

Don't get me wrong, if I could, I'd make a change. But I can't. I won't. Even if I said I liked one over the other, I'd be lying to myself. I wish I could at least subordinate one to the other, but I just can't. And even though I am the way I am, I hate people who like teams "equally," mostly because I didn't believe it was actually possible. But I've grown to learn that it is. The best comparison I could make is the feeling parents get when they watch their children face off against each other. Who do you pick??

With every other major sport (College Football, College Basketball, NBA, MLB), I have one clear-cut favorite team. In the collegiate ranks, it's all about Michigan football and Iowa basketball. Do I also love Washington State football/basketball, Michigan basketball, Iowa football, and DePaul basketball? Yeah, I do. And if any one of those teams won a title, I'd freak out as if they were my absolute favorite. But if there was a championship pitting any of those teams head-to-head, I would have a pre-decided favorite team to root for. That's just not the case in pro football. This is what made tonight's AFC Championship so difficult.

I hate the Colts. Hate. They're my least favorite team in the NFL. But the Colts not going to the Super Bowl meant the Patriots would. And that would have been terrible.

I said I pre-decided to root for the Bears if the unthinkable Super Bowl game happened. Why? They had one title to the Patriots' three. My pre-decision was a crock, because if the Bears had jumped out to a big lead on the Patriots, I know, in my heart, that I would have been pulling for the Pats to at least make a game out of it.

Back to tonight.

As the AFC Championship unfolded, even with the knowledge that I didn't want the Pats to make it, I rooted balls to the wall and expended nearly all of my energy hoping hard that they'd defeat Peyton. "Forget the future. The present is now," I thought.

When it finished, I was left silent and shaking. Why did I feel so crappy if one of my favorite teams had advanced to the Super Bowl earlier in the day? Maybe I'm just selfish. But I knew the feeling would pass, and in the end, it was all for the best.

I'd much rather have my favorite team (the Bears) playing my least favorite team (the Colts) instead of my other favorite team (the Pats). I know it seems complicated, but it's not. The Bears-Pats game would have been win-lose. My favorite team would have won and lost on the NFL's big stage. I would have had no anticipation for the game, and I probably wouldn't have had desire to even watch. So even though the Patriots lost a game I wanted them to win more than anything, in a way, I'm happy.

Here's to Super Bowl XX never, ever, ever repeating itself. My head would probably explode.

College Foot-bawl

College football is really bumming me out. I have three teams I absolutely love, and surprisingly, I've only experienced one bowl win in the last three years.

2006? Let's forget.

Washington State: After a promising 4-2 start, the Cougars finished 6-6, highlighted by a big loss in the Apple Cup to hated Washington. The .500 record was not good enough for Wazzu to get a bowl game, which stunned me. So as it stood, the Cougars are still bowl-less since 2003. Wazzu is going to have a mediocre recruiting class, and with the Pac Ten likely having better competition next year, I am even more humdrum about the prospects of success in '07.

Outlook: Failure now, failure later.

Iowa: My alma mater never ceases to disappoint. After an incredible finish to the Capital One Bowl two seasons ago, the Hawkeyes have gotten progressively worse; specifically Drew Tate. This is a true headscratcher because, typically, quarterbacks don't regress from their sophomore to senior years. But in this situation, it happened. After losing the Outback Bowl on a blown call last year, Iowa came up short against Texas this year in the Alamo Bowl (0 for 2).

Outlook: Jake Christensen could be the savior, and hopefully with some coordinator shakeups, Iowa can (at least) have a winning record in 2007. Maybe we'll even win a bowl game, or something.

Michigan: Ugh, ugh, ugh. Four straight bowl losses (maybe more, actually, but I don't want to look it up). 0 for 3 against the hated Buckeyes the last three seasons. On top of that, Lloyd Carr -- who I like -- constantly comes up short in big games. It's as if the team cannot make adjustments or counter attacks. More specifically, QB Chad Henne just can't handle pressure. He falls apart.

Outlook: Even though the Wolverines lost to OSU and USC, they should still be in the pre-season Top 5 for 2007. With Hart, Long, and ...sigh... Henne coming back, they should be in prime position to contend for the national title. The Buckeyes will be looming, though. If they can't get it done, I give up.