LAST CALL: Mr.Perfect
Pleszczynski, Wlady
l a s T c a l l Mr. Perfect by Wlady Pleszczynski Afew days before last month’s Giants-Patriots Super Bowl, Rush Limbaugh’s football pal “Hutch” told a not so funny joke on Rush’s show....
...Peyton Manning and Brett Favre each replied they believe in family, winning, and making the best of their opportunities...
...God rewarded them by inviting the former to take the seat on His right, the latter the seat on His left...
...And once a golden boy like Brady himself becomes the subject of disdain, all bets are off...
...I’m not saying the Giants don’t deserve unabashed praise for accomplishing what they did...
...Yet week after final week Brady always found ways to outscore the other guys...
...l a s T c a l l Mr...
...Now the fun really began, as the Patriots, having clinched its number one seed for the playoffs, became the prey, hunted week after week by opponents with nothing to lose...
...The closer they came to perfection, the more contempt they inspired...
...That’s when Tom Brady gave God his answer: “I believe you’re in my seat...
...Unfortunately, it seems a great many Americans seriously did think just that, a view of a piece with the unprecedented loathing directed at Brady’s New England Patriots this past season...
...Though even then, Brady managed one last time to put his team ahead in the final minutes...
...outside of New England was pulling hard for the New York Giants...
...Seems three top quarterbacks dropped in on God...
...Hard to imagine anyone will ever again come closer...
...8 2 T H e a M e R I c a n s P e c T a T o R f e b R u a R y 2 0 0 8...
...He asked them, “What do you believe...
...By the eve of Super Bowl Sunday, most every part of the U.S...
...What’s more, besides being the consummate team player, he looked great on the field, a quarterback sculpted by Michelangelo...
...The Patriots would end their season 18-1...
...Had he been in the NBA, he would have shown the floor command and intelligence of Larry Bird...
...Had he been a major league pitcher, he would have displayed all the style and form of Jim Palmer...
...He came that close to a perfect season...
...He’s that good...
...Their coach is already regarded as creepier and more indictable than the late Richard Nixon...
...Perfect by Wlady Pleszczynski Afew days before last month’s Giants-Patriots Super Bowl, Rush Limbaugh’s football pal “Hutch” told a not so funny joke on Rush’s show...
...That is, until the Super Bowl, when the Giants’ defense went on the offensive...
...But I am saying that it’s disheartening that a team as focused and successful as Tom Brady’s should be treated so dismissively at the pinnacle of its achievement...
...But America was quite content to prefer the team that finished 14-6...
...He carved up opponents with an unstoppable passing game, and by midseason it was clear he was in position to break many records and his team a good bet to go undefeated...
...This later part of the season revealed the team’s Achilles’ heel: a defense, however well schooled, that was hardly as physically dominant as the offense...
...Not long ago he was rising from obscurity to become a three-time Super Bowl winner in his first five seasons...
...Even in his non-Super Bowl years, he kept his teams in playoff contention, knocking off superior opponents such as San Diego last year in memorable performances...
...Then came this past season, in which he found himself with more receiving talent than he’d ever enjoyed...
...A laughing Rush reacted, “So you think he’s bigheaded going into this game...
...Anyone who’s followed my local (and lately woeful) Washington Redskins knows very well that the Giants franchise is as formidable as any when it comes to hard-nosed, clutch play...
Vol. 41 • March 2008 • No. 2
