Newz Forum: FOOTBALL: Dean's List: Déjà Vu All Over Again…All Over Again

It was déjà vu all over again all over again in New England...

For the third time in four years, the Patriots won the Super Bowl by three points on a game-winning kick by Adam Vinatieri. It was the end of an era, as the franchise waived goodbye to coordinators Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, who move on to "greener" pastures in South Bend and Cleveland, respectively. And it was the dawn of a dynasty, as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady made history repeat itself - again...

Forget about the consensus. By definition, the Patriots of the '00s are a dynasty, a "powerful group that has maintained its position for a considerable time" in the National Football League...

And forget about Bridget Moynahan. With 11 catches for 133 yards, Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch is officially Tom Brady's favorite receiver...

We all love a winner. And we all love to love a winner. But when a winner wins too much, some of us love to hate a winner...

I, for one, loved to hate the Dallas Cowboys of the '90s, especially after they won their third Super Bowl in four years. Not because they were great, no, no. (The only thing I love more than a winner is loving a winner.) Quite the contrary: I hated the Cowboys because they great, big jerks. Michael Irvin, Nate Newton, Erik Williams, Leon Lett, Jerry Jones, Barry Switzer - the list goes on and on. For every gentleman like Moose Johnston or Troy Aikman, there were three jerks tarnishing the legacy of the Cowboy dynasty. So if you find yourself hating the New England Patriots, a franchise miraculously devoid of jerks in the Age of the Jerk, only because you love to hate a winner, remember: You're just jealous. And you might even be a jerk...

Still, the Dallas dynasty outscored its Super Bowl opposition by a whopping 62 points, or 53 more than New England has over its past three season finales...

Like the Panthers before them, the Eagles mimicked the champs by entering the world's biggest stage as a team. A breath of fresh air just three years ago, this act of unity and selflessness has become the standard on Super Sunday. Go figure - the same Patriots that has breathed new life into the platitude have somehow managed to make the novelty a cliché...

Is the Pro Bowl the only other pro bowl besides the Super Bowl?

With Bill Belichick's appearance in Super Bowl XXXIX, a coach named Bill has appeared in 12 out of the past 24 NFL title games, good for a 50% appearance rate. And with a New England victory, the
"Super Bills" have won nine of those 12 appearances, good for a staggering 75% success rate...

Meanwhile, Philadelphia's Andy Reid became the fifth mustachioed man to coach in a Super Bowl. (Mike Ditka, Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren and Jeff Fisher were the others.) With the Eagle loss, however, the "Moustache Men" dropped to 2-4 in the Big Game...

Now that the season is finally over, Reid plans to resume his career as Red Sox pitcher David Wells. As for Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, he'll go back to being "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels. I'm Dean Christopher...

[Edited on 2/7/05 by deanchristopher]

Good read Dean.

The Patriots truly are full of class in the "age of the jerk"

Do they have classy players or does Belichick instill this into his players? I'd say it's a bit of both.

I think its harder to hate the pats than other teams because they are so good. This team isnt all about one person, its about a team. So its harder to hate a team.

You can hate other teams like lets say Eagles because you can pick out one or two players that you hate. Lets say TO and McNabb. But its different with the pats for the fact that they play so well as a team, and each position has a certain role every single play, everybody has to do something. Each player doesnt think themselves higher than another player they just are a team. So its a bit harder to hate on them.