Super Bowl XLVI pregame thoughts

I don't want this to be a good game, I want the Giants to destroy the Patriots. I want Eli to hang 4 TD passes on the Pats D in the first half alone. I want JPP, Tuck and Osi to hit Brady so many times Giselle loses her modeling contracts. I don't want a close game or an exciting game, only a game where my team is so victorious, professional sports writers who picked the Pats to win are handing in their resignations and going off to teach journalism someplace.

Why?

Simple, really. I'm a New Yorker first, and thus, the Giants trump regular sportsfandom for me.

Let me explain- like a lot of people, there are a lot of reasons I enjoy sports: it's a distraction, a hobby that doesn't involve the fate of the world. yet it's interesting and powerful- the grace of athletes performing the amazing, the chessboard on a field strategy of matchups, the poker game of knowing when the odds are in your favor to mix it up just a little bit, and the excitement of a back and forth, close game, decided by 90 feet/6 inches/a last second kick save.

Yet- my loyalties are never in question or up for grabs. NY, all the way, with some of my strong love of new orleans in the rest of my life seeping in to create second favorite teams. Yankees, Rangers, Giants, Knicks, Liberty, Red Bulls. Having teams to root for take it beyond having a classic contest- it means the thing matters. And when you really care about a sports team, the rewards of an exciting finish are amazing, but the stress, even just the stress of a semi-committed sports fan (admission: i didn't get to see all 16 Giants regular season games this year, probably caught about half of them), make it not worth it.

So, on amateur night (aka the superbowl) when most people are finally tuning in and companies i couldn't give two shits about are spending 5 million dollars for 30 seconds of my attention, what I really want is to watch a lopsided contest where my team crushes the other team and the outcome is never in doubt, and watch it with people who care about the game from slightly less to slightly more than me.

Being in a room of people who don't care about the game is stupid and a bad idea for me. But then again, so is expecting me to want "a good game" today- I want the Giants to win, by so much Joe Montana ponders coming out of retirement.