Giant Sundays: Vindication

It was Sunday, January 20th, I was at the ancient dive and of course Yaega Lee was struggling to get the place cleaned up while serving customers. I got there at the end of the Patriots vs Chargers and was totally pissed at the outcome. Another football teamed cowed into submission by Bellichick’s shell game and snowed into belief by the hype.

It was a good day, Cho, ERL, Shmack and his dog along with Devilyn, the Ranger Fan and his old lady had seats at the bar. A new face I haven’t seen before, Adan from Ireland was discussing the nightlife in England when Biker Bob showed up. We talked for a long while as I tried to get comfortable.

Chucky showed up for a quick minuet and disappeared with a threat to return later. Cary came in at the end of the Chargers loss and tossed down a couple before he moved on. Well, there was the munchies that Yaega bought before the game that was nice to have with Guiness. As Rhoda relieved Yaega the Giants were facing Green Bay, I settled in as best I could.

No evening at the dive could begin without a little drama, Evie did her best to demean and humiliate ERL. I felt bad for him, all kinds of scandal about the way she acts and why she looks for dates while her man is in the dive with her. Pimp showed up and was classic Pimp. No hot food was in the dive but he bought two large Pizza’s for us in attendance.

Met Fan showed up with Belli-Kiss, the Patriot Fan who was an old friend of his. Timmy showed up also and he and Biker Bob were talking to Yaega. Rhoda was now getting things rolling real well and I was in a semi-relaxed mind frame. Belli-Kiss started talking about how great the Patriots were as the Giants made a nice defensive stop on Green Bay in the second quarter.

Belli-Kiss said, “No one can disagree with me, Bellichick is the greatest coach of all time.” I looked at M.F. (Met Fan) and did not respond to the sound of senseless bullshit. Belli-Kiss gives me a shove to the back which pissed me off and annoyed me, I asked him not to do that again. “You agree right, Bellichick is the greatest coach of all time.” I quickly answered, “No!” and returned to viewing the game.

To make that statement, Bellichick is the greatest coach of all time, you got to have your head up your ass.

“Hey, Belli-Kiss, we’re watching the Giants not the Patriots, stop the nonsense” said M.F. When halftime came around Belli-Kiss tried to get everybody in the bar to agree with him, so he bugged me again. I told him to leave me alone.. “Why isn’t Bellichick the Greatest Football Coach of all Time?” Have you seen what he’s done? Aggravated to the point of leaving, I said, “anyone with a minimal familiarity with football wouldn’t ask that stupid question.”

Belli-Kiss started sucking air, “WHAT, REALLY?” Then he said “yeah”, I said yeah. Now Rhoda put the game on all the T.V.’s in the bar area. Belli-Kiss realizing “we” now have an audience said, “What makes you say Bellichick isn’t the greatest Football Coach of all Time? I appealed to M.F. and all the gentleman in local earshot for three minuets of uninterrupted time since Belli-Kiss had all night to bow to his new master and sing his praises.

I was told to go ahead so I did, "Bellichick is not Chuck Noll who won 4 Superbowls and is not considered the best coach of all time, Tom Landry won 5 NFC Titles, created the 4-3 defense, brought back the shotgun offense and won Two Superbowls, he is not the greatest coach of all time. Papa Bear Halas has the highest winning percentage of any coach before the NFC and AFC merged, he’s not the greatest coach of all time. "

I quickly continued as Belli-Kiss choked on his beer. "Bellichick is no Bill Walsh who created the west coast offense and won 3 Superbowls, also trained several coaches who went to the Superbowl, he's not the greatest coach. Bellichick sure aint no Jimmy Johnson who rebuilt the Dallas Cowboys and left a team that won a third Superbowl without him after he left with two Superbowl rings or a Tom Flores who had to fight his owner to put the Oakland Raiders in the Superbowl twice on his watch. Their not the greatest of all time."

“But wait a minuet, your going back to the old days” screamed Belli-Kiss. “You said of ‘all time’ and I’m not finished. M.F. said, “go ahead” RJ. “Bill Parcells went to the Superbowl 3 times with two teams and came back with two rings, rebuilding the Patriot organization that Bellichick inherited. Joe Gibbs went to the Superbowl 4 times winning 3 rings, making history by bringing in Doug Williams, breaking the black quarterback stereotype.”

Belli-Kiss shouted out “yeah but Bellichick has the perfect season.” I’m not finished I said as M.F. asked me to hold that thought. We all then watched Brandon Jacobs make that one yard run into the end zone as the fog of his freezing breath rose from the tundra. I said, “now to finish my point…Bellichick has not had the perfect season, he would be behind Don Shula, the only coach who does have a perfect season.” Chucky had returned and had nodded in agreement.

Belli-Kiss said, “yeah but you watch, when the Patriots win the Superbowl they will have the perfect season…when they beat Green Bay in the Superbowl.” M.F. shouted “HEY, HEY, WE’RE ROOTING FOR THE GIANTS HERE! Green Bay hasn’t won shit yet.” “Yeah but I still think Bellichick is the greatest coach of all time” shouted Belli-Kiss. I said, can I finish with one last point. “LIKE WHAT” said Belli-Kiss.

“The Superbowl trophy has a name inscribed on it and its called something, what do they call it?” My brow was squinted in extreme disgust because I was attempting to speak logically to a fool, and I should have known better. Belli-Kiss answered, “YEAH, it’s the Superbowl Trophy” they call it the….” M.F. and a few others said, “”THE LOMBARDI TROPHY”. “That’s my point, Lombardi is the greatest coach in NFL History, there is no Bellichick trophy.”

Belli-Kiss left right after the Giants beat Green Bay. If the Giants were half as pissed as I was when they faced the Patriots on Sunday it accounted for the fuel of one of the greatest upsets in NFL History. Anger is one hell of a motivation, persistence is the result of anger turned to purpose. I wasn’t going back to the ancient dive any time soon for a lot of reasons.

Later that night the dart crowd came in minus their iconic female leader “Buddica.” Rad, Kirsty, Smarta, and Schmooz were there though to celebrate. I left, came back during the week and let Yaega know I had some things to take care of. Yaega called me Superbowl Sunday to let me know Bossman and Quietman hooked up the bar with great food, there was a good crowd, she said it was really cool to be in the bar and watch this magnificent upset.

There was a lot surprises Superbowl Sunday. By the way, the 72 Dolphins are the only team in NFL History with a perfect season. The Giants are the lowest seeded NFC team to win a Superbowl. Again, it was nice to hear how cool it was on the corner.

Vindication is always bittersweet.
RJ