Re-Post: The Deepest Cuts, 2.0

18.) Super Bowl XXXVII

This game wasn't close at all (it was 34-3 at one point), but there are two reasons why it makes this list. First, the Raiders made it a game scoring three straight TDs. They went for two and missed each time, making it 34-21 (it could have been 34-27 had they gotten all three). Down 13 with about seven minutes to go with the ball it wasn't inconceivable that they could finish the incredible comeback, but Gannon threw pick's #4 and #5. The other reason is I was young, I didn't understand how good that Buccaneers team was, and I was so ready to celebrate the Raiders winning after they were robbed the previous season (that game is a little higher up the list). The 2002 Raiders were the first team that I followed earnestly all season. I can still list the scores of each of their games. I can still remember the key players, the key moments, and it ended in abject disaster.

* - I promise that I started writing this piece before I heard Tim Brown's accusation that Bill Calahan sabotaged the Super Bowl to stick it to Al Davis and give a good one to his friend Jon Gruden. This doesn't make me change my view on the game at all. That Buccaneers team was better anyway. I don't buy the allegations. Why would Bill Callahan decide to wait until the Super Bowl to sabotage the team. If anything, his run-heavy 1st Half against the Jets in the divisional round was more of a sabotage maneuver. 

17.) 2025 World Series Game 7

It's weird because this is only one of two on this list purely because of hatred of the winning team, and not fandom of the losing team. The other one is far higher up and truly one of the most painful nights of my sports life. This was close, if only heightened because of how special it was. Had the Dodgers not been the winning team in that game, a team taht can outspend everyone, has assembled a team of mercenaries (for all the talk of how great their farm system is, it's odd how few of those guys they develop....), and the Blue Jays were so damn likable. The Blue Jays were also amazing in the series, responding to that 18-inning game loss in Game 3 by dominating Game 4-5 in Los Angeles. But you just knew the Dodgers would come back. And of course the wrost part of it all was the missed opportunities - the missed chances to expand a 3-0 lead early. Of course the inches away moment of Kiner-Falefa getting gunned down on teh plate, or that Vladdy flyball on 3-0 to 408 feet instead of the 411 feet wall. And of course that it was Miguel Rojas of all people who tied it for the Dodgers. The Dodgers of course responded to nearly losing by signing Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker and being as ridiculous as always. The world deserved a Blue Jays win, but at least we were treated to one of the best games of all time.

16.) 2007 Divisional Playoffs

This is a strange game. On one hand, even if the Colts won they would have had no real shot to win in New England the next week. The Colts had no pass rush without Dwight Freeney and with a hobbling Robert Mathis. That said, I really wanted the Colts to get another shot at the Patriots in that year. I wanted to see Manning take on the Patriots one more time. I wanted that playoff rematch. On the other hand, the loss was so unexpected and brutal. The Colts should have beaten the Chargers in the regular season despite missing seven players that would play in the divisional game and Manning throwing six interceptions, and they should have won this game. Manning hit his first 14 throws, and driving near the red zone up 7-0, he hit Marvin Harrison (playing his first game since Week 10) and Marvin fumbled. The Colts let the Chargers complete a 3rd and 14 and a 3rd and 11 in the 1st half. The Colts, down 21-17, drove down inside the 10, and Manning throws a screen pass to Kenton Keith, and Keith just bats it up in the air and it lands perfectly in the hands of Eric Weddle for a fluke interception. Then, Billy Volek completes two third downs to lead a game winning drive. Of course, despite throwing for 400 yards and having both INTs first hit the hands of Colts players, Peyton was blamed. Just a stunning and terrible loss for what was a great team. After the game ended I couldn't even speak. Over time, I've cooled off about the game. All that was foregone was Manning's playoff record being 10-11 instead of 9-11 (as if that would have stopped the Manning haters), because there was no way they were beating the Patriots without a pass rush. Time has healed that wound, but it was a gashing wound right after the game ended.

15.) Super Bowl 41.5

Oddly, I feel worst about this game than the one above which was the playoff loss that season. This is the only regular season game to make the list (though the Week 10 loss in New England in 2010 came close). Just to recap, the Colts entered the game 7-0, winning their last two games by a combined 60-14 (both on the road), and were the defending champs who had beaten New England in the last three meetings. Despite all of this, they were the underdog (by five points) to the 8-0 Patriots. The Patriots entered that game looking superhuman, but I thought the Colts could make them look human, and they most certainly did. The Colts defense played better than I have ever seen it during the Dungy era, holding that Patriots offense to 7 first half points. Tom Brady entered the game with 2 INTs on the season, and the Colts doubled that total. The Colts were able to score on a 70-yard weaving run after a screen pass to Joe Addai right before the half to take a 13-7 lead into halftime, and opened up a 20-10 lead in the 4th quarter. It was all set for a great Colts win, a hammer to the Patriots undefeated season (and keeping alive the Colts run at perfection). Then Randy Moss finally got open deep, and Brady hit him. Three plays later, Brady hit Welker for a TD. Then, Peyton Manning, on 3rd down, threw a beautiful pass 30 yards downfield to Reggie Wayne, but Wayne dropped it. Had Wayne caught it, the Colts would have gotten at least a field goal, and there was a chance Wayne could have taken that for a TD. The Patriots scored another TD (set up by a deep pass to Stallworth), and the Colts couldn't comeback as Tony Ugoh was awful, letting pressure come to Manning on three straight plays. The Patriots escaped a wounded Colts team (no Harrison in that game), and kept their pefect season going. The Colts at least showed that the Patriots weren't untouchable, but I was so upset that they couldn't protect a 20-10 lead. They blew a chance at never allowing that perfect season to happen. They could have shoved the Patriots brilliance in their face. God dammit, I'm getting more upset now than I was then just by writing about it. What I've learned from going back over the last two games was that I am more thankful than ever that the 2007 Giants existed.

14.) 2023 ALCS Game 7

This is one of those that didn't hurt as much in the moment, but became more painful when I saw how easily the 2023 Rangers tossed aside the overmatched Diamondbacks in the World Series, and then even more painful the more it becomes pretty clear this was the last great ride for the Astros dynasty. Granted, it hurt a lot in the moment as well, but mostly because it was just incredible that the Astros would lose in this way for a second time. Only twice has a 7-game series had the road team win all seven games, and the Astros were the home team in both of them. The other incarnation of this is further up the list. The reason this was a bit lessened is because this game was over super quick. Heretofore amazing postseason starter Framber Valdez was rocked early and often. The Rangers led big by the second inning and made the rest of the series a fait accompli. Somehow, the Astros did it again, and by "it", again I mean lose all four home games in a playoff series. Making it worse was this came after the amazing Game 5 comeback and Altuve home run. The Astros were one OK performance from probably going back to back. I guess in the end, they didn't come close to deserving it in these last two games. I only have this because of what a missed opportunity it ended up being.

13.) 2017 Australian Open Final

In a way, it is weird this isn't higher up. My favorite all time tennis player resurrecting his career in this tournament, but then losing to the rival also resurrecting his career, a guy he normally owned, in a fairly harrowing way by blowing a up-a-break lead in the 5th set. That said, you can argue it is weird I even have this here at all, given I wrote a column called "The Acceptable Loss 3.0" after it, because truly it was just an amazing joy to watch Nadal perform at this level again. Heading into 2017 it was truly a question mark if he ever would again, and not only did he, but he won eight more majors. But honestly, I can't say I wasn't heartbroken, more that it happened at the Australian Open (and less so to Federer). Nadal at that point had only won the tournament once in 2009. He lost in the final in 2012 and 2014 - the 2012 loss in eerily similar circumstances (up a break in the 5th to Novak). He had tragic quarterfinal exits in 2010 and 2011 (injury). It was his house of horrors. It would continue being so after this, but even in 2017 this seemed like his golden opportunity, against his best rival no less (who at the time he was trailing 14-17 in slams), and he let it slip despite being in such a perfect position. Nadal had this mental hold over Federer, and if anything this match until those last five games reinforced it - Federer was better on the day, but here was Nadal after pounding that backhand and making enough plays, up 3-1 in the 5th set. But then Federer just turned a switch - one that basically carried him in the rivalry the rest of the way apart from their 2019 French Open encounter, and in the moment it really felt like Nadal lost his chance at a 2nd Aussie Open for good, same with his chance at overtaking Federer's career slam record. History will say neither claim is accurate, but both felt to be certain locks at the time.

12.) 2020 Divisional & Championship Game

I promise there aren't too many Brady-wins on this list. There is one to come, but anyway, this one was just a disaster. It was deep into the 2020-21 winter of Covid, where one couldn't really do anything. It was a mess of a NFL season, and the Bucs were a wild card team. The #1 and #2 seeds in the NFC were better teams in the Packers and Saints, with legendary QBs of near-Brady stature. The one thing they didn't have was a 2nd ring. All Brady has are rings. And somehow that motherfucker in Tampa beat both of them despite his combined numbers in those two games being: 38-69 for 479 yards, 5 TDs and 3 INTs. He won both of those, on the road (granted with no real fans). Of course, Brady's first time in the playoffs as a Wild Card ever, where he would have to play three road playoff games, he does so in stadiums without fans. The NFC Championship Game was the real horror show, as a 14-10 Bucs lead turned in 28-10 with some normal bullshit, adn then somehow they survived Brady throwing picks on three straight drives. The Packers should've made that Super Bowl (which also would've resulted in a way better game in teh Super Bowl). Rodgers deserved a second ring, at least a lot more than Brady deserving a seventh. A nightmare of two games, at one of the lowest points of Covid, was just a combination I couldn't really take.

11.) 2008 Wild Card

The 2008 Colts team wasn't a great team. They were flawed. They had no o-line or running game. They were in a tough conference and probably couldn't have made it to the Super Bowl, but damn did I want it. I still think (as I've detailed previously) that I have never followed a team with the passion I did for the 2008 Colts. They were such a fun team to watch, and they gave us fans a great ride from 3-4 to 12-4. And it all ended in one dramatic and stunning game. Much like the previous year, the Colts lost to the Chargers because of just pure bad luck. This time, the only thing I will remember is Mike Scifres becoming the GREATEST PUNTER EVER for a day, pinning the Colts three times inside the 10. I will remember Gijon Robinson forgetting the snap count on 3rd and 1 late allowing a free rusher to sack Manning before Manning had really any chance to look for a receiver. One yard there would have ended the game. The Chargers had no timeouts. The game was the Colts. It was another gritty win in a season full of them. A trip to Pittsburgh (where the Colts had already won in a memorable - for me at least - 24-20 win) awaited. The dream season would continue. But it was not to be. Peyton Manning never saw the ball in OT, helped by two bullshit calls on the Colts on 3rd down, and Antonio Gates fumbling around three Colts in OT but being able to recover it himself. The final hammer to my head was Darren Sproles, the little bitch that returned two kicks for TDs in the 2007 regular season Chargers win and a 55-yard screen pass TD in the 2007 playoffs loss, running for the game ending TD. I was not ready for the Colts dream to end right there. The hidden part of that loss was I should have seen it coming. It was stunning the Chargers were in the playoffs at all. The Chargers were 5-8 that season, three games behind the Broncos at 8-5. The Broncos crapped their way to an 0-3 end, but more perversely was the Chargers recovering an onside kick in their Week 15 win over the Chiefs to win that game. The Chargers should never have been in the playoffs that year, and the Colts would have killed that Broncos team. Screw the Chargers. Screw Philip Rivers' smug face, and Norv Turner's weird face. Screw Mike Scifres. And mostly, screw Gijon Robinson.

10.) 2018 Wimbledon Semifinals

Rafael Nadal made the Finals at Wimbledon five straight times he played it, from 2006-2011, winning in 2008 and 2010. Then Wimbledon became a horror show for half a decade for him. He lost in teh 2nd round in 2012 (Lukas Rosol), 1st round in 2013 (Steve Darcis), 2nd round in 2015 (Dustin Brown), and Round of 16 in 2014 (Nick Kyrgios), before missing the tournament alltogether. In 2017, despite him having a great year elsewhere, eh lost again in the Round of 16, this time 14-16 in the 5th set to Gilles Muller. This was an accursed place - and then 2018 came around and he played better. Nadal won an epic 5-setter against Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinal. He arrived in the semis against Djokovic, and it seemed quite clear Nadal would get his 3rd Wimbledon, especially after the final opponent was Kevin Anderson, who beat John Isner 26-24 in the 5th set. Djokovic himself hadn't won a slam in two years, a time beset with weird tiredness, mystics and strangeness. If anything, the fact that Nadal lost this one and to some degree revived Djokovic's career, makes it even worse. I don't know for sure if Nadal wins here if Djokovic stays in the doldrums even longer, however I do know looking back this was his best chance, easily, at a 3rd Wimbledon, and if he wins and the rest of the careers are teh same, it is 23-23 in slams. The match itself was incredible - I watched parts of it at work. The match was seemingly trending towards Nadal when after the fourth set which Nadal won, they reached their curfew and had to start the next day, which they did with teh roof closed for some reason (which was an advantage to Novak), Nadal had a couple break points, but ultimately lost 8-10 in teh fifth. I was distraught, so much so because it was an assurancy that he would beat Anderson. And of course, the idea that this turned Djokovic's career right around. Just a tragic moment as a Nadal fan, even if the match itself for a neutral (though are there any true neutrals when teh Big-3 played each other) was probably phenomenal. It wasn't to me.

9.) 2009 ECQF Game 7

This basically had all the elements of the previous game, except my team didn't go on to win the series (obviously, since it was Game 7), and it was even more stunning. The 2008-09 Devils were a very good team in a good but not great conference. They were the #2 seed, and I really thought they were good enough to win the Stanley Cup that year, but I would be remiss to note how nervous I was that entire series when the Devils drew the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are the Patriots to the Devil's Colts, beating them in 2002 and 2006. Both those years, the Hurricanes were the better team, so it wasn't that bad. This time, the Devils were better. The beginning of the series wasn't too bad, but the real drama started in Game 4. Up 2-1 in the series, the Devils were down 0-3 in the game, but fought back to tie the game, but Jussi Jokinen, of the Hurricanes, scored with 0.2 seconds left in regulation. I kid you not. Amazingly, something similar happened that altered the 2006 series, as in Game 2 of that series (Devils down 0-1 in the series) Eric Staal scored with 3 seconds to go to tie the game, and the Hurricanes would win in OT. I should have known after Jussi Jokinen scored that goal that the series would go to shit, but Marty Brodeur was great in Game 5, a 1-0 win. The Devils failed to close out Game 6 in Carolina (losing 4-0), setting up Game 7. Any Game 7 is dramatic, but close ones are even worse. The Devils took leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, the last coming halfway through the third period behind a rocket shot by Brian Rolston. That lead held until under 2:00. At this point, I was about to die. The Devils were two minutes away from a date with the Capitals. They were about to break their cherry in winning a big game in the Prudential Center. It was all so close, but then lightning struck twice. With 80 seconds left, that bastard Jokinen scored to tie another game. The place went silent, I was gearing up for OT, which against the Hurricanes has never ended well for the Devils, but they spared me that heart attack when Erik Staal scored with 40 seconds left to finish the job. It was a quick execution, and I really wasn't sure what to do. It was unlike these football games that had moments throughout that portended the doom to come. This was going from elation to abject horror in 80 seconds, and there wasn't a Game 6. The season was over, a season that was a really positive one for a Devils fan. Just a killer.

8.) 2005 NLCS Game 5

Before I start, I should admit that the Astros ended up winning Game 6 and the series (of course, they lost the World Series in the closest sweep ever), but this game still makes the list. That David Fucking Eckstein. That little midge. Anyway, the memorable moment is Albert Pujols absolutely hammering a Brad Lidge hanging slider, giving the Cardinals a stunning 5-4 win, but the game was so much more. The series itself was great. The Astros took their 3-1 game advantage turning a ridiculous double play to end Game 4 with Cardinals on 1st and 3rd. They started game 5 but quickly fell behind 2-1, but then, in the bottom of the 6th inning, Lance Berkman hit a line-drive three-run home run into the Crawford Boxes. That brings us to the bottom of the 9th, with Brad Lidge on the mound, and David Eckstein batting. Brad Lidge was the Astros wild-card in 2004, when he struck out 157 batters in 4 innings (which is absurd). He was the full-time closer in 2005 and was basically as good, striking out 103 in 70 innings, with a 2.29 ERA. He quickly struck out the first two batters in the Top of the 9th. Everything was there for the Astros, everything was there for me, who had run through about two sets of fingernails by that point. The Minute Maid Park crowd was just in a frenzy (that place used to get really, really loud). The best closer in baseball at the time was up against David Eckstein, but Ecksten won, hitting his patented ground ball right by Adam Everett. It was a most Eckstien-like hit. Then, Brad Lidge walked Jim Edmonds, and now it was Pujols. Believe you me, the second Berkman hit his home run, I counted how many guys needed to reach base for Pujols to get another at bat. It shouldn't have happened, but it did, and the result seemed preordained. The place grew silent, as did I. Lidge kept the drama going by making Pujols look foolish on his first slider, but the next one he hung, and the best player in baseball didn't miss it at all. I don't think I have ever heard a place go from so loud to so quiet that quickly and drastically. I don't think I have ever been in a situation where I thought a game was over until it wasn't (other than the game at #1, or maybe the game coming right up). The aftermath of the game is strange, because the Astros was Game 6 6-2, and because the series was extended another game, my favorite player, Roy Oswalt, got to pitch a gem in Game 6 and win NLCS MVP, but the series had lasting effects. Brad Lidge wasn't the same, and he would be the losing pitcher in Game's 1 & 2 of the World Series (memorably giving up a walk-off home run to Scott Podsednik, a guy who didn't hit a home run all season). The pitching order was ruined, and finally, the Astros didn't get to celebrate at home.

7.) 2012 Divisional Playoffs

It is hard to rationally explain my thoughts about a game that just happened 9 days ago. I am still not prepared to accept that Peyton Manning's bad luck followed him to Denver. If I re-do this in a couple years it might be lower because I actually like the Ravens (Ed Reed is probably my favorite non-Colts or non-Peyton Manning player), and at least they had the decency to beat New England as well. That said, what a haunting way to lose. All year long, the Broncos d-backs have been great in man coverage. They played tight man coverage without being beat deep. Well, the odds caught up to them in force in that game, as Champ Bailey was beat deep often early. The Broncos had chances to take over that game, but their play and the refs didn't allow it. First was the awful DPI call on 3rd down two plays before the bomb TD to Torrey Smith when the Ravens were flat down 7-0. Then was the non-call DPI on Decker as he tipped the ball up for a pick-6. Then was the Matt Prater missed field goal (Manning has had horrible field goal luck throughout his playoff career), turning a potential 24-14 halftime lead into a tie as the defense shat the bed again. Then was the ultra-conservative call to take it to halftime with 35 seconds and all three timeouts. Then was the conservative nature of just running the ball to waste clock late. Finally, it all came full-circle with the worst defensive play I have ever seen. I will be haunted by the memory of Rahim Moore taking the world's worst angle to that bomb. I will be haunted by realizing that Moore wasn't going to make the play. I was haunted by the stunned silence of that Denver crowd. Add into it a nerve-wracking OT, when after the Ravens were backed up with a 3rd and 11 inside their ten the Broncos not being able to stop a throw to Pitta, or the dropped INT by Chris Harris. And finally the final, admittedly awful, pass by Manning. I felt a pit of dispair in that moment knowing that Manning gave some wood for the haters to use to pump up their fire against him. Sadly, this isn't even close to the worst loss I've had to suffer through. 

6.) 2019 World Series Game 6-7

Weirdly, I didn't really watch either of these two games. Game 6 coincided with teh kickoff of my first ever Consulting Project where I was the PM - it played in the background at a Raleigh steak house, but of course I was watchign it intently. Game 7 played out while I was flying to India, me following along by refreshing ESPN.com over and over again. Somehow, this fact didn't at all change the fact it is so damn painful. The 2019 Astros were a ludicrously good team. Their lineup went Springer-Altuve-Brantley-Bregman-Yordan-Tucker-Correa to start. They had Cy Young winning Verlander backed up by 300 strikeout Gerrit Cole and still-good Grienke. They won 108 games. They were dominant. Forget all of that though, after losing Game 1-2 at home, they dominated games 3-4-5 in Washington. It seemed pretty obvious they would win one of two games given (a) how good they were and (b) no series ever had the road team win every game. That just doesn't happen! Of course, 2025 me writing this knows the Astros did that exact feat again in 2023, but what really hurts is unlike in 2023, both of these two games were close. Not only close, the Astros led late in both games. They led 2-1 in the 5th inning of Game 6, with Verlander dealing, when he gave up back to back home runs to Adam Eaton and Juan Soto. More frustratingly, in Game 7, they led 2-0 in the seventh innning, when infamously Howie Kendrick's foul-pole home run gave the Nationals a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Game 7 is always "all hands on deck" but AJ Hinch stuck with Zack Greinke a bit too long, but more meaningfully, the Astros were incapable of scoring insurance runs. They dominated those first six innings, but just couldn't score a third or fourth run. 2nd inning they had 1st and 2nd no one out. 3rd inning they had 1st and 2nd one out. 4th inning they had 1st and 2nd two outs. 5th inning they had 1st and 3rd with two outs. They had chances, just couldn';t get the hit. Somehow also, following by refreshing ESPN.com made it worse. It was a long remaining eleven hours of the EWR-BOM flight when it was over - making it worse, not better. And the cherry on top, of course, was the cheating scandal getting broken a few weeks later - so while these were in a way the last untainted memories, they were shitty ones. The only reason it isn't higher is because had they won the World Series and then the cheating scandal breaks, I actually think players would've been penalized.

5.) Super Bowl LI

This one is obvious no? It was truly my worst case scenario nightmare being a Patriots / Brady hater - seeing them embarrassed for 40 minutes and then inch by inch come back and win a game they didn't deserve to win because the opponent crapped their pants staring a win in the face ten times. Truly, like if five separate things across a few drives don't happen, the Falcons win this game. The most notable being after the insane Julio Jones catch, the Falcons literally could've kneeled the ball three times, kicked a 48-yard field goal for a 31-20 lead and pretty much guaranteed them the win. But no, they threw it, committed holding penalties, and had to punt. Same with the Matt Ryan fumble, or of course the circus catch by Edelman. To take the Julio catch example, had they just ran in three times, kicked a field goal and won, I'm sure many publicly would've still annoyingly credited Brady's brilliance for even getting them to 28-20 (or 31-26 or whatever the final would've been in this scenario) but at least we would have him losing again, and I really liked that Falcons taem with their amazing orchestra of an offense. Some may be surprised that I don't have Super Bowl XLIX on this (the Malcom Butler interception game) and that's because I didn't really like the Seahawks. That was a lose-lose. This was not taht. This was just awful, made worse by me needing to wake up at 5am the next morning for a flight to freezing Toronto (at least a hidden victory was escaping to Canada where they had already moved onto hockey in the first good Leafs season in a decade). This was the game that probably also ended any GOAT debate for good (even if I'll go to my grave believing 18 > 12). What's funny is this collapse mirrored so much of the 2021 Divisional Game between the Rams and Bucs (where the Rams blew a 27-3 lead before utlimately winning) that it made me relive this nightmare again. I can admit Tom Brady is at worst the second or third best QB of all time, but he is by far the luckiest one and this was the prime example that will haunt me forever.

4.) 2013 NBA Finals Game 6

You would think the Spurs ballyhooed romp in the 2014 Finals would make the wound slightly less painful. You would be wrong. I was long a Spurs/Duncan fan, since probably their 2005 Title, or maybe it was when they tossed aside the Cavs in 2007 (back when I didn't like LeBron.... I was dumb...). Or maybe it was in 2008 when I rooted for them against Kobe (who I hated). But by 2010-11 season, when they decided that offense and passing was fun, and they would start basically inventing the modern NBA, I was hooked. In 2011, they ended up losing to Memphis in embarrassing fashion. In 2012, they were even better. People extoll the 2014 Finals Spurs and rightly so, but the 10-game run to start the 2012 playoffs was even better, and then the Thunder just ran them off the court athletically. Well, in 2013 they avenged the Grizzlies loss and played by far the best Heat team of the LeBron era. They won close in Game 1 in Miami. They embarrassed the Spurs in Game 3 and 5 in San Antonio (granted, the Heat beat them easily in Game 4). They led Game 6. Not only led, they basically won it. I remember watching that game with friends at one friends place. I was the resident Spurs fan / Pop & Timmy glazer and was ecstatic. None of us were really Heat fans, but a couple LeBron fans. I can still remember that sequence to end the game. Spurs hit one of two free throws to go up 5 instaed of 6. Heat miss a three, get the rebound and then hit the three. Then the Spurs again hit one of two free throws (the misses were Kawhi and Ginobili - two stone cold playoff killers), and then of course, Duncan was subbed out for some reason and again the Heat miss a three, get the offensive rebound (Bosh - who Duncan presumably would've been on) and Allen hits the three. Despite OT being close, and Game 7 being really close, it was over the second Allen hit that shot. I rallied some fake contentness to write my first ever "The Acceptable Loss" column (done twice more after that - the 2015 Clippers beating the Spurs, and the 2017 Aussie Open Final) but looking back that wasn't true at all. This wasa the greatest non-NFL gut punch. This led to the darkest of summers. Yes, many will say it led to the Spurs laying waste to the world in 2013-14 and really inventing modern basketball culminating with the greatest three straight games ever played with Games 3-5 of the 2014 Finals, but none of that matters. Hell, my #8 was a loss in a series my team would still win. None of this is supposed to make sense.

3.) Super Bowl XLIV - Saints 31 vs. Colts 17

Losing a Super Bowl hurts, but oddly this one didn't hurt too much that day. The game itself was closer than the score, but it is hard to really say the Colts deserved to win. The Colts played conservatively (running the ball three times after their goal-line stand late in the 1st half). The Colts decided that letting 50-year old Matt Stover kick a 51 yard field goal was a good idea (it wasn't). They dropped passes, broke badly in routes, turned it over, and couldn't even force the Saints into a 3rd down in the second half. No, what really makes this one hurt so much is its lasting effect. There have been worse Colts losses in terms of how I felt after the game and the following few days (including all the ones on this list, as well as maybe the 2004 Divisional Game because of how embarrassing it was), but other than the one to come, none are so awful to remember looking back. I have mostly come to terms with losing to San Diego, or being Mike Scifred, but I still haven't come to terms with Pierre Garcon dropping a 30-yard gain on 3rd down up 10-3. I still haven't come to terms with Dwight Freeney hobbling through the game because of him falling awkwardly on Mark Sanchez late in the AFC Championship Game. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that Hank Baskett felt it necessary to use his face to recover that onside kick (most awful, insane coincidence: Hank Baskett once recovered his own team's surprise onside kick with the Eagles in their close loss to the then 10-0 Patriots in 2007). I haven't come to terms with the opportunity cost of losing. Had the Colts won that game Peyton Manning would never have to hear shit again. Had the Colts won that game, Peyton Manning would have all the numbers but have his 2nd ring, beating a good QB in a tough game. Had the Colts won that game, I could have written my "The Beatification" column that I planned to write after Manning won his 2nd Super Bowl. It would have all been worth it, the years of losing early, the years of being kicked in the nads by the Pats, the years of the scorn and ridicule, because Manning would have that 2nd Ring. And although this one might be hard to prove, I believe it earnestly, that had the Colts won that game, Peyton Manning would still be a Colt today. I loved the 2009 season, the Colts chase at perfection, that fun Saints team, the Favre renaissance, the Pats getting embarrassed by Baltimore, but it had to end in the toughest way possible. Screw You, Hank Baskett.


2.) 2005 Divisional Playoffs - Steelers 21 @ Colts 18

And despite everything I just wrote about Super Bowl XLIV, this one was worse after the game, and still worse now. The 2005 Colts team was absolutely the best team in the NFL that year. They just picked the worst possible time to have their worst game in a performance absolutely no one anticipated. So many things went wrong with that game. For once, the whole "The Colts resting their starters makes them rusty" logic actually was spot on, and the Colts were asleep for the first 15 minutes, as Ben Roethlisberger came out flinging the Steelers to a 14-0 lead at the end of the 1st Half. The Colts woke up finally near the end of the half but their long 9-minute drive fizzled out near the 5-yard line ending in a field goal. The Colts were even worse in the 3rd quarter as the Steelers added another TD. It was 21-3 entering the 4th Quarter, the RCA Dome was silent, and every Colts fan thought that they were living out their worst nightmare. The Patriots were already eliminated in the 2005 Playoffs. Everything was there for us Colts fans, as all that was between the Colts and the Super Bowl was a team they had beaten 26-7 six weeks earlier, and the Broncos, who the Colts beat 90-34 in the 2003 & 2004 playoffs. But none of that mattered when it was 21-3, but then the team finally woke up when Peyton Manning waved off the punt team late in the 3rd Quarter, completed the first down and started what could have been the greatest 4th Quarter Comeback in playoff history. We all know how it ended, with Peyton Manning down 21-18 getting the ball near his 20, but his great o-line let free rushers in on two straight snaps and they turned it over on downs. It was amazing to see the Steelers defense just befuddle Manning and the lineman. It wasn't like they were blitzing five or six guys. Most of the time ti was just four, but the Colts couldn't decipher it. And that's how the great season ended... I wish. But God had to jerk us all around by having Jerome Bettis fumble, have Nick Harper scoop up the ball, and have him running with just Ben Roethlisberger and some fat linemem between him and the end zone. I still remember where I was when this happened. I was in the basement, and I couldn't believe what I saw. I ran upstairs to where my parents were watching the game, and yelled "Can You Believe What Just Happened!!!" At that moment, there was not one bit of me that thought the Colts weren't going to score at least a FG there, and probably a TD. But Bryant McFadden (an unkown rookie at the time) perfectly defended a near TD to Reggie Wayne, setting up a game-tying 46-yard Field Goal opportunity for the most accurate kicker in NFL History. At that time, I didn't know how unclutch Mike Vanderjagt was, but the second the ball left his foot on a path nowhere near the upright, I knew. I still remember what happened next, with CBS cutting to four different reactions to the missed field goal. It was Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis all saying "He Missed It", in highly different ways. Bettis was relieved, Cowher was jubilant, Dungy was understanding, and Manning was fucking angry. Of course, I said the same thing, and I was crushed. That was the best Colts team I have ever seen, and they should have won the Super Bowl that year. They didn't because Nick Harper's wife stabbed him in the knee, because their o-line seemingly didn't know what a zone blitz was, and because Mike Vanderjagt is an idiot kicker.


1.) 2001 Divisional Playoffs - Raiders 13 @ Patriots 16 

This will probably never be topped. It is hard to come up with a more perfect heartbreak. Fist, put a person at an age where they truly don't understand the volatile life of a football fan, add to that where that person is following a sport earnestly for the first time and his favorite team happens to be good, but the person is naive and doesn't understand the pain that comes with losing. Then add a beautiful, haunting setting like say a picturesque blizzard in Foxboro. And then, finally, add a referee's call, a call so infamous that it's rule that the call is based off of is arguably the most infamous rule in the NFL. Add it all up and the sum is my worst personal sports loss. The reason I hate the Patriots isn't so much Brady and BB beating the Colts from 2003-2004, or their continued success and the arrogance that came with it, but because those guys won their first ring because the referees robbed my team. My team won that game. My team from California went to New England, played in a blizzard and outplayed the Patriots for 58 minutes. They were up 13-3 entering the 4th quarter, but their pass rush went dry and their running game went away (they had a 2nd and 3 the drive before the Tuck and couldn't get the one first down they needed). But even after Brady's running TD to make it 13-10, he needed luck. Let's get to the play. I still remember Charles Woodson running unimpeded at Brady from the corner and Brady not seeing him. I remember that oblong football rolling around the snow and Greg Biekert jumping on it. I remember the silence in Foxboro and the celebration on the Raiders sideline and in my basement (it is amazing how many of these moments I lived through in my basement). I then I remember Walt Coleman starting to review the call. Despite my limited knowledge of the NFL at the time, I had a bad feeling it was going to get overturned. Maybe it was the building anxiety of the crowd, but it felt like that call was getting overturned. I still don't know why. Even if the Tuck Rule is a rule (and it is), I don't think it was applied correctly, as it seemed to me when Brady was hit and the ball came out, Brady had both hands on the ball which seems to me as the end of any 'tuck' motion. Also, I don't see how any angle showed conclusive video evidence, as the call of the field was a fumble. I don't see how Walt Coleman could have reversed that call. Walt Coleman, a ref who I still hate to this day, and I find it beautiful that he's never been given the honor of reffing the Super Bowl, which I like to think is a silent punishment by the NFL for screwing up the Tuck Rule. Of course, Adam Vinatieri then hit the most ridiculous field goal ever, and the Patriots dynasty was born. That last fact is the worst part. Tom Brady started his career 10-0 in the playoffs, but he should have started his career 0-1, fumbling away a home playoff game. His whole reputation as a QB is built off that first playoff comeback that never should have happened, and it is all Walt Coleman's fault.

Nostalgia Diaries, Pt. 32: March Madness over the Radio

This is a story about Kevin Pittsnogle. It's also about Chris Paul. It's also about WFAN, and my parents getting me a walkman that also had a radio tuner. The year was 2005. Yes, it was a different, decades ago time, but a special one nonetheless. Someday, I'm going to do a larger post about WFAN, which plays a role in this story only tangentially (we'll get to it), but this isn't that day. This is learning to love the NCAA tournament through radio.

March Madness as a kid was fun for many reasons - the brackets and the fact it had "madness" in the name. Somehow our Middle School (I was in 8th grade in 2005 March), and then high school, even played early round games on TV - granted this was before the March Madness Online app. Hell, that should be obvious b ut more than that it was before the Boss Button, which came out the next year. Back then only CBS showed games, and maybe they would switch from game to game, but you kind of got what you got. Still, some of the insanity was still there - especially the fact the late games the first two weekends would go quite late.

During March Madness, WFAN would simulcast CBS Sports Radio broadcasts of March Madness. WFAN would do this at various other times - SNF/MNF or the World Series, etc., but them doing it for March Madness was a bit strange. From memory CBS had an ownership stake in WFAN or something, but it was a way to keep abreast of games that would go on well past my 10pm bedtime (by memory it was 10pm, though I probably tried to extend to 11pm by that point). I had no TV in my room. I had no laptop, granted this was the year before watching sports on your computer became a thing (the whole Boss Button thing...). All I had was that little walkman.

To be honest, I don't even know what made me push to get a walkman that had a radio tuner. It was definitely before I started listening to WFAN - it was probably more to be able to listen to WPST (the teenie-bopper channel of the late-90's / early-00's in the Philadelphia / Central NJ area). But overtime as sports overtook my life, it became my way to listen to WFAN nightly. It was also the beginning of me going to bed with headphones in my ear, something I've basically only weaned off of recently, a good 20 years later.

But anyway, back to March Madness. I distinctly remember the first game I listened to. It was March 18th, 2005, and it was Bucknell's crazy win over Kansas, a 13-seed beating a 4. The 2005 tournament was the first time I did a bracket - I picked Illinois to win it all (like most of the world) but had Kansas going to the Final Four. Not sure why. Instead, I listened over radio, visualizing this school I'd never heard of keep things close and then won on a bank shot win 10 seconds left. This was the same day that infamously Vermont beat Syracuse (an early finish I could watch on TV). I remember being slightly annoyed (my bracket being busted) but also enthralled about the March Madness of it all - and more surprised I felt that way through visualizing basketball in my dreams listening only with my ears.

That didn't come close to the next day, when on March 19th, a plucky West Virginia team took on Wake Forest - a 7 v 2 seed. The two seed Wake Forest had Chris Paul. The seven seed West Viriginia had no one known at the time, but that wouldn't last. Through my earhole I was introduced to Kevin Pittsnogle, Mike Gansey and others, as West Virginia won one of the crazier games in early-round history, a ridiculously dramatic 111-105 win double OT.

Mike Gansey, who would never amount to all that much, had 29 points, 19 after halftime. I probably only started listening after hafltime (Wake led by 13 at the half). Wake just chipped away with big shot after big shot - hitting three after dramatic three, including a few by their giant Kevin Pittsnogle. It's crazy that I remember the moments of this game - West Virginia tying it late in regulation, Wake Forest tying it late in the first OT, Chris Paul fauling out, and "Gansey... again!" ringing out. I can remember this game so vividly despite only listening on TV. I don't think I even watched highlights or a replay of it for another ten years (when a lot of old March Madness games got uploaded to Youtube) - as somehow the game was vivid enough through the radio.

So let me wax poetic about the radio for a bit. I knew what sports on TV was. I'd watched sports on TV for years before 2005 March Madness, and already loved sports in general (if not college basketball). I realize people in the 1940s or whatever didn't have a choice. I did, but somehow in my first real exposure to games on the radio, I realize just how great the radio announcers are. I could see Gansey stepping back and draining threes. I could see the tension rise on the play of all Kansas Jayhawks players (their first round loss a year later to Bradley is another game I followed on the radio). I could see it all playing it out in my subconcious. It was my way of realizing how special a good radio announcer can be.

That all said, it isn't like I suddenly started following sports on the radio - it was solely a March Madness thing, other than maybe falling asleep to some Mets west coast games on WFAN or something. But it is surprising still taht part of the reason I love March Madness is those incredible close, late games I listened to on the radio twenty yaers ago, and really none more than that West Virgina v Wake Forest thriller - when unknowns become stars for the night, where Chris Paul was only the third nbest player on the court, passed up by a guy in Mike Gansey that was so obviously one of those "99% of us will go pro in another field" types. That was what March Madness is about, and somehow a radio was able to teach me that.

The House, Pt. 6: And Then it was New

Back in July of last year I wrote one of the more emotional series of pieces on this blog, a five parter about the impending sale of the house I grew up in, the only house I ever knew. Now, let's put some context for the silliness - I have my own house now (my apartment, whcih I'm quickly outgrowing). I'm lucky also that my parents held onto that original house for so long for no real reason apart from love. Most of my friends have experienced a move or two in their day. Somehow, I had escaped that. But back in July I had to, and yeah it was emotional.

Every 2-3 weeks from that point onwards (or at least those where I was in town) I would drive back towards Plainsboro. Either to visit friends, check up on the house, do some random moving of things in storage, and others, but there was always a need to some degree to visit Plainsboro again. Each trip would include a drive by the old house, and then a drive by the new house. Overtime, I guess enough new stuff was added to the new house that they started locking the front door - so I couldn't go in and soak it in. A few times I got lucky - once for some reason the window was open (of what was to become my bedroom), and once they left the front door unlocked for some reason. But generally, it was a bit pyrrhic of a moment. 

That's all over - my parents moved in on February 5th (sadly a week where I had to travel to Germany for work - sadly....). I arrived for the first time on February 13th. It wasn't supposed to be that way. I had planned a trip to Southeast Asia for President's Day Weekend and the week after, like I've done in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. But 2026 it wasn't meant to be, there were more important places to be, namely 3 Prall Drive.

I don't know quite what I was expecting that first time driving up the drive-way. I parked in the street I had so many times before when checking out the place voyeuristically, but when I walked up those steps, for the first time since the last moments in the old house I teared up. Still not sure why that was my reaction, but it weirdly was. This was a new chapter in my life (let alone my parent's life) whether I liked it or not, so I walked up those steps, rang the doorbell (didn't need to - the door was open) and walked in agape.

Full disclosure - the new house is quite nice. It's a couple hundred thousand dollars less than the old house, but is only about 300 square feet less (granted, that doesn't include the basement....). It is modern. It has a cavernously high 20 foot ceiling in the main area. Te kitchen is nicer. The house screams modernity in a way our old house was trying to but didn't quite do. We're very blessed, but still this was a moment.

What's hard to put into words is this is really the first time I stepped into a new house that was ours that I can remember. I guess my apartment in 2020 comes close, and truly that time I also teared up with joy with a giant smile on my face that I don't think I've still forgotten. But that was an apartment. This is a home. This was something different - a feeling of happiness for my parents, but also for me and my sister (who was there as well - she beat me there!).

There's some differences for sure. The bedrooms apart from the master are small, including mine which is the smallest of all them, significantly smaller than my bedroom in the old house. There's no basement for me to retire to at 11pm to watch random stuff and look at random old trip photos. Instead, there is the first room / office, where I jerry-rigged as similar a setup, but the thin walls force me to listen to the videos over bluetooth - not impossible, but just different. One would say this is a sign for me to stop this ridiculous ritualistic weekend practice, but I'm nothing but inventive.

But when it all hit home, no pun intended, was when I went to bed in my new bedroom, but my same bed - the bed I hadn't slept in in seven months, the one hiding in storage, when it really hit me. These seven months were rough because memories of comfort never go away. I had a home in Plainsboro - I have one now in Cranbury. Having the new one made me OK with losing the last one, because it isn't the physical structure, it is the memories, and the people and things central to those memories are still there (apart from maybe the Garden....).

My parents, thank the Lord, are still here. My sister is still here - plus added another to our little family unit with her husband. The family piano is still here. The family recliners are still here, if now in the loft vs. central casting in the great room. My bed is still here, and the bookshelf where i held such nonsense like random Sports Illustrated magazines and all the Harry Potter books. A kitchen where we can make memories over food is still there, if not fully improved. This crystallized the next day, Saturday, when I helped open a ton of boxes.

As depressing as packing up the old house was, the prospect of unpacking in the new house was helpful to keep us sane about the whole endeavor. Months later, the positive prospect of unpacking came through fully, as each box I helped rip open and unpacked became a chance to reminisce about the past, about these random objects that were worth saving and that I hadn't seen in seven months, hidden away in one of four storage units. It was a performative exercise to guffaw of each random surprise hidden in those boxes, but it was all too real as well.

At the end of all of it, I'm left ultimately happy about how this all went down. Packing up the old house was a ton of effort, was dramatic, was painful at times, but through it all there was this shining light of a new house, one that we visited the plot before there was a structure. I visited throughout its growth, from a concrete foundation, to the wood walls, to drywall, to a bit further. Through this all led to some incredible moments where I had to host my parents in my apartment in July and October, where we traveled the world (of South America) in December and January, and where every now and then we would go back to Plainsboro. Today we get to also go back to Plainsboro, to a new home with so many memories to come.

The US Hockey Team Did It

The first hockey related post I ever wrote on this blog was in teh winter of 2010, when the Americans pushed a stacked Canadian team to OT, with New Jersey Devil Zach Parise scoring the goal to send it to OT, only for Sidney Crosby and those dastardly brilliant Canadians to rip our heart out. At the time, I wrote that no US sport can bring us together on teh national stage like hockey. Soccer probably comes close. The two unifying threads there are that we are underdogs in each - very much so in soccer. Hockey was the perfect blend, we were good enough to dream of Gold. We were good enough not winning at least a medal (like 2014) was a huge disappointment. Well, sixteen years later, we did the deed - and I do think it shows how hockey is the perfect sport to rally around, even if the aftermath shows just how strained this country is vs what it was in 2010.

I will address the Trump nonsense later, because while I think it is all overblown, teh fact it has gotten so much airtime is a bit of the point of where this country is slipping, but let's talk about the game, the win first.

I went out with four friends on Saturday Night in Princeton, NJ, going out fairly late (for Princeton), and I was shocked that three of the four were planning on getting up to watch the Gold Medal match. One of them is a fairly big hockey fan, at least come the playoffs. The other two are to my knowledge not, but this was big enough - USA v Canada in the showcase event of the Olympics. A micro-example of how this cut across sports into something bigger.

The macro example was getting up on Sunday morning, and following twitter on teh side while watching that enthralling game. I follow a lot of sports related people (reporters, athletes, pundits, talking heads). Some are squarely hockey writers/pundits/etc., or ones that talk about hockey enough that it wasn't surprising to see tweets from them. Then there's the set that are more general sports people, and it wasn't surprsiing either. But then there's a lot of people who I'm pretty sure do not follow hockey tweeting about it, in the hours of 8-11am on a Sunday (or earlier, some are West Coast based). There were basketball twitter people who may have never watched a second of NHL action; baseball people, football people, soccer people.

But that was nothing compared to the wildest group that got into the action - the people not even related to sports. The newscasters and news pundits, the actors and actresses and musicians. I do think that is the power of the Olympics a bit - because the prior paragraph about non-hockey sports people talking about it was fairly equally true of last year's smashing success that was the Four Nations tournament. This was that times a hundred.

Every know and then I would even venture over to the Wild West of the "For You" part of Twitter, and between various annoying AI slop came again random people talking about this game that I love. I know inherently 97% of them won't suddenly start watching hockey, but it is still cool as a die-hard hockey fan to see so many people start loving the sport as much as the national pride part.

And truly that was the best part - as many of the Tweets were about the quality, speed, ferocity, passion of the game - the incredible saves of Connor Hellebuyck, the incredible singular effort of Matt Boldy on his goal, the incredible final moments and the goal by Jack Hughes (another Devil!), and so much more. People seemed to tune in for USA! USA! and get captivated by the game itself, which was so cool to see.

None of that matters in comparison though to the reaction after that winning goal, the outpouring of emotions, everything to do with them celebrating and honoring Johnny Gaudreau, the celebrations on the ice, Jack Hughes being interviewed missing teeth. I had long wondered what it would be like to see the US win gold, and all of it was as incredible as I could have imagined.

That's when the tweets started pouring in of various bars (amazingly opening early, or in the case of the West Coast staying open late), families in homes, and people reacting to the insanity of the Hughes goal and the aftermath. This is sports, this is patriotism, meshing in again a way that it only can with the US Men's Hockey team, be it 1980 or now. Yes, if somehow the USMNT could theoretically win a World Cup it would be bigger than this, but that will almost certainly not happen. The US winning Gold just did.

That does bring me to the only downside, which I put much more on the reaction and the faults that show in our national consciousness (and in this case moreso on the left) compared to 2010. It started with Kash Patel celebrating with the team, which is gross. And then continued with Trumps phone call and terrible joke. The culprits were Kash Patel for thinking he deserved to down beers with the team, and Trump for making a terrible, misogynist joke as he is wont to do. Somehow though, the Men's team started catching heat - and this is where today's far-left liberals are just too awful. 

What did they want? A group of 20-30 somethings that just accomplished one of their life's goals in the most dramatic way for their country, to tell the damn FBI Director to get out? Or even more ridiculously, to either (a) not accept a call from the damn President of the United States, or (b) while being simultaneously high on emotions and drunk out of their minds, to not reflexively laught at what was an admittedly funny line (which if anythign was aimed at the liberal mindset as much if not more than the women's team), or (c) even more ridiculously castigate the President on live TV?

Can we stop this nonsense - the rush by some to equate a few chuckles (along with a few "two for two" chants) with a view that the men's team is a bunch of misogynists is just crazy. Also, it is well known this other than maybe baseball players, hockey players skew more right than other athlete groups, so it should not at all be surprising that much of that team would be fine taking a call from Trump. But even then, we may hate him - hell I hate Trump as well with every fiber of my being, but he is still the President right now and absolutely has the right to congratulate a US team on their success. I do wish the team left it at a white house visit rather than attend a State of the Union which is essentially now a campaign rally, but whatever. The fact so much energy has been expounded this is the height of liberal ridiculousness.

Anyway, back to happier topics - in the end, I won't forget that feeling when the 3-1 sprang in OT (started by a masterful chip out of the zone by Hughes), seeing Werenski outduel MacKinnon and layer over a soft pass right into the shooting zone, and then my current favorire NHL player rifle it past. That moment, the celebration it led to, was just so special, it did everythign that I hoped it would do when I wrote back in 2010 about the dream of one day seeing the US accomplish this feat. So grateful to be around to see it.

Thoughts on my Game of Thrones Rewatch

After the great early success of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a really nice show that I hope stays that way even if they've now more directly connected its characters to the central ASOIAF lore (the Targaryens), I finally decided to bite the bullet and do a Game of Thrones rewatch. I haven't done a full one since right before that final season. Not surprising, since that last season was so universally shamed (very much so by me as well) that I never felt inspired to rewatch it, knowing just how badly the stories came together. Didn't stop me from watching House of the Dragon and enjoying parts of it (though Seaseon 2 was hilariously slow from an actual moving the plot perspective). Didn't stop me from jumping into Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. But Game of Thrones was something I thought I had fully left behind.

And then I decided to rewatch it. I know how badly it ends. I've long said that if I ever rewatch it, I would stop after Season 6, when I wish the show kind of did end. To remind, that season ends with Cersei blowing up the Sept & most of King's Landing, effectively making her queen, Jon is crowned King of the North with Sansa & Arya by his side, and Dany finally starts sailing across teh Narrow Sea, with all three dragons, the Dothraki, the Unsullied and the houses Tyrell and Martell to boot. That should've set-up an epic end - and I'm sure GRMM's actual way to end it would be great, but of course the show fumbled that fully.

Anyway, I'm now at the tail end of Season 4, and I'm starting to already think do I watch Season 7 and 8 when the time comes. I probably just sack up and do it (very notably, there's not many episodes in those seasons!), but watching this again, knowing how it ends, I definitely have some newfound thoughts on the whole thing.

= Firstly, while we can all hate Season 8, and many hate Season 7, we should all remain a bit objective in saying at its early peak GoT was just incredible. It is still incredible television told at a scale rarely done before with generally great success.

= It's hilarious though how small the budget clearly was in the old days - Season 1 is the most stark (no pun intended) example, where King's Landing wasn't yet in Dubrovnik, the Wall was just Castle Black, and they had to essentially cutway from any real fight scene. Hell, Dany's tiny dragons in the finale were seen as some incredible CGI magic. Even in Season 2 they couldn't really show much of the Blackwater Bay battle for the same reason. What I guess needs to be said is the show wasn't any worse off.

= Knowing how badly the story ends for many "honorable" characters cuts no easier this time even knowing their fate, but what's more clear this time around is how badly Robb Stark fumbled everything. Many people noted how dumb Nedd was throughout Season 1, how many outs he had to avoid his fate, but the same is so true of Robb - from how often he just ignores Roose Bolton's ironically generally sound advice, to his inability to realize he could probably just get away with Talisa being a mistress. He really was as dumb as his Dad, which ironically makes The Red Wedding hurt less this time.

= While the Red Wedding wasn't as depressing (it was never going to be as shocking), Joffrey dying was just as fun this time. It is amazing how everyone alive knew he was just a piece of shit but had to just bow down to him - gratefully something that we don't have to face in real life in America.....

= The casting and performances are amazing. It's truly incredible how many unknown actors Game of Thrones was able to unearth. It's sad many have been largely typecast in their roles ever since, but truly from the Stark kids, to Joffrey (just brilliant at playing a devil), to Dany (yes, I will continue to stan that Emilia Clarke is very good, moreso in those early seasons), to so many other unknowns, they just knocked it out of the park in those early seasons. Case in point, in Season 4 where we see Pedro Pascal show up as Oberyn. I had to look up, but indeed this was before Narcos (not sure if he was already cast in Narcos...). Other than The Wire, I don't know if any show with nearly this large an ensemble ever did a better job.

= For one of teh few criticisms I have with the early seasons, I think Jaime's turn to honorable was way too quick. He was still very much an aggressive dick when in captivity in Season 1-2. I geuss it was getting his arm chopped off, and the moment he goes back to save Brienne from the Bear that is his turning point, but that was way too quick. This is the same criticism of course we would levy way later in the way they turned Dany, but tehre were signs of unearned change.

= Speaking of Dany, many people point to various decisions in these early seasons that show this secret monster (e.g. locking Xoro and her handmaiden in teh vault, her crucifying the Mereen masters) but truly all of these things make relative sense in the show. None of this justifies the seconds-quick turn to her burning King's Landing. None of these things was any crazier than Robb chopping the head of Lord Karstark, or Cersei blowing up the crypt, or a score of other things. Don't let people gaslight you into saying the groundwork for Dany being a monster, or "Mad" was being laid well.

= There are a few storylines that I hated the first time and continue to hate with a passion - particularly Ramsay Bolton torturing Theon. But also early Theon taking over Winterfell as well. Basically everything involving the North post Robb Stark getting killed is just a mess, and this is before I have to watch Sansa get raped and what-not. I know in the back of my head the Battle of the Bastards is some sort of comeuppance, but still Ramsay is just too cartoonishly evil (even in a show that had Joffrey). 

= That said, there is a storyline I do like more this time, and that is John's adventures North of the Wall. It's odd, even if ultimately the white walker story ends stupidly with the Night King just getting beaten in a traditional way, everything going on North of the Wall works fairly well, from people ignoring the threat, to all the Craster / Mance / Wildlings stuff. I'm not really sure why it's playing better this time around when I found the North of the Wall stuff a slog the first time around (and I'm not even that big a Jon Snow fan) but yeah, I would go for a GoT spinoff just focusing on the comings and goings of the Night's Watch.

= We needed more small council scenes - from Nedd making a fool of himself, to everything involving Tyrion during his run as Hand, to Oberyn in Season 4, every Small Council scene is amazing. The politicking of Game of Thrones was one of the underrated apex points early on, an area that got way less import and air time after Tywin died and Tyrion escaped, but my God did I enjoy every one of those. I know I'm a few episodes away from this being a focus of the show, but I've enjoyed every moment of it so far.

= This is a random one, but at this point I have no idea where Dany's dothraki that go across the sea come from. It's clear after Khal Drogo dies that most of them leave her. She never makes any concerted effort to find others, seemingly content to go on with the Unsullied and Second sons. I assume I'm forgetting something in Season 5 or 6 that shows where the Dothraki return to her side, but it's just weird knowing how clear a role they play in teh Loot Train attack, and how Danaerys is still referred to so often as Khaleesi that there's like none of them around.

= The one storyline that I think works exactly the same this time as it did on teh first watch, in a negative way, is everything to do with Stannis. Now, I realize I'm writing this before he slightly redeems himself by actually caring about the white walker threat (before he, you know, burns his daughter alive and loses to Ramsay...) but still he's just so damn boring. What's odd is that I remember at the time book readers were saying how book Stannis is far more interesting, but show Stannis was written in a way that boring-ness was the point (in that he couldn't get any loyal following compared to Renly). All in all, that storyline is a mess, and just a waste of Stephen Dillane's immense talents.

= On the other side, the one storyline that works as well on the positive side this time around is Arya's pre-Essos days, particularly her sparring with Tywin at Hardhome and her time with the Hound. I know the story is abut to take some boring turn in Essos before some intersting stuff after, but man was that such a well written, pointed character in Seasons 1-4. Her interactions with Tywin and her winning his affection (to some degree) was excellent. Same with her rapport with the Hound; just great stuff.

= My last random point before a closing thought/hypothesis - on rewatch, my new worst character (in terms of emotions, not at all performance) is Cersei. Like I get we are supposed to feel some level of pity because she was used as a pawn with Robert and later Loras, but fuck all that. She's just the worst. I get "she loves her kids" but everyone in the realm knew Joffrey was just pure evil (including Jaime and Tywin) but she didn't accept that. I guess we're supposed to appreciate some maternal instinct or something, but eff that, she just sucked. Lena Headey played it great, but tehre's no character who I think less of on this rewatch than her - other than maybe Stupid Robb Stark

To conclude, early Game of Thrones remains excellent. I've seen a lot of talk about how good Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is, and it is great, but let's be truthful - peak Thrones was better. Few things are better than peak thrones, even if it was a bit inconsistent at its peak. There's good reason why it was such a cultural touchstone, and that brings me back to my final takeaway - I think we're being too hard on Benioff & Weiss.

Here's the main aspect of that - I 100% believe that they assumed when they started the show in 2011 that GRRM would finish the damn books by the time they ended the show. Hell, the final book came out during the run of the show. Now, we can criticize them for just throwing their hands up at the end and doing these abridged Seasons 7-8, which they absolutely should not have done, but this idea that they were nothing without GRRM's material is only half true, because it was never supposed to be them doing the show without his material. I don't know if there's any parallel in TV or even movie history where the creator was expected to adapt content for part of it and then shift seamlessly into creating his own.

Granted, I 100% believe the ending was what GRRM told them it would be: Dany turning mad and lighting fire to King's Landing, Cersei and Jaime dying together, Jon being Aegon VI Targaryen, and ultimately even Bran of all people being on the Iron Throne. And yes, D&D did nothing to actually earn that ending, but they were never supposed to. We can critique them for Season 7-8, and more largely Season 5-8 (given that's when the show outpaced the books), but that was never the deal. They were brought in to adapt books and that they did brilliantly. Even the stories they cast aside (Jayne Westerling, Lady Stoneheart) were reasonable. Get off their backs, their job of adapting GRRM's source material was done excellently.

As to the opening question on this, I'll watch Season 7-8 because I'm pot committed at this point. I know I'll hate Season 8. I'll probably think less of Season 7 than I did at the time. I know GoT ends badly, but much like HIMYM, which I did rewatch through its glory days before, that shouldn't overlook how magical this was at its peak. It was one of the last true cultural touchstone shows, and for great reason. It was that good, and upon rewatch it still is in most ways. God bless the fact this show existed, even if we can rightly crucify its last few seasons. But I think we shouldn't just assume the terrible ending says anything about how good, how enthralling, how well acted GoT was at its peak.

Learning to Love the Winter Olympics?

I'm an unabashed Summer Olympics head, probably starting with the Rio 2016 games where I had more time on my hands, the games were on at the right time (for me), and NBC's app game was starting to elevate itself. During the 2020 games (in 2021) it remained and then reached a new maximum with Paris 2024, where through Gold Zone and the various other elements of the Peacock Olympics app, I watched a bit of everything. I truly love those games. Which leaves a weird counterpoint of never being a huge Winter Olympics head. It's odd, as I love hockey, and like the cold but until this year probably never gave it the same chance. Until now. It isn't like I'm suddenly a big Winter Olympics fan, and I won't be counting down the days to 2030 games in "The French Alps" (yes, the official host designation), but still this has been a new start for the Winter Olympics in my life.

Let's start with the obvious - as a huge hockey fan, of course Olympics hockey has meant a lot to me over the years. I remember in 2002 watching Canada win gold - more happy that Marty Brodeur and the two Scotts played big roles than I was sad the US lost. I remember even more in 2010 when Canada won again with Crosby's Golden Goal - it was a thrilling hockey game, a brilliantly played one where Devils great Zach Parise scored a game-tying goal at the death. It was a brutal loss as a still proud American at that point.

2014 in Sochi had NHLers playing, but combination of time zones and a pretty feeble US team made it a romp for the Canadians, and then the darkness. The biggest reason I probably tuned out the 2018 games in Pyeongchang and 2022 in Beijing was that the NHL stupidly didn't let their players go. This is the biggest marketing opportunity for the NHL - and yes people get hurt (like Steven Stamkos in 2014 breaking his leg), but still. Anyway, with no NHL players there in 2018 or 2022, adn the games being in Asia so at brutal hours for Americans, I basically tuned those two events out.

But the NHL is back this time, the follow-up for the little appetizer of the Four Nations Face Off last year. We haven't even hit the full stride of the tournament this time around, but just that specter has gotten be more interested in the Olympics as a whole, and I think I've been missing out. It isn't the summer games, but there's a lot special here.

For maybe the first time, I sat and watched most of a curling match (the semis and gold medal US matches in teh mixed tournament). I looked up the rules. The sport is probably a bit too long (the matches I mean) but damn isn't it brilliant strategy on display. I then sat and watched more of the downhill skiing and luge and skeleton and so much more. I'll get to a few reasons why I don't think the Winter Games lends itself to the brilliant the Summer Games does, but all these sports are interesting and more than that, require some amazing athletic feats. 

Truly, there is more danger, more death-defying brilliant feats in teh Winter Games, from downhill skiing and ski jumping, to all the track sports (luge, skeleton, bobsled) where ypure' going 70mph+ inches above sharp ice. All of it is just insane. All of it requires such ability to block out the lunacy of what you are doing. That element of danger just isn't there in the Summer Games, but works brilliantly here.

These are the things I love about teh Winter Games, also the idea of just how easy most of the games are to get - just who gets down a hill or track faster, or who can fly longer, or skate faster. But it's where you get outside these more simple ones that the Winter Games starts to struggle a bit more for me.

The judging sports, be it figure skating to all the games lifted from the X-Games into this (the freestyle skiing, snowboarding) just miss the mark for me. Of course, teh athleticism is insane, but much like with Gymnastics in the Summer Games, I can't undersatnd the weird scoring system, I can't really tell visually the difference between a 1080 and a 1200 and a 1440 and what not. I have no real way of saying who is better than who other than listening to the announcers. This all hurts my love of gymnastics relative to how most people see it, and for the Winter Games there's just a lot more of these sports.

Secondly, I don't like that so few of them actually put all the competitors on the field/track/etc at the same time. Granted, it's tough to do in downhill skiing or luge or what-not - people go too fast being the main issue. But it just takes away some of the head to head competition element so present in nearly all the best summer games. There are exceptions of course, and that's why i love the speed-skating (where even in long track at least we get 1v1 heats). It's also why I got so enthralled by Snowboard Cross, which was an incredible back and forth of the four snowboarders going at it side by side trading blows. We need more of these types of events.

Back on the positive side, what this games has oozed is how fun it all seems - the setting in northern Italy is stunning, with such perfect light snow, great chalets and villages. People all seem to be having a great time, no group more so than the athletes themselves who seem overjoyed - probably helps that for the ones that have been to teh Olympics before this much seem like such a relief vs. the still Covid-effected 2022 event. The setting, the coldness, the hot cocoa and everythign else makes me actually think attending an Olympics is more fun at the Winter Games than Summer.

Let's see how my views change the rest of the games over this last week, when the hockey heats up, the short-track speed skating takes over, and we get the bobsled (not sure why that one appeals to me, but have taken a liking to luge and skeleton as well). I may continue this upward trend of interest to the point where I may put out a ranking of Winter Olympic events, or fade away if hte US hockey teams do poorly (granted, that women's team is absurdly dominant so far). But either way, my appreciation and love for the Winter Olympics is higher now than it was ten days ago.

2025 NFL Playoffs: Super Bowl LX Review

Player/Coach of the Game: Mike Macdonald  (Coach, SEA)

This was his masterpiece, much like last year's was Vic Fangio's. Once again, a defensive playcaller schemed up his already great defense to produce some legendary results. This one more prominent because the offense didn't help all that much, and this was the head coach doing it. It's surprising that this is the first time a defensive playcaller headcoach has won a Super Bowl - to be honest, not sure how many got the chance, but Mike Macdonald was able to showcase every bit of ingenuity. His hammering of secondary blitzes, going against type, was brilliant. The coverage games was great, and more than anything he got his team to play at such a locked in level from the jump - again much like Fangio's defense last year. Just another amazing defensive performance to swarm to a Super Bowl.

Runner-Up: Kenneth Walker  (RB, SEA)

Anytime a defense dominates a super bowl but has no one standout player, there is some outcry for a defender, or even a unit to win MVP. Once again that happened here, but Kenneth Walker absolutely deserved that MVP. His patient style was brilliant, so often evading initial Patriots line penetration to spin things outside and repeatedly beat a defense that had been playing so fast to the edge time and time again. He was quite good between the tackles as well. Walker even had two first down receptions, much to the chagrin I'm sure of Cris Collinsworth who bashed him after the one drop. I was stunned to realize it had been nearly 30 years since a RB won Super Bowl MVP, but this was absolutely deserved.

Goat of the Game: Drake Maye  (QB, NE)

It's really more a goat of the playoffs. To be honest, not sure Maye was any worse in this game than in the Broncos game or Texans game. He was better in teh Chargers game, but only because he got a scoche more time. Yes, the Seahawks are a great defense, but Maye also flat out missed a half dozen throws he sshould make. He was slow to get rid of the ball. He missed easy checkdowns. He fumbled twice, again, and nearly a third time. Drake Maye is such a conundrum headed into next season but this was a disastrous playoff for him - just exposed because finally he had to score more than 16 points. It will be so interesting to see if there's much carryover. We can play the "well, what do you want, he played great defenses" card, but if you play four great defenses you should have more than zero good games.

Runner-Up: Josh McDaniels  (OC, NE)

What didn't help Maye at all was maybe the most listless performance by McDaniels in a long time as an OC. He's supposed to be a savant, but he was absolutely a joke in this one - made no adjustments, got beat on the same secondary blitz time and time again, did nothing to help his offense other than calling a few swing passes on that first drive. The Patriots offense had just no creativity all postseason and that was never more clear than in this game. I don't think McDaniels will get a 3rd head coach crack anytime soon anyway, but certainly not after that performance.

Surprise of the Game: Seahawks Run Game

It's not so much that the Seahawks ran it well - they do that every now and then, but that they did it against the Patriots rush defense at full strength. The Pats when they have all their horses up front had been great against the run, especially geting negative plays. They got a few of those here, and missed a few others because of Walker's aforementioned shiftiness, but also was surprsied how often the Seahawks OL won on one-on-one blocks in the trenches. It was old school, but it worked.

Runner-Up: Seahawks Punt Coverage / Punting

To be fair, the Seahawks are an excellent specital teams unit, but the one place that the Patriots seemed to at worst be on equal footing, and at best have an advantage, Well, Dickson was masterful (even getting quasi-serious / quasi-joking MVP love), and the coverage unit was just as good. They completely took out one of the few X-Factors that could've given the Patriots some life, with Marcus Jones being completely negated. In a game where the Seahawks defense wasn't going to give up much, the Seahawks had to make sure there was no other route for the Pats to score.

Disappointment of the Week: Patriots OL

To be fair, we knew they were a relatively weak unit, but the extent to which the Patriots OL got worked was still surprising in the negative. Campbell usually has at least a few good run reps and even that didn't happen here, with the Patriots run game failing to get off the ground also. Their inability to pick up blitzes and lose in space against smaller secondary players was surprising. The right side of the OL which was the relative strength was basically as bad as the left side. Just a full meltdown by that unit.

Runner-Up: Sam Darnold

This is going to sound weird, but I was sad for Darnold more than at Darnold that he missed a few throws. I mean, to some degree who cares. He won teh damn Super Bowl, and he was better than just a passenger, but it would've been cool for this redemption story to have an even better conclusion. And he came close, but a few small misses took a few TDs away, and saved this from being a Super Bowl XLVII type blowout. In the end, Darnold gets his win anyway but the storybook could have been even more perfect.

Team Performance of the Game: Seahawks DL / Blitzers

I mean, what else. The Seahawks DL just owned that game, winning with 3/4-man rush time and time and time again. Doing yoemans work against the run as well, letting the Seahawks stay in their preferred nickel / dime packages the entire game. Everyone on that DL ate, from Williams and Lawrence as the vets, to Hall as the sneak potential MVP, to even a classic Justin Smith type bull-rush sack. And then of course the blitzing from Witherspoon and others was even better - so well timed, so well rushed. This was a masterpiece.

Runner-Up: Seahawks Secondary

It's funny that the front gets more love for me because the secondary is the standout unit. I only have it below the front because I think that was the story of the game, the way they sped up Maye. They also didn't give him much to throw to. They were so disciplined at the back (save of Woolen's late reaction on teh TD). They were clogging up zones. They jsut locked down Diggs and the TEs. Yes, Maye missed a few throws, but there will always be some throws. That was nearly as good a performance by a secondary as the Eagles last year.

Team Laydown of the Week: Patriots Skill Players

Diggs talked a bunch this year. He was a non-factor, hilariously spiking the ball in celebration on his catch down 29-7 in teh fourth quarter. Boutte had a bad drop, and generally couldn't get separateion. The TEs were fairly anonymous. Pop Douglas was probably the best receiver, which is a problem - and if it wasn't him it was Mack Hollins, even more of a problem. The Patriots skill players were playing above their heads all year, but fell below their heads on this one.

Runner-Up: Mike Vrabel

Vrabel seemed just lost in this one, not realizing he had to paly more aggressive, that the Seahawks were not going to be the Broncos. To be honest, Vrabel coached this game like it was the Broncos or Texans on the other side. The lack of aggression on 3rd down, not even considering going for it on 4th and <3 a few times, the most egregious that 4th and 1 right after halftime. And then him not going for two after scoring the TD to make it 19-7 - not that it would've mattered. For a coach who so often his the tactical game management elements down to a tee, they were missing completely in this one.

Storyline that will be Beat Into the Ground: The Legion 2.0

It's funny there's been a rush after this win to confirm that while they were a truly great defense and well rounded team, teh 2025 Seahawks are not the reincarnation of the 2013 unit - that there isn't a Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas type on this defense. Well, while maybe this is true, it is weird that even in what was really just their second great year as a defense people already talked about Sherman and Thomas that way. Maybe they will about Witherspoon, and Emmanwouri, and others. This defense is young, with many locked up. Darnold isn't as good as peak Russell Wilson, but probably closer than people think. I don't know if this is the start of something special, or a 2002 Bucs type "it all came together perfectly one year" but I think we are underrating the chance this is the start of something special.

Storyline that Should be Beat Into the Ground: The Patriots Were Who We Thought They Were

I think what this postseason has taught us is that even though they made the Super Bowl, the Patriots were schedule merchants. They were also "it's just a down year in the AFC" merchants - a bit like the 2021 Bengals in a year where the 12-5 Titans were the #1 seed. I think lost in the "they had the easiest schedule" is just how easy, like historically easy. ANd even the record probably understated things, as the played the Bengals without Joe Burrow (he came back literally the next week) and the Ravens where Lamar Jackson got hurt and left midway through (the Ravens likely win if Lamar stays). The Patriots then got three bad offenses, including the luck of playing a backup QB. Good for them to take advantage of those things, but that Super Bowl showed what was pretty clear, this is not a Super Bowl caliber team in a normal season. Who knows if next year will be a normal one, but looking at their schedule next year, there is a damn good chance the Patriots win nowhere near 14 games again, but could still be a better team. But for 2025, they were who we thought they were, and thank God for all of us that the Seahawks didn't let them off the hook.

Super Early Super Bowl LXI Pick:  Ravens 27  49ers 20