The last time I was this excited about a football game was approximately…4 years ago.  Couldn’t wait…tick…tick…tick…then a few hours later, some unknown receiver – a special teams guy no one knew – caught a ball on his helmet, despite having Rodney Harrison draped on him like a scarf, and the rest as they say is history.  So despite my enthusiasm, I have to fall back on my traditional New England roots and remember that while this is not the New England Patriots team I grew up with, I am still a Boston sports fan and bad stuff seems to happen to us at the most inopportune time. 

Bucky Dent goes deep,  phantom calls on Sugar Bear Hamilton, Bill Buckner, Aaron Boone, David Tyree, Joseph Addai…yes, even the Patriots have become what the Red Sox were for so long: the team that gets so close then…  It’s been 4 years since that Super Bowl.  5 years since THAT AFC championship game.  A lifetime since that call on Sugar Bear ended the Super Bowl run of the best Patriots team up to that point.

And yes, it was 10 years ago this past week that the most amazing thing in Boston sports – probably ever – happened.  One of those odd-ball calls went OUR way: what the hell is a “tuck?”  David Patten getting literally knocked out, with possession of the ball, and out of bounds.  All kinds of weird things going on in the sporting universe.  Even the Red Sox have won a World Series…or two…  it’s like something has been seriously amiss in the universe.  And yes, even the Celtics and B’s got into the act, but the C’s have never really been considered a loveable loser, and the B’s – they got close a few times, but never really the heartbreak the Sox and Pats had.  Super Bowl XLII reset the sporting world back on it’s apparently usual and customary axis, most recently demonstrated with the conclusion of the 2011 baseball season…ok, usual and customary as far as Boston is concerned.

Sunday at 3PM, the Patriots have the opportunity to knock that axis back off its tilt – at least to some degree.  They would still have to win everything – and think of it, winning everything on the field Peyton Manning made possible, on the field of their decade long arch rival – to truly demonstrate the axis has shifted, but honestly to get to the AFC title game this year is a victory in and of itself – coming out of the bye with 2 straight losses, they were 5-3.  Hardly a ringing endorsement.  A win tomorrow would obviously be reason to celebrate – and I don’t think any Pats fan thinks it’s a foregone conclusion, I’m pretty sure most of us have had whatever remained of the cocky swagger knocked out of us over the last few years. 

And when I say an axis shift requires a Super Bowl championship, I’m not saying I will not be happy with this season if they don’t win…or even get to the Super Bowl.  I’m saying I’ve enjoyed the ride, I love watching my team play in January, and I’m hopeful.  Fact is, anything – good or bad - can happen: a helmet catch, a tuck, a phantom holding call…who knows.  All I know is that I’m excited.  And I like that feeling.