The Greyhound
Matt Kiebus
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Sports
ROME -- Greetings. I'm in a foreign land where wine is cheaper than a bottle of water, and the natives play the wrong type of football. The Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens, steroids -- baseball in general -- are not talked about, watched or even acknowledged.
On my first day I watched a handball match between Germany and Montenegro on TV. The German-speaking announcers were beyond enthusiastic; they gave Spanish soccer announcers a run for their money.
To put it simply, it's another world over here, and it's really hard to keep up with the American sports scene because of the six-hour time difference, lack of televised games and Internet.
However, I'm lucky my host family has a package called SKY sports. Basically it shows a lot of soccer, European basketball, volleyball, taped NBA games and amazingly live feeds of the NFL playoffs.
Yes, Joe Buck is just as annoying.
I was awake until 4:15 in the morning watching the Giants-Packers game because I feel morally obligated to watch my father, Brett Favre, play anytime he is on TV. (Favre is second only to Bruce Springsteen on my list of false idols.) I was decked out in my flannel shirt and Wrangler jeans; I didn't shave for a week in anticipation.
As the night wore on, and the "gunslinger" was slinging in the direction of the weak Giants secondary, I prepared myself for what I felt was an eminent Giants-Patriots Super Bowl.
Then Lawrence Tynes missed a field goal. Then he missed again. A brutal death surely awaited upon his return to New York (or the Giants sideline).
Then the Packers won the toss in overtime. All was right with the world; the most rugged man alive was heading back to the mountain top, and he was going to carry the Packers to a monumental victory over the Patriots.
Then the Giants won.
Picture the scene. Me. Alone. I was lying on the couch -- getting cold just watching the game -- munching on bad potato chips and sipping a Coca-Cola that I paid five euro for. I knew Loyola's campus was erupting, and thanks to the late-great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., you had into the early morning to celebrate.
On my first day I watched a handball match between Germany and Montenegro on TV. The German-speaking announcers were beyond enthusiastic; they gave Spanish soccer announcers a run for their money.
To put it simply, it's another world over here, and it's really hard to keep up with the American sports scene because of the six-hour time difference, lack of televised games and Internet.
However, I'm lucky my host family has a package called SKY sports. Basically it shows a lot of soccer, European basketball, volleyball, taped NBA games and amazingly live feeds of the NFL playoffs.
Yes, Joe Buck is just as annoying.
I was awake until 4:15 in the morning watching the Giants-Packers game because I feel morally obligated to watch my father, Brett Favre, play anytime he is on TV. (Favre is second only to Bruce Springsteen on my list of false idols.) I was decked out in my flannel shirt and Wrangler jeans; I didn't shave for a week in anticipation.
As the night wore on, and the "gunslinger" was slinging in the direction of the weak Giants secondary, I prepared myself for what I felt was an eminent Giants-Patriots Super Bowl.
Then Lawrence Tynes missed a field goal. Then he missed again. A brutal death surely awaited upon his return to New York (or the Giants sideline).
Then the Packers won the toss in overtime. All was right with the world; the most rugged man alive was heading back to the mountain top, and he was going to carry the Packers to a monumental victory over the Patriots.
Then the Giants won.
Picture the scene. Me. Alone. I was lying on the couch -- getting cold just watching the game -- munching on bad potato chips and sipping a Coca-Cola that I paid five euro for. I knew Loyola's campus was erupting, and thanks to the late-great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., you had into the early morning to celebrate.
After the deflating Favre loss, I was fortunate enough to have a three-hour ethics class on less than four hours of sleep. My mind wandered (we were studying Plato). I sat there angrily, questioning a world that not only let Brett Favre lose, but could allow a Giants-Patriots Super Bowl.
Are you kidding me? What in the name of Don Shula did we do to deserve this? OK, it'll probably be a great game, and will attract one of the biggest markets ever for a Super Bowl. It takes the New York-Boston rivalry to another level. But, for all the non-Giants and Patriots fans in the world, we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. I can only think of two reasons to root for the Patriots: remember how much we all hate Miami, and Teddy Bruschi, the nicest linebacker alive.
I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. (Feel free to laugh.) Trust me, the games just aren't that exciting when your last playoff memory was the Music City Miracle 10 years ago. We also lost to the Giants once. Ever heard of Scott Norwood, or wide right?
Pardon my cynicism, but Patriots fans are the most obnoxious on the planet, narrowly beating out Eagles, Yankees and Duke fans. They also narrowly beat the Bills this season by a combined 94 to 17.
Bill Belichick is great coach and also of other things that aren't appropriate to print. Tom Brady's ascots and velvet jackets get on a lot of people's nerves and Rodney Harrison likes steroids.
Giants fans are almost hilarious in their ridiculousness. I've never seen a group of fans hate everything about their team more than Giants fans at different points in the season. Tom Coughlin was supposed to get fired about 15 times by now, according to astute fans and the New York tabloids.
Eli Manning? The "awe-shucks" son of the NFL first family has been the most hated man in New York for a couple years now. Frankly, Isaiah Thomas would even admit that.
Of course this all changed after his victory over the Packers. Eli beat Favre in Green Bay when it was negative- four degrees out. Before Week 15, Giants fans were calling for his head. All season, when the New York Football Giants had a commanding lead in the division, fans wanted him traded.
"He doesn't have the killer edge;" "Eli sucks" -- that was the normal public opinion. Well, he just led your team to the Super Bowl. Be happy for once, but just hope he doesn't channel Kerry Collins, your last NFC Championship quarterback.
All that being said, I like Eli and the Giants by three over the Patriots.
I've probably made a good amount of enemies with this article, and I'm quite upset that I'm missing the hype leading up to the game, but I'll settle for my Venice trip this weekend.
As for the Super Bowl, the most watched American sporting event each year, I'm going to be in Tuscany, wine tasting with my class.
If anyone would like to send me a nacho platter and some buffalo wings, it would be much appreciated.
Are you kidding me? What in the name of Don Shula did we do to deserve this? OK, it'll probably be a great game, and will attract one of the biggest markets ever for a Super Bowl. It takes the New York-Boston rivalry to another level. But, for all the non-Giants and Patriots fans in the world, we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. I can only think of two reasons to root for the Patriots: remember how much we all hate Miami, and Teddy Bruschi, the nicest linebacker alive.
I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. (Feel free to laugh.) Trust me, the games just aren't that exciting when your last playoff memory was the Music City Miracle 10 years ago. We also lost to the Giants once. Ever heard of Scott Norwood, or wide right?
Pardon my cynicism, but Patriots fans are the most obnoxious on the planet, narrowly beating out Eagles, Yankees and Duke fans. They also narrowly beat the Bills this season by a combined 94 to 17.
Bill Belichick is great coach and also of other things that aren't appropriate to print. Tom Brady's ascots and velvet jackets get on a lot of people's nerves and Rodney Harrison likes steroids.
Giants fans are almost hilarious in their ridiculousness. I've never seen a group of fans hate everything about their team more than Giants fans at different points in the season. Tom Coughlin was supposed to get fired about 15 times by now, according to astute fans and the New York tabloids.
Eli Manning? The "awe-shucks" son of the NFL first family has been the most hated man in New York for a couple years now. Frankly, Isaiah Thomas would even admit that.
Of course this all changed after his victory over the Packers. Eli beat Favre in Green Bay when it was negative- four degrees out. Before Week 15, Giants fans were calling for his head. All season, when the New York Football Giants had a commanding lead in the division, fans wanted him traded.
"He doesn't have the killer edge;" "Eli sucks" -- that was the normal public opinion. Well, he just led your team to the Super Bowl. Be happy for once, but just hope he doesn't channel Kerry Collins, your last NFC Championship quarterback.
All that being said, I like Eli and the Giants by three over the Patriots.
I've probably made a good amount of enemies with this article, and I'm quite upset that I'm missing the hype leading up to the game, but I'll settle for my Venice trip this weekend.
As for the Super Bowl, the most watched American sporting event each year, I'm going to be in Tuscany, wine tasting with my class.
If anyone would like to send me a nacho platter and some buffalo wings, it would be much appreciated.
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