The season begins with no wins and two losses. Oh yeah, and we've had 80 points scored against us in two weeks.Questions swirl around the organization: Will Coughlin be brought back? What in the heck is up with this defense? Why bring Eli back for another season of getting to the playoffs, maybe, only to lose in the first round? At this point there surely are more questions than answers.

     Fast forward to the playoffs. First of all, we shouldn't be here by most accounts. We've "stumbled in" to the playoffs - the gift was ours for the taking and we allowed other teams to potentially take our Wild Card spot. We shouldn't be here.

     Let's go to Tampa. There's no way that this offense, especially because we're crippled by the absence of Shockey, can move the ball in the air against a top-rated pass defense. We won't be able to win because we used up what emotional gas we had on the last regular season game against the Pats. Three players were also injured in this "meaningless" game. To top it all off, we're playing the game in their house, so that point is yet another strike against us. And we surely can depend on the past as a model that we won't make it past this, the first round of the playoffs. We never have done it with Coughlin or Manning, so it must be an impossible task to undertake. Tiki will be on the Tampa Bay sidelines, too. And my gosh, what Tiki said about Eli's lack of leadership earlier in the year surely is the gospel truth. Is there any positive aspect about this game for the Giants? I just don't see it. How about a win? And therein, the first shock has taken place - a Giants victory. Within the circus of post-game disbelief, we see that we don't get much credit for the win. The opposing team's players would rather blow off the loss by saying that Eli just chose the easy throws and did nothing special.A few sports people notice the win, but they're already focused on the next game - round two of the playoffs - versus the Cowboys.

     Let's go to Dallas. There's no way that this rag-tag group of future "dirty players" can win in Dallas. Besides, everyone remembers that Dallas has beaten us twice in the regular season. We're playing in their house, so just as it was in Tampa, that's a strike against us before we even walk onto the field. Romo is simply unstoppable according to the medias' standards; he "torched" the Giants in their two regular season contests, so he will do just that again. Eli won his first playoff game, but that's as far as he will go. He's not the typical leader. He's too quiet, he's too reserved, and it's just difficult to fathom Eli leading any team to another post-season victory, because he always has his head down. Dallas is sending a record number of players to the Pro Bowl, and the Giants are sending only one. Not many notable sports people are giving the Giants a chance in this game, so that's another strike against us. Also, Eli is due to have a bad game, and Romo is due to have a great game. The confidence of the Cowboys and their staff is overwhelming at this point. How nice it is to play a familiar foe, especially one that you have already beaten twice! The mental edge goes to the Cowboys. There's simply no way that the Giants can win, especially if the Cowboys get Barber running well early in the game. Oh, wait a minute - the second shock has now taken place. Eli has a banner day. T.O. is in tears, making soggy the popcorn he had prepared for devouring after a Cowboy win. Crayton, who ran his mouth constantly leading up to this game, is unusually quiet now. The Cowboy's coach maintains that the better team lost. And Prince Romo, poised for perfection, closed the final game of his season with an interception. "At least we had a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown", they think," instead of fumbling the field goal snap." A few more sports people notice this win, but again, most have already focused on round 3 of the playoffs versus the nearly unstoppable-at-home Packers.

     Now let's go to Green Bay. Man, put on the gloves and sleeves for this one. We can't win this game mainly because it's too cold. History says that since we are playing at Green Bay, and because it is below freezing, we are at a terrible disadvantage. The Packers "dusted" the Giants earlier in the season, so once again, the chance is great for that to happen. There's no way that this dirty defense could cover the Packer's receivers. History always repeats itsself. Brett Favre is such a wylie veteran who has been in this situation before. The crowd noise at Lambeau is, alone, a strike against us. Eli's been good for the past two weeks but everyone knows that is bound to change. We've watched Eli for years and he probably had a lucky two-week run. OK, so he's won two playoff games now. He won't win his third; he's not Payton Manning, you know. And in walks the third shock. This one is the shock-of-shocks. Favre, that same seasoned, wylie veteran, has thrown an interception that seals the Packer's unlikely loss. The Packers have lost? Eli is as consistent as ever, throwing the ball as if he has no idea that the temperature is slightly under 0 degrees. One or two more people notice this win and decide to jump on the bandwagon that has recently formed; surely, however, the streak has to come to a complete dead end in two weeks versus the Patriots.

     Time to head to Arizona for the Game of Games. Funny how many of the "in the know" sports people pick the Giants early on, only to recant prior to the Big Game. You know, the Giants should have lost the game two weeks ago. Heck, it took them three field goal attempts, and one of those in overtime, just to win the game. The Patriots may be taping/videoing all our practices (just kidding there, Patriots fans). The Giants are wishing that this game was being played a week earlier, because now the Giants will find it difficult to continue the week-by-week momentum that they had accrued since round one of the playoffs. The opponent has set all kinds of scoring records. This team is undefeated, and once again, we have history to guide us. The Pats beat us in our last regular season game; we let the lead go in that game, so that means that our defense can be beaten. The head coach is a well-known guru. He's like the "Yoda" of the professional football world. The opponent's quarterback is due for a great game, as he didn't play so well in their previous playoff game. There's no way that the Giants defense can get to the quarterback because they didn't do too well at it in the previous matchup. The Patriots missed so many "big scoring opportunities" in our previous contest. They are much older on defense, but that's really a plus for them because it means they have more experience. They have more players going to the Pro Bowl. The weather will be perfect for football, which will allow the Patriots to capitalize on the Giants' dinged-up secondary in the passing game. They haven't lost one single game; we've lost six. It's been forever since they've lost a game. They have too many offensive weapons, so there's no way that they could all be covered consistently. They've already won a few Super Bowls recently. The last Super Bowl that we went to, well, wasn't so good for us. Even after three unlikely playoff wins, Eli is still quiet. Plaxico says that the Patriots will only score seventeen points in a loss, a stupid comment directed at a team responsible for NFL scoring records. Vegas says that we're two score underdogs. They won their division; we didn't. In our last meeting, the only reason why we kept it close was because we had a fluke kick return for a touchdown. Eli is Payton's younger brother. He's a baby because he refused to go play for the Chargers and wanted to play for the Giants instead. Eli's older brother, a better quarterback, couldn't win against the Pats earlier this season. Coughlin is happy enough with the team's progress that he really doesn't care if the Giants win or lose this game. The Patriots have two weeks for the guru to prepare against the Giants. The changes that Coughlin made earlier in the year with regard to players/discipline/etc really elude to how "soft" he has become, which basically means he's letting the prisoners run the prison. The Patriots are a more physical team. David Tyree wouldn't even be a starter on most NFL teams. The past three weeks have spent all of the Giants' remaining emotion. Only two teams starting their seasons 0-2 went on to win the Super Bowl, which is one more checkmark in a long list of checkmarks against us. There's no way the Giants could get another "on the road" win; crap, they've already set the reocrd for that - which is an irrelevant record, by the way. Randy Moss is due to have a banner game, as he has been virtually invisible since the playoffs began. The commercial with Eli and Payton licking cookies is just stupid. The coach for the Patriots was once a coach for the Giants, you know; he knows the Giants very well. A co-worker told me that the Pats would win by at least two touchdowns. Eli would just look dumb at Disney World. The Giants team, as everyone knows, is dirty. The Giants won't be able to pick up the exotic blitzes that the Patriots will bring. Maroney is really coming on here lately. If the Giants are losing at halftime, they will lose the game; history says so. One of those ESPN Radio guys says that the Patriots are better in all categories of the game, except for one. Shockey isn't playing for the Giants in this one. Eli will choke in this game because he has no idea what range of emotions he will experience; there's no way he can prepare for that. Eli isn't too swift on his feet, so that plays into those exotic blitz packages mentioned earlier. Brady will complete a few big bombs in this game, just as he did in the earlier matchup with the Giants. Tom Coughlin didn't get this far with the Jaguars.

     I'm sure you get the idea by now, and as incredibly stupid or as plausible as you find these to be, they are ALL reasons I have heard as to why the Giants will lose this game or that game. These either came from fan chatter or incessant rambling by "sports authorities".

     And as you might have guessed, enter the fourth shock - the shock that really counted! Eli showed up yet again. There were actually discussions between my Giants cronies and myself about how he looked like Tarkenton on a few plays, uncharacteristically scrambling around to get free to make a play. Tyree, that guy who probably wouldn't start on any other NFL team - the guy who made few catches this season, if any - made (in my estimation) the most important catch to facilitate the unlikely victory that was ours. Plaxico showed up, as well. He made a catch that all but sealed the fate of a previously "perfect" team. The defense stood tall, put Brady on his back when necessary, and didn't give up when the going got rough. We took one of the best offensive teams in NFL history and held them to their lowest point total for the season. As a matter of fact, they had season lows in several categories, all of which escape my thoughts.

     There were incredible odds against us in this game; there were incredible odds against us all season. These were the same odds that made most believe that we didn't have a chance in Hell of pulling this off. Just as in the past games, with all of the ominous predictions against us, we pulled off the upset. This reminds me of David and Goliath, a story fitting for us as underdogs. We are Giant Underdogs, known now to the long line of beaten, unbelieving naysayers as GIANT CHAMPIONS. Our guys wanted it more and decided to just take it outright from the Pats.

     Erase the idea for any publication regarding 19-0, unless it reads something like this, somewhere: ".....what could have been...."

     We didn't have the perfect season, but we did have the perfect ending.

     TO )#%_#)% with the rest. New York Giants, Super Bowl Champions, World Champions - has quite the ring, huh?!