One Down, One to Go

I had a difficult time falling asleep on Sunday night, I tossed and turned, thoughts raced through my mind. I woke up on Monday morning groggy. The sky was dark, it was raining, I didn’t want to get out of bed. Why is it raining, I thought. Southern Californians always question the rain, we question its very existence, but then I remembered, oh yeah, that’s that storm, the one that was up north yesterday…that’s when it hit me and a huge smile stretched across my face.

Watch the video portion: http://afandivided.com/2012/01/26/one-down-one-to-go/

The Giants are going to the Super Bowl! A few weeks ago did you ever think we'd be saying that? If this is a dream, please don't wake me up.

A strange thing happened to me as I was watching the AFC Championship game--I think I was rooting for the Patriots. Am I crazy? Don't answer that. I think I figured, if this was going to happen I may as well embrace it.

When Billy Cundiff's kick sailed wide left, I knew we were going to the Super Bowl. So I decided to try to enjoy our game. To aid in that, I repeated this simple mantra, "We are going to win this game, and then we're going to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. " One down, one to go.

In reality, our game could have gone either way. The 49ers played a great game. They were impressive on offense and even more so on defense. When we kept trading possessions near the end of regulation and into overtime, I thought this game may never end. In a game, where the offenses had been beaten down by two great defenses and the weather, someone was going to have to make a big play, and thankfully it was the Giants.

That poor kid, Kyle Williams, should not blame himself and neither should the fans. Great teams force you to make mistakes or they outlast you until you do. Eli Manning played mistake free football. He won us that game by not giving it away. And Devin Thomas made the two plays of the game, without either of them, we may not have won that game, we may be still playing that game.

But as fate would have it, Lawrence Tynes would get a chance to win another NFC Championship game, in overtime. I haven't watched a Tynes kick all season. Well I watch sort of like this (in the video I put my hands over my eyes). If I were Tom Couglin, I would have taken a few shots in the end zone, but, of course that is how the game had to end. As he lined up, I covered my eyes, but then I thought, no, we're going to win this game here and then we're going to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. And I lowered my hands. I was going to watch this one. For dramatic effect and because we were in San Francisco, the snap had to be low, but the hold was perfect and the kick was perfect. We won the game and we were going to the Super Bowl. One down, one to go.