I just finished watching the ends of the Patriots-Eagles game (live) and the Broncos-Bears game (Tivo).

FOR THE LOVE OF THREE FLIPPIN’ POINTS! The Patriots won by three (boooo! hisss!) and the Broncos lost by three (double boooo!).

Not only do I love the Broncos, despite their fitful season, but I loathe the Pats. Loathe. Don’t get me wrong, my lip-curling detestation has nothing to do with their new dynasty/superteam status of recent years. No, no, these feelings go way back. All the way back to the fall of 1986, the first of several football seasons I spent watching the Patriots-Broncos regular season games on a small black & white TV in the back office of the Harvard Square copy shop where I worked. The guys I worked with were, naturally, rabid Pats fans. I was fresh in from the Centennial state and felt a fierce need to hold tight to my identity as Not A New Englander. It really helped that most years Denver whupped New England.

Dex is not a football guy. A few years back, he got a little caught up in following - from a safe distance - the rise of the Patriots because the people he worked with were diehard fans. It’s the old theory of “if you don’t raise them with some kind of religion, they’ll be ripe for whatever cult comes along.”** He never could understand my utter disdain for all things Patriots. I mean, yeah, Brady is a fantastic QB. But I just can’t let myself go there. And the better they do, the more I am surrounded by the trappings of fandom for a team I find distasteful, and the more I resent the whole damn package.

This year, I am standing by my not-that-great Broncos. I’m also pulling for the Packers to go the distance.

[Elway] led the Broncos to five Super Bowls, winning twice. He retired as the winningest quarterback in NFL history, a mark that Green Bay’s Brett Favre broke with his 149th win in September.

Elway, who didn’t win it all until his final two seasons, said he’s enjoying watching Favre’s resurgence.

“Watching him, he’s still enjoying it and he still can play,” Elway said. “So, everybody wants to keep telling him he has to retire. I’m like, ‘Dude, keep going.’ You’re not going replace what you’ve got right now. Plus, he’s got a pretty good football team.”   [Arnie Stapleton - AP - 11/14/07]

Sigh. John, we still miss you….. ahem, ok, where was I?

Oh yeah. Three points. THREE POINTS. I have to commend the Eagles though. They gave it a hell of a shot tonight.

** For the record, Dex is just about the last person I would ever conceive of being susceptible to  brainwashing. No paper cups of Kool-Aid for him, thanks.