The Greatest of All Time

It can't get any better than this, can it?

That's what I thought after Super Bowl 49.

Then Super Bowl 51 happened. The biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. The first overtime game in Super Bowl history. Tom Brady sets records for attempts, completions and yards, winning his 5th Lombardi Trophy and his 4th MVP. Julian Edelman made The Catch. James White set a record for receptions and scored 3 touchdowns including the game winner. Trey Flowers and Dont'a Hightower making plays. A defense that was gashed by the Falcons for forty minutes got back up on their feet and stoned Atlanta's league leading offense while Brady led the Patriots to 31 unanswered points that included two 2-point conversions.

I guess I was wrong. Sometimes life is like a movie.

I'll admit it. I wavered when the Falcons scored their fourth TD in the 3rd quarter. When the Patriots scored a touchdown but missed the extra point to make it 28-9 I thought, it's just not their night. I was watching the game at our friends Steve and Kathy's house and when Belichick sent Gostkowski out to make it 28-12 Steve asked, "Why are they going for a field goal." And I said. "Two scores." The field goal would make it a two score game. "Yeah," Steve said, "but with two 2-point conversions." That would be tough to pull off; statistically improbable, for sure.

But I was back in the game when Gostkowski split the uprights. I believed. Why not? The greatest quarterback to ever play the game is playing for my team. The greatest coach in the history of the NFL is coaching my team. I've acknowledged before just how lucky I am to be a fan of the New England Patriots, to follow a team that plays every game like it might be the last football game ever played and they want to put something on tape so people a hundred years from now will know just how great this game is. To have Tom Brady and the Bill Belichick coached New England Patriots to root for week after week from September to February for the last seventeen years has been an extraordinary experience. As a fan of the game, as someone who loves the sport, it's been amazing and I don't take it for granted.

And then this happens.

It can't get any better than this.

Can it?