Feelin' Good

You could almost say it was the “feel good story of the year.” Assuming one could feel anything at all in last night’s gelid NFC Championship. It was the coldest football game in NFL history, with a wind-chill factor of -24 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just insane!

What brilliant moron schedules a night game at Lambeau Field in January!? I mean, the field is nicknamed “The Frozen Tundra” and was home to the infamous “Ice Bowl”. What other evidence does one need to figure out that last night’s game should have been played at 2:00 in the afternoon? I think someone was playing a sick trick on both teams. Forget the teams though. I feel terrible for the fans. Every psycho who sat through that hellacious weather should be awarded a badge of honor.

Despite arctic temperatures, the game turned out to be a barnburner (pardon the cheesy cliché. I just wanted a nice juxtaposition to the frigid weather). As much as I wanted Brett Favre and the Packers to emerge victorious, I just felt so terrible for Lawrence Tynes (the Giants’ kicker) after he shanked two go-ahead kicks late in the game, that it was nice to see him split the uprights in overtime.

As bad as I felt for the guy, I couldn’t help but laugh as the Fox broadcast flooded my TV screen with slow-motion replays of Tynes getting chewed out on his return flight to the sideline after missing the first fourth quarter field goal. But I wasn’t cackling at Tynes’ misfortunes. No, I was rather amused with Coach Caughlin.

Did you see how wind-burned “Chap-face’s” cheeks were? Holy shnykies! His face looked more frozen than Mr. Freeze himself. Watching those replays over and over was the first time I’ve ever been excited about NOT owning an HD TV. I would hate to have seen those red-scrabbled cheeks in 1080p, and can only imagine the horror Lawrence Tynes felt as he approached “Chap-face” in person.

Seriously though, the NFC Championship game was a hard-fought battle between two classic teams that went down to the wire. It truly was a feel-good story; with Eli Manning emerging from his big brother’s shadow, Lawrence Tynes totally redeeming himself and Michael Strahan leading a stout defense after returning from retirement.

The New York Giants are now on their way to the Super Bowl, where they will try and tackle the undefeated New England Patriots. For a team that feeds on adversity and plays best with their backs to the wall, there’s not a better challenge than facing what could go down as the greatest team in NFL history.

Unless the Giants have anything to say about it.