There is no joy in Mudville

From my Boston-area cross-cultural commentator (raised in San Diego, but living just as many years in the greater Boston area):

Okay, different sport—but New England is in a deep, deep depression right now, and I don't mean an economical one. This game is one for the history books, to be sure; a nail-biter; turning on single plays, where the fortune of the teams turned in a second.

People here were expecting a win. But more than that, they were expecting to argue for their lifetime whether the 2007 Patriots were the best team ever. This isn't just a loss of a SuperBowl with all the hopes that go with that. This was a loss of a version of history—we no longer can discuss if this team is the best team to have ever played.

There's been some comparisons to the loss of the World Series, but it feels so different. One commentator I think was right—that loss generated a lot of anger—it was lost through errors. This is deep depression; no errors were made—the game could have easily gone the other way—if only Manning had been sacked that one play!

Ahhhh, the life of a New England sports fan. I think they're going to revel in this loss for their lifetime!

And I reply:

Very good analysis. The game was amazing. I couldn't figure out who to vote for: Charger fans don't like Eli because he and his daddy snubbed us. Whenever the Giants come to town, Eli suffers the intense roar of crowd disapproval. And, well, Brady is just too good looking, the Pats have already won their share, and yes, thank God we don't have to listen to the New England best team ever blather.

But, Charger fans know in our hearts that with one of the three (Rivers, Gates, Tomlinson) healthy, we would have beat the Patriots. And then we could have finally laid to rest the Manning snub because there would be no way that our defense would have let Eli succeed.

And there you have it.