Super Bowl Slush

Dear N.Y. Giants and N.E. Patriots Fans,

Enjoy this week. It’s your final chance to believe anything is possible. The final countdown to untold glory or unmitigated misery. The last week when every ESPN channel, every TV Guide, every sports page features your teams. The waning few days to wear your team’s colors to work and to bed, when the Man on the Street in Indianapolis is interviewed to see if he knows which states comprise New England and the Woman on the Street is asked to guess the original cost of the Giants franchise ($500).

Enjoy it. Because next week at this time one entire group of you will be wallowing through the Slough of Despond, debating whether to join with fellow sufferers and rehash what should have been or sit alone in you room with leftover cheese dip, musing about the possibility that your state/region’s hockey/basketball/baseball team will reclaim the glory of your state/region. And thousands and thousands of ‘Super Bowl XLVI Champion’ shirts, hats, beer steins and key chains that were printed for your loser of a team will never see the light of day. So enjoy this week.

And you Champions? Enjoy the next few days. Enjoy the next year even. Enjoy the thrill of victory because it is ephemeral. In a couple of weeks most of the nation will be quite over its infatuation with you. In a couple of months entire people groups will not be able to name the victors of Super Bowl XLVI. And one of these years– 2013? 2014? Your team will lose. The glory days will be over. You’ll try to recapture the jubilation but alas. Nothing but hollow memories remain. You team is now as attractive as last week’s snowfall.

Enjoy this final week of walking in the clouds. Eventually you’ll land in the slush with the rest of us leftovers from Super Bowls Past. Your only compensation is knowing that the team who beat you will eventually be in the puddle with you.

Sincerely,

The Packer Fan in the Slush