Failure.

So with the end of the regular season and the end of the playoffs, we are left with only two teams standing, ready to face each other in the Super Bowl. Arguably, these two teams already have achieved something special. Conference Championships under their belts, they now have a shot at making history... a shot at winning the Super Bowl.

We have also witnessed many other teams go through some sort of FAILURE. Whether it be teams that beat themselves out of the playoff spot, or teams that didn't even have a shot at playing in the post-season... Football gives us 2 great teams and 30 failures each year.

Failure can be sad, like when T.O. shed some tears (probably fake) in support of his buddy Tony Romo....



But... FAILURE can also be pretty damn funny....

SportsKarma family, since most of our teams didn't make it to the Super Bowl, please join me in celebrating funny failures:















And finally... the BEST martial arts failures ever caught on tape...





Later!
D

Hmmm, about those things I said in 2006... kidding!!!!

DV here,

Wow, it's been a while since I've made an appearance, props to Tray for keepin' on the keepin' on.

So, it seems the table has turned yet again. In a season that, a few weeks ago, seemed pretty straight up, (Cowboys vs. Patriots, anyone?) things sure have changed. We saw three frozen tundra style games, an NFC championship that actually showed competitiveness WITH a win by a field goal by the team that did not start with possession.

Congratulations to previously error prone Eli Manning for keeping the spirit of SportsKarma alive and kicking, even when the temperature in Lambeau Field was beginning to make me cold while sitting at home and watching the game.

What some fail to realize is that we have inadvertently staged the classic "Mighty Ducks" matchup, the rag tag team of inequity versus the polished uber perfect team, (18-0). Eli is that one kid in "Mighty Ducks" who is kind of nerdy and green, who finally at the end proves to be the hero of the game. Plexico is that one mean kid who no one can figure out and ends up being nice to the nerd after the game is on the line, Michael Strahan is the lovable giant goof who is the nerd's protector in the movie. Ahh, good times...

Anyway, one must wonder how Tiki feels now after blasting Eli and the NY Giants repeatedly during and after his retirement announcement in October of 2006. I doubt anyone was surprised by Tiki's lack of character, especially when he preached such lofty expectations without being a part of the solution.

One of my favorite Tiki quotes is a good place to start, "I used to think my career was defined by not winning a Super Bowl. But I think looking back on my career, they'll see someone who was a competitor, someone who always played hard and never gave up" I'm not sure if Tiki isn't aware of the meaning of "giving up" but what he did in 2006 was exactly that. He chose to call it a career halfway through the season, and he was especially vocal about the lack of leadership in the team. Instead of being that leader, instead of becoming a rock of support for a YOUNG and INEXPERIENCED Quarterback, instead of "getting his back", Tiki took the low road and acted as the eroding ingredient in a volatile molotov of a locker room in 2006.

A year and a half later, things have changed, and it must be a cold and cloudy night over the Barber household from now until February 3rd. Just imagine what will happen if the Giants somehow conclude a relatively ho-hum season with the upset that will end all upsets. What will Tiki say? It's his job to report and to comment, albeit with a certain editorial liberty that cannot be denied to people in his line of work. Will it prove to be a devastating blow to know that had he stuck it out, he would too relish the opportunity to face the almighty Patriots for the ultimate price? Only God and Tiki will know what he will think.

It should be no surprise that SportsKarma (or at least DV) will have to support the NY Giants in their quest for Lombardi glory. They embody the underdog spirit, and I think Eli is due some genuine love from people in NY and the country, especially the media. Also, they represent the NFC, who has played second fiddle to the almighty AFC for far too long. How I miss the days of 49ers and Cowboys, those NFC Championship games were dubbed "The Real Super Bowls" by Sports Illustrated. Oh, well...

Anyway, back to the present... carry on Eli, do what you can, don't forget to hand the ball over to Ahmad Bradshaw a couple of times for Tiki. He'll be watching... DV

Are we looking the other way?

Maybe there's nothing to it. Maybe he's a genetic freak of nature. Maybe he's a 38-year-old iron man who somehow was able to channel the Football Gods for one last glorious run.

Maybe there's nothing to it at all. But something, deep down, tells me otherwise. Something tells me that maybe Brett Favre's renaissance, and potentially a Super Bowl appearance for the ages against Tom Brady, isn't something to celebrated. It's something to be closely examined. And it's something that nobody wants to do.

Of course, we've been down this road before turning a blind eye to something that looks just a little bit strange. How could a guy who at 34 years old, and seemingly washed up, all of a sudden have a streak of absolute dominance? How could a guy reverse years of steady decline by posting his best season in almost five years? Haven't we seen this before with Roger Clemens?

We want to believe in the fairy tale despite life's overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Much like Bob Seger sometimes we don't want to know what we didn't know then. Cynicism surrounds our daily lives, and given the bulk of media that we consume on a daily basis, it's virtually impossible to escape it. From our president's sketchy foreign policy to news on the economy, from gas hitting $4/gallon to rapid inflation, there's quite a bit to be cynical about. Even stuff that's not that big of a deal (see Miley Cyrus's body double), we've decided to make a big deal.

But Brett Favre is different. Or so the sports media pundits would love to believe. I'll spare everyone the same thing you always hear about how he plays the game with a child-like innocence, and how everyone feels like they can relate to him and his struggles. That's all fine and good, and hey, I'd sit down and have a beer w/ him too, if that were permissable.

However, I can't help but wonder how a guy who's struggled for the last four to five years, inexplicably has reversed time so much so that play-by-play guys and color announcers are openly speaking of how he's playing like he's 28 and not 38. I mean, wasn't this the same guy that just a year ago was mentioned as being benched for Aaron Rodgers? Hadn't Brett Favre fallen so much that people were actually trying to get rid of the guy?

I've heard from some folks that perhaps Brett Favre's recent success is due to having a new coach in Mike McCarthy. McCarthy specifically told Favre that he doesn't have to be a hero and force the ball in spots that maybe he shouldn't. Some have also credited the new-found running game in the revelation that is Ryan Grant. Others still feel that he's gotten additional help from his wide receivers that he hadn't benefitted from in seasons' past. And these things are all true, no doubt.

But still, when Roger Clemens was 38 years old and flaming guys, everyone just assumed it was his supposed work ethic. Everyone just assumed it was b/c he played w/ such prolific offensive players like Jeter, Sheffield and Giambi, and later with Biggio, Berkman and Bagwell. Everyone just assumed it was just b/c he was naturally gifted, he was a pitcher more durable than Nolan Ryan, and that he was not only working harder, but he had just a little more guile than his younger peers. And those things were all true, no doubt.

But just b/c all of these things may be true, it doesn't mean that the media gets to shrug off what appears to be suspicious. It doesn't mean that we can't call into question something that looks odd. It doesn't even mean that Brett Favre's a bad guy, or that the sportswriters can't go out and have a beer w/ the guy at the end of the day.

But it does mean that if the Packers somehow beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl that Brett Favre will be hailed as the common man who beat the team with the asterisk on it. It means that Favre's fairy tale career would live happily ever after. Or until someone calls into question that fairy tale career, and all the stories in it.

Like I said, maybe there's nothing to it at all. Maybe Brett Favre really has appeased the Football Gods. Maybe he lives amongst the Football Gods. But that doesn't mean we should just accept "nothing to it at all" as fact.