As the minutes leading up to Sunday night’s NFC Championship tilt agonizingly dripped away, I ran through the usual and familiar gamut of pregame anxiety symptoms: the nervous tapping of my right foot, the fingers fidgeting away, the stomach churning in anticipation. What wasn’t usual and familiar, however, was where I would be watching the game. I wouldn’t be on my living room couch at home, leaning forward anxiously like I was getting ready to bolt out of the house any second. I wouldn’t be watching it at friend’s house or a bar either, surrounded by fellow Giants fans masking their anxiety with copious amounts of alcohol.
Nope, none of those places.
Instead, I was sitting on a beach towel with my feet in the sand. In front of me was the Caribbean sea, and directly behind me was the runway of the only international airport on the island of St. Maarten. Off to the left, where I was faced, was a large movie-theater sized projection screen on top of a beachside bar showing the Giants-49ers game. Thankfully, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were drowned out by the Sunset Bar DJ flowing effortlessly from Drake to Usher to Rick Ross, and occasionally he was drowned out by an incoming Airbus A320 that skimmed the tops of our heads.
How did I end up here watching my team try to fight its way into the Super Bowl? Well, it’s funny you should ask. When our trip was booked, back in the beginning of December, the New York Giants were 6-6 and not exactly looking like they were primed to make a Super Bowl run. When we originally planned the dates, January 15-22 seemed sensible — that is until I realized that our flight home at 5:00 p.m. on the 22nd would put me in the air during the NFC Championship game. Although this shouldn’t have been a concern at that time, my first thought was, “What if the Giants are playing? What would happen? How could I live with myself?”
While the thought seemed crazy at the time, changes were made, dates were altered and I decided that if the Giants, by some crazy, improbable turn of events, actually did make the NFC Championship game, watching it in St. Maarten would be better than not watching it at all.
As fate would have it, those same 6-6 Giants did make the NFC Championship game. They made it by dismantling the Jets, then the Cowboys, then the Falcons and astonishingly, the Packers too. And so on Sunday night, I watched the New York Giants win the NFC title in a decidedly unusual place.
What I had hoped for all week was a game similar to the 2001 NFC title game, a simple, easy thrashing that I could enjoy peacefully while buying many rounds of drinks and ideally not fighting back the urge to throw up during an overtime coin toss. As you all know by now, that is not what I got. Instead, what I got was a four-hour heavyweight bout between two fighters who refused to go down. What I got was possibly the most nerve-wracking second half I can ever remember watching.
The game, in and of itself, was almost like a microcosm of the entire season. It was an emotional roller coaster, filled with ups and downs and just about every frustrating aspect of a football game you can imagine: dumb, drive-extending penalties by the defense, Alex Smith eluding sacks and scrambling for big first downs, Eli getting repeatedly battered and abused by the Niner defense, long touchdown passes to tight ends, stalled drives and long-winded Ed Hochuli explanations. But somehow, despite all of this, the Giants were the ones putting on their championship t-shirts and hats after the game.
Despite the fact that Eli might have spent more time on the ground Sunday night than he did standing up, he brushed off every single hit like it never happened and continue to make the plays that needed to be made. The best thing about his performance on Sunday night was the fact that none of it surprised me. In 2007, I would have been in awe of that 17-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham on 3rd and 15 that put the Giants up 17-14. On Sunday night, I expected it, and number 10 did not disappoint.
With the game tied at 17 and heading into overtime, and with the eerie feeling of deja vu that came with yet another overtime NFC Championship game (only this time with shiny new rules), the sky above us on the beach opened up and it began to rain. At the time, I thought this to be a bad omen. We headed under an awning to watch overtime on a much smaller TV screen, with around 10-15 other people that remained at the bar. By the time Jacquian Williams forced the fumble on Kyle Williams and Devin Thomas put his superhero cape on for the second time that night, I was pacing nervously back and forth chain-smoking and hoping that Trey Junkin was far, far away from Candlestick Park that night.
Although I had hoped that Bradshaw would gallop into the endzone and end it swiftly and painlessly, he got us close enough and when Lawrence Tynes trotted out onto the field to kick the Giants into the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, I thought that I could literally taste my heart in the back of my throat. The camera panned to Bradshaw on the sidelines with his helmet off and his eyes closed. His face titled towards the sky, it appeared as if he was repeatedly whispering “Please make this kick” although I couldn’t quite make it out. But it didn’t matter because that’s what I was whispering, and that’s exactly what Lawrence Tynes did.
In the end, it was the image of Steve Weatherford trying desperately to pull his helmet off and begin celebrating that stuck with me on the drive home. It was the image of Victor Cruz, with wide-eyed wonder, looking like one of those kids in the commercials who’s parents just told him they were going to Disney World.
And now, we have two weeks to prepare for a game we had no business being in as little as a month ago. We have two weeks to prepare for a rematch of what might have been the most exciting Super Bowl ever played. Only this time, we are the team that won the regular season meeting, and it’s the Patriots that will be playing with a chip on their shoulders, looking for redemption, looking for revenge.
Although two weeks is a long time to wait, it will give Giants fans just enough time to savor the joy of being back in the Super Bowl when just about everyone thought it would be impossible. After all, wasn’t it supposed to be the other New York team playing in February? Wasn’t GM Jerry Reese openly criticized back in August for failing to make any substantial offseason moves and saying that he was satisfied with the team he had?
Well, I guess that team that Reese was satisfied with back in August was pretty damn good after all. Now, he is one win away from getting to have the ultimate last laugh while the “Dream Team” and Gang Green watch in envy.
Obviously, everyone is going to compare this Giants team with the 2007-08 team, but we’ll have to wait two weeks to see just how accurate that comparison will be.
Yesterday, while you were stuffing your faces with wings, pizza and nachos and talking about “that really funny commercial where the guy uses Doritos to bring old people back from the dead,” there was an actual football game being played. The Super Bowl. The championship of the National Football League.
