It's a Friggin' Game

I hope your favorite team won yesterday. If not, bad luck.

BUT... the level of bile and hatred I am seeing on the interwebs gnaws at me.

Stephen Gostkowski misses an extra point. It weighed in the game. Do Pats' fans rue? Sure. Like this:

Nice.

Disclaimer: I don't have a dog in any NFL fight. Please understand that pro football is my least favorite major-team sport. To admit this in the Coal Region is like identifying as a transsexual, gun-grabbing Obama zealot. Who hates beer.

I'm seeing very few "yay, Denver" posts. It's all:

• Pats are cheaters
• Brady is a pussy
• Gostkowski should be drawn and quartered

Much of this comes from Giants' fans. Heck, I went to the Jints' training camp as a youngster at Fairfield University. My dad used to pour drafts for them at the Beachside. To me, there is something inauthentic—wait, cowardly—about supporters of a team that lost ten games this year (and last year, as well). A team that hasn't seen a playoff game lately. But the hate bucket is overflowing.

Oh, by the way ...

A culture of hate? Witness this book. Yes, it's an actual volume, not one of my extra-luxe graphics.

It goes beyond hate. It talks to grown men (and a few women) who buy $300.00 replica jerseys when they have trouble with the rent. It talks to an infant's birthday party that literally stops while a football game is on.

It talks to ridiculous dreck like this:

Enough already. Don't stick your head in the oven when your team loses. Don't gloat over others' losses and misfortune.

Don't forget, it's a game.