Fear and Loathing in Indianapolis

“I am rooting for the Jets. Under the circumstances, you should, too.”

Ok, I’m not rooting for the Jets… or the Colts in this week’s AFC Championship game but this argument was made once by Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe after the Yankees won the World Series and how it should have affected the Red Sox decisions in the off-season.

That’s right Pats fans, our worst nightmare has come to fruition: A Colts vs. Jets AFC Championship game.

After watching the whitewashing that the Colts gave to the Ravens on Saturday, I was sold on a great match-up between San Diego and Indy in the Conference Championship. Hell, even at halftime of the Chargers vs. Jets game I was sold on that same idea, no matter what El Mustachio said on Friday.

But something was lit under the behinds of Mark Sanchez and the Jets on Sunday afternoon and they reeled off a well oiled second half to come back and beat the Chargers and send themselves into the AFC title game in Indianapolis.

So now here we are. Dejected Patriots fans. We were beaten by the lowly Baltimore Ravens in pathetic fashion just over a week ago and now, this week, we had to watch the two biggest Patriot rivals both punch their tickets to the stepping stool to the big game.

For those of you who don’t use logic on a regular basis, this means either the Colts or the Jets will be playing in the Super Bowl this year. Yes, that means we have to watch one of these teams AND “The Who” in the same block of time on February 7th. Talk about television ratings.

The Saints may be our only hope of a team to cheer on in this “Final Four” weekend. Many fans have completely lost any respect for Brett Favre, who has come back more times than Junior Seau, Michael Jordan, and “Lost” combined. Ruling out the Vikings and both AFC teams leave us with “America’s Team”, the New Orleans Saints.

A few years later than planned, after trying to single-handedly rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina from within the dome that was used to house countless victims, the Saints are now here and knocking on the door of a Super Bowl title and doing so with respectable players and hard work. This is my team to root for here at the Conference Championship stage.

But, back to the AFC and the Massarotti Principle.

How will this affect the off-season mindset of Robert and Jonathan Kraft? Considering this upcoming season very well could be an uncapped year and the Patriots are not hindered by the “Final Eight Plan” all combined with the fact that the Pats two biggest rivals are competing for a spot in the Super Bowl, the Krafts should plan on canceling their spring vacation this year because there is work to be done.