I still love you, Tom Brady

For those of you who were curious, yes, I was able to watch Superbowl XLII the other day. The game was broadcast live (sans commercials) with kickoff going down at about 4AM my time. It was an exciting game, and we had ourselves a fun little party at my old unit--we even got some grub from the pizza hut here on BAF to make things seem as super bowl-y as possible.

Yep, other than getting up early (and then working all day), and the outcome, I'd say that Superbowl XLII was an undeniable success.

Now, some of you might be surprised that I was rooting for the fellas from New England. And on the surface, yes, there are a lot of reasons that one could root for the Giants. For starters, all things being equal I'd prefer Belichick not pass Joe Gibbs on the all time list of Superbowl wins. And pulling for the underdog, that can be a good time (just ask all the assholes who gang up on poor, defenseless Duke every year in the Marchish time frame). And sure, some Boston sports fans might be a tad on the annoying side from time to time, causing folks to pull against them.

But despite all that, the Patriots were my team for one, very important reason--Mrs. Exnicios. My beautiful wife Lauren, you see, is a Patriots fan. But isn't she always posing on the 2.0 decked out in Redskins gear? She absolutely is. Because, you see, my wife and I already have our share of sports rooting issues. We made the decision, the two of us, that the NFL was going to be one place where we could get along. Lauren, bless her heart, wears my Skins jersey for Skins games, and her own Tom Brady jersey for Patriots games. And me, I root for Brady and the Pats as well, something I'm proudly admitting to today.

By the way, when I said one reason? I really meant three.

Reason the second--Tom Brady. It's been said before, but it bears repeating--Brady is a very, very attractive man. Every time I see him play, a little piece of me falls in love with him.

Reason the third--It's never the wrong answer for a Redskins fan to root against the Giants. Underdog or no...they're the Giants, man. The Giants. Blech.

Editor's Note: The unflattering self-portrait included in this post is to assuage Mrs. Exnicios's that her husband was looking too skinny in this shot, where our hero is busily enjoying Thai food. I'll see your skinny, Mrs. Exnicios, and raise you one double chin. Talk about sexy...