For the fan, winning a championship is kind of like what sex is for a 15-year-old boy: more of a heavenly, out-of-this-world concept than an actual "thing." It's the ultimate goal that you dare to dream about but that seems totally unattainable. It's a constant battle that sometimes seems fruitless.
But then one magical day, when the universe aligns itself just right and the pieces fall together perfectly (your defense turns into a brick wall/Sarah Andrews' parents go away for the weekend), the goal of all goals is somehow reached. And there truly is nothing like it. You breathe it in, trying to savor a moment that you know is a momentous one in your life. It's an out-of-body experience that you remember forever.
After my Giants won it all, I was a new man. Having a championship under my belt changed the way I looked at football. The long climb was over, and I was finally on top of the mountain.
And strangely enough it was unsettling.
I am a Giants fan. Part of our identity is to be as self-loathing as an old Jewish woman. The inevitable pain at the end of the tunnel was something we expected and lived with. But this time, my Giants came through for me. The blood, sweat and tears had paid off.
When the 2008 season started, it was the first time I had ever faced the following question: Now what? Do I go into this year thinking anything that happens now is just a bonus? Do I have the right to live and die with the 2008 Giants after the most incredible run in NFL history was given to me by the football gods just six months earlier? What is the protocol for the fans of defending champions?
I talk to my older brother Seth every Sunday just before kickoff. Usually this conversation is nothing more than a couple of pump-up screams and the obligatory "f--k Tony Romo."
But during our Week 1 pregame chat, Seth could sense there was something different in my voice. The desperation and anxiety that Giants games used to invoke in me were gone. I explained that I felt like anything that happens this season is really just gravy, that as a football fan I was, for the first time in my life, content.
Seth, who is old enough to remember the Giants winning it all in 1990, taught me something then that I will never forget. He explained that being a fan isn't about winning once but about winning every year. It's about an insatiable hunger for your boys to be the best. It's about wanting more every season.
I had become so obsessed with the idea of winning a championship and knowing what it felt like to win that I completely lost sight of the bigger picture. You play for a championship every year, whether you are coming off a Super Bowl win or a 0-16 season.
Now, it's five weeks into the season and the Giants are 4-0. ESPN.com's front page is featuring an article about why Eli is better than Peyton. Our defense, minus Strahan and Osi, seems to have the same fire and speed that won us a Lombardi trophy. Our offensive line has no big names, but it just may be the best in the league, and we have a ton of depth at the skill positions. We are no longer just a hot team but an actual contender.
Sure, we haven't really played anyone yet, but the league is wide open this year. As of Week 6, we are undefeated, defending Super Bowl champions with a soft schedule. A championship seems more in reach now than it did just before kickoff at the Super Bowl last year. I thought I couldn't ask for more than what happened last year but maybe I can. And because it's my duty as a Giants fan, I guess I will.
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