By Ryan G. Murphy
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The New York Giants are going to win in Green Bay on Sunday, but don’t take my word for it, the script’s been written for years.
If I’ve learned anything in the 20 or so years I’ve been bleeding blue, it’s this: In the NFL, you have to expect the unexpected –- those unscripted moments of unforeseen success that thrust us into a front-row seat for Cinderella’s fairy tale on a football field.
It’s what makes the NFL –- heck, all sports — beautiful, and the 2007 New York Giants have embraced the idea that if the slipper fits, you might as well wear it.
All week I’ve been scouring the Internet for predictions and conjectures about Sunday’s game. It’s no surprise that most experts and prognosticators have surmised a Green Bay victory. All I’ve done is smile.
Two weeks ago they predicted a run in Cinderella’s stocking against Tampa Bay and, just last week, they vowed that a handsome, right-handed prince would shoot down Cinderella’s chance for a dance with a 30-yard-TD-strike to Terrell Owens.
Most people start to embrace a fairy tale once the “Happily Ever After” ink has dried. As Giants fans, though, we’ve been on the magic-carpet ride for weeks and the ubiquitous Brett Favre is only the next chapter in our date with destiny.
The Giants will not win on Sunday because they are the better team. The Giants will win on Sunday because when the football gods cast their hands and created the NFL they made sure that, every once in a while, the little guy would rise up against the legendary heroes of the time to usurp the order of the football universe.
And those supporting the little guy could sit around fires (or plasma TVs) and tell the celebrated fairy tale and how they saw it coming.
