I’m not a gambling man and as my standings in the office football pool would indicate I’m not real good at predictions.  But I can all but guarantee you the Colts and Saints are both destined to be 16-0.  All year long they’ve just both had that unmistakable stench of invincibility rising off them.  Last night was a prime example.  Jacksonville got a couple of early scores, and the Colts run back a kick.  The Jags are up late, had Indy at 3rd & 5 from their own 35, and you just knew to a moral certainty the other shoe was about to drop.  Even that franchise killing buffoon said it when Indy broke the huddle… “Here’s Reggie Wayne, look for them to hit him deep…” and boom goes the dynamite for 65 yards and the game.  You just knew it was happening before it did, like you were watching the Instant Classic of the game instead of seeing it live.  Because that’s what the Colts have been doing to people all year.

Look, as we all know, 16-0 is no huge deal.  Been there, done that, seen the silly banner tucked away in the corner of Gillette like a Bruins Northeastern Division Champs banner or a Red Sox Wildcard t-shirt.  It will happen, undefeated is better than 15-1, but still, who cares?  The point of this blog is, why isn’t America rooting against New Orleans and Indy the way they did against the Patriots two years ago?

Of course to answer the question, one first must accept the premise.  I mean, I can’t prove it to be true.  It’s not quantifiable.  I suppose I could Google “I hope the Patriots lose” and “I hope the Colts lose” and count the number of hits.  But that wouldn’t be scientific and besides it would take effort, so forget that.  No, I’ll just go by what I know.  During the incredible but ill-fated 2007 season, there was so much venom directed at the Pats I was compiling it all and running it as a Friday bulletin board material feature.  The undefeated Pats spent the whole year in the middle of a turkey shoot, taking crossfire from all directions and the whole of America was rooting for them to lose.  And each successive win was more disparaged than the one before it.  By Week 13, when they pulled out the Monday Nighter against Baltimore, they were accused of benefiting from botched calls because the NFL wanted to keep the streak alive.  After that, there were rumblings they were too focused on perfection and the pressure was getting to them.   Some suggested they’d be better off losing.  The grumpy old bastards on the ’72 Dolphins took the prunes out of their mouths long enough to publicly say the Pats are frauds and cheaters and they hope they blow it.  And when it all ended badly, the nation joined together to bathe in the Pats blood and make soup out of their bones.  But with Indy and New Orleans, I defy you to find one such similar sentiment, anywhere.  It’s a task beyond my Google search capabilities.

But why?  Was the 2007 hatred all a result of SpyGate?  If so, that was a capital sentence for a misdemeanor offense.  And the Colts have been no less guilty of a string of improprieties like piping in crowd noise, getting special rule changes and Marvin Harrison shooting a guy, crimes they, unlike the Pats, didn’t own up to.  Is it because the Pats coach has  a grumpy personality?  Because the last I looked, Sean Payton wasn’t exactly Kelly Ripa.  It doesn’t make sense.  The only reason I can figure is that the ’07 Pats, unlike the Colts and Saints, were in the midst of a dynasty, coming off 3 recent championships and to the rest of America, rooting for them was like rooting for the Death Star in the battle against Alderaan.  In spite of all their regular season wins this decade, the Colts are still considered underdogs because they’ve been so generally hapless in the playoffs.  New Orleans has been one of the worst franchises in sports history, and they’re still digging out from Katrina, and America loves a comeback story.  So that’s got to be it, which is fine with me.  If failure and disaster are the price of being loved, I’d rather be part of the hated empire any time.