I do have to say, I'm not a fan of the new conference championship trophies; I much preferred the classic George Halas Trophy.
So, now the Giants have the Patriots in the Super Bowl, after winning the conference title on the road, by a field goal, in overtime, off of a takeaway. All of those things also happened in 2007. Things that are not the same as four years ago: the Patriots have prior losses, including one to the Giants (in fact, that was their last loss); and I watched the game live - the last time, I was stuck in the bowels of my submarine. I was definitely nervous as the game wound down. Both teams were having trouble moving the ball; if not for Jacquian Williams, that game might have progressed all the way to a second overtime. I was well aware that the Giants were 4-0 in previous NFC Championship Games, but that was no comfort - I was also well aware that those four games were played by four entirely different teams.
The Patriots fans wanted a rematch of Super Bowl XLII; now they have one. Given the passing attacks possessed by both teams and a Patriots secondary that has the approximate consistency of Swiss cheese, I like the over.
And now, I'd like to pass along a couple of related announcements from the English Language Police. First - and this one has already been violated multiple times - "Super Bowl" is two words. TWO WORDS, people. There is a space between "Super" and "Bowl." With the Giants making the big game, I got myself mentally prepared to be shaking my head at every mention of "Superbowl" over the next two weeks. Second, when Fox cut to Terry Bradshaw to present the ugly new conference championship trophy, there was a banner reading "NFC Conference Champions." Almost instinctively, my fist clenched, and my arm raised and shook itself at the screen. I guess my favorite team has won the National Football Conference Conference. I just hope that I don't forget my PIN number the next time I go to the ATM machine.
P. S. (added eight hours later): I've been suffering from a textbook case of "fan's selective memory" today. I totally forgot that but for a favorable (and non-challengable) ruling on Bradshaw's forward progress in the final few minutes, the game might have gone the other way without even reaching overtime. Somehow, I'd relegated that to the depths of my memory until reading Daisy's post-mortem for SFist. It's even worse because that isn't the first time this season we've benefited from such a ruling (the Victor Cruz "gave himself up" call against the Cardinals in Week 4).