The image that won’t leave me alone

By Os Davis  |   Monday, January 29, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

New England Patriots
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I'm obsessed, and I know it's wrong.

After the jam-packed, action-crammed, edge-of-your-seat football game that was the AFC Championship game, there's a single image that won't leave my fevered imagination alone. I see it when I shut down and boot up and times in between. I'd make a model of it in dirt in my backyard a la Richard Dreyfuss in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" if I had a backyard. Instead, I've got it wallpapered on the desktop. (Dreyfuss would have done that with Devil's Mountain if he'd had a PC.)

It's silly. It's not even a clip from the game itself.

Here it is, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Now, please, can somebody tell me what in the name of Lombardi and Starr is going on in this picture?

The confetti is flying; No. 50, the excellently-named Rocky Boiman, is showering in it in the background.

And there are Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, each of them still wearing their respective headgear. While Brady at least appears to realize the game is over (or perhaps he just missed converting another third-and-long), Belichick appears to be earnestly imparting something of deathly importance to his QB.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but which ones? So many scenarios have flown through my mind.

Mundanely, perhaps coach is just trying to do the encouragement thing: "Don't worry, we'll get back here and we'll win next time." These suddenly hollow-sounding words after two straight years of playoff elimination could explain Brady's painfully bowed head.

But that would be too simple. Coach is probably vowing to the oh-so-alone Brady that he'll hold his breath until either he turns blue or Robert Kraft re-signs Asante Samuel, Daniel Graham and maybe picks up Drew Bennett or Kevin Curtis.

There's always the possibility of consolation: "You played well, Tom," says Belichick in my head. "Don't worry about those 21 other stiffs."

Or maybe, "Don't worry about Troy Brown. He's released tomorrow. Of course, we may pick him up again before the season starts..."

How about "Don't worry about that game-killing, 12 men in the huddle call. I know people who can take care of Heath Evans."

Ultimately, there's always the possibility that as voice of wisdom, master Belichick was simply imparting the simplest of truths: "Hey, Tom, at least now you can get to Gisele quicker."

Perhaps the photographer caught the second line of an exchange. After a depressed mutter, Belichick in the photo is saying, "Lost? Whaddya mean, lost? He's Peyton Manning. We're the New England Patriots."

Or "We don't lose. I'll explain it again..."

But, no. None of those feel right. I look at the picture again; this thing is like my own personal "2001" monolith, I'm telling you. Now, we know that Belichick merely an android capable of manipulating 17 googolbytes of football data per millisecond sent from the future to manipulate the NFL and change history. The sudden appearance of his children on the sidelines at the end of the divisional-round victory over the San Diego Chargers are the only evidence to suggest otherwise.

In this picture that haunts me, it honestly appears as though Belichick is still in analytical mode. "Now, you see, the reason you didn't recognize that particular type of zone coverage there is..."

Maybe: "All right, shake it off. We'll get the ball back. And when we do..."

Or better yet: "All right, we open the season against the New York Jets. First play from scrimmage, we'll line up in the weak I..."

Come on, once you accept the premise that Belichick is completely insane, it makes total sense. Remember that after the Chargers game, the coach stated "That was a tough one for us." Was the loss in Indy enough to finally topple "The Great Brain" over the edge?

Apparently, it was enough for a mortal mind like mine. I just wish I could remember the game.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a body-language expert coming over to take a look at this photo I found online...

Psychologically healthy insights into the New England Patriots at RealFootball365.com.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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