And it ended as the Sermon rushed the court and saw our friend get head-butted by a security guard. Despite the strongest efforts of Syracuse centers Craig Forth and Billy Celuck, the Hoyas best game of the season came in the most important contest of the year, a huge 15-point home win against Syracuse. Sweetney was dominant; Bethel was sparkling; even Harvey Thomas had a breakout game. We couldn’t have asked for much else, except some class from these old, whiny Syracuse fans at the game who kept giving us the finger ?
Although the Georgetown-Syracuse game was the most important sports news of the week, we still felt it necessary to dedicate our Sunday afternoon to watching the less-than-satisfying NFL Conference Championships. Not that the games weren’t great, but when Kordell Stewart threw two interceptions in the last five minutes of the AFC Championship game Sunday, we at the Sermon cringed. Later, when Aeneas Williams picked off Donovan McNabb to end the NFC Championship, we winced a little more. Once again, for the umpteenth time in our lifetime, we realized we would be stuck watching a Super Bowl as pathetically boring as a speech by some girl from The Real World.
Truth be told, the Pats have no chance against the Rams and it doesn’t matter who their starting quarterback is, even if they somehow acquired Trent Dilfer. The Rams are simply better at every single skill position on offense, and if their defense can contain McNabb they will have no problem stopping the lead-footed Tom Brady or Drew Bledsoe. So once again, we will have an anticlimactic Super Bowl over by halftime and a woebegone Sermon turning off the game before Ricky Proehl becomes the Rams’ featured offensive weapon.
Even though we weren’t happy with the result of the Steelers-Pats game, we still loved the number of times the network replayed the knee-wrenching tackle that knocked Brady out of the game. Something about a body-crumpling, quarterback-twisting hit made us recoil in restrained glee. Although we may not always admit it, half the reason we watch football is to watch someone get absolutely brutalized and then say, “Damn, we’re glad that wasn’t us.”
Still, we at the Sermon feel it necessary to end our column with a simple plea to our Hoyas for consistency. Please beat a ridiculously bad West Virginia team on Saturday. Please sweep Notre Dame to knock them out of NCAA contention. Please handle an overmatched Seton Hall team on the road. Don’t just do it for the Sermon; do it for the people who care about you so much that they are happy to be decked by an usher because it gave them the chance to shake Courtland Freeman’s hand.
