2007 Patriots and the 1972 Dolphins

It's been awhile since I've actually posted anything football specific, so here we go.

The New England Patriots came from behind yesterday to defeat the Indianapolis Colts (who, btw, should have left that name in Baltimore when they snuck out of the city in the middle of the night; but that's another story) and remain the only undefeated team in the NFL.

I am not a fan of the Pats for lots of reasons, and I was pulling for Manning, Dungy and the rest of the Colts to win yesterday. That said, however, I am now rooting for the Patriots to win out and take home yet another Lombardi trophy.

Why? Because, for as much as I dislike the Pats in general, I really dislike the 1972 Dolphins. Not the 1972 Dolphins of 1972, but the 1972 Dolphins of every year since about 1979.

That team of Don Shula, Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, Paul Warfield, Mercury Morris, Larry Little, Nick Bounticonti, the No Name Defense, and, yes, even Garo Yepremian has delighted over the years in celebrating the loss of the last undefeated team in football. Their celebration is based on the failure of others.

Contrast that with the attitude of others who have had records broken. The Maris family to celebrate Mark McGwire breaking the single season home run record. Lou Brock in attendance and applauding as Ricky Henderson swiped that record. Steve Largent congratulating Jerry Rice on touchdown catch 101.

We keep track of records because we want to know how well people do. We want to set the bar to measure ourselves against. We want to have a goal to obtain. Breaking records is part of sports. Some take longer than others - Cal Ripken's 2632 consecutive game streak or Brett Favre's 230-something starts (and counting). But the record will fall at some point.

Going undefeated is incredibly difficult. Not only do current teams have to play three extra games, but going undefeated is quite an accomplishment. The 7-0 Twin Bridges Falcons lost in the first round of the playoffs to the 5-2 Sheridan Panthers. So going undefeated in the regular season doesn't mean squat.

Rather than revel in a team's defeat, the 1972 Dolphins should be pulling for a team to go undefeated. Statistically it's not going to happen every year, so they are safe. But from a sportsmanship issue, it's really upsetting to watch the celebration of defeat. And were it to happen, they could say, "Well done. You fought the good fight and were successful. Join us as members of an elite group."

Go Patriots!