I’m a Patriots fan. So I’ve been hearing the universal shrug of the defeated, yet still hopeful football fan from my NY and Chicago friends since the Jets (9-4) and now the Bears (9-4) were brushed away by Brady and Co., a combined 81-10. “Hey,” they say like I’m hearing it for the first time, “in the NFL, ‘Any Given Sunday.’ ” I know. I used that Micro-Script to fortify myself rather than a fifth of Gin many, many, many times in the past so I’m savoring our position on the happy side–at least until next week. There’s a tremendous amount of story, wisdom, fact, reality, hope, compassion and anti-depressant self-medication tied up in that wonderful little Micro-Script which as the actual title of the 90’s football film directed by Oliver Stone. When you say it, you’re hoping your team snaps out of whatever voodoo spell it was under for the last 60 minutes and resumes its inexorable march to the Super Bowl next week. You’re hoping its not the secretly feared beginning of your team’s inevitable, decade long slide into the permanent abyss, in which case the script would become “Every Given Sunday.” I’m sure the Jets and Bears will shake it off. In the meantime, I’m going with New England’s own private Micro-Script we’ve had for the last decade:
In Tom and Bill we trust.