PATS/ravens

OK here we go. PATS/ravens at 3:00. If THE PATS win this game they are in the Super Bowl. I woke up thinking about this game. It is flowing through my veins, infecting my brain, churning my stomach and zinging my nerves.
Football playoffs are so big you don't even have to mention the teams specifically. "Will you be watching the game tomorrow? Where will you be watching the game? Who will you be watching the game with? What do you think about the game?" Heard these questions and similar comments all week at The Booze Emporium. Very cool.
But the past part was, as each contented booze consumer wrapped up their transaction they would say "Go PATS." Goosebumps.
I chose my wardrobe carefully this morning. I decided on a Super Bowl XXXVI T-shirt over a conference championship T-shirt because I feel it projects hopefulness. Not cockiness. Hopefulness. I am currently wearing a 2007 AFC championship sweatshirt, but that will change and I will explain shortly.
Popped in my PATS earring. Later I will put on my PATS watch.
Last week, precisely 1 hour and 45 minutes before the game, I put on my Tom Brady jersey. At 1:15 today, the conference championship sweatshirt comes off, the Brady jersey goes on. That will give it time to power up.
I am wearing pink socks. They express my quirkiness. THE PATS love my quirkiness; they want me to express myself honestly today. It helps the vibe.
Got a great cardboard poster with a picture of Gillette stadium lit up at night. Gonna put that right next to the TV.
I am excited beyond words. But I'll talk anyway. Excited beyond all common sense, almost beyond the limits of human endurance.
This game today means everything to me. It is all I care about. I want a PATS victory so bad I would watch the Ellen DeGeneres show if that contributed to the positive vibe. But I can't imagine that being helpful in any way under any circumstance. Thank god.
Football is larger than life. Baseball, basketball, hockey, best of seven. Football win and move on, lose and go home. Sudden death. Sudden life. It is very, very heavy.
I need something of this scope to give my life some majesty, some raw, true emotion. My life is so small I can't even see it. I try to pump it up but apparently there is a leak in there somewhere.
Today football is my life. Today my life is huge.
I am supporting THE PATS today with all my heart, all my soul, with everything I got. Even pink socks.
If they win I will be so alive I will be floating on the ceiling and writing like Hemingway. If they lose I will be severely depressed and completely mute.
I don't think they are going to lose. Since they lost to the giants in the whiny Eli Manning bowl, they have fought and struggled to get back there. And they have been amazingly successful for a team that has endured so much change, including losing Tom Brady for one full season.
This team has character. They have heart. They have talent.
GO PATS. And thank you so much for infusing me with life year after year after year.
XXXVI. XXXVIII. XXXIX.
XLVI?