3 Reasons to Root for the Patriots

After finally starting to think about the upcoming game, I've spent the last two days trying to decide who I'm planning on rooting for. And quite honestly, I haven't been successful. I've been able to come up with reasons to pull for both teams, but neither set of reasons has convinced me. Here are the three best reasons to pull for the Patriots that I've come up with. If you have better ones, I'd love to hear them. (My reasons to pull for the Giants are below).

• Randy Moss. In seven years in Purple, Randy Moss caught 574 passes for 9142 yards and 90 touchdowns, an average of 1306 yards, 82 receptions, and 12.9 touchdowns a year. He also returned a punt for a touchdown. In those seven years, he made five Pro Bowls and was named an All Pro four times. He starred on the second best offense of all time and helped to turn the franchise around. Moss also was the genius behind A.F.R.O.S. (America's Finest Receivers on Sunday) and mooned the Lambeau crowd, an event that made Joe Buck apoplectic and led to Moss saying "Straight Cash Homey". The Moss Era can only be surpassed by the Bud Grant era as the best time to be a Vikings fan, which is why I've been a huge Randy Moss fan since he tipped that touchdown pass to himself in his first game and why I will always be a Randy Moss fan.
  

• Laurence Maroney. Maroney might be from St. Louis, but he was a Gopher, and he was a good one. He rushed for over a 1000 yards in each of his three seasons in the Maroon and Gold, a much more impressive feat in the shorter college season. And he wasn't racking up those yards on a lot of carries either. In those three seasons, he averaged 6.9 YPC, 6.2 YPC and 5.2 YPC, his last year the first that he did not have to share carries with Marion Barber III, and he never had fewer than 10 touchdowns in a season. There's a very good chance he was the best running back to ever put on the Maroon and Gold and now, he has a chance to get a Super Bowl ring. And yes, I understand that there will be quite a few people who see Maroney as a reason to root for the Giants because of how badly he burned them in Fantasy Football, and I sympathize with those folks.

• 41-0. The Patriots, as a franchise, have never really done anything that bad to the Vikings. Sure, they picked them apart on Monday Night Football last year, creating a blueprint for how to beat the Purple, but lots of teams have done that. We all know what the Giants did to the Vikings in 2001, and I'm not sure if I can forgive them enough to root for them, just like I'll probably never be able to pull for the Falcons (except, of course, against the Packers).