"close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

It was so close. It was right in front of us -- and by "us", I mean all die-hard AND bandwagon Carolina Panther fans. We were 15 minutes away from home field advantage throughout the NFL playoffs. The spotlight would be on the Queen City. The announcers of the game had suddenly changed their pro-Giant bias to the other team, and even waxed eloquently on the current owner of the team (a former NFL star who is currently awaiting a heart donor for transplant). Charlotte was feeling special -- imagine the spotlight! the glamour! the stars that would be coming to us! Sure, in terms of the game, the formerly no-name cast of players and coaches would receive more national exposure. Even better is that the networks would have had to acknowledge us and pile on heaps of praise for all the world to see. The latter is what I was focusing in on as the clock wound down. Players can play anywhere -- unlike baseball or hockey, the playing fields in the NFL, like the NBA, are absolute and never change due to venue or arena, so there's no excuse other than fan support for home field advantage. What really matters is the map of where the road travels. And we were almost in complete control of it. I don't blame the loss too much on the miss from the usually reliable kicker -- the distance on the kick was good, but the wind pushed it out at the last 10 yards. Should the kicker has adjusted the angle for better percentage? Perhaps -- after all, he is a highly paid professional, and this is his only job requirement, so I'm sure he's being skewered right now on various sports talk shows, especially in Panther Nation. Then again, the coaches knew what elements they were fighting against, so they could have played it better in moving the ball closer to the goal line instead of taking the safe way out. But that is so typical of this coaching staff: they live (and die) on erring on the side of caution. In the end, the defense did not hold and the game was lost in overtime. Even worse than the loss was the fact that the Giants covered the betting line, so all the Vinnies in Brooklyn and Mad Dogs and Czabans in sports media could remove their thumb from their mouth and loudly proclaim (in their best Dice Clay voice): "fuggetaboutit -- I knew it all along -- right here! Oh!"...and the beat goes on.