Witness to history...and other Nashvillain news.

See title.

For anyone who considers him or herself a fan of football and the NFL (and I really mean a fan of football, and not just a fan of their team), tonight was a spectacle. The Patriots rolled in to the Meadowlands with everything (except their playoff chances) to lose, and even more to gain. The Giants, having already clinched their playoff spot, and having no shot at improving it with this game, merely had to not be embarrassed. It was up to Coughlin and his G-Men to decide whether they would let the Pats roll and make history, or if they would fight their hearts out and try not to be posterized by destiny.

Fortunately for football fans everywhere, they chose the latter. In what was one of the better NFL games I've seen all season, both teams left everything on the field. Typical late-game heroics on the part of Tom Brady and the rest of the Beantown kids sealed their fate in the history books. Trailing late, and looking pretty down and out, the Patriots all of a sudden decided it was time to take control. A long bomb to Randy Moss looked like it would be the game-changer until he dropped it out of his wide open finger tips and settled for an anti-climactic jog back to the huddle. Next snap, the play was identical, only this time Moss scooped the ball up in perfect stride and trotted in to the end zone to set four simultaneous records (50 passing touch downs for Brady, 23 TD receptions for Moss, most points scored in a season, and most touch downs scored by a team in a season). Moss had the audacity to do a little end zone dance and toss the ball on the ground. THE ball. The record breaker itself, he casually chucked it aside like it was nothing.

Of course, the Pats went on to win it. 16-0. I was witness to history today. Unfortunately for everyone, the amount of New England fans is going to increase 10-fold after the Sox recent success, and now the Patriots, and even the Celtics (whom I will be seeing in person against the Wiz on January 12th).

In other news...

I'm in Nashville, staying at the Renaissance Hotel downtown. Very schwanky hotel. It's no Opryland Hotel, where I initially thought I was staying, but it's no slouch either. Right off Broadway in the heart of Nashville, the Renaissance looms large in the home of country music. On my way to the hotel (in a bit of a roundabout detour), I saw a wax museum, three different Dukes of Hazzard themed stores and bars, two replicas of the General Lee sitting road side, several square dancing bars, horse and buggies, and all sorts of other country goodness. If this isn't the good old south, I don't know what is.

I asked my bartender what was fun to do around here. She lives in Nashville by way of Kentucky, and had little to say about the allure of Nashville. She did tell me that there is no shortage of jeans and cowboy hats at every turn, and that I could expect that and only that if I wandered down Broadway where the hot spots are for the night life here.

Along with the Kentucky and FSU entourages, there is a campus outreach convention here full of young, impressionable Christians from southeast region colleges, all staying at my hotel. I've never seen so many kids (and they do look very young, yet another sign of my gradual aging) drinking coffee and carrying bibles in a bar/lobby lounge.

For the time being, I am going to bore myself to sleep and hope that tomorrow provides a little more social excitement. At the least, I should have enough free time to watch my Skins take on the Cowboys for a playoff berth. Hope it's on TV here.