Game of Destiny

Throughout the history of sports there have always been teams that were considered "teams of destiny". Whether it be the 1980 American men's hockey team or the 2004 Boston Red Sox there seems to be a team every few years that shows you exactly why you watch sports. How can you tell if you're team is a "team of destiny"? I think that one is pretty simple. If you can take what actually happened to a team and turn it into a movie script that would be green lighted by Hollywood you know you have a "team of destiny".

This brings us to the potential Superbowl we could be facing this season. The Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots both had seasons that could easily be made into movie scripts. The Patriots were scorned by the league after the first game for cheating, then managed to put together what has become the best season in the history of the NFL. The Green Bay Packers were supposed to be rebuilding. Brett Favre was ridiculed by the sports media everywhere for coming back for another season. He was washed up, was only going to hurt his legacy by returning. That rebuilding team with a washed up QB finished the season 13-3 and is now the favorite to win the NFC championship game this Sunday.

So the question now is which team is more of a "team of destiny"? Let's look at each team individually.

Green Bay Packers: Obviously Brett Favre gives the Packers a huge boost in a discussion like this. Everyone knows what he has accomplished in his career, so there is no need to go into detail about it. But while the discussion for the Packers certainly starts with Favre, it by no means ends with Favre. Ryan Grant was considered a scrub, a player who wouldn't make it in the NFL. Even the Packers after trading for him from the Giants didn't see anything special in him, and didn't get him into the offense till multiple injuries and poor running back play forced their hand into playing him. He has been arguably the best running back since he began starting. Now he has a chance to knock the team that traded him to the Packers, that called him washed up and no good, out of the playoffs. You could also look at the rest of the team. Most of the players on this Packers team are by no means household names. Most are either young guys that were considered developing or old guys that are "past their prime", and absolutely no one had them even going to the playoffs, never mind potentially winning the Superbowl.

New England Patriots: It's been fairly obvious all season long that watching the Patriots was watching history happen. Sure, they had their challenges on the way, but they still have yet to suffer their first loss this season. In the process of putting together the first perfect season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins they managed to break multiple individual and team records. They have the current golden boy of the NFL in Tom Brady. They have a player who was said to be washed up and to have a horrible attitude only to prove all the haters wrong in Randy Moss. They have a player in Wes Welker who looks more like a European football player than a American football player. They have an offensive line that is made of nothings and nobodies, guys that mostly were not supposed to make it in the NFL.

All this makes one thing clear; it is impossible to choose which one of these teams is this years "team of destiny" at this point. It's clearly all going to come down to the final game. Both of these teams need to make it to the Superbowl. If one of these teams loses this weekend the Superbowl will not be nearly as intriguing as it could potentially be. If these two teams make it to the Superbowl it has the chance to go down as one of the best games in the history of the sport. With the recent negative marks on the sporting world in the form of steroids, gambling, even death, it's clear this is exactly what the sporting world needs. This Superbowl, my friends, could be the first time we see two teams that can both be considered "teams of destiny". I've already got the name picked out for the movie. I think it should be called the "game of destiny".

Aaron Jackson