What I sat next to at Texas Stadium during the 48-27 pounding of the Cowboys by New England on October 14, 2007:

“Whoa, look at that scoreboard! LET’S GO PATRIOTS!!! Yeah buddy, it’s another first down for us! Howdya like THAT for pass completion??? All day long guys, all day long! Oh man, is that ANOTHER touchdown pass for Brady? Jesus, did you guys even BRING your first string today? I’ve seen high school teams play more coordinated football! Hey, at least your cheerleaders are hot! They’re the only entertainment Dallas fans are gonna get today! How’s the turf tasting today, huh Romo? Don’t worry, 6 and 1 is still a good record! SCOOOOOREBOOOOOARD!!!”

Now I’m a Patriots fan myself, but this didn’t stop for 4 solid hours, even when the Cowboys accidentally stumbled into a brief lead. I’m not quite sure how my friend, a most devoted fanatic, escaped the ass beating of a lifetime amongst a bunch of beered up, disappointed Dallas boys, but he did.

I love a sports fan. But relentlessly kicking people when they’re down ain’t sportsmanship. It’s CHOADSmanship.

The follow up to this, however, is that I watched the Superbowl at this particular friend’s house last week. Apparently he used up all his “cheer” during the game in October– he had nothing left for that miserable defeat and spent the evening conspicuously quiet, except for the occasional “Shit!” or “Come ON!” The silence in his living room when the clock finally ran out was as deafening as his shrieking had been at the game 3 months before. Karma, it seems, has quite the sense of humor.