The Five Stages of Grief are:
1. Denial: "It can't be happening."
2. Anger: "Why me?"
3. Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my children graduate."
4. Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"
5. Acceptance: "It's going to be OK."

With respect to the Patriots, I've been in Stage 1 since Sunday. I'm slowly working my way to Stage 5. But right now, without a doubt, I'm in all out, full bore Stage 2 and I aim to stay here a while.

There'll be no self pity. No "Oh, it's so unfair" or "the Patriots didn't get the breaks" or any of that nonsense. For seven years now, every time the Pats have won there's always been a hue and cry about "how" they won it... The tuck rule, "The refs let them hold our receivers", "They didn't show class," "they broke the rules" boo hoo hoo. There'll be none of that here. The Pats had the game in hand and the Giants tore it away from them. New York made the plays when it counted. More power to 'em.

But one thing I'm starting to hear that I won't tolerate is this horseshit about the Giants being a "team of destiny." What's that supposed to mean, anyway? That we should've known all along that they were going to win? How so? Because they beat Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay that it was pre-ordained David Tyree was going to catch a pass with the top of his helmet? Because they "made plays" and "got the bounces" along the way their fate was already decided? It's ridiculous. "Team of destiny" is something nitwits say after a team has won, like we should've known it all along. By this logic, the Rockies should've won the World Series because Matt Holliday got called safe on that phantom tag in the playoff game. And you know if they'd beaten the Sox, they would've been called the "Team of Destiny" and everyone would be saying they knew it all along.

Like I said, the Giants won because in crunch time they outplayed the Patriots. I would be nice if someone, anyone, could've said the same thing when the Patriots won championships, but not everyone has the class and dignity I do. But that doesn't mean this doesn't suck. It sucks on toast. And as I sit here in the "Anger" stage of grief, here's a partial list of the miserable thoughts I'm wallowing in:

19. No 19th win. Several teams have 18 in a season.
18. Belichick would've tied Chuck Noll for the most Super Bowl wins.
17. All the cool stuff I was ready to write when they won is of no use.
16. "I told you so"s from the full-time doubters and pessimists
15. Bradshaw, Aikman, Montana and Starr never lost a Super Bowl. Brady has.
14. The '72 Dolphins are happy.
13. Brady laughed when Plaxico said the Pats would score 17 points. They scored 14.
12. "Get the Giants Super Bowl DVD with your paid subscription to Sports Illustrated..."
11. Gregg Easterbrook must be giddy.
10. Belichick is human.
9. Troy Brown didn't retire a champion
8. More Eli commercials.
7. The whole "Canyon of Heroes" thing.
6. "America's Game: the 2007 Giants." starring Coughlin, Strahan and Eli
5. Felger, Tomase, Borges, Lobel... all the haters are peeing their pants with glee.
4. The image of Peyton in the skybox.
3. The fact that I'm still avoiding SportsCenter, PTI, 'EEI, the newspaper...
2. The emails I'm getting from Giants fans for my "Hate Story" column.
1. Hundreds of Barstool "Dynasty" t-shirts with the four Lombardi trophies available at a low, low price.