Count me as among New Yorkers and Americans that haven’t forgotten the Giants pulling off a Super Bowl upset in denying the Patriots of a perfect season. That took place four years ago, but to the true Giants fan, it is ingrained permanently in their minds forever.
On the flip side, the Patriots and their fans have never gotten over it, which is typically behavior following such a devastating loss like that. Now, the Patriots can make amends for it again Sunday when they play the Giants in the Super Bowl at Indianapolis.
While some of the cast has changed, make no mistake Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI will be forever linked. If the Giants win, it will be affirmation that Feb. 3, 2008 was not a fluke, but a fact. If Patriots win it, it will stand as a score settled.
Regardless, nothing on Sunday can top off what happened the last time these two met in the Super Bowl, and don’t let residents of New England tell you otherwise. This Sunday, two teams will meet with relatively comparable rosters.
Super Bowl XLII was a different story. That game was supposed to be a coronation for the Patriots. This was supposed to be them joining the 1972 Dolphins of a perfect season. Everything was aligned for the Patriots with an explosive offense, good defense and brilliant coaching. Everything went right that year, so experts and fans figured that team was not going to be denied by a lowly Big Blue team that backed its way into the postseason.
The Patriots received more than they bargained for by the Giants in that game.  Their counterparts blitzed Tom Brady all game long, and they covered his wide receivers well for four quarters. Giants quarterback Eli Manning kept up with the Patriots Hall of Fame quarterback by throwing for first downs and touchdowns.
The Giants took a 10-7 lead over the Patriots in the fourth quarter. The Giants showed they were not going down like other teams would have against the Patriots that year. This was going to be a finish for the ages for either team.
Despite the Giants’ tenacious approach, everyone expected Brady to make it happen in the fourth quarter, as he always seemed to do. He did just that by throwing a touchdown to Randy Moss that resulted to a 14-10 lead after trailing for most of the game.
Everything was right for the Patriots again.  It appeared they were going to take control of the game.  They were a minute away from immortality.
Manning had other ideas, though. He wasn’t going to waste his postseason run for nothing. He was going to have a Brady moment for the Giants, and he did. He threw the ball to David Tyree’s direction, and the Giants wide receiver somehow hung on the ball for the touchdown. That was the deciding play of the game, the moment every fan on either side will forever remember. It was the final catch of Tyree’s career, and it helped the Giants earn a 17-14 victory.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was so angry that he went to the locker room as the clock wind down. He knew that loss ruined everything his team worked hard to achieve. He knew no one will remember what the Patriots accomplished that season, that they would instead remember the failures of that night (and of course, the Spygate Scandal from earlier that Fall).
If nothing else, the perfect record means nothing. It’s about winning championships that people remember a team for, and that’s why the Giants’ upset stands out to this day. This upset changed the way folks look at that Patriot dynasty.
The Patriots haven’t done well since that ill-fated game on a nice February night at Glendale. They did not make the playoffs the following year, and in the last two years, they were one and out in the playoffs at Gillette Stadium.
This brought critics to say that Belichick has not won a championship since Spygate took place. They figured his three championships are tainted with the team cheating. Hall of Famers like Moss and Junior Seau ended up retiring without a ring.
All these points have been on the minds of the Patriots for awhile. Maybe it’s fitting they get to meet the Giants in finishing this deal. Whatever. This will never change that night, and the Patriots know it.
For the Giants, this accomplishment is something they will cherish for the rest of their lives. They will always get a 10-year reunion every 10 years at MetLife Stadium. Fans will always hold that team in high regard just like they do with that 1990 Giants team that won it all.
I followed sports for 21 years, and this is by far the best moment I ever watched in New York sports. Like most fans, the idea that the GMEN could pull off the miracle was completely unfathomable. That itself is what makes it memorable.
Upsets make a championship that much special for a team that pulls it off. Sports fans love this type of story, especially when it is their team doing it.
Only folks in New England didn’t like it, but that is why it is even more special.
Leslie Monteiro writes for NY Sports Digest