10. Telling people who know nothing about football, or the NFL, that you went 18-1 will impress them
9. You can go golfing, rather than wasting your time taking part of the downtown parade that was being planned
8. You get to beat up on the media, saying how, just like in the primaries, they all got it wrong
7. You give your fans a real good reason to, now, extremely dislike both Manning brothers
6. Don’t have to worry about if the bigger, winning pay check will alter your tax status
5. Better chance of getting sympathy hugs from Tom Brady’s supermodel girlfriends’ supermodel friends
4. Don’t have to spend your off-season, bogged down, sorting through endorsement offers
3. Well, losing the Super Bowl rules out, pretty much, that Bill Belichick spied on the Giants
2. The value of the ticket stubs of your family members attending the game will fetch huge dollars now, on eBay
1. It’s football, so you’re post-game explanation of the collapse doesn’t have to deal with questions of why Bill Buckner was in the game in the 10th inning, instead of being replaced for defensive purposes
Bonus 18-1 Riffs
Boston Globe: Complete Patriots, Super Bowl XLII coverage
Jackie MacMullan: In the end, it was all for naught
Mike Reiss: The pressure no doubt got to them
