Now football gives us its "Fall Classic," the unbeaten New England Patriots and the unbeaten Dallas Cowboys, in a matchup made for these times.
It's the biggest regular season game in a day and age when, thanks to sports talk radio, the Internet and networks such as this one, every news story becomes bigger than the next.
Adam "Pacman" Jones and the events surrounding him cannot get enough attention ... until Michael Vick's life goes to the dogs.
Bill Belichick and the Patriot Act takes center stage ... until Brett Favre, the NFL's all-time touchdown passing king, knocks them off.
One big story trumps the next. Automatically. The appetite for news, for headlines and for controversy is insatiable. Always. Personalities, issues and games never have gotten the scrutiny they do now. Every big story is the biggest story. Every little spark threatens to turn into a bonfire.
And now comes a regular season game that has ignited anticipation and, of course, hype -– a matchup so significant it might as well have Roman numerals attached to it.
As a certain Cowboys wide receiver proclaimed with a laminated sign in his locker this week, getcha your popcorn. It's the all-star Tom Brady versus the burgeoning star Tony Romo; the new No. 81, Randy Moss, versus, as he puts it, the original No. 81, Terrell Owens; the secretive Bill Belichick versus the communicative Wade Phillips. It's star wars, NFL-style.
Games can't -- and don't -- come any bigger than this.
