Gahden Gremlins

Decade of Dominance enters its fifth matchup of the first round with seeds 5 and 12 - the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff and Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series, respectively. But if you’ve been a Boston sports fan for more than ten minutes, you know them as the “Snow Bowl” and the “Bloody Sock Game.”

Almost everybody involved in our panel had a tough time with this one. Do you pick the final game played at the old Foxboro Stadium, where the “tuck rule” propelled Tom Brady and the underdog Patriots to their first of three Super Bowls in four years? Or do you pick the game where Curt Schilling, pitching with an unprecedented suture in his ankle, held the Yankees to one run in seven innings as the Red Sox forced a seventh game in a series that they had trailed in, 3-0?

Let’s take a look:

In Support of the Snow Bowl:

Robb Pizzuto, Days of Y’Orr: Ahh yes, the game that gave other teams and fans in the NFL a reason to hate Tom Brady and the Pats. This game gets points for being just as memorable as the Superbowl later that year and for creating more hatred for a rule than I’ve ever seen.

Casey Diana, still probably voting against a Yankees loss here: That game was just pure awesome. Snow ball fights, and a W. No one can beat us in the snow.

Ryan Burns, Boston Bias: Tuck Rule. If it’s not the best rule in football history, I don’t know what is. Vinatieri also absolutely drilled 2 clutch Field Goals in a blizzard, and oh yeah, it was the last game ever at Foxboro Stadium.

Phil Trueira, citing a higher power: The “Tuck Rule”. ‘Nuff said. God is a Patriots fan.

In Support of the Bloody Sock:

Sarah Pacht, proving blood is thicker than water: correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the bloody sock in the MLB hall of fame? Schilling pitched great despite the injury and we won, which in my opinion set up the game 7 win. the pats game- it snowed, the fans and players threw more snow, and they won? sorry,blood beats snow for me.

Vandy 311: Less lucky, more gutsy.  Plus it was against the Yanks.  I can’t say I want to take everyone who has ever been associated with the Oakland Raiders organization at any point in time and punch them in the nuts so hard they puke.

Both Teams Played Hard: Finally a difficult decision! After some thought, I’m going with the Bloody Sock Game. The Snow Bowl was unbelievable and was more or less the start of a dynasty, but it wasn’t as magical as Schilling putting the team on his back to save the Sox’s season that October night.

The Gremlins Choose:

Scal: This was by far the hardest choice on the board for me. I’m not sure how these two got paired up against each other, as I’m not privy to what the seeding is, but I can’t imagine one is ranked much higher than the other, so I’m guessing this is an 8-9 matchup… but then again I may be totally off base. (Ed’s note: 5 vs. 12, Scal. Typical NCAA upset fodder.) To me, these two games are just so similar: Both games featured teams which had yet to win anything, and hadn’t proven themselves, and both games were basically won on flukes (the Tuck Rule, Schilling’s surgically repaired ankle), and gutsy play (Vinatieri’s field goal, Schilling’s aforementioned surgically repaired ankle). Thinking back, I have a really hard time remembering which one of these meant more to me, but I’m gonna give it to the game that really started things up in this town, which really made us believe in our ragtag bunch of Patriots. Going against one of the greatest playoff comebacks of all time is tough, but picking the game that unleashed the Patriot juggernaut on the world for the first time is worth it. Pick: Snow Bowl

Mad Dog: Yeah that’s fucking right. I went with the first fucking upset of the bracket. This isn’t because I don’t like football. In all fairness I don’t like Curt Schilling, at all, but this game was just too big to let onto the next round. Pick: Bloody Sock

Ty: You really think I would pick against football? Pick: Snow Bowl

Stache: Both of these games were affected in seeding by their context. I think the Snow Bowl got elevated a little bit by being the second playoff game we think about when we remember the Patriots’ first Super Bowl, while the Bloody Sock game got a bit forgotten by the completion of the reverse sweep and the actual series win. Hell, I’d say that the ‘04 Sox run got the most diluted of any playoff run in this tournament, when if we could’ve set ourselves on just one game it’d have been by far the top seed.

I guess I have to go with the Bloody Sock game, for one reason and one reason: the opportunity to shit on Alex Rodriguez. Remember that iconic photoshop of A-Rod using a purse to slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s hand? Well, the situation was the eighth inning of Game 6, and without the umpires’ eventual decision to call the doucher out for interference, the Yanks are within one run and we might not be here right now. Pick: Bloody Sock

Final Tally: Snow Bowl 11, Bloody Sock 7

To be honest, the silent partners really made the difference here. Folks who didn’t do write-ups on this game, like Jon Fucile of Days of Y’Orr and Vinny Mannering (the guy who created @TimmySaves), had the Snow Bowl. Blame them, baseball fans.

Games Remaining: 11 (5 Patriots, 3 Red Sox, 2 Bruins, 1 Celtics)

Next Up: 2011 NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Game 7 vs. Super Bowl XXXIX