In a song that he helped make famous, Frank Sinatra once crooned, “It’s up to you, New York, New York.” And with Super Bowl XLII and a titanic clash between the undefeated New England Patriots and the red-hot New York Giants looming on the horizon, never have these words rung more true. The background details are worth repeating: at 18-0, New England hangs on the fringe of perfection. The team has scored more points than any to have ever come before it. Tom Brady set the record for touchdown passes in a season (50), and Randy Moss caught 23 of those scores to set the mark for receiving touchdowns in a single year. It would be the understatement of the century to say that they have had a pretty good season so far. The Giants, on the other hand, stumbled out of the gates with two losses before reeling off six straight wins against relatively inconsequential opposition. Eventually New York got its collective act together enough to secure a playoff berth, but few outside of the team’s most ardent supporters expected it to make any serious noise. In the regular season’s final week against the Pats, New York found itself faced with an interesting quandary that has gone on to define its season. As both teams had their playoff fates locked up, conventional wisdom dictated that that they should rest their ailing stars for the more important playoff games soon to come. In front of a national television audience on that Saturday, however, the Giants made the decision to come out guns blazing and to play their best players. They gave the Patriots almost all that they could handle – leading late in the game, the Giants would eventually lose by three points. It was arguably the most the Patriots had been tested all season. In the wake of the contest, many claimed that although the Giants had done an honorable service in playing to win the game, they had actually cost themselves a chance at postseason glory by running their superstars into the ground. But in the weeks that have followed, the Giants have proved that they were able to turn a deaf ear to their critics and score some serious points for moral victories everywhere. It turns out that almost beating the Patriots was just what New York needed to finally get firmly on track. New York gelled together in a way that it never had before; unified, the team went on the road to Tampa Bay and rolled the Buccaneers, moved down to Dallas and upset the Cowboys and then headed north to Green Bay to shock the Packers in overtime on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. The reward for this remarkable effort? A rematch with the Patriots in a game that this time is anything except “meaningless.” For millions across America, the Giants of this NFL postseason have come to symbolize all that is good about both football and human nature. They are quarterbacked by a player who finally seems to have seen the light at the end of tunnel and is growing up right before our very eyes. They are coached by a man who is widely perceived to have this season discovered a sense of kindness and affability that he never before possessed. On the whole, everyone knows that New York played hard when it really didn’t have to, and it seems that if karma counts, the Giants have earned the right to have fortune squarely on their side in this match-up. That’s because Americans outside of New England largely cannot stand the Patriots. Humans are, by nature, fallible creatures who possess no conception of perfection. A superstar quarterback who dates supermodels? A head coach so smug that he can’t be bothered to even shake his opponents’ hands after a game? A team that would cheat to win at any cost? No, those aren’t attributes with which most people can relate. Americans should be pulling for the Giants to teach the Patriots a lesson that no one would ever forget. An 18-1 record is even more memorable than 19-0, and if the Patriots were to stumble just one game short of perfection, it might overshadow everything that they have accomplished over the past decade (Personally, I know that there’s nothing that I would like more than for all of those New England fans who have forgotten what it’s like to lose to be reminded in the most painful way possible.) But what’s lost in the shuffle here is what kick-started the Giants’ cosmic wave: their week 17 game against New England. Consider that the Giants received their incredible boost by merely “almost” beating the Patriots. They played as hard as they could – lost – and yet were still moved to such incredible heights that they went on to win three consecutive games in which not too many people had given them a fighting chance. Are the Patriots so good that even “almost” beating them is enough to push another team to previously unheard of heights? That’s an awfully sobering reality. Really, what evidence do we have to think that New York can win on Super Sunday? Rarely has an opponent even come close to beating New England. On the few occasions when the Patriots have been in trouble, even when things have looked their bleakest – New England knew exactly how to find a way to win. Tom Brady never panics. Belichick always outsmarts his counterpart. These Patriots are practically . perfect. On Sunday I’ll be rooting with my whole heart for a Patriots upset. But my head tells me that realistically New York doesn’t have much of a chance. I want so desperately to be able to see the 1972 Dolphins popping their champagne bottles and the 2007 New York Giants embodying the essence of the “on any given Sunday” mantra. But without a little bit of sports magic to help the Giants along, what I fear I will see are Patriots hoisting another Lombardi Trophy and once-and-for-all silencing all arguments about the greatest team of all time. Like Sinatra sang, at this point it’s up to New York. But for these Patriots and their fans, another of his famous lyrics seems more apt: “The best is yet to come, and babe, won’t that be fine?” Chris Seneca is a senior in the School of Foreign Service. He can be reached at senecathehoya.com. SLOW MOTION appears every other Tuesday in HOYA SPORTS.