I have to give credit where it's due. The New England Patriots are a great team. I had a tough choice who to root for, though. I really didn't want the Pats to match the Cowboys record of 3 wins in 4 years, but my distaste (hatred?) of the Philadelphia Eagles overrode any disappointment.

However, in all the "dynasty" talk about the Pats, mention should be made about the Eagles. Going to the NFC Championship four years in a row and performing better that most prognosticators in the Super Bowl is certainly a tremendous feat.

'Course, I hope they go 2-14 next year (beating only the Redskins twice).

I also took exception to the newscaster this morning on WGN-TV (Chicago). In mentioning the great Super Bowl teams and quarterbacks, he mentioned that the Patriots and Tom Brady are now in the same class as only Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers and Joe Montana and the 49ers.

Bradshaw led 4 teams to Super Bowl victories, Montana led three (as has Brady).

Where's Troy Aikman and the Cowboys? The 'Boys won 3 in 4 years and would have won (perhaps) four in a row if not for the refs not calling an obvious pass-interference against Deion Sanders.

Besides Bradshaw, the only other quarterbacks to lead a team to 4 Super Bowls were Roger Staubach, John Elway and Jim Kelly.

The Patriots are an exceptional team. What they have best going for them is that they know how to win. I don't believe they are as great as the Cowboys in the 90's, the Niners of the 80's, the Steelers of the 70's or the Packers of the 60's.

But if they win another one, they might turn out to be better than all of them.