Cautious Optimism a.k.a. Extreme Jitters

Team Catalyst - Free Safety Bob Sanders

This is not good. It's only Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and I get nervous when I think about it. By Sunday, I may not be able to think at all.

Everything is in place. Our first AFC Championship game at home...we're 9-0 at home this year. The opponent: the arch-nemesis. The winner gets tickets to Miami.

This isn't huge. This is in some unknown realm that's well beyond huge. It's the culmination of over 20 years of personal football frustration. Enduring 1-15 seasons and awful first-round draft picks...later, being the favorite to win it all and then choking in spectacular fashion, year after year.

This is an aging team whose best chance to win it all many think has past. A loss on Sunday would be devastating, because the chance to make it this far may never come for this team again. I would see a win on Sunday as a monumental event regardless of what happens in Miami on Feb. 4. A win in Miami would be so big it would make all three recent Red Wings championships, combined, look insignificant to me. It would be by far this fan's greatest sports triumph.

I don't even want to think about this until Sunday...