I just needed to get this off my mind, but I'd just like to ask if anyone else is getting tired of the man-crush the media has on the Patriots?  I didn't really speak out before today about the drivel King put out concerning his "power" rankings.

I would really like to look up to see how many of these "journalists" (and I use the term very loosely) are from Boston or are just New England fans because this isn't even reporting, it's homerism. 

I try to contain my homerism when talking about the Colts, and I know at times I fail, but I at least try to look at it objectively even if it's just for a fleeting instant.  Sometimes I understand that I'm vehemently defending the Colts on something I don't absolutely agree with, but there's enough shred of truth for me to put up a fight. 

That's really for another topic, and one I'll probably get into in the near future (about how I actually see the team and try to eliminate as much subjectivity as possible), but my point is that people are human and subject to their own biases and emotions that can jade their "objective" opinions to seem quite the opposite.  However, if you claim to be a journalist for an unbiased news organization, you should either make certain that your homerism doesn't ooze through, or if it does, there isn't much room to argue.  Or at the very least, be able to defend your argument with an intelligent counterargument that doesn't sound ridiculous.

With that said, and subject to your own analysis, I give you Peter King's response to thousands of "WTF were you thinking?!" responses to his Monday edition of MMQB :

"Let's start with the Steelers being behind the Patriots. Abdul Abdulbarr of Washington writes: "Can you please explain in detail why you feel New England should be No. 1-overall and not Pittsburgh, the Super Bowl champs who beat the crap out of the Patriots in the regular season, and who return basically the same team from last year and Tom Brady is a big question mark for New England. So please, on God's green earth, tell me how can you put New England No. 1''

What would you say, Abdul, if I told you recent history tells us there's a 12-percent chance the Steelers will repeat? Let's look at the Super Bowl winners this decade, and what happened the following year:

2000: Baltimore beat the Giants 34-7, then went 10-6 and lost a divisional playoff game the next year.
2001: New England beat St. Louis 20-17, then went 9-7, out of the playoffs the next year.
2002: Tampa Bay beat Oakland 48-21, then went 7-9, out of the playoffs the next year.
2003: New England beat Carolina 32-29, then went 14-2 and won the Super Bowl the next year.
2004: New England beat Philadelphia 24-21, then went 10-6 and lost a divisional playoff game the next year.
2005: Pittsburgh beat Seattle 21-10, then went 8-8, out of the playoffs the next year.
2006: Indianapolis beat Chicago 29-17, then went 13-3 and lost a divisional playoff game to San Diego the next year.
2007: The Giants beat New England 17-14, then went 12-4 and lost a divisional playoff game to Philadelphia the next year.

One for 8. One Super Bowl winner. One conference champion.

That's my point: History says Pittsburgh's got a steep hill to climb here, and the Steelers may well do it. But the more I watch this game, the more I realize there's a reason teams don't repeat. I love the Steelers, I love everything about the Rooney/Tomlin regime, and I love the leaders on their team. But I respect history, too. And this New England team comes back with a quarterback who I think will be healthy, and a quarterback and a team that will come back hungry to prove they're still a champion. Just my opinion."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/peter_king/05/12/mail/index.html

Yes, you read that right, his argument is that "History says that Pittsburgh will not repeat so I won't put them at #1 and I'm a firm believer in history.  With that said, history says that the Patriots are super awesome, and the Patriots used to be really good and wouldn't normally miss the playoffs after having a laughable schedule like they did last season, so I'm going to put them at #1." 

That is why I felt the need to write anything at all about the subject.  It's not the fact that he ranked the Patriots at #1, you can rank whatever team you want at #1.  But this is the best argument he could come up with?  Really?  Do they not check anything he writes before he posts it?  I was beyond the point of bashing King for some of the idiotic things he writes because it's pretty much the norm and would be a full time job just to keep up, but at least put some effort into a response when you're a "journalist" from a news organization that most people take seriously and having employees with half a brain.  Yeah, it may just be your opinion, just as this entire fanpost is MY opinion, but I'm willing to back stuff up or admit when I'm wrong over "Just my opinion."

So, in summation, get ready for the Patriot crotch jockeys to be in full force until late December.  As the old saying goes "If you don't have anything intelligent to say, shut the hell up."  This was really just to get a few things off my chest.