Kevin Everett was on Oprah Thursday plugging his book Standing Tall. He was also on World News Tonight and Nightline. Friday morning he was on Good Morning America. That afternoon on ESPN radio, and ESPN TV has a SportsCenter special about him on Friday night. Today he will be a guest of commissioner Rodger Goodell and the NFL at the SuperBowl. Surely, that means he will be on Fox’s pre-game coverage. I’m guessing that there will be a number of more appearances over the next month. GOOD FOR HIM, and I hope his book goes on to be a best seller. This will be his fifteen minutes of fame. He should ride it out for as long as he can.

If you have been reading my blogs this season you know I am a Bills fan, and have been following his story. Little did I know that Kevin Everett and myself would end up sharing the experience of not being able to walk. I’m not going to repeat everything I wrote at the end of December except that his injury was much, MUCH, more severe than mine. We both have been doing physical therapy, and in two weeks I will be going back to work. Kevin Everett will not. He will never play football again. His livelihood has been taken away. So I hope his book becomes a best seller, and yes I am going to buy a copy.

I never get tired of hearing about Everett’s story. Especially the part when he says “I’m still trying to figure out what God is trying to tell me.” Because over the last few months I have said that same thing to myself. I don’t understand why God let this happen to Kevin Everett. I don’t understand why God let this happen to me. Maybe we were never meant to understand. All I know is that I’m a different person since this happened. A changed person for the better. I think Kevin Everett feels the same way.

So when the final gun goes off Sunday night either the Patriots will complete the perfect season or the Giants pull off one of the greatest upset. That will be the storyline as the 2007-2008 NFL season comes to an end. Than one of these teams will be Standing Tall at the end of the season. As the Vince Lombardi trophy is being presented to one of them take a second to think of Kevin Everett. Think of him up there in one of the NFL’s suites. Think of everything he had to overcome this past football season to be here at this very moment. Something feels so right about Kevin Everett looking down on this scene. Towering over everyone as he is Standing Tall.

* I have not picked a football game since Thanksgiving, but I can’t pass up the SuperBowl. I know your all at the edge of your seats. In a earlier post I said that I didn’t think New England would go 16-0 and the Dolphins had a better chance of going 0-16. Well, I was wrong on both counts. The Patriots are on a mission. To be the greatest team of all time. That was the challenge Bill Belichick gave his team during the bye week. That’s what kept them motivated during all those meanless games when they had nothing to play for. Granted they didn’t play great down the stretch, and even got lucky during the Baltimore game. They won ugly, but still won. That’s the bottom line. With two weeks to get ready I can’t see any reason to pick against them. The Giants deserve a lot of credit for getting this far. They have nothing to lose and will go out there and let it all hang out. This will make for a close game; Up to the 3rd quarter. Then I think New England will take over and turn it into a blow out. The Patriots will stamp their place in history as the best team ever. New England will be Standing Tall Sunday night as the greatest team ever.