My own great depression...

How does that old "ABC Wide World of Sports" intro go? "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat..." The phrase "agony of defeat," of course, was punctuated by that now infamous footage of some poor ski jumper biting it in a whirlwind of flailing limbs and debris. That's pretty much the feeling of every football fan in New England right now.

So here I sit, at the end of the day, upset and confused and downright angry about the Patriots' 38-13 loss to the Dolphins.

You could make the case that I have nothing to complain about... Four Patriot Super Bowls in seven years; witness to the Red Sox's breaking of the Curse of the Bambino and another World Series on top of that; a Celtics' championship; a Boston College men's hockey championship and a college football team ranked as high as No. 2 last year.

But, as a sports fan who has tasted the sweet cup of success, let me tell you what's even more bitter than losing: Losing after you've had a sustained run of success. Trust me when I tell you, there's nothing more bitter than seeing your once unbeatable team, one that had won 21 regular season games in a row, get blown out at home by the NFL's worst team.

I'm not one to believe in superstition. But I think Tom Brady's injury has cosmic meaning. Just as his rise as the Patriots QB heralded an unprecedented era of success for New England sports, I think his fall will presage exactly the opposite. The karma is gone. Brady's backup Matt Cassell is a symbol of the old, pre-Bledsoe days. He's a nobody, a clipboard holder. And he's now leading this team, a flimsy answer for a 16-game bar exam.

Maybe the Patriots will turn it around. Maybe this is the turning point that propels the Pats to another one of those magical seasons. I don't think so. I think the salad days are over and that the Pats' loss was only the beginning to a long, long winter of discontent.