It wasn't supposed to be like this. . . .

It was supposed to be Tony Romo's photo hoisting the ball.

It was supposed to be Jason Witten saying "we needed to make the play. . . . we made the play".

It was supposed to be Wade Phillips walking out of the stadium, looking back wondering when it'll ever be this good again.

It was supposed to be Jason Garrett being interviewed after the game.

It was supposed to be the Cowboys with their new Lombardi trophy after beating the unbeatable New England Patriots.

But. . . . .

The Cowboys didn't want it enough. The Giants did.

The Cowboys coasted (some say laid down) in December. The Giants fought like bears to remain with a slim playoff chance. In the end, it required mathematics to determine that they did make it into the playoffs. A wildcard team, of course.

Against what was considered a very good defense, the Giants beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their next game was against the Dallas Cowboys, who had beaten them twice in the regular season. And here's where reality fell into the laps of the Dallas Cowboys. That Giants team walked on the field with determination to play for 60 minutes. More if necessary. None of them were taking any time off. They understood the reality, the finality, the absolute pain of giving 110% for that game.

Who knows what was in the Cowboys minds. Everything from coaching to sore thumbs has been blamed. What it looked like was a team that simply wasn't mentally or physically prepared for the seriousness of playoff competition. The Giants were ready. And they stunned the Dallas Cowboys and their fans.

Who knows what might have happened had the Cowboys come to play football that day. "If" the Cowboys had won that game, perhaps they would have had some fire inside them that wanted that Super Bowl trophy. Perhaps they could have left the Packers laying on the field at Texas Stadium in January, defeated. And perhaps the Cowboys could have given the Patriots their first loss this season.

We'll never know. The Cowboys came to the January game against the Giants with no fire. The Giants had fire. Fire made the difference. Fire was something the Giants had been building through December, on into January. And the Giants' fire was getting hotter weekly. The Cowboys were barely smoldering, if at all, by that time. We know what happened.

The Giants went on to Lambeau Field and even the cold of that place in January wasn't enough to quell the fire of the Giants. The Packers were also defeated by a red hot Giants team.

And then yesterday. The unthinkable happened. What no rational human being on this planet could envision, took place. The Giants wanted it more. The Giants had more fire. The Giants came to play for 60 minutes. . . more if necessary. And the unbeatable New England Patriots got their ass kicked.

And the New York Football Giants, who maintained their fire, who stoked their fire, and who used that fire to propel them from a team that barely made it into the playoffs, are now the World Champion New York Football Giants.

I congratulate them with all of my being. They deserved that trophy. They played like champions. Something our Cowboys need to study and learn how to do. They'll get the opportunity next season. The Cowboys will play the defending World Champions twice next season, as usual.

It was supposed to be the Cowboys as the defending World Champions. It won't be. They didn't want it as badly. They weren't hungry enough. The Giants were. And the Giants had fire when they needed the fire.

I'm a Cowboy fan, through and through. I'll hate the Giants again tomorrow. But today, I congratulate them on truly being the new World Champions. They proved better than any team I've ever seen that what is important is not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog. Congratulations.