"The Comeback" was a 1993 playoff game in which the Houston Oilers blew a 35-3 lead to lose in overtime.  The upstart Buffalo Bills went on to the Super Bowl, where karma served them with a 52-17 detonation at the hands of the Cowboys.

If losing from 35-3 up seems unlikely, it's because it is:  no other team in NFL history has come from that far down to win.

Today (Saturday), Dr. D sat through the wrong end of a Comeback that was probably even less likely than the 1993 NFL game.

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PREGAME:  My awesome Arsenal Gunners visited Newcastle, a wobbly club with teetering management, fighting to avoid "relegation" (literally being evicted from the league due to poor W/L record.  Such a pity that the Mariners' ownership does not have to sweat this).

I didn't check the odds; probably at home, Newcastle was about 3:1 or 4:1 against to win.

Having gotten my work done early, I settled in to the DVR with a sandwich and a tremendous feeling of peace and well-being.

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1-0 Arsenal:  The best player in Russia, Andrey Arshavin, took a short pass and one-touched it to the fastest player in the Premier League, Theo Walcott, as Walcott blazed through two Newcastle defenders like Steve Nash through two big centers. 

Walcott, 1-on-1 with the goalie, deftly "passed" the ball into the net, left corner.

The game was 40 seconds old.  Newcastle fans weren't yet seated comfortably, and the game looked completely over.

................

2-0 Arsenal:  From a free kick deep on the sideline, Arshavin launched a 40-yard missile precisely onto the head of a tall Arsenal center defender, who had come up 100 yards for the dead-ball play.  The header went gorgeously into the top-left corner.

The game was three minutes old and the game was definitely over now.  Over in terms of Arsenal's climb up the standings, but only just begun in terms of Showtime.  Come on, lads!  Come on!

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