I am a Dallas Cowboys fan first. I have been since I knew what football was. However, since most of my family is from Massachusetts, I do go for the Patriots in the AFC. With that said, I'm quite happy the NY Giants won tonight. The Pats have been irking me all year.

Finally, I have this to say to the 18-1 New England Patriots... B U S T E R S ! ! !

Gene Wojciechowski, in his latest ESPN.com article "Cowboys look good beating Pack ... but they're no Pats," perpetuates the myth that the AFC is somehow so much stronger than the NFC.

"The undefeated Patriots of the more muscular AFC remain the best team in the league."

"The 11-1 Cowboys are the class of the NFC which, compared to the unbeaten Patriots, is like saying Britney Spears is the class of rocker parents."

"Their best-ever 11-1 start is no small thing. In fact, it's a very big thing. In the NFC."

More muscular AFC? How so? I'll agree that it just feels that way when you watch the games, but if you look at the numbers, you see a significantly different picture.

Let's look at the average winning percentage of the two conferences (as of week 13).

• AFC - .495
• NFC - .505

We can also look at the number of teams with a .500 or better record (as of week 13).

• AFC - 8
• NFC - 8

And of course, as several of the online sports mags have done throughout the season, let's look at the inter-conference record (as of week 13).

• AFC - 24-26
• NFC - 26-24

If this isn't parity, I don't know what is. The NFC is obviously doing a bit better, but not significantly so. Are these sports writers simply fanboys, incapable of doing basic addition? I did have to do division to get the winning averages, so I'll cut them a some slack. Long division is hard!

So I'm sitting in front of the computer last night watching the November 11, 2007 Cowboys-Giants game. My seven year old daughter comes in and sits on my lap. After a few minutes of watching the game with me, she points to this guy.

She says to me, "Daddy. THAT guy is the quarterback for the other team? He looks like a teenager... and kinda throws like a girl."

"Yes he does baby. Yes he does," I quickly agree.

"Tony Romo looks much stronger," she adds.

"Yes he does baby. Yes he does!"

UPDATE: Mon Nov 26 18:09:44 UTC 2007

Man was my daughter right! (MIN 41, NYG 17)

I've been a Dallas Cowboys fan all my life (since I first understood what football was and that my father was a Redskins fan). The fan bandwagon has been rather empty the last several years, but apparently, it's starting to fill up again.

I've seen more Dallas Cowboys hats and flags and t-shirts the last couple of weeks than I have in a long time. Maybe it's because I'm in the San Fran bay area and both the 49ers and Raiders suck? Perhaps the fan base left over from all those years the Cowboys had training came in Thousand Oaks is larger than I thought? Interesting as well is the Fan Roster at SportingNews.com. Dallas is at the top. Haven't seen that before.

• SportingNews.com (NFL)