In 1971, a monster was born in the heart of Philadelphia.

And this weekend will be the last time for anyone to see the monster in action.

All you have to do is tune your TV to the NFC Championship game at Veterans Memorial Stadium at 3:00 p.m. Sunday.

That's right, the infamous and unforgiving Vet will leave its final mark on a visiting team - so unfortunate for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the Bucs last three journeys to the Vet - twice in the playoffs - they couldn't even score one offensive touchdown.

Usually when I hear someone mention a team will have the edge in a game because they're playing at home, I laugh.

Like Gene Hackman pointed out in "Hoosiers," no matter where you play, the basket is still the same height from the floor. Or in our case, the end zones are still the same length apart, the fans are just regular fans, and the turf is just like any other.

Well, not exactly. This is the Vet we're talking about, the concrete beast of Philadelphia. The Hoosiers would last about as long in the Vet as a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich would in front of Eagles 6-foot-7, 349-pound all-pro tackle Tra Thomas.

I don't care about the ghosts in the rafters of the Boston Garden, the atmosphere at Lambeau Field or the whiny noises coming from the Cameron Crazies