The Patriots open training camp on Thursday.

Thank goodness.

The 2008 season is upon us, which means the 2007 season is behind us.

Finally.

What should have been the most memorable, unforgettable season, not just in Patriots history, but in the entire lore and legend of the National Football League, instead turned -- suddenly, shockingly, devastatingly -- into a season Pats fans can't bear to think about.

All because of the Game That Must Not Be Named.

Some call it Super Bowl XLII. Patriots fans, when they speak of it at all, call it names that cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

It has been nearly six months since the undefeated Patriots played the New York football Giants in Phoenix in the Game That Must Not Be Named, but the pain for Pats fans is as fresh as if the devastating defeat that spoiled New England's perfect season had happened yesterday.

The unthinkable happened. And so Patriots fans have refused to think about it. They blocked it out. (Too bad New England's offensive line didn't block similarly well against the fierce pass rush of the Giants.)

Pats fans focused, instead, on the surprising Celtics, who won a championship.

As the Patriots were supposed to, but didn't.

Since the Pats blew their bid for a fourth title in seven seasons, fans turned their attention to the defending World Series champion Red Sox and their quest for a third title in five years.

The Patriots, despite going 16-0 in 2007 -- the best regular-season record in the NFL since the Miami Dolphins went 14-0 in 1972 -- are the only one of New England's three major professional sports teams that doesn't have a current championship banner displayed on their playing premises.

The time has come to make up for that shortcoming.

Now, at long last, Pats fans can officially forget about last season and look ahead to the coming year.

It's OK if the Patriots lose a few games this season. Just as long as they don't lose the last one.

They don't have to be perfect. They just have to better than everyone else.

It shouldn't be a problem -- as long as quarterback Tom Brady stays healthy -- for the Patriots to win a sixth straight AFC East title. Even with the Tuna in charge, the Dolphins pose no threat. In the wake of Spygate, there's no way the Pats are going to lose to Eric "The Snitch" Mangini's Jets. And the Bills simply aren't good enough to beat a New England team that isn't decimated by injuries at key positions -- always a worrisome possibility in the brutal world of professional football.

Once again, the Patriots should be in what Duane Charles Parcells, Miami's new V.P. for player operations, likes to call the tournament. Or, if pronounced with the Southern accent so popular among football coaches (although certainly not with the Jersey-bred-and-proud-of-it Parcells) the "tuna-ment."

At which point, it's one-and-done -- as the Pats and their frustrated fans found out to their utter dismay last February when, one game away from making NFL history, what would have been their lasting fame turned into a crushing defeat when Bill Belichick's defense allowed Eli Manning and the Giants to drive 83 yards in the final minutes, after a Brady-to-Randy Moss touchdown pass had given New England the lead late in the fourth quarter.

And so the 2007 Patriots will be remembered, not as the team that went undefeated in 19 games, but as the team that lost its last game, finishing 18-1.

It's still too painful to think about.

Which is why it's so wonderful that the 2008 season begins Thursday with the opening of training camp on the practice fields outside Gillette Stadium.

Coach Belichick and his boys undoubtedly will be asked about last season, but it will be the upset of the year -- surpassing even The Game That Must Not Be Named -- if Mr. Personality and his players talk about anything other than what lies ahead of them.

And, even in that regard, it's unlikely they'll be looking past the season opener against Kansas City in Foxboro on Sept. 7. Or, perhaps, the preseason opener against the Ravens at Gillette the night of Aug. 7. Then again, knowing Belichick, the Pats are unlikely to be focused on anything beyond Thursday's first practice.

One game at a time, one day at a time, one play at a time. That's the Patriots' way.

They played 19 games a year ago. Sadly, only one will be remembered: the one Pats' fans have spent six months trying to forget.

Now, finally, they can put it behind them. The future is bright. Thursday brings not just a new day, but a new season. One that, hopefully, will end with a Game for the Ages, rather than with another Game That Must Not Be Named.