On behalf the Patriots and the fans in New England I want to apologize to all the NFL teams and their fans. It seems the success of the Patriots has somehow offended the rest of the sports world. I'm sure the Patriots had no intention of upsetting the NFL nation by having such a successful season. I'm sure. had they known how many fans would look on their success as an inference that their team is woefully inferior, they would have lost a couple of games just to make the rest of the league feel better.
Look, we didn't know how fragile the psyche of the other teams and their fans were. How were we to know that they were going to look on our success as a personal affront to their dignity.
At the start of the season I was willing to chalk it up to sour grapes. The "spygate" fiasco got the season off to a bad start. I assumed that, with a little perspective, it would blow over and be seen as the minor infraction that it was. Man, was I ever wrong! I've got to tell you, there are a lot more sore sports out there than I imagined and they are carrying some sour grapes bigger than pumpkins.
As their win streak grew so did the venomous nature of the comments from both the fans and the sports media. The bitter and caustic remarks directed at the Patriots, the organization and their fans are almost unprecedented in their bias and bile. They have added a whole new dimension to the meaning of the word "asterisk". The various conspiracy theories regarding the refs, the NFL and their complicity in orchestrating the teams success rivals that of the believers in the plot to kill Kennedy or UFO's and the Roswell cover-up.
For some inexplicable reason, the more the Patriots win the more they have been hated by the average fan. They have been called cheaters, dirty players, classless and have been saddled with just about every other insult and negative label possible. They have never uttered a derogatory word of criticism toward any opponent, yet they are accussed of being arrogant on an almost criminal level. Bill Belichick has been equated with the second coming of Satan on earth. Fans everywhere seem to hate them for reasons they can't even define let alone justify. Go into any bar outside of New England and say the name Patriots and suddenly people start foaming at the mouth and their heads start exploding like cartoon characters in the middle of some apoplectic fit.
Generally speaking, once my team is eliminated, I root for the underdog for the remainder of a season or the playoffs. Last year I rooted for the Pats as always. It hurt when they lost to Manning and the Colts. However once the game was over, rather than rooting for the underdog, I decided to root for Manning. Actually so did most of my friends and fellow Pats fans. He has been a great QB and, as far as the rivalry between the Colts and the Pats, has always been a worthy opponent and good sport. He has never insulted or denigrated the Pats when his team lost or let loose with comments that suggested they didn't deserve to win. In victory he was magnanimous and gracious. He paid proper respects to the victors or the vanquished as any sportsman would.
For me it was easy to root for Manning. If Brady wasn't going to win then Manning was the next most deserving. I thought he had earned his shot and was glad to see him get the ring. Just because I love the Patriots and Tom Brady it doesn't mean I hate Manning and the Colts.
Obviously that is a minority opinion this year. Being a good sport is way out of vogue when it comes to the Patriots.
Every year we read about the remaining members of the Miami Dolphins holding the champaign and waiting for the last undefeated team to lose. Every year the fans express their hopes that someone will break their record and finally put them in their place. They have stood as the definative symbol for what makes a sore sport. I would have expected more fans to start rooting for the Patriots to go undefeated once their team was eliminated. Finally someone has the chance to set a new standard of achievement and shut the old geezers up. One would have expected that, after rooting for their own team, people would rally around any team that finally has the chance.
Not hardly!
I'm pulling for the Patriots all the way this year. I want to see them make history. A team going 19-0 again in my lifetime is not very probable. It has taken 35 years for the Patriots to get in this position. I want to see them do it. I want them to go undefeated and take their place as the greatest team in NFL histyory... at least until someone else does it.
But I'll be honest, if it was another team that was 18-0 and playing the Patriots in the SB, I would be seriously torn. As much as I would want the Patriots to win I would just as much hate to see a team on the verge of such an accomplishment fall short. And if that 18-0 team was playing any other team I would be rooting for them all the way. I'm a Patriots fan, but I'm also a football fan. I would want to see a team succeed in a quest for history... that trumps an ordinary SB.
Apparently, at least as far as the rest of the NFL fans are concerned, if the Patriots win the superbowl and do finish undefeated, it will be the greatest insult that the sports world has seen since the Chicago Black Sox scandal. I'm almost afraid to root for the Patriots openly. Some where there is some **** planning his assault on the crowds at Gillette stadium... he's just waiting for that final push that will send him over the edge.
So I've decided that I'm going to handle the inevitable Patriots superbowl victory in a different way this year. Rather than celebrate, if the Pats win the superbowl, I am going to declare a personal state of mourning. I will send my condolences to all the teams we beat this year expressing my deep sympathy for their loss. I will petition congress for a memorial to all the fallen teams that we clobbered on the way to the Superbowl.
One thing for sure, rather than drive some borderline fan to suicide, I'm going to act like our winning was something to be ashamed of. I'll do my partying out of sight, in private, out of respect for all the losers out there.
It's clear that any celebration on our part is going to looked on by the rest of the sports world as being akin to laughing at a wake and dancing on a grave.
Maria Kirilenko
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* "asterisk"
It's All Mine!
Yellowstone Park, WY
Total Comments (5514)
Very nice.
Sums it up quite well..
I will join you in that period of mourning..
for a few days. After that, all bets are off.
:-)
nicely put Michael
KPKahder -
Total Comments (45280)
Thanks for the spell check... asterisk has been corrected.
Epoch1
I'm Telling My, MA
Total Comments (20274)
Good blog, Epoch. Not a Pats fan, but boy, are they getting hammered by everyone else! I only root against them when this one particular dread-lock wearin', can't-shut-up, diahrrea-tongued, trash-talkin' Bostonian is around. Nothing against your team, it's him. Maybe we could all b**** slap fellow fans/homers who act like that, in order to preserve the peace.
It's All Mine!
Yellowstone Park, WY
Total Comments (5514)
I also rooted for Manning and the Colts last year after they knocked the Pats off.There is no worse feeling except maybe E-Coli,losing your lover,or a death in the family,than having your team get knocked off either short of, or in the Superbowl.I jumped into the rooting areana with the Colts based on the fact that they bested us and good for them,no hard feelings,continue the job Colts.I also think there is no better elation than to have your team win the Superbowl,I would equate that feeling as close to sex and maybe even Filet Mignon and all you can eat Main Lobsters.
Harry Callahan
Total Comments (10043)
It is not really so inexplicable, and it is not for no reason. Open your eyes and take a look around some time.
AllStarz
Total Comments (18993)
Ok AllStarz... my eyes are open and I'm looking around... exactly what is it I'm looking for?
Epoch1
I'm Telling My, MA
Total Comments (20274)
Doulble negative alert!
It's All Mine!
Yellowstone Park, WY
Total Comments (5514)
I think he meant look around, behind you to look at the clock and see how close it is getting to the kickoff of the Superbowl that your team is in.
Harry Callahan
Total Comments (10043)
Doulble negative alert!
It's All Mine! BS | 01/25/08, 11:31 AM
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That's "double" not "doulble".... ha ha!
Epoch1
I'm Telling My, MA
Total Comments (20274)
"I also think there is no better elation than to have your team win the Superbowl,I would equate that feeling as close to sex and maybe even Filet Mignon and all you can eat Main Lobsters.
Harry says Pats in a laugher | 01/25/08, 11:10 AM "
Sex, Filet, and Lobster, Harry? Is that how it feels? Sounds awesome, in any order! Of course, I don't know the feeling, and neither do the Seahawks. CRAP!
It's All Mine!
Yellowstone Park, WY
Total Comments (5514)
Nuts! You got me, Epoch.
It's All Mine!
Yellowstone Park, WY
Total Comments (5514)
You see, I'm having trouble typing today, because I drank too much beer last night on my way to improving my bowling average by two pins. Yay, me!
It's All Mine!
Yellowstone Park, WY
Total Comments (5514)
Clearly you are missing something that everyone, well everyone but Pats fans, sees. It must be everyone else that is wrong, yeah, that's it.
Anyway, well written.
AllStarz
Total Comments (18993)
It must be everyone else that is wrong, yeah, that's it.
Anyway, well written.
AllStarz | 01/25/08, 11:45 AM
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It usually is everyone else thats wrong... Pats fans are pretty myopic... thanks for the compliment... it must hurt to say that to a Pats fan... it takes a real good sport.
Epoch1
I'm Telling My, MA
Total Comments (20274)
Not at all. I am really not a hater. The success that the Pats have had this year is phenomenal. What a ride this must be for Pats fans.
AllStarz
Total Comments (18993)
True confession time. I was one of those fans who was not only "outraged" by spygate, but felt a certain sense of satisfaction that the Pats "must have done it by hook and crook".
But then I did come to my senses in a way. I rooted for the underdog, which was every team that played the Pats this year. Especially when we got the SB 40 rematch vs. the Eagles.
Now though, it is great to be living in a time when a team can actually win all 16 regular season games and then march toward the Super Bowl. Personally I'm rooting for the Patriots (gasp) because it's history in the making.
Detractors and haters can bring up Spygate and Harrison's HGH all they want. But just like we found out with the Mitchell report, who's to say the other players and teams haven't been doing the same things or more than what you accuse the Pats of doing to "tarnish the game"?
Oso Famoso
Palinville, AK
Total Comments (17911)
The word you're looking for is "Backlash" Everyone loved the 01 Pats who came out of no where, but now they're a dynasty, and even before Spygate, people, good solid football fans, were rooting against them, because America, just like you, ALSO LIKES TO ROOT FOR THE UNDERDOG. And the Pats are no longer underdogs.
Second, there's a dichotomy (hey, if you can use apoplectic, I can use dichotomy MF! ;) between a perfect season, and getting caught cheating. NOT that I think they gained ANYTHING materially from Spygate, but many do, and there's a disconnect there about being perfect and breaking the rules.
Third, I think you thumbing your nose at other football fans, while yourself and Pat fans to a higher standard is wrong. Pat fans are just as likely to be arrogant pricks as Bear fans (for example), and that was shown clearly by the case of the Jaguars fans (who WERE ACCOMPANIED BY PATRIOTS FANS) who got assaulted at the Div Playoff Game. You saying that you fear rooting for the Pats in public cuz of a backlash is RICH.
Just cheer your team when they win (I will be cheering too) cuz sending out condolences to other people will just come off as arrogant, crass and sarcastic, and you're much more likely to feel the backlash going that route. The Pats, and their fans will have earned their right to crow for a while, and anyone who wants to denegrate the accomplishment will be a petty fool. Take the high road, with my blessing.
Just remember in 35 yrs to stay on that high road, and not go the way of Mercury Morris when another team threatens a perfect season.
MixinUpMedicine
Saint Paul , MN
Total Comments (631)
Hey... excellent word there Mixin. It takes real confidence to use a word like "dichotomy"... but thats only half the story. You're right that the Pats are not the underdog anymore and they are by no means "perfect" in any way other than their record.
No offense to you but anyone who actually thinks what the Pats did amounts to "cheating" should get off the moral high horse and get a reality check. The average holding call is every bit as serious in the way of "cheating". When there are about 100 cameras taping every minute of a game, to somehow equate what the Pats did with a sacriligious violation of strict ethicical standards is foolish.
I didn't mean to thumb my nose at anyone and there are Pats fans who are as obnoxious as they come. And there are no fans more ugly and arrogant, not to mention pathetic, than Red Sox and Yankee fans.
I am ashamed for all sports fans about what happened to the people you mentioned. 90% of fans in any city would never do such a thing.Those weren't fans who did that.. they were stupid thugs. They can be found at almost any sports event drunk and looking for trouble.
The condolences crack was meant to be in jest. But it is the folks that, after all the Pats have done, refuse to give them the proper respect they've earned that kind of tick me off. I mean what does any team have to do before a fan from another city will say "well done"?
As I said, I'm a sports fan. I enjoy it when my team is winning but I enjoy a good game regardless of who's playing. It's the games, not the names that make it fun to watch. As a Pats fan I've cheered them thru 30 years of losing seasons. This run won't last forever so I'll take it while I can.
And if I'm still here in 35 years I'll be lucky if I remember my name not who won the SB this year.
Thanks for reading and your comments.
Epoch1
I'm Telling My, MA
Total Comments (20274)
"Stay classy, San Diego"
-Ron Burgundy ;)
MixinUpMedicine
Saint Paul , MN
Total Comments (631)
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