ctpatsfan77

Patriots sweep all-decade team, coach, MVP - AFC East - ESPN

That must have been fun to write.

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"Momentum was quickly snatched away by New England, who once again proved that any Patriot, at any moment, can make a play." —Inside the NFL, Packers v. Patriots

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JSn

I loved this part:

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JaxPats

Yeah, no kidding. Let the hateing begin. AGAIN! I love it!

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"If you believe in yourself, have dedication and pride and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards."

jmt57

And I would say it's a safe guess that all the Pats haters are blowing up the comment section as well as their own fan forums with their outrage at the selections, with claims that espn and the media are biased and love the Pats.

efin98

...on a related note, a mysterious vomit smell has been reported in the area of the ESPN studios...

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"As long as we have Belichick, I always think that we're going to be just fine."...Tom Brady, in reference to his coach.

“It is what it is, but it ain’t what you think.”...Brandon Spikes

BSR

Is anyone else suprised that Belichick actually spoke to an ESPN reporter? He usually doesn't give them the time of day. I wonder if the tensions are cooling between the two sides. It does seem like we are hearing more and more comments from them about how overblown spygate was.

PatsBoy12

And the accolades just keep coming. Sometimes even I can't believe the ride this had been. Anyone who lived through the misery years (pre-2001) should be soaking this up and basking in this franchise. Those of you who weren't around for the misery years . . . well, I guess I'll allow you to enjoy it just this once. Seriously, we should all be proud of this team. Bill Belichick is the greatest football mind that I've seen in my time of watching football, and he's done a masterful job with this franchise.

PatsFanSince74

All I can think is that the ESPN website must have been hacked and that this article will be taken down in a couple of hours and that ESPN will announce its real winners, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and a tossup between the Colts and Steelers for best team. It'll happen any minute now. Checking the site as we speak.

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It is what it is. It wasn't what it wasn't.

PatsBoy12

jmt57

No, it's a lot simpler than that. ESPN is simply a division of a company trying to maximize profits in a nevr ending attempt to appease corporate headquarters. Reality is they don't love or hate any team or player - they love the stories that generate ratings and hate the stories that don't. And as we've seen on television and newspapers throughout our entire lives, "good" stories don't sell, but "bad" stories do.

The public loves the underdog (see SB 36), but win more than once and you're the big bad bully. Outside of New England NFL fans were already saying "I'm sick and tired of the Patriots winning all the time" before SB 38 had taken place. The bad guy has to win his battles to be feared and loathed; who's afraid or despises a 7-9 team? Traditional villains Oakland and Dallas were in need of replacement. ESPN seized on that, along with BB's emotionless press conferences, and they had their new villain.

Now to make the bad guy seem even more despicable, ESPN needed the good guy in the white hat to contrast the image. The logical choice was the second best team in the conference, the Colts. Enter Saint Dungy and "aw, shucks" Peyton Manning and the Colts, with their fan base right out of a Norman Rockwell painting and their middle American values in contrast to the "big market" Boston area and you have all the sterotypes of a pro wrestling match.

After that all they have to do is print a story about the villain - it doesn't matter if it was positive or negative - and fans of the 31 other teams react like the towns folk in Frankenstein, with their pitchforks and torches ready to burn the monster. On one hand it's laughable as to how easily the audience is led, but at the same time it's also sad and scary that the public buys in to these portrayals so quickly and easily.

Bottom line is that ESPN doesn't hate the Pats. They love them because all they have to do is mention the Pats, and they get a ton of hits to their web site, which results in more profits. Just get used to it, because as long as the Pats are competitive, it's not going to change.