lillestroom

Just been having a discussion after watching some old Pats tapes of the 90 \ 91 and 92 seasons.

The Rod Rust\Dick McPherson eras, which seem so long, long ago. Kiam firing Berry which in my eyes led into perhaps the most miserable seasons I can possibly remember. Even the Lions' current woes on the field seem light by comparison.

Anyone have any stories to share? The loss of Fryar? The 1-15 season? The promising 6-10 season which fell away the year after?

Kiam\Kraft trouble which was brewing underneath the surface?

chris_in_sunnyvale

Local high school football superpower Brockton in the '80s produced an outstanding WR named Greg McMurtury. He went to Michigan and was given uniform #1 as he was expected to be the next Anthony Carter there. He didn't light up the Big 10 by any stretch, but did okay for himself. During those dark years you mentioned, McMurtury ended up on his hometown Pats. During the '91 season, the Pats hosted the then-powerhouse Warren Moon Oilers. In a surprisingly good game, the Pats came from behind to win late when Hugh Millen found McMurtury on a slant, who immediately cut outside after the catch and completely turned the CB inside out on the move. McMurtury raced to the endzone in what was one of the best wins of that era.

With not much to cheer for during those years, it was good to see a local kid get a moment in the sun. Those moments were few.

Regards,
Chris

chris_in_sunnyvale

Irving Fryar is remembered as a guy who pulled it all together after he left the Pats. However, go look at his '92 season which was his last with the team. He actually put together a good year for an awful team. I remember quite a few long TDs. I think he ended up with at least 6 TD catches. I contend that Fryar pulled it all together in '92, but that was lost amongst the 2-14 mess. I was not surprised at all when he played well upon leaving the team.

Regards,
Chris

JoeSixPat

Supporting the team by attending games, sitting on ice cold aluminum bleachers in the Rust/McPhearson eras when fan support (or lack thereof) was going to be critical avoiding television blackouts and more importantly in keeping an NFL team in Foxboro...

Without the fans (especially the Krafts themselves) who maintained their staunch fan-atic status during those years, the spoiled Johnny-come-lately fans likely wouldn't have anything to cheer about.

fgssand

We were 23,000 strong as season ticket holders back then and many no shows amongst that number!!

I used to live 20 min away from Foxboro and in those days, could leave my house at Noon, partake of some parking lot festivities, grab a hot dog and be in my seat with plenty of time to see kick off. Even if we stayed to the end, we were home by 4:30. There was very little traffic in those days.

It all changed when Parcells came to town & of course, Robert Kraft bought and saved this franchise. Make no mistake, without Kraft, this team was headed to St Louis - period.

I go all the way back to the beginning and I really enjoy this century's team a whole lot more than last (there were a lot of good years along the way though).

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Gwedd

I agree with this. Those days (and many from the 70's and 80"s) were full of wild-eyed anticipation and heart-breaking losses.

To this day, I still sit on the edge of my couch on every play, and keep pinching myself to remind me that we really ARE living through these the golden years.

TrueBeliever

And a lot of people probably thought Kraft was nuts back then.

In case anyone doesn't know the story, after Kraft bought the stadium he was offered $75 million to let the Patriots out of their lease so whoever it was (Orthwein? Anybody recall?) could move the team free and clear. Just think about that. That would have secured Kraft and his whole family for life. Granted he probably would have taken a hit on the stadium, but that was still a far smaller loss than the potential loss of buying the club and not being able to turn it around. A lot of guys would have taken the money and ran.

I can't really add much to the topic here, since I wasn't yet a Pats fan in those days (heck, I didn't even watch football in those days), but I can put in one thing. When I picked the Pats to be my "second favorite" team, I thought they were on the verge of greatness since Parcells was there. But the first season I was following them was that notorious '95 season, where they started out great and then fizzled to a 6-10 record. For a while I was thinking, "Screw this, this is the same old club that was a doormat for years, time to find someone else to root for." Ironically it was my cousin the Steeler fan who talked me out of it.

Although I can't say I was a fan of the team through those really bad lean years (the worst season I've ever seen was 5-11 in 2000) I always remember that the team isn't all that far detached from those days.

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chris_in_sunnyvale

Hurricane Andrew had delayed the '92 season opener vs. Miami. The Pats opened the season during week 2 in Anaheim. I had just moved to San Diego post-college that summer and looked forward to catching my first Pats road game. I had a friend visiting from MA who spent his pre-teen years growing up in Orange County so we spent Saturday visiting his old neighborhood and stayed the night with old family friends of his (great people). On Sunday morning, he insisted he went to his old church so I stayed behind awaiting his return so we could hit the game. The early games are almost over and he still hasn't shown up. Right around 1pm he shows up, he changes out of his Sunday best into a Pats jersey 2 sizes too small and we careen through traffic to get to the game. We pull into the lot as the 1st quarter closes and park on the outskirts. We run to the ticket booth to grab what seats we could get. As we approached the booths, we saw them closing up. We waved one of the sellers down to stay open...had we walked to the booth instead of run, they would have been closed and I would have killed my friend. We got seats in the endzone.

The place was maybe 3/4 full at best, so we moved to the upper deck on the 50yd line to get a better view. Sun was scorching hot that day. Pats played an awful game. Hugh Millen, who looked promising in '91, looked like garbage this day as the Pats went down meekly 14-0. Still, the whole experience was a lot of fun and I remember it fondly. At least I can say one thing nice about that season

Regards,
Chris

Deus Irae

I remember one of the sports radio shows cracking out the "Only Hugh" song.


The great thing about being a fan during those down years was that you could be honest about how much your team sucked and still have a good time. Between the tailgating, the shared 'misery'* which led to some great conversation, and the ease of access, those were the good ol' days in a few ways.

When 'your' team is competitive, you have to convince yourself that they are championship caliber, and the team needs to win in order for you to really enjoy the game.


* On a side note, I'll probably always wonder if Hart Lee could have been a player had he avoided the injuries.

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BradyManny

Guess I'm pretty (or extremely) spoiled. Aside from the 1-15 season, my first real Patriots memory is Bledsoe being picked (and a very young me being distraught we didn't take the Notre Dame QB [Mirer], glad I was wrong).