It's time for the bandwagoners to leave

[mgteich]

I have read that this game shows "the utter destruction of the patriots". Another poster posted this was one of the best characterizations he has seeen of the patriot situation.

Perhaps bandwagoners can wait a few weeks to decide on which winner to attach themselves to. BTW, don't let the door hit your ***** on the way out.
==================

For the rest of us. let us look forward. We have a division winner that needs help, as all teams do. We are in much better shape than other gret teams at the end of their big runs. Some would argue that we could simply extend this run. So let's look forward.

 

[Deus Irae]

Great post. Nobody should ever question this team and, if they do, they should start cheering for a different squad!


So, when will you be telling us about which team you've chosen?

 

[gomezcat]

Re: It is Time For Bandwagoners To Leave

I have read that this game shows "the utter destruction of the patriots". Another poster posted this was one of the best characterizations he has seeen of the patriot situation.

Perhaps bandwagoners can wait a few weeks to decide on which winner to attach themselves to. BTW, don't let the door hit your ***** on the way out.

I tell you what. I would feel optimistic about the Pats' future if we had:

a) A coach who had been anywhere near a SB winning team
b) A veteran QB who is a sure-fire 1st ballot HOFer
c) Young players developing nicely at DB and other positions
d) A Good O-line that had a couple of bad games all year
e) Fast, young ILBs who are getting better each year
f) a highly promising WR, ILB and OLB to come back from IR.

and so on. As we have none of these, I can only see a perennial 0-16 candidate. This follows on from this year's 0-16 disaster.

(Voice): "Er, Mr Cat, we went 11-5 and made the playoffs".
(Cat): "Oh really? Who knew? I'm off to support (insert name of latest favourite here)".

 

[Mogamedogz]

What is the facination on this board with bandwagon fans?? Every winning team has them... SO WHAT?

 

[oldskool138]

What is the facination on this board with bandwagon fans?? Every winning team has them... SO WHAT?

Exactly.

10 Chars...

 

[Deus Irae]

What is the facination on this board with bandwagon fans?? Every winning team has them... SO WHAT?

It's a way to try silencing critics of the current situation.

 

[PrairiePat]

Somewhere between

"BB can do no wrong and must not be questioned"

and

"BB sucks, blow the whole thing up"

lies the place where real fans should find themselves today.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Too many extremes on the board. On one side you have the elitists who insist that anyone who questions the leadership on the team can go find another team and then you have the ignorant ones who say that everybody needs to go and we need to start from scratch.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

It's a way to try silencing critics of the current situation.

No, it's not/ It's a way to try silencing the lunatic fringe that doesn't being anything substantive to the table and just causes attempts at legitimate discussion to disolve into redundant, pitched pissing matches.

 

[Mogamedogz]

It's a way to try silencing critics of the current situation.

So the running logic around here is that anyone who questions the team is a johnny come lately?

Makes sense.

 

[patsfan55]

Somewhere between

"BB can do no wrong and must not be questioned"

and

"BB sucks, blow the whole thing up"

lies the place where real fans should find themselves today.

Bingo, you've got bingo

 

[mgteich]

I've supported this team since 1980. How about you?
=======================================
And by the way, for me the current era started in the 1993 and 1994 seasons as Parcells, Bledsoe and Kraft became the leaders of the 1994-1999 run of three playoffs and one SB appearance in six years, with only one losing season when Bledsoe was injured.

After the 2000 transition year, as in 1993, we had a losing season. In the last nine years, Kraft, Brady and Belichick then have reeled off 3 SB wins in 4 appearances, 7 division wins and have won at least 9 games in all nine seasons. And just BTW, we tied for the division lead in 2002 and 2008 and lost the division on tiebreakers. We have more wins this decade than any other team ever.

The open question is whether the current run is over or whether it will continue. I have every confidence tha the patriots will continue to excell as long as Kraft is the owner. After that, I will be a fan but we would be in the great unknown.

 

[Northcountry]

What exactly is a bandwagon anyway? Is it something the Dropkick Murphys use to haul their junk with?

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Re: It is Time For Bandwagoners To Leave

I tell you what. I would feel optimistic about the Pats' future if we had:

a) A coach who had been anywhere near a SB winning team
b) A veteran QB who is a sure-fire 1st ballot HOFer
c) Young players developing nicely at DB and other positions
d) A Good O-line that had a couple of bad games all year
e) Fast, young ILBs who are getting better each year
f) a highly promising WR, ILB and OLB to come back from IR.

and so on. As we have none of these, I can only see a perennial 0-16 candidate. This follows on from this year's 0-16 disaster.

(Voice): "Er, Mr Cat, we went 11-5 and made the playoffs".
(Cat): "Oh really? Who knew? I'm off to support (insert name of latest favourite here)".

Er, Mr Cat, we went 10-6 and made the playoffs.

But I agree with your point. I'll always love the Pats, my issues come with loving them too much so I feel like someone I know died after The game that shall not be named, it still kills me to this day. I dunno if that's healthy which is the only reason I have any pause. After the Colts loss this year I didn't watch the next game, the first one I've missed of my own volition in a long, long time. Not because I'm not a good fan but because I still need to work on handling a loss from an emotional standpoint. I have no problem when we lose regular season games to teams I don't give a crap about, but when we lose to a hated rival or lose in the playoffs it bugs me.

However, I'm a firm proponent of the belief that you can't truly enjoy the good times if you weren't there for the bad times. My problem is learning how to handle the bad times better.

But I think every fan needs to look in their heart and decide if they are a true fan or just here because they like a winner. I'll still be here regardless.

For those bandwagon fans, and only you know who you are, I'm not a hater. I'm glad to have you to chat with and I hope you have plenty of tape around your ankles and some good shock resistant shoes for when you decide to jump off. And I hope someday you'll find a team you can love even if they don't win, and then you handle the losing better than I do.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

So the running logic around here is that anyone who questions the team is a johnny come lately?

Makes sense.

People have always questioned aspects of the team here. When the board was smaller and more manageable it self policed the lunatic fringe. People actually read as well as posted in or started threads and often learned something in the process that occasionally even changed their previously uninformed opinion. There were 3000+ viewers on this site yesterday as that game unraveled. There are now a lot of members who signed upover the last couple of seasons only to tell us all what's wrong with the team when every play doesn't result in a score and every season don't end hoisting a Lombardi. And how everyone they don't like sucks and everyone playing or working for some other team or even media outlet that hasn't won a damn thing should be brought here immediately to fix this BS we're being subjected to because they're not gonna stand for it anymore.

 

[Mogamedogz]

I've supported this team since 1980. How about you?

I've been going to games since '86, my family has had season tickets for almost 15yrs.

But WTH does that have to do with the price of eggs??

What if people are too young to have been fans as long as we have; Does that make them any less of a fan?

Or even people who just started watching the team post Brady... do we auomatically assume they will abandon the team just because they started rooting after the winning began?

Wagon hoppers probalby are not spending their time on a FAN FORUM right about tnow... they typically dont care enough.

 

[Mogamedogz]

What exactly is a bandwagon anyway? Is it something the Dropkick Murphys use to haul their junk with?

It's something you argue with your friends over in grade school.

I think it is in the "Flat-leaver" family.

 

[Deus Irae]

No, it's not/ It's a way to try silencing the lunatic fringe that doesn't being anything substantive to the table and just causes attempts at legitimate discussion to disolve into redundant, pitched pissing matches.

No, it's a way of trying to silence any criticism. There's an entire range of fan that falls between "bandwagon" and "homer". They are, in fact, the majority of fans. Most people don't just follow the team during the great times, and most fans are able to admit that the head coach isn't always right, and to discuss the team's failings without becoming apoplectic over the notion that the team is something less than perfect.

 

[Scouse Patriot]

What is the facination on this board with bandwagon fans?? Every winning team has them... SO WHAT?

It's called getting on your high horse.

 

[mgteich]

There are lots of fans who starting following the 49ers when they starting winning. There are may who started follwing the cowboys when they starting winning. There are many who started follwing the patriots after the 2002 miracle. In many instances these are not youngsters, just folks who follow winners. They move on when the team starts losing.

Of course there are kids who just started being nfl fans in the last decade and are patriot fans. There are patriot fans all over the planet.

Of course there can be legitmate criticism by those who have only been fans for a season. If you believe that experience in understanding the patriots, their owners, their coaches and their players makes no difference in the quality of our analysis, then you are free to believe that. I believe that being a fans longer than for this current great decade gives us perspective. Many do not agree, that's fine.

I've supported this team since 1980. How about you?

I've been going to games since '86, my family has had season tickets for almost 15yrs.

But WTH does that have to do with the price of eggs??

What if people are too young to have been fans as long as we have; Does that make them any less of a fan?

Or even people who just started watching the team post Brady... do we auomatically assume they will abandon the team just because they started rooting after the winning began?

Wagon hoppers probalby are not spending their time on a FAN FORUM right about tnow... they typically dont care enough.