Stories Wanted: Sick lengths you've gone to watch a Patriots game

[Lifer]

like Robin Williams and Kurt Russell having the game on in the background while being a date with their wives........
times that proved this being a football fan was a sickness

...and the people (women mostly) you've ticked off......

have you ever pulled a Ray Romano and taped over your wedding video?


2 examples of mine i can think of:

finally got that date with a gal i liked, took her out to Mitchells Steakhouse in Hyannis. But it was the Friday night of the last weekend of the season in 1985.

In the background in the bar they had the Denver-Seattle game on, if Denver lost, the Patriots were in the playoffs. Needless to say i was useless to her and we never went out again.

1981 : My sisters wedding. Chatham Bars Inn. Im a no-show for most of it. Why? I cant stop hanging out at the lounge because the Patriots-Jets game is on. Why is this SO sick? at the time the Patriots were 1-5.

I know you've got much better stories out there!!!

 

[tatepatsfan]

When I spent a semester in France, it was impossible to get the games on tv. I'd stay up strange hours and listen to the games on radio. Once though, I heard a Monday Night Football game was going to be televised....at around 3AM. I had about a week to work with, so everyday I went to this soccer bar (which I frequented) and asked the owner/bartenders if they'd keep the bar open for the Pats game. They were initially quite hesitant (probably with good reason). Sure enough, I convinced enough of my soccer-friends to come and the bar owners to make it worthwhile. They all learned a ton about American football, I bought a few rounds of drinks, and the Pats won.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

SB 20 , was called to go to work, said I was not coming in they said if you dont come in your fired, maybee I should have went to work for that game..

PS they did not fire me, because they must of felt bad for me as a 16 yr old pats fan, who almost lost his job as a bus boy dishwasher...

 

[upstater1]

I watched the Pats-Jags AFC CHampionship in 1996 after about an hour of buttering up the staff at the Plantation outside Chichen Itza, Mexico. This was a real plantation, even had the slavery vibe to it still. Made me feel uncomfortable. The workers were dubious about this Yank asking for Futbol Americano. Well, it took about a half hour of searching on satellite, and then they finally found the game. Four of us watched and enjoyed (though we had a Packers/Bears fan among us--don't ask, she was confused).

After the Patriots won, and they lifted up the Lamar Hunt, three of the Mexican Staff shouted, "Campeones!!!" Champions.

But really, the craziest thing I did for a Patriots game was sit for 4 quarters in the blinding, freezing, sideways snow and sleet of Buffalo. I came prepared in my arctic ski wear, but there was no hiding from the elements that day. I don't care what you were wearing.

Well, maybe goggles would have helped, but other than that, your eyelashes froze, and you were miserable.

 

[Patjew]

I woke up at 1 am and 2 am several times last season to watch the Pats, but none seemed as crazy as flying halfway around the world to freeze my nuts off at the AFCCG vs SD in section 315 (not to mention the warmer and more bearable Jax game).

 

[richpats]

I went to Philadelphia - nuff said.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

I went to Philadelphia - nuff said.

So far that is the most sick thing I have heard

 

[Tyler.Durden]

I live in Australia, so for the last few seasons i have had to get up at between 3-5 in the morning here and watch it on a pretty crappy internet feed. I have satellite but not too many games have been shown, maybe 3-4 a season plus playoffs. A few times i have gotten up and not been able to find a feed but i still manage to find a copy of the game somewhere.

:rocker:

 

[midwestpatsfan]

This is not my proudest moment.
It was 2001 and the patriots were going to be playing the raiders on that saturday night. Earlier in the week I got a phone call from my dad telling me that my grandmother (who was 94) had passed away and that the funeral was going to be on that saturday. My grandmother had been sick for quite some time and at that age, most people were more relieved than sad that she had passed, because in all truth, she was much better off, as bad as that sounds.

Anyway, I made the 7 hour drive home for the funeral and everything, but the thought of the game was in the back of my mind. My cousins and everyone were hanging out and talking since we had not seen each other in quite some time, but we still had a couple hour drive back to my parents house and needed to leave soon if we were going to make it on time for the game.

Thinking of a way to get out of talking to all these people I barely knew, I told my parents that I needed some time to myself and was going to take off for home so I could collect my thoughts. Of course they were concerned, and I hated doing that to them, but that is what I did to watch probably the greatest game of all time.

I am a sick bastard, aren't I. Do not hate me or think less of me.

 

[BelizePats]

The craziest thing I ever did to watch a Pats game?
I was hosting a group of anglers for a bonefish trip in Southern Cuba during the Pats/Jags playoff game in January 2006. We were in a very remote part of south west Cuba, (Playa Giron, right on the Bay of Pigs for the history buffs) where there is no internet and you sure as hell can't call out to get the score. The small hotel where we were staying did not have a sat dish but I was told that there was another hotel about 30 minutes down the road that did. I got my group settled in for the night at the hotel bar and explained to them that I HAD to go to this other hotel to see about the game. I had the front desk order me a taxi and I waited. The taxi never showed!! I decided to hitch hike and started walking down the road. After about 10 minutes of walking an old dump truck stopped. I told them where I was going and the guy told me to get in the back. In the blink of an eye I was hurtling down the road in the pitch black in the back of a beat up old dump truck in Souther Cuba, on my way to a hotel that I heard had a sat dish!!! The moon light reflecting off the Bay of Pigs (the raod closely hugs the Bay) was so beautiful, the night warm and humid. I can still remember the sense of anticipation I felt as we drove down the road. I was just so excited to watch the game. I know, I'm sick!!!!
When I got to the hotel in Playa Larga there were about 8 Cuban guys standing around watching a bloody soccer game. I pulled the hotel manager over to the side and told him what I was looking for and he looked at the guys watching soccer and then looked back at me. He clearly did not want to look for the game. I thought about this for a minute and then pulled him aside again.
Open bar if they switched the channel to Deportes ESPN and let me watch them game. They could not have changed the channel fast enough. I sat there smoking a fresh Cohiba in the middle of nowhere, happy as a clam. It was the best game of my life, next to our first Superbowl win.

 

[Tunescribe]

This thread deserves a sticky. Mods?

For me, it was the Miami snow game a few years back. EVERYONE on TV, radio, etc., was telling fans to stay home because of the heavy snow (3 feet overnight) and bad roads. Not me. I picked up my girlfriend and made it down 495 to Foxboro, where I left the car at a friend's home and we made our way through his backyard and adjacent woodlands to the parking lots north of the stadium. The thing is, what normally would be a 15-minute walk ended up being an hour-long survival trek in waist-deep snow (not exaggerating). We had to stop every few feet to rest and at one point, I truly feared for our safety (no cell phone) and wanted to turn back. But we made it, in time to dig out our seats for the kickoff. After the game, my friend met us in the parking lot with a flashlight and helped us back through the woods along an easier path. I'll never forget that day.

 

[cincipatsfan]

Dishing out well over 300 bucks last year for Sunday Ticket, only to realize at the end of the season that I would have missed a grand total of two games

This year it's going to closer to 400

 

[PittPatriot]

Dishing out well over 300 bucks last year for Sunday Ticket, only to realize at the end of the season that I would have missed a grand total of two games

This year it's going to closer to 400

Cinci,
This one is for you.
I was finishing a 26hour shift at Christ Hospital and the Pats were opening the season at Paul Brown. It would be Drew's second to last game...
By the time I finished the shift and had been up for over 36hours, I was hungry, had a dull headache...and could only think of crashing to get some zzzz's before watching the game on TV.
A good friend/ex-girlfriend called and talked me into just showing up to the stadium and scalping tickets. The only thing I had time to eat was an extra large UDF peanut butter shake and off we went.
We ended up with great seats and saw the Pats squander a last minute drive that would have won the game.
Two days letter, a couple of planes crashed into the WTC and life has never been the same.

 

[PittPatriot]

I woke up at 1 am and 2 am several times last season to watch the Pats, but none seemed as crazy as flying halfway around the world to freeze my nuts off at the AFCCG vs SD in section 315 (not to mention the warmer and more bearable Jax game).

I had to attend a wedding in Jaipur, India and per astrologic time, the vows were to be exchanged at 2am. Only close family stayed...and I took off to my hotel room to catch the 2006 AFCCG. Who'd have thought I could not sleep after being up for 24hours by the time that debacle concluded!

 

[Frezo]

Every year on Labor Day Weekend I provide audio and tech an outdoor event for the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra at Independence Park in Bristol, RI. Up until a few years ago the first regular season game was on that weekend. The production manager would always bring a TV and set it up back stage so we could watch the game. This particular year he forgot it, but I had a USB TV tuner in my bag of tricks which found a dozen of us huddled around the sound board watching a nice OTA broadcast on a laptop. Of course the audio was pretty wimpy, so I plugged it into the main system. We bring in a good sized rig that utilizes cabinets on scaff towers in five locations for site coverage and distance. It has the potential of just over 100,000 watts. So to the delight of all I cranked it up and in about five minutes there was an onslaught of patrons that were totally upset because I was ruining their peaceful day on the bay watching sail boats. I'd just turn it up and smile at them and after a few sneers from Providence local IATSE #23 members, (some pretty rough looking guys), they'd give up and leave. Eventually some football fans came along to bathe in the audio and I pounded the subs so every hit sounded like a train wreck. What a blast!

 

[signbabybrady]

As a kid we used to skip out on sunday school early to go to the games and at one point it got hard to work out because as the Pats got better we had to start leaving earlier and earlier.

Solution: we Swithed sunday school to Thursday...yup we find a hebrew school that was on thursday so it didn't interupt football.


not sure how many of you remember this one but a few days before the SB 36 there was a big snow storm. Problem there was I had to get back form westfield to Foxboro for our flight to New Orleans. I thought I would get up and try to get ahead of it and got stuck right in the middle of it. going bout 30-40 on the highway....and I spun out on some ice and hit the guard rail totaling my car and my pops had to come get me in sturbridge.

I was a little sore all weekend but still the greatest weekend of my life. New Orleans is so much fun...good food, good party, good people, good SB host, and WE WON .


than I got home to no car

 

[cincipatsfan]

Cinci,
This one is for you.
I was finishing a 26hour shift at Christ Hospital and the Pats were opening the season at Paul Brown. It would be Drew's second to last game...
By the time I finished the shift and had been up for over 36hours, I was hungry, had a dull headache...and could only think of crashing to get some zzzz's before watching the game on TV.
A good friend/ex-girlfriend called and talked me into just showing up to the stadium and scalping tickets. The only thing I had time to eat was an extra large UDF peanut butter shake and off we went.
We ended up with great seats and saw the Pats squander a last minute drive that would have won the game.
Two days letter, a couple of planes crashed into the WTC and life has never been the same.

Yeah, my story is more financial pain than physical

I was at that game too.

 

[jbb9s]

I watched this game [Denver Playoff] on a TV that had such bad reception, I had to sit about 2 feet away to figure out which team even had the ball. I was in Vang Vieng, north of the Laos capital by maybe 6 hours or something. No one there knew a damn thing about American football and the game started at like 5 AM or something. A few people just asked me about Michael Jordan.

After the Bailey INT as the Pats were about to go ahead on a pass to Troy, I knew the epic run was over. Another Brit who was there and had some knowledge of the sport said that the dynasty had already gotten our gift challenge and no team would get a second chance.

The screen was so grainy I couldn't make a determination of if the fumble should have been a touchback but I remember hearing the audio of the "if you draw a line from the location of Watson's hit to the landing place of the ball in the back of the endzone, you can see that line crosses over the pylon".

I think that loss was almost as bad as this year's superbowl. Pitt beat IND the same weekend and Pats would have been at the Razor for the AFCCG. Seattle sucked that year. We could have done 4 in 5 yrs.

 

[fgssand]

DECEMBER 16, 1975 -- Patriots Vs Cowboys at Schaeffer Stadium, Foxboro, Ma.

Nothing crazy yet, except it was the day after our Saturday night wedding & party that went until about 3 AM. Now, before anyone casts a evil eye my way, we remain happily married to this day.

Limo from hall to Holiday Inn - Dedham, up at 10:00 AM - off to take in the game before being whisked away to airport to catch early evening flight to go to Jamaica for honeymoon.

The following Sunday was rough as we were still on the island and I had an AM radio tuning in Pats V Dolphins, first in Spanish and then I found a Miami station.

 

[Born_a_Patriot]

I pay for Direct TV..........