ESPN 2008 Fanbase Rankings: Pats #8

[Disco Volante]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview08/columns/story?id=3530077

8. Patriots

Consecutive sellouts: 149 | Season-ticket waiting list: 50,000

There's no way to argue with a fan base that has sold out Gillette Stadium since it opened -- pushing the Patriots' streak to 149 games, including playoffs -- and is willing to join a waiting list 50,000 deep to get a crack at season tickets someday. On-field dominance will do that. It will be interesting to see how the addition of Patriot Place -- a commercial development that offers shopping, restaurants, a movie theater and a medical center -- will affect the game-day dynamic. Do you throw Italian sausages on the grill or grab a teriyaki burger at Red Robin? One sounds more festive than the other.

-- Tim Graham

Steelers ranked first while the Cardinals finish last.

 

[blackglass3]

I'd rather have the sausage, myself.

I don't see it being that big a deal. Tailgaters will keep on tailgating. Hell, I tailgated at the Meadowlands the day after Christmas for Jets/Pats Monday night a couple years ago. It was so windy my charcoal grill blew away. And I imagine most tailgaters are the same way.

 

[Disco Volante]

Here's how the Pats scored on their point system, with 1 being great and 5 the worst...

Stadium factor (St.): Loud? Great atmosphere?
2

Live and die factor (LDF): Fans take loss hard? (That's a good thing.)
2

Traveling road show factor (Travel): Big presence in other guys' stadium?
3

Loyalty when team sucks (Loyal): You score points with us if you stick with a loser.
4

Hate factor (Hate): Other teams' fans dislike your fans? (Hate is good in our book.)
1

Tailgate factor (TG): Home tailgates sizzling or stale?
1

Home fans' creativity (CF): Wacky ideas … or not?
3

Total: 16

 

[Wendel]

Wow the Raiders are a Top 10 team with 4 consecutive sell outs?

Maybe if we all dress like 2nd graders we can move up higher.

 

[Kontradiction]

Wow the Raiders are a Top 10 team with 4 consecutive sell outs?

Maybe if we all dress like 2nd graders we can move up higher.

No, they just have a very, very, very hardcore loyal fanbase. Something that, according to ESPN, we don't.

 

[Sicilian]

No, they just have a very, very, very hardcore loyal fanbase. Something that, according to ESPN, we don't.

Have to agree with them to an extent. Sure, we have a hardcore central group of fans, but before Parcells (and then later BB) changed the success of the team, they were fourth in this town behind the Red Sox, celtics, and even the Bruins (before the hockey strike).

 

[Wendel]

Wow! The Jets and Pats both scored the same rating on Stadium Atmosphere.

I didn't know we harrased women to take their shirts off during games.

 

[ScottieC]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview08/columns/story?id=3530077



Steelers ranked first while the Cardinals finish last.

Atlanta should have been last. These folks down here are horrible to all the professional teams.

 

[mgteich]

Do you think we would sell out if we had the record of the Raiders over the past five years?

Wow the Raiders are a Top 10 team with 4 consecutive sell outs?

Maybe if we all dress like 2nd graders we can move up higher.

 

[Wendel]

Do you think we would sell out if we had the record of the Raiders over the past five years?

The Cardinals have sucked for even longer and have 5 times as many consecutive sell outs as the Raiders.

 

[SoCal Pmen]

I don't have any issues with these ratings. I'm actually surprised that Dallas wasn't in the top 5. They seem to travel well to all stadiums.

 

[BadMoFo]

All this time, I thought we had the worst fans.

Even they noticed. We get low marks on fans scurrying away when the going gets tough.

 

[blackglass3]

All this time, I thought we had the worst fans.

Even they noticed. We get low marks on fans scurrying away when the going gets tough.

When it happens every single preseason, it's hard not to notice.

 

[Wendel]

I love how the Colts are without a doubt the second most succesfull team of the decade yet #16 in fanbase rankings, can't wait to see where they are when things get tough.

 

[Michael]

Judging by fan forums I think Pats fans would rate #1 among most knowledgeable fans.

 

[spacecrime]

No, they just have a very, very, very hardcore loyal fanbase. Something that, according to ESPN, we don't.

Probably ESPN reads this forum....nah. If they did we would have scored a 6 in fan loyalty.

 

[nepatz11]

Im so sick and tired of pats fans taking shots at our fan base on these boards. We have a great fan base. We have the 8th longest consecutive sell out streak in the NFL, the fifth highest wait lists for season tickets (paid by the way) which grew mostly before we won a superbowl, we travel great etc. etc. etc. Yes we at one point were the fourth team in Boston and a joke supposedly but guess what.....THAT WAS 17 YEARS AGO. Its time to get over it! We have a great fan base now and the Pats have become part of what it means to be from New England

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Here's how the Pats scored on their point system, with 1 being great and 5 the worst...

Yeah nice. A scale of 1-5 on how well you stick with a loser... written by guys who were 12 when last we had a losing season.

I think there's some bandwagon jumpers sure, but most people remember our cyclical decline into and rise out of 1-15 ashes, most recently in the 90s. I know there's this "accusation" that our fans are all bandwagon jumpers, but since bandwagon jumpers by definition are attracted to good teams, you can hardly avoid attracting them.

In terms of suffering through some suck-***** teams, I think plenty of us have done that. I could see giving us a 2 or 3, because we can't talk about that kind of loyalty like Brownies can, certainly not in any current way. They've never won anything in the SB era, and still show up. But what can I say? I grew up from age 6 in a VA town. There was one other Pats fan in town. Once we got to HS we drove to Baltimore, about 90 miles, once a year for the Colts game... without having any ability to see the team at home. Is that so unusual for Pats fans? I never thought so.

 

[Disco Volante]

I find it hard to believe people are bandwagoning a team coming off both of one the most disappointing loss and scandal in NFL history.

 

[Seymour93]

Im so sick and tired of pats fans taking shots at our fan base on these boards. We have a great fan base. We have the 8th longest consecutive sell out streak in the NFL, the fifth highest wait lists for season tickets (paid by the way) which grew mostly before we won a superbowl, we travel great etc. etc. etc. Yes we at one point were the fourth team in Boston and a joke supposedly but guess what.....THAT WAS 17 YEARS AGO. Its time to get over it! We have a great fan base now and the Pats have become part of what it means to be from New England

I endorse this post. I think some fans feel insecure about following this team due to its unprecedented success. But they forget that before the new corporate-friendly Gillette Stadium was built, the old Foxboro Stadium was one of the most loud and intimidating places in the league. Eagles fans are suffering from the same problem in their new stadium. Also, I think ESPN underestimated our traveling fans. I remember somebody saying on here that a Packers fan told them that Pats fans were the most well represented away fans at Lambeau in recent years.