What's with this board come playoff time?

Danger Zone said:

I have a hard time believing that another Patriots message-board doesnt have the same kind of hand-wringing. It happens everywhere.

For what its worth, 3/4 of the threads listed as "evidence" of our Red Sox mentality here were in fact written with an intentional, self-deprecating humor.

Your outlook(s) on the the combined psychology of Patsfan.com will be greatly improved if you don't take every Thread so literally

For example: 95.98% of the people talking about their superstitions are in fact making fun of themselves when talking about the silly things they do to help us "win" -as was the guy who started a thread stating it was his fault that we're going to lose, he was obviously just trying to be funny about it.

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No hand wringing on the other threads. I won't post any links to them because some boards don't like that. I think this board is really good, don't get me wrong. I was just surprised to see multiple negative nelly threads yesterday. And, of course, there is no guarantee the Pats are going to win. Here's one from Bill: MikeReiss Mike Reiss
BB on aggressive vs. conservative approach: "You don't win a war by digging a foxhole and sitting in it. You have to go out and attack."

brdmaverick said:

I think 2007 screwed a lot of people up.

After all, if a record setting 18-0 team can lose in the Super Bowl, how can you ever really really be confident again?

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I can only speak for myself, but it's quite possible SB42 permanently damaged my ability to watch sports and truly enjoy it.

Honestly, if anything, turning around and losing SB46 in equally brutal fashion served as a slap-in-the-face to end the SB-or-bust mentality I'd given into. Last season was a success, no matter how painful the ending. My Patriots-watching has been at least fractionally healthier this year, and I've enjoyed it tremendously.

Either way, we should just all appreciate what Belichick, Brady and Kraft have provided us with the last decade. If you are a huge football fan, if you are a huge Pats fan, this chunk of your life has been made more enjoyable and entertaining because of the product they put on the field. Just savor it...it won't last forever.

Armchair Quarterback said:

Playoff football!
This is what we wait all year for!

And what has been on the front page for days on end?

Anybody Else have a Bad feeling?
We're going to lose and it's all my fault.
Anybody have any new superstitions?

Seattle to the SB.

And threads about RG3, Ray Lewis, Rob Ryan,that idiot from ESPN and somebody's girlfriend.

Sounds like a bunch of Red Sox fans.

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OK, let me break down the Texan chances based upon what we saw.


[crickets]...[/crickets]

BradyManny said:

I can only speak for myself, but it's quite possible SB42 permanently damaged my ability to watch sports and truly enjoy it.

Honestly, if anything, turning around and losing SB46 in equally brutal fashion served as a slap-in-the-face to end the SB-or-bust mentality I'd given into. Last season was a success, no matter how painful the ending. My Patriots-watching has been at least fractionally healthier this year, and I've enjoyed it tremendously.

Either way, we should just all appreciate what Belichick, Brady and Kraft have provided us with the last decade. If you are a huge football fan, if you are a huge Pats fan, this chunk of your life has been made more enjoyable and entertaining because of the product they put on the field. Just savor it...it won't last forever.

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Agreed. SB42 broke something in me. Not sure what, and don't really even want to think too much about it, but it definitely changed me as a sports fan in a pretty major way.

Have no fear!!!!! The Gronk is here!!!!!!!

BradyManny said:

I can only speak for myself, but it's quite possible SB42 permanently damaged my ability to watch sports and truly enjoy it.

Honestly, if anything, turning around and losing SB46 in equally brutal fashion served as a slap-in-the-face to end the SB-or-bust mentality I'd given into. Last season was a success, no matter how painful the ending. My Patriots-watching has been at least fractionally healthier this year, and I've enjoyed it tremendously.

Either way, we should just all appreciate what Belichick, Brady and Kraft have provided us with the last decade. If you are a huge football fan, if you are a huge Pats fan, this chunk of your life has been made more enjoyable and entertaining because of the product they put on the field. Just savor it...it won't last forever.

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amen, fellow Pats fan, amen to that

BradyManny said:

I can only speak for myself, but it's quite possible SB42 permanently damaged my ability to watch sports and truly enjoy it.

Honestly, if anything, turning around and losing SB46 in equally brutal fashion served as a slap-in-the-face to end the SB-or-bust mentality I'd given into. Last season was a success, no matter how painful the ending. My Patriots-watching has been at least fractionally healthier this year, and I've enjoyed it tremendously.

Either way, we should just all appreciate what Belichick, Brady and Kraft have provided us with the last decade. If you are a huge football fan, if you are a huge Pats fan, this chunk of your life has been made more enjoyable and entertaining because of the product they put on the field. Just savor it...it won't last forever.

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I can agree with that re: Super Bowl XLVI. Last year at this time, I screamed at the TV, drank to excess, and (in the case of Woodhead's fumble in the AFCCG) punched a hole in my drywall. After that Super Bowl, I had tears in my eyes, but the pain level was nowhere near Super Bowl XLII.

This year, I can't recall too many times where I've actually stood up and screamed at the TV. My friends and ex girlfriend have noticed that I'm nowhere near as intense as I used to be when the Pats came on as well.

EDIT: Oh and those that inhabited the game day chat rooms from 2009-2010 can testify how I used to be. That's where the R-X rated Kontra used to come out and play.

It is pretty amusing when I am the upbeat and positive one on this board.

BradyManny said:

I can only speak for myself, but it's quite possible SB42 permanently damaged my ability to watch sports and truly enjoy it.

Honestly, if anything, turning around and losing SB46 in equally brutal fashion served as a slap-in-the-face to end the SB-or-bust mentality I'd given into. Last season was a success, no matter how painful the ending. My Patriots-watching has been at least fractionally healthier this year, and I've enjoyed it tremendously.

Either way, we should just all appreciate what Belichick, Brady and Kraft have provided us with the last decade. If you are a huge football fan, if you are a huge Pats fan, this chunk of your life has been made more enjoyable and entertaining because of the product they put on the field. Just savor it...it won't last forever.

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Nah.. you Play To Win The GAME. I watch every game not only hoping, but expecting to win it.. and precisely because the team has Belichick, Brady, Gronk, Welker, Mayo, Wilfork, Hernandez, Spikes, Jones, etc. on it. It has not affected my enjoyment one bit - disappointment and dejection included.

BradyFTW! said:

Agreed. SB42 broke something in me. Not sure what, and don't really even want to think too much about it, but it definitely changed me as a sports fan in a pretty major way.

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It's about investing in false beliefs and seeing how that really doesn't work when the Day of Reckoning arrives.

This is supposed to be a game. It started out that way. It's a Matrix now and the NFL is a vehicle for a variety of social programming and marketing gigs. The social programming includes the war machine so this is not trivial matrix. You don't want to join unless you want to lose your real self in there.

Games are supposed to be fun, win or lose. The day you have to win to feel happy in life is the day you really lost and don't know it.

KontradictioN said:

I can agree with that re: Super Bowl XLVI. Last year at this time, I screamed at the TV, drank to excess, and (in the case of Woodhead's fumble in the AFCCG) punched a hole in my drywall. After that Super Bowl, I had tears in my eyes, but the pain level was nowhere near Super Bowl XLII.

This year, I can't recall too many times where I've actually stood up and screamed at the TV. My friends and ex girlfriend have noticed that I'm nowhere near as intense as I used to be when the Pats came on as well.

EDIT: Oh and those that inhabited the game day chat rooms from 2009-2010 can testify how I used to be. That's where the R-X rated Kontra used to come out and play.

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The Woodhead fumble was my breaking point too, funny that you say that. I will say that the most recent SB was just as hard for me as SB42 was, due to the nature of how it went down.

I've found that watching the game by myself alone in the other room works wonders for both my nerves and my temper.

supafly said:

I've found that watching the game by myself alone in the other room works wonders for both my nerves and my temper.

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They will win or lose regardless of what our nerves do though. Then the question comes, "Why bother sacrificing nerves and relationships?" Some people go into catatonic depression which really affects their entire lives. We had a guy at work like that. I thought he was putting us on at first but he was deadly serious: His life was in shambles because of SB42.

Errr, I don't think I'm going to sacrifice my life to be able to say "I was in the movie".