I was born in '72. I wasn't athletic growing up and wasn't into sports at all. I was more into drawing super heroes and stuff like that. My older brother and father were much more sports inclined than I so I was aware of the Boston sports scene to an extent. Certainly I remember getting caught up in the whole "Squish the Fish" thing and watching Super Bowl XX. And I remember having a Grogan jersey (although I think I had a Bradshaw one too 
). And clearly the Celtics were very big at the time and I watched my share of games and even went to one or two at the Garden, but basketball never really held my interest.
Anyway, when Parcels was named head coach, that day, my brother and father drove to foxboro and bought 2 season tickets. I was finishing up my final year of college (in upstate NY) and I remember them going to a lot of the games (my brother lived in NYC at the time and would drive up).
After college I moved to Los Angeles. After the novelty of it being 80 degrees and sunny every day wore off, I became incredibly home sick for New England. During my prep school days I was friends with a number of hockey players and formed an interest in the sport. So while I was in college one of the ways I stayed connected to my NE roots was by following the Bruins. We didn't have the internet then so it was a matter of going to the library and trying to find a copy of the Globe. At the very least I could follow the standings in USA Today (unbelievable that that could be considered "following a team").
Anyway, while in LA i continued to follow the Bruins and now also the Pats. Unfortunately most of the kids my age in LA were into raving and other nonsense so it was tough to find somebody to go to a bar on sunday morning at 9am to watch football. But i went anyway. I think we even played the LA Raiders that season and may have even had a monday night game. So I was able to catch those games.
After only about 9 months in LA I moved to New York City. My brother lived in Jersey at this time and he and my dad had put in a request for extra seats for their season tickets and wound up with a total of 4 (2 each in different sections sort of nearby). So at this point, I was much more into it and my brother and I would drive up from his place in Jersey each gameday morning at like 5am. we were actually rooting for the move to Hartford!
My brother's wife's company had Jets season tickets so we always went to the Meadowlands for the Jets/Pats tilts as well.
I remember during the Pete Carol years and those long drives back to jersey after a heartbreaking loss and us questioning why we kept doing this and should we just suck it up and become Jets or Giants fans. Obviously we stayed true to our Pats but those were frustrating times.
This is also around the time when Pedro Martinez was dominating the American League for Boston. It was hard not to pay attention to what was going on with the Red Sox. This was a time however that one wouldn't even consider wearing a Sox hat in NYC. I remember in 1999 my brother bought 2 tickets to Game 3 of the ALCS (pedro/clemens) on something called eBay since we were going up to Boston for the Pats/Miami game. That trip to fenway (i had been before, but never for anything remotely as exciting as that game) was enough to cement my passion for the red sox forever. In fact, after the Pats loss my friend and I were so bummed out we decided to head into Boston to scalp tickets to Game 4 (sox lost too obviously).
Since those times, I've been following the Patriots and Red Sox (not the Bruins so much any more) with a rabid passion. The internet and prevalence of sports bars has made it incredibly easy obviously. It was getting to the point where even a Sox fan could go out to watch a game in select NYC venues with no fear of reprisal.
After the Belichick hiring obviously those Jets/Pats games at the Meadowlands became much bigger deals. That got pretty rough going in there at times.
I also traveled to Tampa Bay for a game (we got killed like 46-10, i think in the wake of the Bledsoe stage dive incident), Fed Ex field (that painful loss to the skins that triggered the 21-game win streak), and Phoenix (for the Pat Tilman tribute game).
I was at the snow bowl (seriously, the coldest I've ever been in my life. I have been to much colder games, but I was soaking wet because the snow was so wet) and have been to every Pats playoff since the Belichick era started.
My brother now lives in Virginia and only makes it up for 1 or 2 games a year - usually the season opener if we are hanging a banner or a big playoff game. It's sad, but it's gotten to the point where we are just like, "let's just wait and go up for the playoff games". Don't get me wrong, it's amazing being there in person. But we've decided not to go to night games anymore for one. The alcohol consumption by fans is staggering (literally) and it's simply not worth subjecting yourself to the idiocy at this point. It really is worse now than I ever remember it being in the 90s. I've heard it was worse in the 70s and 80s, but I don't have personal experience with that. I remember standing in line at security in 2001 for the Rams regular season game and some guy in line behind us threw up in my girlfriend's hair. Game hadn't even started yet (she leveled the guy and stuck out the game - one of the reasons I wound up marrying her). It's only gone down hill from there. Gillette was better at the start, but not any more.
Obviously it's a hell of a time to be a fan in this town. And while I was never a fan until the start of the Parcels and Pedro eras respectively I'm a diehard now. You can call me a bandwagoner or pinkhat or whatever, but the life cycle of every fan has to start somewhere. And realistically most often it's going to start when the team is doing something interesting or having some success. I don't think you can really judge somebody on when they become a fan. Welcome aboard I say.
). And clearly the Celtics were very big at the time and I watched my share of games and even went to one or two at the Garden, but basketball never really held my interest.Anyway, when Parcels was named head coach, that day, my brother and father drove to foxboro and bought 2 season tickets. I was finishing up my final year of college (in upstate NY) and I remember them going to a lot of the games (my brother lived in NYC at the time and would drive up).
After college I moved to Los Angeles. After the novelty of it being 80 degrees and sunny every day wore off, I became incredibly home sick for New England. During my prep school days I was friends with a number of hockey players and formed an interest in the sport. So while I was in college one of the ways I stayed connected to my NE roots was by following the Bruins. We didn't have the internet then so it was a matter of going to the library and trying to find a copy of the Globe. At the very least I could follow the standings in USA Today (unbelievable that that could be considered "following a team").
Anyway, while in LA i continued to follow the Bruins and now also the Pats. Unfortunately most of the kids my age in LA were into raving and other nonsense so it was tough to find somebody to go to a bar on sunday morning at 9am to watch football. But i went anyway. I think we even played the LA Raiders that season and may have even had a monday night game. So I was able to catch those games.
After only about 9 months in LA I moved to New York City. My brother lived in Jersey at this time and he and my dad had put in a request for extra seats for their season tickets and wound up with a total of 4 (2 each in different sections sort of nearby). So at this point, I was much more into it and my brother and I would drive up from his place in Jersey each gameday morning at like 5am. we were actually rooting for the move to Hartford!
My brother's wife's company had Jets season tickets so we always went to the Meadowlands for the Jets/Pats tilts as well.
I remember during the Pete Carol years and those long drives back to jersey after a heartbreaking loss and us questioning why we kept doing this and should we just suck it up and become Jets or Giants fans. Obviously we stayed true to our Pats but those were frustrating times.
This is also around the time when Pedro Martinez was dominating the American League for Boston. It was hard not to pay attention to what was going on with the Red Sox. This was a time however that one wouldn't even consider wearing a Sox hat in NYC. I remember in 1999 my brother bought 2 tickets to Game 3 of the ALCS (pedro/clemens) on something called eBay since we were going up to Boston for the Pats/Miami game. That trip to fenway (i had been before, but never for anything remotely as exciting as that game) was enough to cement my passion for the red sox forever. In fact, after the Pats loss my friend and I were so bummed out we decided to head into Boston to scalp tickets to Game 4 (sox lost too obviously).
Since those times, I've been following the Patriots and Red Sox (not the Bruins so much any more) with a rabid passion. The internet and prevalence of sports bars has made it incredibly easy obviously. It was getting to the point where even a Sox fan could go out to watch a game in select NYC venues with no fear of reprisal.
After the Belichick hiring obviously those Jets/Pats games at the Meadowlands became much bigger deals. That got pretty rough going in there at times.
I also traveled to Tampa Bay for a game (we got killed like 46-10, i think in the wake of the Bledsoe stage dive incident), Fed Ex field (that painful loss to the skins that triggered the 21-game win streak), and Phoenix (for the Pat Tilman tribute game).
I was at the snow bowl (seriously, the coldest I've ever been in my life. I have been to much colder games, but I was soaking wet because the snow was so wet) and have been to every Pats playoff since the Belichick era started.
My brother now lives in Virginia and only makes it up for 1 or 2 games a year - usually the season opener if we are hanging a banner or a big playoff game. It's sad, but it's gotten to the point where we are just like, "let's just wait and go up for the playoff games". Don't get me wrong, it's amazing being there in person. But we've decided not to go to night games anymore for one. The alcohol consumption by fans is staggering (literally) and it's simply not worth subjecting yourself to the idiocy at this point. It really is worse now than I ever remember it being in the 90s. I've heard it was worse in the 70s and 80s, but I don't have personal experience with that. I remember standing in line at security in 2001 for the Rams regular season game and some guy in line behind us threw up in my girlfriend's hair. Game hadn't even started yet (she leveled the guy and stuck out the game - one of the reasons I wound up marrying her). It's only gone down hill from there. Gillette was better at the start, but not any more.
Obviously it's a hell of a time to be a fan in this town. And while I was never a fan until the start of the Parcels and Pedro eras respectively I'm a diehard now. You can call me a bandwagoner or pinkhat or whatever, but the life cycle of every fan has to start somewhere. And realistically most often it's going to start when the team is doing something interesting or having some success. I don't think you can really judge somebody on when they become a fan. Welcome aboard I say.
