for the 'old' Pats Fans

PATSNUTme said:

After 30 years of frustration, I only hoped for one SB win. Just one and I would be a happy man.

I remember that during 2001 playoffs, part of me didn't want them to go to the SB again. I was afraid that they would become the Bills or the Vikings. I'm not ashamed to say that tears came to my eyes when the FG was made. I stood there in disbelief that it finally happened.

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great too, PatsNutMe; i was happy like you when Adam made it - i couldn't believe too; when i choose the Pats i never thought we would have arrived to this point

we, as fans, are lucky; we have seen an incredible run (sometimes i still not believe it...) and we earn it

I'm 43 and went to my first Pats game in 1974 against the Steelers (Joe Gilliam made an appearance for the Steelers). I can remember being AMAZED in 85 when the Pats went on that run, and then in 96 it was again amazing given how bad the Pats were in the early 90's. 2001 felt like a gift, and who could imagine the skinny kid from Michigan turning into the greatest QB since Montana? If you say you did you're lying.

Now, it is astounding to see the perennial greatness, and in this year, the total domination of this team. I keep telling my 10 year old that he needs to appreciate what this team is, you never know how long it will last.

Good idea for a thread--maybe give it a new title to bring everyone in. (Kind of reminds me of the "win it for...." thread on SOSH.)

My first memories were drunk fans sitting near me when I was a kid screaming for Grogan to be put in the game.

In '86, I remember that just the phrase "the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl" seemed unreal when I heard it. The end of the game found me wandering around in a snowstorm, I believe.

When Brady fumbled (well, you know) against Oakland in the Snow Bowl, I remember the familiar feeling I had--nice season, but THIS is the way it ends for Pats fans. When they actually won that game, I couldn't quite believe it. Literally.

When AV's kick went through to win the SB against the Rams, I swear I almost blacked out. Again, I COULD NOT BELIEVE it was happening.

This decade has just been a joyride. The perfect season will be something forever (or "ever" as Jr. would say), but I have to say, the last few weeks have been different--the victories have been more of a relief than that unfettered joy. But if this Super Bowl victory happens, it will be transcendent.

Deus Irae said:

Well, 'we' lost one with the Raiders game in the '70's, and I thought that team in the mid '80's would win one before everything went into freefall (Thanks, Bears!). Then, I honestly thought the team would beat the Packers. Hell, to this day, I believe that the difference between the Patriots winning and losing that game was Howard, and nothing more.

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at a certain point i thought too we would have beaten GB but then Howard
decided in a different way, infortunately for us

PatsSox363804 said:

My earliest Pats memory is getting throttled in SB 20. I remember how my father and grandfather were shocked because this was the Pats, and the Pats weren't supposed to make Superbowls. Then we went in the tank from 89-93, and that's when I was 8-12 years old so I remember those days vividly, we sucked, and we were pretty much told it was our destiny to suck. When we went to the Superbowl in 97 again it was "these are the Pats, they have no chance" and we lost again, so in 2001 I can't say many of us thought we were actually going to win that game until AV kicked the ball through the uprights.

P.S. Italy was beautiful, I loved it over there.

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great too ! ''The Pats weren't supposed to make Superbowls'' (sigh...)

That's a great question IPP.I thought in 1976 We had a chance to start something very good .We had young and talented players and Bill Sullivan wasn't running the show.It all fell apart when He regained control from Bob Marr.Playoffs in 1976 and 1978 and then Chuck Fairbanks left and it all fell apart.

Fanfrom1960 said:

No, Pat. When I saw that team play at Fenway Park, Harvard Stadium, Alumni Stadium, Nickerson Field and then when they built Sullivan Stadium for the cheapest amount you could build a stadium back then, and stayed there so long, I figured they'd be mediocre for my entire lifetime.

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i think many will agree with you

i am happy also for the old players and for old coaches, staff that were with the Boston Patriots and the New England Patriots

now they saw too this franchise at the real top of the NFL

we will play the 6th Super Bowl (we reached also PIT and DEN) !

italian pat patriot said:

one question: do you ever thought possible when you followed the franchise in the '60, '70 and '80 that we would have playied now to win the 4th Super Bowl ?

probably i will have an obvious reply but still i'm interested about yr feelings, opinions, sensations

thanks

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I can only comment on the late 70's on, but this stretch since 2001 has been unbelievable. The fact that the Pats are 18-0 thusfar hasn't really set in yet it's beyond comprehension. It makes all of the grief and aggravation I took from elementary school through college well worth it. Heck, even when the Pats made it to the SB in '85 and '96 their showing was less than stellar.

Friends and family, many of whom I have welcomed to the bandwagon, have known nothing else than me wearing my Pats gear during the season, win, lose or draw. Plopped in front of the tv, living and dying with the Pats and every play.

oldrover said:

No. I've been a fan since they drafted Plunkett, and it always seemed like they were a tad snake-bit. Bad calls (Dreith), bad coach moves (Fairbanks), bad Super Bowls, bad owners (Victor Kiam)... I though Parcells would turn it around, but he came up short.

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i agree; after Bill Parcells arrived i think a new hera started for us

still i respect and love also the 'old' Patriots also if they were unable to win a Super Bowl

we had good players and good teams and a true fan have to be a fan in the good and bad times (imho)

Jimke said:

The first quarterback I saw play for the Patriots was Butch Songin. He was

a former football and hockey player from Boston College and had played in

the CFL. Back in those days the Patriots played their home games on Friday

nights. I assume they did this to avoid competition from the Giants on

Sundays. Most New Englanders were Giant's fans. I used to drive my

uncle crazy on league bowling night on Friday by taking a transistor

radio to the bowling alley to hear the Pats' game.

I had very low expectations in the early years. A season with more wins

than losses was great. Much of the time they were terrible and their

coaches even worse. One of the worst coaches was Clive Rush. He

had been the Jets' offensive co-ordinator when the Jets won the first

Superbowl for the American Football Conference. He was nearly

electrocuted at his first press conference, did interviews nude in the

dark and got on his knees and begged George Sauer not to fire him.

I have been amazed at how good Tom Brady is and what a great coach we

have in Bill Belichick.

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great post !

NoCal Patriot said:

That's a great question IPP.I thought in 1976 We had a chance to start someing very good .We had young and talented players and Bill Sullivan wasn't running the show.It all fell apart when He regained control from Bob Marr.Playoffs in 1976 and 1978 and then Chuck Fairbanks left and it all fell apart.

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i was sure you would have not missed this thread my friend !

let's enjoy this run ! Go Pats !

Great to read all the memories. I have been a fan a long time. I'm old. LOL The best of my recollection, I jumped on the bandwagon in 1983 when I got married. I realized I either had to become a fan or be a football widow. Being a fan is a lot more fun!

One of my prized possessions is a t-shirt I got signed by a few players after a practice at Bryant College. (In pink marker even!). Used to be, access to players was easy after practice. Scott Zolak, Marv Cook, Andre Tippett, Ben "winter" Coates and Sam Gash all signed the shirt. I think it's from '92??

Anyone remember the "unknown comic" with a bag on his head? I can recall being at games when fans wore bags over their heads...the unknown fans. But we were still there....2-14 be damned.

I never would have thought about a perfect season back then....it is sooo sweet!

GJAJ15 said:

NOt sure when I became a Pats fan, I started as a Cleveland Browns fan in the days of Otto Graham, then Jim Brown..

Became avid in the late 70's, seen all the very lean times... that is why is savor this time so much. All should read the Felger book, "tales from the Sidelines" if they need their memories refreshed.

It is kinda like we had some very crappy appetizers and now a 5 star main course.. it never ends and has never been better.

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That's the same path I followed (Browns with Graham, Motley, Jones, Lavelli, Groza, later Jim Brown, best player ever), except I became a N.E. fan right away when they started. Were you attracted to the Browns because they were the first team regularly televised into New England? The Giants came next, but I was hooked on the Browns, later Pats.

I've been a huge Boston/New England sports fan since the late 60's, so of course I never imagined the kind of success we've had since 2001. I think the combination of 3 SB's and 2 World Series titles won't sink in until we go through a down period. I've been riding high for 6 years straight with no end in sight...but of course I know it will end.

Bob Ryan's quote, "These are the good 'ol days" regarding the Boston sports scence pretty much sums it all up.

I have been a fan since the AFL days of The Babe, before Plunkett, and Bledsoe, and Brady. We were pathetic at the beginning of the merger, and it was only a dream that one day we would be competitive with the "real" NFL teams that I used to watch at all the the local college fields. There was the flash of '85, of course, but it came tumbling down with a humiliating defeat in New Orleans and the drug scandal that broke immediately thereafter. The plummet to the cellar in the Rod Rust era hit hard and brought a renewed fatalism that this franchise was forever doomed. Then Kraft came, Parcells and Bledsoe, and suddenly we were competitive. And not merely competing but winning, then even playoff competitive in '96, but finally surrendering to the Pack in the final game. A loswer like all the other teams that were Not Quite There. And then came Belichick and Brady and the final assault. The prize in '01 with the upset of the Rams was, at the time, the pinnacle. Little did I know. It just kept getting better. There were two more and the perennial competitiveness for hte CHampionship BB spoke about was a reality. Two more SUper Bowl victories and the "D" word marked the franchise. This year, of course, is the greatest of all and the summit is in site. I have been to the depths of despair with this team; I relish the final climb to the summit in Phoenix, where this once sorry franchise, risen from the ashes, becomes the standard by which all others will be measured.

Armen Da Pats Fan said:

That's too funny. We have a six year old and we say the same thing! We call her the good luck charm!

Since she was born on 12/06/01, we have sat through three Super Bowl championships, two World Series titles, and we might be getting ready to sit through a fourth Lombardi and a Celtics banner #17!

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When my now 5yo was born a family friend gave her a pats cap (not a pink one). It was funny cause my wife hates football and they know it. We took her picture in the hat and I said in 30 years we will look at that picture and say "that must have been the year the Patriots won the Super Bowl."

Now she has out grown the hat and they are still winning Super Bowls.

My earliest Pats memory is them trading for highest-paid-player-in-the-league Joe Kapp, who led them to #1 in the draft and Jim Plunkett. So everything since then has been up up up! I actually feel a little sorry for the kids now because it's eventually down down down from here, they can't appreciate what they have.

Even before parity was so strong, we still had a chance every few years (late 70s, 1986). But the team was always poorly thought of because of the Sullivans and the joke of a stadium (the first game there all the toilets backed up!) You never had the feeling that management was quite good enough to win a SB, let alone sustain excellence. Until the Krafts and Parcells.

Mike the Brit said:

Patriots the team that's most set up for failure

By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor
As published in print March 5, 2001

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I always find it that article ironic in that Belichick and Buchsbaum were good friends. I've read that BB was the only NFL guy to attend Buchsbaum's funeral.

ever since i was a kid, the nfl seemed to me to be composed of the "haves" and "have nots". The "haves" were the Steelers, Boys, Niners, Redskins, Dolphins, Broncos, Raiders. the packers were treated like a premium brand even in losing years. The rest of us were allowed to crash the party and play with the big boys during the regular season and early in the playoffs, but the championship showdowns were reserved for the usual suspects.

now, i'm a long-time fan of an established, "elite" franchise and I have to admit that I still haven't gotten used to it. we'll probably see a period of "adjustment" at the end of the brady/belichick era, but even then we will be considered a top franchise waiting to come back, as have been the cowboys and niners in recent years.

for me, it's a tribute to the Krafts.

Do you realize that, after February 3, only TWO other NFL franchises (Broncos and Steelers) will have been to as many SB's as the Patriots (six) and that only ONE, the Cowboys, will have been to more (eight)?

Should we be fortunate enough to win in Arizona, the Patriots will become the ONLY franchise with four SB wins and only THREE franchises (Niners, Cowboys and Steelers) will have won more (five).

That's pretty rarified air and I'm not used to breathing it.

I had no idea - or even dreamed about- a run like this. Dynastys and serious contenders were meant for the likes of the Cowboys, the Packers, the (ahem) NYG types back in the 60's. Even when the 70's rolled in and the Pats began to attain some meausure of respectability, I never dreamed of this. The old Pats from the 60's - the Jimmy Colclough's, the Bob Dee's, the Larry Eisenhower's etc - must look upon this era and team with awe and amazement - I know I do.

IPP - we're going on #4 and I am still in shock. There were many many dry years around here, but we stuck with them.

I remember my Dad fiddling with the antenna on the roof of our house just outside of Providence for the home games back in the 70's. There was a station in Hartford that was not subject to blackout and he would try like crazy to even get a fuzzy signal on a crappy 13" black and white while listening to the call on the radio. Away games were great because we could watch on the regular TV in color.

I had a few cousins around the same age that were Cowboy "fans" when we were kids. Even as a kid, I questioned how they could root for a team so far away when we had one in our backyard - records be damned! Guess who I called first to rub it in when the Boys lost last week??? I guess I'm loyal...but that loyalty has paid off.

The Pats have owed me absolutely nothing since AV's kick with a few ticks left went through the upright in N.O. Everything since is gravy (the red kind...I'm of Italian descent!!)