We've won too often and we've been around the top too long. People, outside of Patriots Nation and students of NFL History who want to see whether we can match records set by the likes of Brown, Lombardi and Montana, would love to see us lose. We have to deal with it.
There's only one storyline for this year's SB that could be even the slightest bit sympathetic towards us, i.e., if we play the Bears and it becomes a story about avenging a humiliating loss 20 years ago (think The SuperBowl Shuffle and The Fridge's TD).
If it's Pats against the Saints, the storyline will be Darth Vader against the Jedi Knights, Evil vs. Good, David vs. Goliath...well, you get the idea. By the time the media's done with us, half the nation will believe that Tom Brady was responsible for Hurricane Katrina and that Richard Seymour was the guy Bush put in charge of Disaster Relief in New Orleans. What's more, every aggressive hit by Rodney, every Photographer scorned by Bill Belichick, every taunt by any Patriot anytime, anywhere will be mustered in evidence that we are the biggest, baddest, un-classiest team in the Universe. And, we should love every minute of it.