Younger generation Pats fans please share (20's, 30's)

[mosslost]

Us older fans have been presented with several threads asking us to talk about the "old days" and the vacuum years without championships. I think there was a lot of good stories and insights that came out of those threads.

I would like to present to younger fans a request to have your experiences being a fan of the Patriots (and all Boston sports) having had such an amazing run of success to start your sports fan "careers".

For example, lets say you were roughly 6 when the Pats played the Packers in SB 31. That is roughly my age of my earliest, faintest sports fan memories. That would make you roughly 11 when Brady sky rocketed into the stratosphere and the team began the 16 year run it is still on... putting you getting close to 30 today.

I am curious to hear more about what it is like to be a rabid Boston sports fan who is roughly approaching 30, the ones who did not get to see Larry Bird but ask about him all the time (like my now grown son does).

For me I like to contrast this with Buffalo Bills fan threads I read a lot on their board with an near polar opposite situation. They have 30 somethings who were in middle school the last time they made the playoffs, some of them have these faint memories of greatness (a legend like story of 4 AFC championships) and they hear about it from their fathers and uncles.

I would love to hear this type of testimony from a younger Pats fan about your experience, not having been through "the bad years" (though I love all my years as Boston sports fan)

Please share if you would like to do so.

 

[BelichicksBlackEye]

I am 26. Everyday I think in horror of what is to come. The run has to come to an end eventually and will probably never be repeated. I have never known a bad Patriots team. Oh and the Redsox are now the previous generations Yankees.

 

[ALP]

27...

I didn't really really start following the team like a true fan until the 2005 season, I was a pats fan before but rly because I grew up around Boston. So my first true playoff experience was that ****ty loss to Denver

At first I thought of us as invincible, and like the trophy was a piece of cake to earn, people hated our team from the get go for me, including disrespecting our players like Willy Nilly giving away flags and mvps and other trophys to less deserving players on other teams instead of ours, the hate was real

After the 07 season and the champ drought happened it started clicking that winning NFL games and champs really isn't as easy as the early 2000s made it seem, I got more appreciation for what it took, and to what a large extent luck also played into it

With time and this was only after the second SB giants loss I started understanding that every bit of success is hard earned and I was happy w any game we play d our hearts out and tough, win or loss, though obviously preffered wins, and was just excited for however far we got in each postseason, I started seeing losses as part of the game rather than something weird and to get angry at, football has been more fun because of it

At the same time I realize we're very close to th end of this dynasty of excellence that started in 2001 and I'm savoribg every last play of it

Finally, I've also come o terms w the hate/jealously against us the spurred two gates and every other fans negativity. And I don't care for it anymore. I used to get angry people thought spygate was something it wasn't, and how sheep like they were w deflategate when nature proved it all hogwash, but also dealing w other teams fans has changed, I don't get angry at their biased hate against the pats anymore, I just laugh at them both inside and out, and kind of feel pity for them, because even if their team is good right now, which it probably isn't, it won't be good next year, or the year after, while until Brady and BB call it quits I'll be rooting for a Super Bowl contender and care little about their pettiness and thoughts

 

[Bradyking12]

If we hold on to JG this dynasty will last for 10 plus more years

 

[jah]

First of all, I appreciate the creation of this thread. Thank you for caring what we think!

I'm 21. I was 6 when the Pats won SB36. I don't remember the game, but I remember absolutely everyone I knew being overjoyed.

I started watching every game in 2004, when I was 9. That was probably the smoothest season from start to finish that I'll ever watch my favorite team play. This was also the point when I started to pay attention to the rosters, knowing stuff about depth charts around the league.

My interest waned a bit in 05/06, was more into video games and other preteen stuff. Then 2007 happened, and I became hooked. Another season that was just plain easy to watch (until the end). I maintained the same level of interest in 08 and 09, but learned more about what the usual ups and downs of an NFL season can be like. I can imagine those two years were a lot more similar to watching "just another above average team."

In the 2010 offseason, I got really bored and decided to take my fandom to the next level, noting/analyzing every minor transaction and joining this glorious forum. 2010-2012 felt like the team was a wagon that always seemed to choke in the end, like varying degrees of 2007 all over again. I think the team steadily declined over that 3 year span, though, culminating in 2013, which had another "lost season where everything went wrong" vibe like in 2009 (but not quite so bad).

Until the very end in 2014, I thought it was gonna be just like the last 4 years of regular season and limited playoff domination only to end up with nothing. Glad I was wrong. That was an amazing playoff run with 2 of the best football games I've ever watched (also, even though I now hate the dude, Rodgers always seems to find himself in a classic playoff finish, but that's unrelated).

Last year was weird. Started like 2007, ended like 2013. Injuries suck, but this was the first injury-filled year I remember in which the team looked nearly flawless beforehand.

I have a good feeling about this season so far. As I said in a previous thread, almost too good of a feeling. Makes me remember 2010 again. Please no.

As you can tell, I think of things in terms of past season comparisons. This puts me at a disadvantage due to my limited experience, so this is me acknowledging that.

I've become more detached emotionally from the game in recent seasons, whether that be disillusionment from not winning the SB every year, Goodell, or whatever. I just don't freak out after losses like when I was in high school.

I also wish I could have been a more avid fan during the Tagliabue era, or at least appreciated it more. Goodell hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Stumpy]

I'm 34 and have been a fan since Drew Bledsoe was drafted. I'm from Canada and my CFL team (Winnipeg) hasn't won a championship in 26 years.......in a 9 team league.

Being a Patriots fan is what gets me up in the morning, just knowing they're so consistently good. But all good things must come to an end someday. it's in the lean years that you find out just what kind of fans you really have. (or are)

 

[TheOutsider]

If we hold on to JG this dynasty will last for 10 plus more years

Jimmy G is gonna want out and go to a place where he can start before he gets too old,Brady will last another 5 years plus.

 

[mosslost]

First of all, I appreciate the creation of this thread. Thank you for caring what we think!

I'm 21. I was 6 when the Pats won SB36. I don't remember the game, but I remember absolutely everyone I knew being overjoyed.

I started watching every game in 2004, when I was 9. That was probably the smoothest season from start to finish that I'll ever watch my favorite team play. This was also the point when I started to pay attention to the rosters, knowing stuff about depth charts around the league.

My interest waned a bit in 05/06, was more into video games and other preteen stuff. Then 2007 happened, and I became hooked. Another season that was just plain easy to watch (until the end). I maintained the same level of interest in 08 and 09, but learned more about what the usual ups and downs of an NFL season can be like. I can imagine those two years were a lot more similar to watching "just another above average team."

In the 2010 offseason, I got really bored and decided to take my fandom to the next level, noting/analyzing every minor transaction and joining this glorious forum. 2010-2012 felt like the team was a wagon that always seemed to choke in the end, like varying degrees of 2007 all over again. I think the team steadily declined over that 3 year span, though, culminating in 2013, which had another "lost season where everything went wrong" vibe like in 2009 (but not quite so bad).

Until the very end in 2014, I thought it was gonna be just like the last 4 years of regular season and limited playoff domination only to end up with nothing. Glad I was wrong. That was an amazing playoff run with 2 of the best football games I've ever watched (also, even though I now hate the dude, Rodgers always seems to find himself in a classic playoff finish, but that's unrelated).

Last year was weird. Started like 2007, ended like 2013. Injuries suck, but this was the first injury-filled year I remember in which the team looked nearly flawless beforehand.

I have a good feeling about this season so far. As I said in a previous thread, almost too good of a feeling. Makes me remember 2010 again. Please no.

As you can tell, I think of things in terms of past season comparisons. This puts me at a disadvantage due to my limited experience, so this is me acknowledging that.

I've become more detached emotionally from the game in recent seasons, whether that be disillusionment from not winning the SB every year, Goodell, or whatever. I just don't freak out after losses like when I was in high school.

I also wish I could have been a more avid fan during the Tagliabue era, or at least appreciated it more. Goodell hindsight is 20/20.

>>I have a good feeling about this season so far. As I said in a previous thread, almost too good of a feeling. Makes me remember 2010 again. Please no.

2010 ending shocked me (at the time) even more than 2007. Not sure why, but I was literally in a state of total disbelief. Partly due to the 45-3 smacking we had very recently put on that team.

It's funny the way you describe not being as emotionally attached to them as you were in High School feels exactly how I felt about the Celtics and Larry Bird when I was in High School. They meant everything completely. That kind of emotional attachment to the success of Boston sports teams left me until Brady and Belichick. In 1996 I was very excited they made the Super Bowl but did not expect to win. I remember talking to some cousins the monring of that game at a family breakfast thing, and I asked them so "do you think we have a chance"?. And they were like of course we do, it's a football game and we are playing in it. I was like "but if they win that game they are Super Bowl champions, that can never happen. I was just glad it was not 46-10 again. Brady and Belichick changed all that forever. I am actually expecting that the Patriots success will go beyond this era, and I am also all for them stretching this era as long as possible. Brady is playing better than he ever had.

In my life I got to watch the 79-87 Celtics (Bird) then I got to see Brady and Belichick. If I get to see a third such transcendent player/team in my life I sincerely doubt. Hopefully you guys get to see a second such transcendent sports figure as I thought there would never be another Bird, and Brady is even bigger.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'm 31, so I was 11 when the Pats played the Packers in the Super Bowl. In a weird way I think I'm kinda lucky that I'm not a few years younger, because my earliest sports memory is my favorite hockey player (Cam Neely) getting his hip destroyed by Ulf Samuelsson, and my dad explaining that he probably wouldn't be able to play hockey anymore. This was followed by fond memories like watching the last gasp of the 80s Celtics dynasty as Bird's body fell apart, being woken up to learn that my favorite post-Bird basketball player had dropped dead on the practice court, and my earliest memories of the Pats are from the pre-Parcells/Kraft era. Also Mo Vaughn was my favorite baseball player, and most of the headlines surrounding him involved strippers, a bad hip, and leaving as a free agent. I also caught enough of Roger Clemens' tenure with the Sox to be bitter when he left and suddenly became good at baseball again.

That's not to say I had it rough, because by the time I was 16 the Pats had fully turned it around and won their first Super Bowl. I realize how spoiled I am as a fan compared to many. But I got in at just the right time where I experienced the bare minimum years of aggressive futility to develop the baseline of "how are things going to go wrong?" mentality. The number of championships Boston has ripped off over the past decade and a half are not normal to me, because I got in a few years of the 'old normal' first to protect against that. Then I got to watch that whole mindset be obliterated before I'd even graduated from college. I think I got in just before the buzzer - if I was born 5 years later, my earliest, faintest memories would include the Pats going to a Super Bowl, and the Pats dynasty would've started when I was 11 so I never would've known anything different.

Although come to think of it, if I'd been born 5-10 years earlier my first and fondest sports memories probably would've centered around the Celtics' 3 titles that I was too young for. Pre-Garnett, the Celtics had pretty much always been also-rans in my memory.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Nice thread idea.

The obvious one: February 2015

Almost a dozen people crammed in a small dorm room with eyes on TV in low def. Pats fans, a Jets fan, and some people barely football fans watching the game just because Superbowl Sunday.

Brady just threw his second INT and Doug Baldwin scored. We're down 10. My hockey bud strolls in during commercial break smashed saying "dudeeee Tom's got thissss why so stressed man??? We got thissss"

At this point I want to punch nearly everyone in the room out of frustration lol.

Edelman scores. I shake my friend probably 10 times repeating "One More Stop! One More Stop!" I shook him so hard part of his head started to bleed. Must of banged something.

After the Kearse catch I mentally checked out. I don't know about others but I was nearly conceding another SB loss. I was pissed at Hightower for stopping Lynch at the one. I was in disbelief BB didn't call a timeout. Brady wasn't going to get enough time. Again.

Intercepted at the goal line by Malcolm Butler. One of the most surreal moments (scratch that, the most surrreal moment) as a Boston sports fan. I'm weirdly not celebrating too crazy. I simply can't believe what I just saw.

Everyone is going wild and I'm trying to calm the room down like a coach on the sideline. We can't kneel the ball down here. We can't get a safety. I'm doing the times in my head if Seattle blows up our OL for a safety. How much time would Wilson have to get in FG range, etc.

Michael Bennett goes offsides.

Absolute joy. It's over. We're going to win! I thought I'd never see Brady's 4th ring after the Kearse catch. The moment I realized we we won was probably my favorite Boston Sports moment since Cundiff's shank.

Epilogue: My dad & I went to meet Butler in Boston in March after the Superbowl after reading on twitter that he'd be in the Verizon store. Barely anyone was there. The people that we're there got to talk to him since he barely had anything to do there. At this point the media was saying our secondary was toast post-Revis and wondered if Butler would even be a decent nickel CB. I told Butler he was "going to kick ass as our #1 CB" and knew he had it since training camp. He smiled and said I appreciate it man. Great memory.

 

[doesntmatter1]

26 here. I have been a football fan since I was ten years old. It was easy to latch on to the local pats after the 01 season. I became obsessed and loved the 03 season. I remember it like the back of my hand. It was defensive perfection that I haven't seen too frequently after that season. I really wanted to see us go against KC that year. They had Dante Hall, who imo was more exciting than Hester, carrying them. 04 season is when all of our dbs went down and punk ass Steelers ruined our streak.

 

[Bradyking12]

When it all began

 

[fightingirish595]

21, First game I ever watched was the snow bowl against oakland. For whatever reason I chose to root for the Pats probably because they were wearing blue. Even if they had lost that game, They would still be my favorite team, I remember during the 03 and 04 years thinking the team was invincible, and that there was no way they would lose those playoff games. 05 was a major disappointment for me because I simply thought Brady would never lose a playoff game in his life and I really thought we would get the 3 peat.


Just realized I was 16 when I signed up. Jeez

 

[signbabybrady]

I am 33 now. I was 13 in 96 for Drew's SB.

That put me in a unique spot. I was too young to enjoy the Celts of the 80s. We have Patriots season tickets and though I barely remember I went to a few games in the 80s but for me my first Patriots memories were not pretty they didn't win alot. But going to games with my father and Papa Joe these crappy teams still somehow got me hooked.

Then at age 10 it all changed. Kraft and Parcels coming along doesn't do much for a 10 year old kid but a number 1 overall QB does. Drew was a complete game changer for me. He could actually pass.....this is what football can actually be like.

Drew did not disappoint with in a few years we were going to the SB. We won lottery tickets and my father chose to take my older brother which didn't sit well with me or my twin. Older bro got to go because he was at least 18 made more sense to bring him to Bourbon St than 2 kids.
Next came one of the most important coin flips ever! My twin and I decided right there to see who if we ever got another chance to go would go next. I won the coin toss.
For the next few Seasons this toss would be mentioned at the start of the playoffs. But obviously I would not get to cash in under Drew.
Fast forward to Sept 2001. My first year at college. I have now gone 18 years and other than the Celts titles I was too young for 96 SB loss was my best sports moment. From the Celts title to the 01 pats actually stands as the longest period Boston had gone without a Championship and I was starting to think I'd never see one.

2001 being the last year of the old stadium I committed to attending every home game that year. Success and I have yet to miss a home game since. I had already been spoiled by a birth into season tickets and had probably attended 50 games in the early days now I have a 16 year streak and I don't intend on stopping.

01 was as magical as we all remember. Playoffs start of course I remind everyone of the coin toss. We beat the Steelers and waited word on the lottery. Promises to new suite/club holders in the new stadium meant we had no shot this time. And we didn't win but my father was not stopping there and found a package he was willing to pay for. Jackpot.

I had to skip a test and the professor was not being understanding. Boom withdrew from that class.

Thursday I drove home from Westfield in a huge snow storm which I crashed my car in. Whole trip flashed before my eyes. My back was a tiny bit sore but nothing that would slow me down.

We had the craziest time in New Orleans too. Ran into Milloy on Bourbon St. And randomly, unintentionally found the hotel where patriot family was staying. And got pics with Willie, Seymour, and Cox.

Being in that stadium for that moment with my father is my happiest memory. We stayed for over an hour after the ceremony. We rumaged for extra seat cushions, flags, and signage around the stadium. We watched all the post game shows. Even an hour after a player would come back out to the field and the few hundred still left would go nuts.
We finally left and headed to party on bourbon St. We stopped at a shop selling title gear and bought so much that my father also decided to buy a duffle bag to put it in.
We hit bourbon St with a full bag of swag in tow. Got some beers and cigars and were just taking in the scene. When out of no where we spot the guy who sat behind us in Foxboro. We celebrated with him for a few. still the last time I saw good ole Ricky.

We eventually had to go home.

And two years later my father was so confident he bought tix for him and the 3rd brother before we even won the AFC title. We all new except my twin. We got home from the game and my father hands him the ticket. Because he saved money on those two and because he could afford more now than 2 seasons ago he decided to take the whole family so me and my older brother got to go to our second. The following year became my third and we also went in 07. We skipped the next one then got screwed out of our tickets in 14 but I wound up in the hospital for a gallbladder surgery. They brought a big screen TV to my room and I was jumping on my bed at the end.
I was truly blessed to be born in this town, at this time, to this family, and the fun started my freshman year of college and hasn't stopped yet. Thank you a million times @fgssand.

Obviously a ton of detail gets glossed over but I hope I told my story well.

 

[jah]

>>I have a good feeling about this season so far. As I said in a previous thread, almost too good of a feeling. Makes me remember 2010 again. Please no.

2010 ending shocked me (at the time) even more than 2007. Not sure why, but I was literally in a state of total disbelief. Partly due to the 45-3 smacking we had very recently put on that team.

It's funny the way you describe not being as emotionally attached to them as you were in High School feels exactly how I felt about the Celtics and Larry Bird when I was in High School. They meant everything completely. That kind of emotional attachment to the success of Boston sports teams left me until Brady and Belichick. In 1996 I was very excited they made the Super Bowl but did not expect to win. I remember talking to some cousins the monring of that game at a family breakfast thing, and I asked them so "do you think we have a chance"?. And they were like of course we do, it's a football game and we are playing in it. I was like "but if they win that game they are Super Bowl champions, that can never happen. I was just glad it was not 46-10 again. Brady and Belichick changed all that forever. I am actually expecting that the Patriots success will go beyond this era, and I am also all for them stretching this era as long as possible. Brady is playing better than he ever had.

In my life I got to watch the 79-87 Celtics (Bird) then I got to see Brady and Belichick. If I get to see a third such transcendent player/team in my life I sincerely doubt. Hopefully you guys get to see a second such transcendent sports figure as I thought there would never be another Bird, and Brady is even bigger.

If I had been alive during the Bird era, I'm sure I'd care more about basketball.

 

[BobDigital]

I am 32. What really got me into the Pats was Bledsoe being drafted and the Pats/Packers run.

I watched them before that of course but it was a combination of me still being a bit too young to care and frankly the on field product not being particularly exciting. Looking back i am almost happy the first time i really cared was a SB loss. I was so pissed and sad. Why do the Packers get to be so good? #1 O #1 D and great STs? I remember how unfair it felt with the Pats being so over matched as well as getting beat on STs so bad.

So after that I became a much bigger fan and made it a point to really learn more about the game and about older Pats teams as much as i could and my dad liked to talk about them

I got to go through some disappointment and hoping to just make the playoffs before Brady. Yes I am still spoiled now like all of us but at least i have a bit of perspective (even if that is a super bowl loss which really isn't that bad and a few times with a losing record but making the playoffs some too).

I will occasionally watch older Pats games on youtube as well

 

[deroc5050]

Age 36 I watched Pats games and went to my first Pats game in like 1989, but no joke the year after I graduated High School which was 2001, I decided to watch every Pats game. And without knowing much about football at the time I saw something in that team especially when they played the Rams in 2001 and almost beat them.

After Bledsoe got hurt I thought the season was over.. and it was just so overwhelmingly fun to watch 2001 develop especially since it was my first true year of being a Pats fan.

Even when they made the Super Bowl in 1996 and before that they played the Browns in the Playoffs, I remember those games but I just wasn't a huge fan back then. I grew up watching the tail end of Larry Bird and was more of a Celtics/Red Sox fan. Ever since 2001 the Pats have been my favorite team and that was before anyone knew what was to come.

 

[Mogamedogz]

I don't want to hear from these spoiled brats.

BECAUSE... well, because I'm jealous.

 

[meatface]

Im always just in awe that so many of you geezers figured out how to use a computer

 

[Mogamedogz]

Age 36 I watched Pats games and went to my first Pats game in like 1989, but no joke the year after I graduated High School which was 2001, I decided to watch every Pats game. And without knowing much about football at the time I saw something in that team especially when they played the Rams in 2001 and almost beat them.

After Bledsoe got hurt I thought the season was over.. and it was just so overwhelmingly fun to watch 2001 develop especially since it was my first true year of being a Pats fan.

Man 36!! You're too old for this thread Gramps! You should remember the 90s!