Who Was A Fan During The Dark Years

[Cramden]

75 was the first year I remember. The Plunkett trade and the haul that include Haynes, Fox, Brock, Clayborn and Ivory were what solidified it for me.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

76.

Neighbor's dad took us up from CT to one Pats and a couple sox games in the 76-78 timeframe. Stuck with both through all the down years. Only Pats Game i ever put Money on was the 86 SB. vowed Never to Do that again. Hard to get enough Pts to overcome 45-3. lol

Ironically they covered every other game that year. If you bet one dollar on game 1 and let it ride you'd be rich until the super bowl.

 

[fair catch fryar]

Been following since the early 80s. Being a kid then I can't pinpoint the specific season, but I got a Patriots hat with the huge pom-pom and a winter coat for Christmas and declared my fandom. It was pretty casual until the '85 season and "Squish the Fish", after that I was in deep, real deep. Losses like Sunday suck, but not as bad as the ones that end your season.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Been following since the early 80s. Being a kid then I can't pinpoint the specific season, but I got a Patriots hat with the huge pom-pom and a winter coat for Christmas and declared my fandom. It was pretty casual until the '85 season and "Squish the Fish", after that I was in deep, real deep. Losses like Sunday suck, but not as bad as the ones that end your season.

 

[PYPER]

I became Pats fan during 1985 Super Bowl season but it was the '86 season where I'd say I became a die hard fan.....Playoff loss to the Broncos in the divisional round broke my heart. That franchise has dealt us some serious blows....One of the most underrated rivalries in the league. Elway was 11-0 vs Pats in his career.

 

[captain insano]

what was funny back in 85 the year the pats went to the sb. there were st vendors selling pats gear on st corners all over the place.

 

[thecore762]

Been a fan since 2001, right when Brady started over Bledsoe, I was very young then. Been a fan since.

 

[stcjones]

Fan since 70's.....hung in there through all the tough years.

 

[Amazon4]

'87 for me. Back when you could buy tickets on game day ;-)

 

[italian pat patriot]

fan since Tony Eason and Steve Grogan were our qb

passion and love started immediately

 

[jumbo77]

There was nothing like watching Sam Bam, Mini Mack, Randy Vataha, John Hannah, Leon Gray, Bill Lenkitis, Sugar Bear, Steve Nelson, Sam Hunt, John Smith even though they weren't the best I used to love watching them. Not as much as now but it was fun.

 

[sturmrider]

Been a fan since 1960 through all the ups and downs. Will follow them until either there is no more NFL or no more me It's looking more and more likely that the NFL will win that battle.

 

[amazinPats]

I'm an old guy. Been a fan since the mid 70s when Plunkett was qb. I was in my early teens.

 

[SteveKiner]

'87 for me. Back when you could buy tickets on game day ;-)

1985 Pats start year 2-3 going nowhere. I bring my wife to her first pro football game. We walk around the parking lot saying "need 2". End up with 2 on the 35 yd line 8 rows back for $10. Yes $10 total. $5/ticket. They bench Eason. Everyone cheers. Grogan leads them to 6 or 7 wins in a row and they go to the SB. Best game at best price I can remember. Also went to the final reg season game that year when they made the playoffs vs Cinci. The "electric goal post" game. Paid much more than $10. Couldn't talk or clap my hands for a week after the game from cheering so much. I was not involved in the tearing down of the goal posts but saw it happening. For the young un's. Some fans tore down the goal post and ran out to Rte 1 with it and hit the electric lines and got electrocuted.

 

[Raymond]

what was funny back in 85 the year the pats went to the sb. there were st vendors selling pats gear on st corners all over the place.

Well... how many of us lifers didn't buy a " Berry the Bears" t-shirt?

 

[lurker1965]

In 1976, when I was 11. I became a Patriots fan. Bicenntenial and First year Patriots were good.

 

[patman52]

Been a fan since '67 so I guess I seen it all.

 

[patfanken]

Well, I am brothers with Joker and PWP and guys of that ilk. Dad took me to BU that first year, and I have seen games at Fenway and Harvard Stadium. So many Pats related moments for me. A lot of them came back to me when I visited the Pats HOF for the first time a couple of weeks ago. what a fantastic edifice. I can't believe it took me this long to get to see it.

Some Pats related moments:

Ross OHanley was the HC on the Quincy Giant team I played on. Bob Dee and Butch Mahoney were a couple of defensive coaches.

Later I played tag football on a team from the Celtics front office. Once we played a game under the lights in Foxboro against the Pats front office team. Randy Vataha and Tim Fox played with us for a few years. Of course both were in their 40's by that time.

I also lost out on the HC's job in Somerville to John Hannah. Years later when we were both in the financial services field, be both had a good laugh over that. To show how delusional I was back then, I was living in Somerville at the time, so I thought I was a shoe in. I couldn't believe they chose Hannah over me. I mean, I played at Tufts, what the hell had he ever done.

I went to the Pats first superbowl in NO. What an experience that was. I had a package with a motel room somewhere in Mississippi, but never got there. Instead I stayed on the floor of my boss' suite right across from the Superdome. It would have been a spectacular 3 days even if there was no game. When the score was 3-0 Pats I turned to a friend and told him that Pats had NO chance. THAT's how good Chicago was that year. If you recall they blew out EVERY team they faced in the playoffs. IIRC the Pats 10 points were the most they gave up in the playoffs. By the 2nd series the gap between those 2 teams was evident to even the most casual fan.

The Pats had some so called dark years, but for at least 2 or 3 seasons every decade they managed to field really competitive teams that gave us hope, and from the mid 90's their success has been unprecidented, and over the last 16 years overwhelming. People here would absolutely implode if they ever had an 8-8 season. Just look at the threads from just this week.

But sadly like Joker, PWP, and others, I find my lifelong love of football fading. I find nothing coming from the NFL that is worthy of my attention and support, other than those 3 hours a week, where I still root for a team I have followed since its birth. And every year it seems to get worse and worse.

 

[Joker]

and the problem is, as I've been trumpeting from the mountaintops since 2006, a certain Roger Stokoe Goodell. I was telling Tunes Sunday night that the juice I've had for decades, the sheer enjoyment of this once great game, has faded amidst the flurry of flags and suspicions of corporate skullduggery the likes of which NO ONE has seen in this country since the Tammany hall days. I shyt you not.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Earliest recalled Patriot memory: "why are those people in the stands throwing snowballs and singing Goodbye Chuckie!"... (Brother Joker - was that you in the stands singing that loudest? )