The Night My World Came apart.

The Patriots season was unraveling. A 6-1 start was now 8-5 and we had one last shot to salvage a playoff season. But they would have to do something they hadnt done in 14 years, win in Miami. I was driving a cab in Hyannis that monday night. I hardly paid attention to my passengers unless they wanted to talk about the game on the radio. My man, Matt Cavanaugh, was doing ok, and the Patriots were hanging in there. I remember taking some extra time picking up a pizza order at Jacks Lounge in order to catch some of the game on the TV. Finally it looked like they were going to pull it out. Cavanough led them on a drive to set up John Smith. This could be great. The Patriots NEVER win games on last minute field goals and they NEVER win games when dont score at least 20 points. the street were pretty empty on I pulled into the Cape Cod Mall parking lot to listen to the field goal attempt.
Then my dispatcher came over the radio with a terrible joke, saying it was just announced that John Lennon was murdered in New York. Pissed at the distraction I said back "Not funny, Moak". He just said sadly "No joke"
As I sat stunned I heard Gino yell out "The kick is BLOCKED!!!!!"
the night only went downhill from there.

Not that I don't appreciate the glimpse in to "before my time" history, but is there any particular reason you brought it up now?

NovaScotiaPatsFan said:

Not that I don't appreciate the glimpse in to "before my time" history, but is there any particular reason you brought it up now?

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just free-form thinking. Hey its a Patriot memory.

those times make us old timers appreciate we have now. In a way, the kids who are about 19 or less, have no memory of pre-Kraft,Parcells,Bledsoe, Flying Elvis- Blue uniform Patriot history.

That's a brutal but somehow nice-in-a-nostalgic-way kind of story. Thanks for sharing.

I remember that very odd juxtaposition of what happened..the Pats possibly winning in Miami..something very rare, a John Smith field goal all ready..and the announcement that Lennon had been shot, followed soon after by a blocked kick. Very very sad!!!

I remember the Lennon Killing and Howard Cossell, but forgot it was a Pat's game... somehow over the years the death of John overshadowed the memories of the Patriots. It was a very bizarre moment, and the whole thing seemed so out of context.

And in an odd way for me, what also made SB 36 so perfect was not just the win, not just that the game was called by #1 announcing team of my generation (Summerall and Madden), but that Paul McCartney and U2 performed. It was so bizarre hearing Paul MCCartney at halftime talking about the Patriots. But now that I think about it, the whole experience was
bizarro world from that awful time 20 years earlier. btw, that U2 performance was the best one the SB ever had by miles.

Thanks for sharing that. It's kind of deep, a little sad but at the same time, a good read. Sounds like a made for TV movie to be honest with ya!

3 to be 4 said:

And in an odd way for me, what also made SB 36 so perfect was not just the win, not just that the game was called by #1 announcing team of my generation (Summerall and Madden), but that Paul McCartney and U2 performed. It was so bizarre hearing Paul MCCartney at halftime talking about the Patriots. But now that I think about it, the whole experience was
bizarro world from that awful time 20 years earlier. btw, that U2 performance was the best one the SB ever had by miles.

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I totally agree about how bad it was ...Cosell announcing that Lennon had been shot..and then a few minutes "John Lennon...D O A".... Just so odd..and to have the kick blocked just at the time the shooting was announced...Odd!!!! Ans yes, Ue's performance was the best SB..hands down.. and that even has a strong Boston connection because onr of their first gigs in the US was at the Paradise on a quiet Tuesday PM..as they were second fiddle to A band from Michigan..Barooga (sp). The young band was shocked people knew about them...a month later they played double shows nightly on a weekend at teh Paradise..all sold out...and the rest is history!!!

IMO, 1980 was a "classic" Patriots season in the sense that if there was a way to lose a game, New England would find it. The fast start made missing the playoffs even worse. The loss to the lowly 49ers one week before that game in Miami pretty much summed up the season. Grogan threw 6 interceptions against the Niners - each one progressively uglier than the previous one (Grogs' sixth int came as he was being sacked and he tossed the ball directly to a SF lineman...ugh). Anyone else remember this game? It was played in the mud and muck, and even after all of the turnovers, the Patriots still had a chance to win it. They lost 21-17.

...and the next week they traveled to Miami.

I remember this evening very well as it was a roller coaster ride of emotions for me. Two friends and I attended a Frank Zappa concert that night. I don't remember much about the game, just that it was a must-win for the Pats to secure a playoff spot and it was a close game. I watched part of the first quarter on TV prior to leaving for the concert. I drove to the concert.........my friends had tickets and I was ticketless, with hopes of buying one somehow when we got there. During the ride to Santa Barbara (approx. 45 minutes) we were listening to the game on the radio. When we got to the venue the show was sold out so I started searching for a scalp ticket, to no avail. It was just minutes before the show was supposed to start and I was about to give up on my search when I encountered a guy who had two eighth-row center tickets he wanted to sell! The only problem was that he was insistent on selling the tickets as a pair (at face value) so I had to scramble to find someone to buy with me. After a few minutes of frantic searching I finally found someone to pair up with and we bought the tickets.

I saw Frank perform live for the first time eight months prior to this gig. It was a disappointing show because Frank had equipment problems all night and was quite visibly frustrated about it, so I was really looking forward to seeing a better performance. And he did not disappoint...........he and his bandmates put on one hell of a show! It was the "Tinseltown Rebellion" tour, and some of you Zappa fans out there might remember that this was the tour where he had all the females in attendance rip off their undergarments and throw them onto the stage. His intent was to make a giant quilt with them. The stage was strewn with panties and bras, and the band had several of them hanging from all of the equipment. All the while this is going on, and I'm enjoying the show, I'm wondering about how the Patriots are doing.

The show ended and my friends and I are all abuzz about the great show we just witnessed. On the ride home I'm searching the radiowaves to try and get the final score of the game, but all we're coming across is news reports about someone getting shot in New York City. We're trying to figure out who and what they're talking about and eventually learn that the reports pertained to John Lennon. We were in stunned silence the rest of the way home. I did finally find out that the Pats had lost the game, punctuating a really bad ending to a very memorable evening.........................

Murphys95 said:

IMO, 1980 was a "classic" Patriots season in the sense that if there was a way to lose a game, New England would find it. The fast start made missing the playoffs even worse. The loss to the lowly 49ers one week before that game in Miami pretty much summed up the season. Grogan threw 6 interceptions against the Niners - each one progressively uglier than the previous one (Grogs' sixth int came as he was being sacked and he tossed the ball directly to a SF lineman...ugh). Anyone else remember this game? It was played in the mud and muck, and even after all of the turnovers, the Patriots still had a chance to win it. They lost 21-17.

...and the next week they traveled to Miami.

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I remember seeing hilites of this game while watching another live game. A game the Pats really needed and should have won against a bad 49ers team. I do remember the muck and mire they played in (in SF) and the bad game that Grogan had. Even with his bad performance they still had a chance to win the game and remember seeing how they fell just short of victory. Yeah, that Pats team really tanked it that season. They won their final two games of the season vs. Buffalo and New Orleans to finish 10-6, but it was too little too late.....................

I know this is going to seem completely off-tangent, but since you mentioned the CCM parking lot, I figured I'd ask: Do you (or anyone else) remember the name of that German restaurant that was there? It's been a while since I've been back home at the cape, and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the place.

3 to be 4 said:

The Patriots season was unraveling. A 6-1 start was now 8-5 and we had one last shot to salvage a playoff season. But they would have to do something they hadnt done in 14 years, win in Miami. I was driving a cab in Hyannis that monday night. I hardly paid attention to my passengers unless they wanted to talk about the game on the radio. My man, Matt Cavanaugh, was doing ok, and the Patriots were hanging in there. I remember taking some extra time picking up a pizza order at Jacks Lounge in order to catch some of the game on the TV. Finally it looked like they were going to pull it out. Cavanough led them on a drive to set up John Smith. This could be great. The Patriots NEVER win games on last minute field goals and they NEVER win games when dont score at least 20 points. the street were pretty empty on I pulled into the Cape Cod Mall parking lot to listen to the field goal attempt.
Then my dispatcher came over the radio with a terrible joke, saying it was just announced that John Lennon was murdered in New York. Pissed at the distraction I said back "Not funny, Moak". He just said sadly "No joke"
As I sat stunned I heard Gino yell out "The kick is BLOCKED!!!!!"
the night only went downhill from there.

Click to expand...

thanks for the story. well-written too...

3 to be 4 said:

And in an odd way for me, what also made SB 36 so perfect was not just the win, not just that the game was called by #1 announcing team of my generation (Summerall and Madden), but that Paul McCartney and U2 performed. It was so bizarre hearing Paul MCCartney at halftime talking about the Patriots. But now that I think about it, the whole experience was
bizarro world from that awful time 20 years earlier. btw, that U2 performance was the best one the SB ever had by miles.

Click to expand...

And, even more of a pleasure because the "#1 announcing team" said the Pats should let the clock run out and play for the tie before Brady's drive and Vinatieri's (may he fail miserably in Indy) kick...