How did you become a Pats fan?

RelocatedPatFan said:

I was always a Patriot fan, even before I was born.

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found a picture of you:

Growing up just a few miles from Boston I followed all four pro sports teams from a very early age. Really got into them the year after they played for the AFL championship. Pats had a very good season and players like Babe Parilli, Larry Garron, Jim Colclough and Gino Cappelletti were all favorites for young fans like myself. I could not understand why many of my friends parents were Giants fans.

It was different back then because a team could have a great year but not make the post season. There were no playoffs per se in football at that time. Only two teams advanced; you had to win your division, then play the other division winner for the league championship. There were no tie breakers; one year when the Patriots and Bills tied for the AFL East title they played the following week to determine the winner. Missing the post-season was not considered to be the automatic failure it is today. A division title was considered a big accomplishment.

Jim Nance came along and after Cleveland's Jim Brown retired Nance became my favorite pro football player. After one down year the Pats had another very good season. It was going to be the first time an AFL team would play an NFL team for pro football bragging rights. It looked like the Pats were on their way to the very first Super Bowl and wham, they were upset in the final game of the season. Even though I was happy when the Jets won the SB two years later because they were an AFL team, it was the start of my hatred for the Jets.

The Pats weren't as good after that with too many players getting old or injured at the same time. By then I discovered that one of their players (Bob Dee) lived just two blocks from me. He would come at least once a year to Cub Scout meetings and Little League banquets. I can't recall what he spoke about but I do remember he seemed like a good guy. For me it was really cool to live so close to a pro athlete. Needless to say I have remained a fan of the Patriots since.

Born in Framingham

I never liked football until after college, joined a weekly office pool and naturally started watching the Pats 92-93. Grew up in Revere(moved to Oregon n 97) so I am a Boston sports fan in general but the only game I follow is the NFL.

Used to watch the celts with my Dad when I was a kid, he'd leave towards the end, go outside for a cig pacing back and forth and tell me how painful it is to watch the final minutes. He'd say "No good comes from that only pain and suffering" or "It's like the team is trying to hurt me" or "If we watch they'll probably lose" Same for sox games.

Fortunately I never picked up the habit of leaving the game, gotta watch the end. Had to call home and tell him we won the SB of course, it was glorious...

dtugg said:

I must admit that I am from nowhere near New England. I became a Pats fan because of Randy Moss. I was a Randy Moss fan from his rookie year. And then when he became a Patriot, I became a Patriots fan. When they lost that Super Bowl I was very upset. I vaguely remember me throwing a beer glass on the floor of the patio of a Buffalo Wild Wings and getting kicked out.

Anyway, I remained a Pats fan after that. I was very ecstatic when they won the Superbowl two years ago and again this year.

Also, screw Roger Goodell and long live the GOAT.

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Given my massive inferiority complex, I latched onto the team when they started winning because I needed to overcompensate for my complete lack of success in just about every phase in life. The second they start losing, I'm out of here and you all can kiss my ass.

1976. Bicentennial. Patriots are good. I'm 11 and have figured out basic geography.

Thanks for the answers everyone.

Thelonious said:

Aluminum Seats:
Watching is more fun, man. Give it a try.

Anyway, Dad had season tickets...fandom was hard wired into me pretty early on.


I have the option of rewatching on Game Pass, but I hardly ever do. I haven't had TV for a long time, and I think anyway that my fondest memories of following games are listening to Bob Wilson do the Bruins games in the 70's. I still drive a stick too, and I heat with wood. I'm archaic.

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Driving stick & heating with wood= good.

No tv, listening to Pats on the radio=cheating yourself out of something amazing.

MagicMarker said:

I was 12 years old in 1974, and just started watching football. The first game I ever watched was the Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins against the Patriots. My sister said it would be a blow out because the Patriots were so bad. Well, the Patriots pulled off the upset, and I've been a fan ever since.

I had one close call on jumping off the bandwagon. The next season, 1975, the Patriots were on their way to a 3-11 season and the Patriots were playing the Bengals. I said whoever won that game is the team I'd be a fan of. Turned out, it was a lie. The Bengals won, but I stayed a Patriots fan!

I think I made the right choice!

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'75 was a kind of weird season. Plunkett went down, Grogan got some experience, the team continued to have injuries; but Fairbanks just kept on loading up - and, not surprisingly, the next season we were loaded.

jmt57 said:

Growing up just a few miles from Boston I followed all four pro sports teams from a very early age. Really got into them the year after they played for the AFL championship. Pats had a very good season and players like Babe Parilli, Larry Garron, Jim Colclough and Gino Cappelletti were all favorites for young fans like myself. I could not understand why many of my friends parents were Giants fans
.

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Before the AFC and the Patriots existed, the Giants were televised into New England, so a lot of New Englanders adopted them as their favorite team. Kind of "barf" now, right?

scout said:

Born in Framingham

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same here

Grew up about an hour north of New York City, all the kids were jets or Giants fans, first game I remember watching was 1978 pats 56-3 over the jets and that was it. Spent many a recess playing kill the guy with the ball on asphalt wearing my Sears toughskins and Grogan jersey. Good times. Beat the Jets 55-21 in 1979 too another classic. Loved Morgan, Sam Bam, Tim Fox, Haynes and Clayborn, played FS in high school and wore number 48 in honor of Tim Fox. What a lunatic I was.

aluminum seats said:

Driving stick & heating with wood= good.

No tv, listening to Pats on the radio=cheating yourself out of something amazing.

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LOL. Not having TV is about 90% that I'm a cheapskate; less than 10% that I'm ultra-sophisticated. I lived without electricity altogether for about 8 years once. I enjoyed it, but eventually the wife staged a little revolt and that came to an end. After we got the juice, I tried cable for a while (wanted to give the full suburban thing a try), but the stuff on there was almost ALL crap, and the price kept drifting up, so I ditched it. I get Game Pass, so I could watch the games after the fact, but I hardly ever do. Not sure why. There's a real possibility that I might just be an irremediable oddball. That certainly remains my wife's view, though I notice she's still around, so I must have some redeeming qualities. I'm handy: maybe that's it.

RelocatedPatFan said:

I was always a Patriot fan, even before I was born.

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Those in utero snow angels must've been tough on Mom.

One day i decided that i dont care and i cant stand it. So i started following the new england patriots

KontradictioN said:

Given my massive inferiority complex, I latched onto the team when they started winning because I needed to overcompensate for my complete lack of success in just about every phase in life. The second they start losing, I'm out of here and you all can kiss my ass.

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Well, let's pray for their continued success then, because that ass of yours is just not my type.

Squish the Fish Bury the Bears. 10 years old. WMASS news had a contest who ever had the best Pats Christmas light display won something like SB tickets.

Thelonious said:

Those in utero snow angels must've been tough on Mom.

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Snow angels? I was doing kickoffs.

PATSYLICIOUS said:

One day i decided that i dont care and i cant stand it. So i started following the new england patriots

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how was it being a Jets fan?