How did you become a Pats fan?

bbobbo said:

found a picture of you:

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Hmmm. Looks a little like Beavis. Odd.

I was born when Larry Bird was drafted, and as a 4 year old I remember watching celtic games and became a BB player. My mom wouldn't let me play football when i was young and because I loved BB so much, I didn't put up much of a fight. For some reason I remember watching football games from 10-14 years of age and I found the game slow and confusing. It wasn't until I graduated the year Bledsoe got hurt was the first real season I decided I was going to get into football. As soon as I started understanding the game and how dynamic it was I was all about football. And also I am extremely lucky. Becoming a true fan in 2001 was some pretty damn good timing.

I am 58 years old. I became a Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox fan when I was a little kid. We played on the streets all day long switching from one sport to another. You were a Homer or you got your ass teased, tortured and sometimes kicked. It was simple. You were from Boston. You rooted for Boston. Bad or good

I remember at 7 years old in 1967 after the hear breaking WS loss, my Dad was watching football on our small B&W TV. I knew everything about baseball, took books out of the library. Kinda liked the Celtics, but just took winning a NBA championship as a forgone right of birth.

So I asked my Dad who was the Carl Yastrzemski of the Patriots. Jim Nance, he replied. I tried watching but didn't understand the rules - too complicated. Pop Warner taught me the rules. Dad got season tickets on the 30 in the seventies. Plenty of ass freezing time on the aluminum - wear two pairs of jeans - benches. Ron Bolton punching Fran Tarkenton, good times.

In 1988, I moved from an apartment in Allston to a house in Foxborough to begin raising a family. Then I was all in. A tiny little town mostly blue collar with an NFL franchise. A regular at Doc and Nellie's watching the satellite (illegal) broadcasts of the blacked out games when I couldn't swing a ticket.

It's been a great ride. I enjoyed the game when the only two wins of the season were the Colts. Looking forward to the next 20-30 years, but how we have been spoiled.

Became a fan right after Butler intercepted the ball. Been a great two years for me since I also happen to be a Cubs, Cavs, and Clemson fan

Thelonious said:

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

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neali said:

but just took winning a NBA championship as a forgone right of birth.

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...like we do for football today

My dad is a Pats fan so I have been too, right from the start.

I really got into it during the 1985 playoff run, especially the AFCCG. I was 12. I remember watching it on the ****ty little TV in our kitchen for some reason.

Fanfrom1960 said:

I think it was announced in 1959 that the Boston Patriots would be one of the teams in the brand new American Football League. Nitpicking on you there. I was a fan from day 1. According to Pro Football Reference, the Pats played their home games on Friday night in 1960. Forgot that.

1960 Boston Patriots Statistics & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com

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Same here.....I was at that very first game, with my father, at BU Field, 9/9/60 -- they lost to Denver but I was hooked because my Dad was hooked.

One day he came home with season tickets to Fenway Park and we have had them in the family ever since, continuously, since Schaefer Stadium opened. I have seen the Pats play in every single home stadium they played in except one (they played one home game in Birmingham, Al - 9/22/68 VS Jets). I was at BU Field, Fenway, BC, Harvard and of course Schaeffer / Sullivan / Foxboro / CMGI / Gillette.

I became a Pats fan because of Joe Montana !

Yes, it's a long story...

When I was young (early 90's), I had a Sega Genesis game console and got the Joe Montana NFL Sports Talk Football game. I became a huge fan of Montana fan.

Then those damn 49ers trade away Montana to the KC Chiefs and it killed me (I didn't see future HOF Steve Young coming). San Fran was dead to me!

The next week, Drew Bledsoe gets drafted by the Patriots 1st pick overall. The 1993 season started and the team is always playing on TV as the local team (I'm in Montreal, Canada) and the rest was history...


My first game attending: Monday night November 1999 loss against the Ray Lucas led Jets (yikes!) Classic Bad Bledsoe game 36 att for 170 yrds + 3 picks

My only other game attending was in 2008 (my 30th birthday celebration): the 2nd home game after the perfect regular season and the 1st start of MATT CASSEL since high school I guess. It was also the first WILD CAT game where Ronnie Brown scored 5 TDs... Ronnie Brown who, of course, I benched, in fantasy that week !!!

I have 6-7 yrs left to finally see Tom play
https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl...4HTAhWmxYMKHf98DYAQMwgqKA4wDg&iact=mrc&uact=8

Watching Steve Grogan.

FrodoBagginz said:

I became a fan of football and the Pats months before the 2004 season. Never cared about football and, in fact, I hated football due to it and baseball delaying Simpsons on Sunday.

Just after the 2003 Super Bowl, I was browsing the DVD section of Barnes And Noble and came across the Super Bowl XXXVIII Championship DVD. I thought what the heck, I'll give it a shot. I bought the DVD thinking it was the entire Super Bowl but it was just highlights of the season and playoffs. Anyway, the music started up and almost instantly I was hooked.

It's really NFL Films that got me into football. The music, editing, and the drama in the DVD for the season really got me into it. I wish I'd become a fan sooner.

Nothing will ever get me to like Baseball, though.

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Back when I was a kid everyone played baseball, everyone did. (Long time ago) Little League, and even sandlot pick up baseball, people come down with their gloves thei baseballs, bats. Did the same for basketball and football too. We had nothing else to do. If you did not play baseball ever it is harder to get into I think. And at that time the 1975 World Series happened so I have loved baseball my whole life. Love The Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox, and Patriots as long as I remember anything.

NYPatsFan said:

I was a young child in the late 70s and I observed my father yelling at the TV each weekend. I was curious to learn why someone would yell at the TV so I started watching games with him. It didn't take long before I, too, was yelling at the TV.

Young Patriots fans today have no idea what it's like to watch your favorite team struggle and underachieve week after week, year after year. In many ways, the pre-Kraft Patriots were a lot like the Jets today, only without the memory of a Super Bowl victory.

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We never as bad as the jets. In fact we dominated them more back in the 70s and 80s. (By more blow outs.. we have always mostly beat them.. You have to go back to Namath to really give the Jets any love)

Thelonious said:

It was bleak! You sort of rooted for individual players, because the team as a whole was pretty hopeless. I remember Mack Herron got me through one season all by himself, and to watch Steve Grogan get clobbered from pillar to post then come back for more was a lesson in heroism all by itself.

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They were mostly good to great with Grogan. Had one really bad year, and that is it.

PatsDeb said:

I became a fan as a kid in the 1970s watching the Patsies with my dad. As I have said elsewhere, we used to remain at our summer cottage on fall Sundays (freezing our butts off sometimes) because the game was blacked out at home, but we could watch it on the NH ABC affiliate. Many times we were able to go home at half time.

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Pats fans don't call them Patsies.

hivory said:

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.

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And I witnessed both those beat downs in person in 78 & 79. I should have those games on VHS stored away some where. VHS, remember those?

mosslost said:

They were mostly good to great with Grogan. Had one really bad year, and that is it.

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Grogan, One Tough SOB! Even with a neck brace on he was still running bootlegs head first into End Zone.

DaBronxPats14 said:

Grogan, One Tough SOB! Even with a neck brace on he was still running bootlegs head first into End Zone.

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Grogan was excellent. It really urkes me when people call those years bleak... 76-89 they were mostly good to great teams, they did under achieve.. and they had one horrible year 1981. They had a lot of dumb **** happen to them too. (1978 playoffs, that team was jacked and loaded.. best Running offense in NFL history.. STILL.. and the coach gets fired before the playoff game. I think 76 and 78 could have SB years.)

Went in by T with my younger brother on December 1, 1963, to watch the Patriots defeat the Bills 17–7 at Fenway Park.

Good game, and we got a piece of the wooden goal post as the crowd tore it down.

tom444 said:

Went in by T with my younger brother on December 1, 1963, to watch the Patriots defeat the Bills 17–7 at Fenway Park.

Good game, and we got a piece of the wooden goal post as the crowd tore it down.

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I saw one game at Fenway. Our seats were facing the Green Monster, across the field. I could have sworn a couple of high punts might graze off of it. Weird place to watch a football game. All part of the maturation of the Pats though.