This is NE's 10th SB appearance in 25 years...unbelievable.
It is Seattle's 4th.
I just do not get the sense that Pats fans are very hyped up about this one.
Possible reasons:
1) SB fatigue
2) Big underdog status
3) Lack of marketable stars on O or D
4) Experts lack of confidence in Pats ability to pull this one off
5) A perception by media that Pats are here on a fluke and that it was gifted to them by easy schedule and Bo Nix's injury
6) No Brady. Brady made fans feel that anything was possible anytime
7) Offense has lacked scoring ability during playoffs
Does anyone else feel a general lack of excitement about this SB appearance?
I hope I am wrong, but it does not feel like any of the Brady era SB's.
What you describe is real, but not applicable to most fans. It sounds like
Brady/Belichick Burnout Syndrome [BBBS].
There wasn't the community mania over the old Celtics (11 out of 13 including 8 straight). A lot of young fans like me looked up into the rafters and saw a blinding number of title banners and retired numbers and tried to comprehend it, trying to understand that it's real. The Celts then won two in the 70's, but then plummeted to the bottom of the standings. That brief time -
two (2) seasons - was played up by the media just as the Pats' 1990-92 basement dwelling (due to being Flutie-less) time was made to feel like two decades.
I believe the cultural trend in Boston and New England is to choose to wallow in misery when the opportunity presents itself. And, people like to complain. It's like the Vrabel hiring has interrupted our usual bad times.
Seems like time to again point out the fallacy of the false Felger mantra that any team that did not win the title is nothing more than an afterthought and a failure, to be dismissed and forgotten.
Of course, the opposite is true. If I examined the results, I expect that Boston has, between the Red Sox, Braves, Bruins, Whalers, Celtics, Patriots, Revs, Tea Men and Lobsters, the highest number of glorious, successful, fun, exciting, pride-inducing history of seasons of any city on the planet. There is no shame in coming up just short. You try your best, and you can't win every year (unless you're the 60's Celtics). Indeed, some of the most iconic, important and historic sports years and moments occurred here in seasons when the team did
not win the league championship.
That said, we absolutely need to win on Sunday. This Patriots team has worked too hard, invested too much and come too far not to finish the job.
Getting back to your point, the Pats' fan base hasn't gone anywhere. When Grogan took over in '85 and the team thus got competitive, the old stadium was banged out and we were right there, just as we've been this season. And amidst the losing in recent years, there have been promising players like Maye was last year.
Folks around here suffering from BBBS found themselves throwing Patriots Super Bowl parties every other year, and it's tough to wrap your head around. Drake Maye is not Tom Brady or Steve Grogan, just as Jaylen Brown is not Paul Pierce is not Larry Bird is not John Havlicek is not Bill Russell.
