I'm sad. I know the run was awesome but it ended earlier than it should have. I am used to at least a couple playoff games and AFC championship trophies propping doors open at Gillette Stadium. I miss Bill’s utter disgust as he is handed the Lamar Hunt trophy. He cant wait to get it out of his hands. It is even more sad that a big reason for the success is still lighting it up with 40 TD's and an 11-5 record and gets the chance to earn a doorstop.
Seventeen years ago I told a friend that from here on out I was playing with house money as far as being a fan of the Patriots goes. Therefore no matter what happened going forward with the Pats, I was Teflon; nothing mattered. (At the time I didn't consider the possibility of cameragate, AH or the Ideal Gas Law... but I digress).
Let me explain the logic.
There are 32 teams in the NFL, so on average starting today a fan should wait 16 years to see his team win it all. (Yes, this math does not include multiple championships - but please bare with me for this exercise.)
Based on that, let's say you became a fan of an NFL team at the age of four. You should expect to experience the euphoria of a championship season 16 years later, at the age of twenty. After that it should be another one every 32 years; a second at age 52, then a third at age 84.
In other words NFL fans have a reasonable expectation for at most three championships in their lifetime; more like two depending on length of time as a fan and other teams winning multiple times.
So don't worry about 2020, or 2021, or 2022; I'm not!
- We had the enviable experience of being a fan in 2001.
- We had the enviable experience of proving doubters wrong that 2001 was not a fluke two years later.
- We had the enviable experience of being a fan for back-to-backs and two-out-of-three in 2004.
- We had the enviable experience of quieting the trash talkers and doubters with Malcolm Butler in 2014.
- We had the enviable experience of the arguably the greatest comeback in NFL history, 28-3.
- We had the enviable experience another two-out-of-three, the perfect bookend.
From here until the day I pass I am playing with house money as a fan of the Patriots. No matter how many losses happen going forward, in terms of fandom I will figuratively die as a billionaire.