Is it just me, or has anyone else's enthusiasm dropped for football and maybe even a little bit for the Pats? I mean I was pretty hyped about the week 1 win, but that's really all about it for me. The wins have been "Cool." The losses have been "Oh well." Even the AFCCG in Denver last year, while it sucked for about 2 days, didn't have a lingering effect on my mood like the 2010 divisional round loss did. I wonder if it's the Super Bowl win that has kind of "relieved" me as a fan and made me not so tied up in how I feel after a win or a loss. I wonder if it's because of Defamegate. Maybe I'm just getting old. There used to be a time where I watched every game and cheered like it was the Super Bowl. Now nothing really excites or bothers me. Apparently I'm not the only one (with the decline in NFL ratings) but it's weird that I'm less enthusiastic about the team and not just the NFL
Yup. That's been me for the past 2-3 years. When we beat Seattle in the Superbowl, a day or two later, I felt nothing. Sometimes I forget we even won it a couple years back. Knowing all the things I know now about the league, conspiracies and the whole betting thing, I'm no longer passionate about it. I fell asleep twice during the Jets game, I never thought we would lose, not because the Jets absolutely suck, but because I felt that if we came close to losing, some flag would bail us out or the other team's offense would go soft to bail us out or keep the game close. I don't feel like watching the Patriots play 3-4 hours during prime-time and that's never been the case with me, ever.
* Deflategate certainly didn't help the league, only changed opposing teams and their fanbases' perceptions about the Patriots, specifically Brady and Belichick, being untouchable.
* Manning taking HGH didn't help either. Now both of their poster boy QB, HOFs, are "cheaters."
* Brady missing 4 games, definitely did nothing to keep me, the viewer, engaged in their crappy games.
* Maybe I'm getting too old for this stuff, but I've seen much older Pats fans eating this NFL crap up. Perhaps they have a higher tolerance for garbage.
* see Brady blocking vs the Jets and no-one on that defense made an effort to block or tackle Brady. I usually scream at my tv for Brady's stupidity at times, but last night I didn't expect anyone to touch him. What happened to the passion?
* Lastly, maybe too much success has bored me. I mean all the teams absolutely suck this year, even the Pats have been suspect the last few games, but they still look like Superbowl contenders, compared to everybody else. Why would I wanna see the Pats beat up more scrubs, while they're already at the top?