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OT: Old timers - time to revisit a painful end to a good season


i remember it well. same year as lennon. one of my worst years to remember as a pats fan and beatles fan. 10-6 and no playoffs. the next year we went 4-0 in preseason and i had high hopes but then the regular season kicked in and it was one of our worst. thankfully we made the playoffs the next year
 
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1980 was a weird year for me. Pats disappointed me, but I’m an Islander’s fan in hockey (native NYer), so I was thrilled for 4 straight years starting in 1980. Also graduated High School in 1980, US won Gold in hockey, hostages were freed from Iran, so just a good year overall.

I’ve been so lucky sports wise, I’m a Yankee’s fan in baseball (bring the hate) so in my sports fandom, became a Yankee’s fan since 1975 (same time I became a Pat’s fan), I’ve seen the Yankees win 7 championships, Pats win 6, Islanders win 4 and the Knicks win 1. So 18 Championships in all, extremely lucky.
 

That John Lennon game was bizarre. I remember watching that up at UMO in Gannett Hall with a bunch of buddies. I think Frank Gifford announced it, and then Howard Cosell went babbling on for what seemed like a half hour. I remember thinking this could only happen during a Patriots game.
 
That John Lennon game was bizarre. I remember watching that up at UMO in Gannett Hall with a bunch of buddies. I think Frank Gifford announced it, and then Howard Cosell went babbling on for what seemed like a half hour. I remember thinking this could only happen during a Patriots game.
Actually, Cosell announced it though he was unsure if it was the right to do because it was an emotional moment as he personally liked Lennon and understood how beloved he was. Giffford was the one that pressed him to announce it. Cosell's babbling as such had a lot to do with his own emotions and for me that is completely understandable.
 
I get that, and I was/am a huge Beatles fan. It was just a surreal sequence... dealing with the shock of Lennon being dead, hearing about it during a football game, and Howard Cosell essentially delivering an impromptu on-air eulogy.
 
I was on my first WestPac tour during the entire 1980 season...That December MNF game in Miami was broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio network, so I would walk over to the Production Control office from time to time during my shift to listen to the game on their radio...It was during one of those visits that I was told what had been announced a few minutes earlier...When I returned to the Avionics complex I told everyone the same story...Talk about a group WTF? moment...Pats lost the game, naturally, and in OT just to add insult to injury...I also had the "pleasure" of listening to Game 7 of the 1979 NHL semi-finals, Bruins at Montreal, on the AFR network...

So entering the final weekend of that season, I didn't know all of the Pats' PO possibilities...I just knew that they had to win at NO and get a little help...
It wasn't until I read the next edition of Stars & Stripes did I learn that they didn't make it even though they had defeated the Saints; and it wasn't until I returned to the States at the end of January did I learn Exactly how close the Pats came to the POs without actually making the POs...

Good times, good times...or not...
 
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Assuming median age of 18-19 at the time of that game, plus 41 something years..
:) My question was targeted @Clonamery's comment. Your statement is just the context.
 
UGGGGG, I had forgotten about that or more likely blocked it from my memory.
 
I remember watching Curtis Martin being such a legendary running back for us in the late 90’s. Then he bounced and went to the Jets right before the dynasty started. The B’s were in cap he’ll back then too. Then Ray Bourque jets off to Colorado and wins a cup. The entire city throws this dude a parade. I’m a Mets fan in baseball(I’ll pull for the Sox if they don’t battle us) and it’s never been easy.
 


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