i don't remember the world hating on chicago bulls... they were in awe of MJ's greatness. i don't remember our celtics being hated so much back in 80's.
Indeed. The Bulls, like the Broncos, are (undeservedly) exalted by their leagues and the national media. People resented the Celtics going back to the sixties, but there was also a respect and grudging admiration for them as well.
More to the point, the Stillers won four Super Bowls in six years, the Raiders didn't legitimately win anything until the 80's, and the Cowboys and Niners won lots in both decades, but I do not remember any of them
EVER being accused of cheating despite the Raiders' open admission to it. The Bruins, despite their "tough" reputation, and the Red Sox, despite their rich, entitled status and famously previous racist history are not despised nationally.
This is entirely about
The New England Patriots.
1981: I found a Boston Globe article from that era - pretty funny. The headline:
PATRIOTS COME THROUGH, 21-23; CLUTCH MUST-LOSE EFFORT CLINCHES TOP DRAFT PICK. Somehow, Colts of same year and '76 Bucs and '66 Giants aren't as bad as these Pats, but the Patriots had a reputation for failing to salt away weaker opponents. "The Patriots are considered by more than a few observers to be the collective head cases of the National Football League, finding one way after another to blow the 'gimmie' games," wrote one AP columnist.
1982: The Snowplow Game. Dolphins coach Don Shula later called the incident the "most unfair act" ever in the history of the NFL. Shula met with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle several days later concerning his protest, and Rozelle agreed with Shula that the use of the plow gave the Patriots an unfair advantage.
1986: Media and fans nationally disappointed with Patriots' appearance in the Super Bowl, believing that having Dolphins or Raiders would make for a better game. Further, NFL grounds crew at SuperDome complains that Patriots' logo is too intricate and difficult to paint in end zone. Finally, Boston Globe article reveals at least half a dozen (six, or "6") players on the 1985 Super Bowl team had "serious drug problems." Not reported by Globe: None anywhere near as severe as deified Dexter Manley or Lawrence Taylor.
1990: After the league's investigation, Commissioner Tagliabue declared that the Patriots "damaged the league" when tight end Zeke Mowatt responded to someone who stood around the locker room not interviewing anyone by saying, "You're not writing, you're looking."
1992: James Busch Orthwein purchases the team with the sole intention of moving it to his hometown St. Louis. Imposes total makeover, including logo vurtually identical to one booed out of Schaefer Stadium in 1979 and uniforms similar to a dozen other NFL teams, including helmets the color of hated rivals and jerseys with whatever was a fad at that time; ignoring 33 years of fan loyalty and team history; hastily before new coach Bill Parcells, who coached here in 1980 and preferred the traditional logo, arrived.
1994: Kraft purchases team, retains flying elvis which Orthwein allowed him to pick out from NFL Properties replacements.
1997: Team appears in Super Bowl, loses as underdog, does not bother league any more than Bengals' two trips to big game in the 80's.
2001: Before season, Kraft declares Bledsoe the G.O.A.T. after giving QB lucrative extention, rest of league roll eyes and laugh.
2002: Two years ago, former Raven star and current NFL commentator Ray Lewis had this to say: "The only reason we know who Tom Brady is, is because of the tuck rule."
2003: ESPN analyst Tom Jackson says the Patriots "hate their coach" Bill Belichick for releasing captain and Pro Bowl safety Lawyer Milloy five days before opener in Buffalo, in a salary cap-related move.
Thu, 07/05/2007 - 5:50pm...Giants fan comments:
"What's going to happen with the Giants this season will be bad, but not *that* bad. (I'm still in shock and awe that Coughlin wasn't fired and Shottenheimer was.) It's my contention that no team in the modern era will ever be as bad as the '81 Colts simply because there are so many bad teams now that they're bound to play at least 4 of the others in any given season. It's a lot harder to go 2-14 today than it was 20-30 years ago. These days I'll see a team I could swear is historically inept and they'll wind up with 4-5 wins just by beating other bad teams." Giants do not beat any team with a winning record, until playoffs.
09/13/2007 - Goodell imposes insane penalties on Patriots, even while acknowledging in report that nothing that occurred affected the outcome of any game and neither did the Patriots gain any unfair competitive advantage. Virtually entire world outside of Patriots and their avid fans instantly believe, and continue to believe to this very day, that team broke rules and in effect cheated, even though there has never been any evidence or even hint anywhere of any substance to charges.
12/3/2007 - 4,000 people attended Sean Taylor’s funeral service held in Pharmed Arena at Florida International University. Speakers at the nationally televised funeral service included NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, then-Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs, and current and former professional or collegiate teammates LaVar Arrington, Clinton Portis and Buck Ortega. Reverend Jesse Jackson and O. J. Simpson, whose children went to Gulliver Prep, Taylor’s high school, were in attendance. Also attending were numerous prominent University of Miami alumni, including former teammates. On December 16, in their first road game after Taylor's death, the Redskins defeated the Giants at Giants Stadium 22-10, wearing #21 on their jerseys and helmets.
2008: The Giants arrive in Arizona dressed in black for the Patriots' "funeral" before Super Bowl XLII, the last game of the Patriots' season dedicated to DE Marquise Hill, who lost his life the previous May after saving a young woman's, and whose #91 was worn on their helmets the entire season. Boston Herald writer John Tomase wrote a published article asserting the preposterous notion that the Patriots taped the Rams' walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, a fantasy that despite the Herald's retraction is still reported as fact by ESPN and NFLN and is still believed by the anti-Patriots jihad nationally today. When asked about the sideline camera punishment by CBS News in 2008, Bill Belichick had this assessment: "There was no deception."
4/1/2008 - Robert Kraft acquiesces to and remorsefully apologizes to fellow owners and opposing teams' coaches for Patriots' nonexistent culpability in previous season's NFL witch hunt.
And on and on and on.
