The Fall Back To Mediocrity

[spacecrime]

My Buffalo Bills were spectacular in the 1990's, running through teams on the way for four straght Super Bowls ... that they lost. The fall from grace was steep and continues to this day. A decade without a playoff appearance, a quarterback carousel that includes Todd Collins, Billy Jo Hobert, Doug Flutie, Rob Johnson, Drew Beldsoe, JP Losman, Trent Edwards, watching the Patriots steam roll over us year after year - its embarrassing. However, I remain a die hard Bills fan ... looking forward to the day when we are competitive again.

Wish we had more Pats fans like you.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Wish we had more Pats fans like you.

Ahem!


1010101010

 

[Keegs]

With it being the slow part of the year and all, I've been thinking of something and thought I'd get you all to chime in on the topic.

With the Patriots being so great the last decade, and the expectations so high, how will the fan base react when the time comes that we fall back to mediocrity or worse? Who knows when it will happen, and I don't want to predict it or jinx this year or anything, but I'm just saying, when Brady and Belichick move on from the game or we just start to lose the pieces and can't compete at such a high level... how will all of us react? Will you able to handle it?

In a sick way i look forward to it. It was fun when the Pats sucked and it will be fun again when they aren't dominant.

I love watching them play and i like complaining about the Refs and i like hating certain teams and players and that will never stop.

Obviously i want the Pats to win the Superbowl every year but that's not going to happen.

When the Pats are mediocre again I'll still post on here, still complain about Dungy, and still watch pointless games between two teams that won't make the playoffs.

 

[NEPatriot]

Nothing lasts forever. It is the reason I want Pats to win as many SBs as possible while BB and TB are still here.

If Pats is like Jets or Dolphins, I don't feel bad because we won more SBs than anybody else and had NFL records.

 

[godef]

Most of us kept following the Celts. It all came around eventually. Not to mention the Sox.

 

[NJPatsGirl]

I will ALWAYS be a resident of PATRIOT NATION no matter what.

 

[Disco Volante]

Can't we just enjoy the great times now?

This is like asking someone how they will deal with dying while they're celebrating their birthday.

I swear sometimes Mass sports fans enjoy being depressed in some sick way.

 

[Patjew]

I loved them passionately when they were 1-15 and I will too when they're 7-9.

But we're in the middle (I hope the middle) of something special here, and I want them to capitalize on it. I'd really like to see at least 2 (+) more SBs in the next 4 or 5 years.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

With it being the slow part of the year and all, I've been thinking of something and thought I'd get you all to chime in on the topic.

With the Patriots being so great the last decade, and the expectations so high, how will the fan base react when the time comes that we fall back to mediocrity or worse? Who knows when it will happen, and I don't want to predict it or jinx this year or anything, but I'm just saying, when Brady and Belichick move on from the game or we just start to lose the pieces and can't compete at such a high level... how will all of us react? Will you able to handle it?

Your question is how will "the fan base" deal with a team that is no longer dominant. Depends on which "fans" you mean. Those who discovered the Pats in the SnowBowl or Superdome in 2002 will drift away. Those of us who have been around for a while will be grateful for what we've had...something that so far exceeded our wildest expectations we will never stop being amazed.

It's inevitable that this will end. In recent memory, only the 49ers had a Young and Seifert to follow a Montana and Walsh. That's why the way the last two seasons ended is so hard for me as a student of the game and a lover of this franchise. The Patriots have been to the mountaintop four times in seven years (five if you count the Conference Championship Games). Sooner or later that mountain is going to be just a little too hard to climb and the combination of skill and coaching and luck that got us there will not materialize.

Bottom Line: we should never forget how fortunate we have been to be fans of this team and these coaches and this ownership in this decade. It's likely to be a long time before Pats fans and the NFL see anything like it. It's my dearest hope that we have one more trip to the top, but I think we all have to accept the fact that it may not happen.

Erant gigantes in diebus illis...

 

[alvinnf]

I think for those of us that live here or more so were raised as pats fans(whi knows were you live now), it will be business as usuall, for the not so regional fan not so much.

 

[Pat_the_Patriot]

I'll be cheering loud and proud.... whether they go 0 - 16 (although I hope we don't see THAT) or 16 - 0. Being a fan isn't (or shouldn't be) about the record... you cheer your team because it's part of who you are.

I was cheering (and sometimes booing.... it's also ok to show frustration when you are winning 2 or 3 games a year every year) when they sucked....I've been cheering when they have been AWESOME (I never imagined, in my wildest dreams THIS kind of run).

Yes, you debate some things when a team is middler/bottoms (I'll admit it... I thought that our season was lost when Drew Bledsoe went down... AND thought that he should come back and replace Brady when he was healthy.... SOOOOOOOOO glad to be wrong there.).... and you DON'T debate some things when we're running this good (It makes me sick when a "Pats fan" trashes BB.... I mean, seriously... without that man, what do we have?)... but you always stand for your squad... that's why you are a fan.

As annoying as they can be.... if someones claiming Dolphin love now.... they are a real fan... unfort every bandwagon fan in the world will claim to have "been there before".... but you can usually sep. it out after a little bit of talking with a guy.

We WILL fall again (although I hope it isn't soon!)... that we had a run for this long, at this level, is downright crazy.... the NFL is designed for parity... WE have BB and TB..... so we have a (huge) edge... someday we'll lose that edge.... BUFF is waiting in the wings to swoop in.... LUCKILY for us, Mangenius can't get out of his own way... but wait until you see how many "hard core" "life long" Pats fans run for the hills when we (gasp) have a winning season but don't make the playoffs.

You see it everywhere... how many times last year did you hear "superbowl or bust"... I celebrated when we won the AFC East.... that is a HUGE thing for us Pats fans... there were a LOT of slim years where we didn't have a hint at a shot of winning the AFC East.

I'm babbling now... enjoy it while you can... but if you're a fan now, you OUGHT to be a fan then. Being a fan isn't about W and L... it's about loving the team, following it, supporting it.... living it.