It was a welcome sight and a new beginning.
OK I'm not mentioning the Nazis.
...oooops. Sorry.
A murder.
The Pats were pitiful losers.
I'm sorry, no.
Since Pat Patriot was put on the helmets, the Patriots won more games than they lost from 1961-1989. With the flying elvis from 1993-2000, the Patriots lost more games than they won (They've only lost maybe three games ever in throwbacks).
For five seasons - half the AFL's existence - the Boston Patriots finished within 1/2 game-1 1/2 games out of first place and an automatic place in the title game, which the East division winner won several times.
The longest losing streak in Patriots history is seven (7) seasons, one third as long as most other teams' stretches of utter futility.
In 1974, the Patriots started 6-1, atop the AFC. Excuses like the strike were (and still are) used to dismiss it. In 1976, the Patriots had the best team in football, won 11 games after losing 11 the previous year led by a young second year quarterback (sound familiar?) and nobody knew about it.
The Broncos started 6-1 in 1977 after doing nothing in their entire 17-year history and the national media totally lost their minds.
In any given decade, there were maybe three AFC teams better than the Patriots.
Despite being winless for 19 years at the Orange Bowl and 30 years at Mile High, the Patriots regularly beat the Dolphins and Broncos at home.
Tom Brady didn't struggle in Miami and Denver. The Patriots struggled.
From 1967-1991, the Red Sox had two (2) losing seasons. They as well cannot be accurately described as pitiful losers.
Cursed. Every time they got good, something bad would happen.
Local media portrayed every Patriots occurrence like a shameful criminal atrocity, instead of the colorful, entertaining and sometimes endearing anecdote it actually usually was.
National media understandably followed suit: "Well, if their
own local papers say they suck, they must
really suck!"
Every win was treated as a weird surprise, and every loss confirmation of the Patriots' eternal haplessness.
Even
@Tunescribe must acknowledge that the Jets in fact have a history worthy of being labeled 'laughingstock', yet they've always been treated as kings by the media because they're in New York.
To be clear: It's true. Bad things would happen. As they did to the Red Sox. And Cubs. But Gino Cappelletti, John Hannah, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Ernie Banks and Ron Santo are not buffoons, on or off the field. The fans wanted to see their team win - not made to look like a ridiculous expansion team.
Like when the HC quit in the playoffs.
Twice. Fairbanks & Parcells had problems with their respective owners. The timing was the worst: The playoffs get the most attention paid in the sport, and all people hear is bad, 'humiliating' things about the Patriots. And all the other teams who were
not in the postseason? They're better?
When the Pats finally made it to the Super Bowl, they only had to face the best defense of all time. Buddy Ryan and the Bears GOAT defense. The Pats jumped out to a FG lead and the game was over. The Curse took over like always. It was the most lopsided Super Bowl score at that point 46 - 10.
The Patriots
deserved to lose Super Bowl XX. The culture of them labeled 'Patsies' had been so ingrained that the team itself, along with everyone else, reacted with much surprise and zero determination to win. It's literally too painful to watch, but I'm confident Grogan, Hannah and Adams did not appear in that utterly embarrassing video they made after coming back from Miami.
You cant go back. Let the Red curse sleep.
Perception is reality: People have a mental impression of something, and it defines how they see that something, regardless of the truth.
Local media has slammed the Patriots, at least since the merger. The false narrative that the Patriots were doormats for decades prior to this century serves to falsely corroborate their false laughingstock narrative
and fuel denigration of the team's success this century. False cheating allegations should be laughed at and mocked, instead of being taken seriously and leading to THREE stolen top draft picks and suspending one of the sport's greatest players on and off the field for the same number of games as a man who nearly murdered a woman.
There are at least two dozen NFL teams with an inferior history to the Patriots' from 1960-1992.
The late 70's Celtics went through a tumultuous time on court and within ownership very similar to the Patriots' in the early 90's. But they still had Red, their logo and uniforms.
By 1993 the Patriots had their identity destroyed by a carpetbagger who sought to move the team, and Flutie was in Canada.
Parcells was hired and drafted Bledsoe, and thanks to Orthwein there was zero connection with the team's history and connection to the community. "Yup, we sucked." "Yup, we wasted all those years watching and rooting for the Patriots."
We have to look up to Chicago of all places. "OK, we haven't won in forever but we love our Cubs!" That's attractive, happy, admirable - and commands respect.
