It’s been a long road towards greatness. I’ve been a fan for 42 years now, I’m 55, was brainwashed to be a Jet’s fan early in life (born and raised in Queens NY) by my old man. Started liking the Pats because of Mack Herron in 73 or 74 I think, then became a full time fan.
I’ll tell you what true fandom is. During the 1-15 and 2-14, I was thrilled to watch a Pat’s game in NYC twice a year. I was thrilled, because getting to see the Pats during the awful/mediocre times was such a treat for a Pat’s starved fan.
It’s amazing that for the first 26 years of my fandom, we were basically the Detroit Lions (though they’ve never gotten to the SB). We were an irrelevant team. A few good teams, a few great teams (1976 & 1985), but basically irrelevant. Amazing thing these last 16 years have been, mind boggling and unthinkable back prior to 2001.