Ten generations ago, the original patriot\u2019s names were exclusively Anglo-Saxon; Sam, John, Patrick, Ben, Paul, George, etc., all names brought over from the same culture. Contrary to pretentious ancestors, they were ordinary folks that didn\u2019t stand a snowball\u2019s chance in hell against the mighty British Empire where the sun never set.<\/p>\n
226 years later Anglo-Saxon names are only one small part of the American mix and that\u2019s exactly what our forefathers fought so brilliantly and valiantly for. Antowain, Lawyer, Tedi, Troy, Tom, Drew and all the rest are today\u2019s Patriots, and just as it was 226 years ago, patriotism is again America\u2019s shining icon, and our Patriot\u2019s are soon to be America\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
After Sunday\u2019s victory in Pittsburgh, the word will spread instantly to every corner of this land and our moment to be embraced by the people of this great nation will be realized. America\u2019s been reborn as patriots. You know that\u2019s true when even some of our opponents proudly display Patriot colors, American flag breathing strips, taped on the bridge of their sorry, beat up noses.<\/p>\n
Luck and destiny have one important thing in common, somewhere in either mix there\u2019s mysterious help. Luck comes with reaching each plateau and it\u2019s destiny when the goal is reached as if it were preordained. In both cases the mysterious help isn\u2019t exactly magic and in our case it\u2019s the unvarnished truth stripped from the aura of an illusion.<\/p>\n
When David Patten was lying unconscious, half out of bounds separated from the ball, but still touching it, there was only one person on this planet that really needed to understand the ball was dead. Incredibly, that person just happened to be at the scene of the mayhem and even better, in charge of the investigation.<\/p>\n
My guess is John Grudin wouldn\u2019t know Sugar Bear Hamilton if he fell over him but 25 years later this controversial call, Woodson and Brady and the fumble that wasn\u2019t is one he\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n
Funny thing is, every time that sort of play\u2019s been ruled a fumble, which is most of the time, it\u2019s been the wrong call. In reality we got exactly what we deserved and that\u2019s all we need to win.<\/p>\n
Football\u2019s a game of hard and fast rules. It\u2019s the way life should be. The referee is the Chief Justice of a spontaneous Supreme Court that decides quickly. No matter what, and just as in real life, we have to live with even the sketchiest of interpretations. Being right is often no virtue but being judged so in crunch time isn\u2019t luck it\u2019s destiny with a capital D.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re underdogs not because the Steelers are better but only because we\u2019re under appreciated. They\u2019re no better than us. Those bums lost to the Bengals late in the season giving up 544 yards. We had no clue but they should have known better. Now they\u2019re looking past us and making Super Bowl plans.<\/p>\n
Underdogs my ass. When 22 fast, agile, extremely motivated giants wearing two different colors go at each other, what separates victory from defeat is always the intangible and that\u2019s been with us all season long. That won\u2019t change.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s game is going to be great. Pittsburgh\u2019s immaculate reception, snatching victory from certain defeat, was so long ago they can barely remember. Our memory\u2019s so fresh and so vibrant we can still feel and taste it. Who says there\u2019s no truth in advertising? Budweiser isn\u2019t lying; fresh is better.<\/p>\n
For many people that may not sound like something real to pin expectations on but for the players it\u2019s the intangible extra that means everything and for true believers it\u2019s more than enough.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh\u2019s just another team. We\u2019re on our way to winning it all in this spirit of 76 season. Remember the famous painting of those guys? What a rag tag bunch. Who\u2019d ever have thunk they could do what they did? The original patriots pulled off the upset of all time and this new version will just have to settle for another hard fought win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Sunday\u2019s victory in Pittsburgh, the word will spread instantly to every corner of this land and our moment to be embraced by the people of this great nation will be realized. America\u2019s been reborn as patriots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n