Rooting for the Pats or Against Your Nana? One Jets Fan's Journey + Pat Fan Testimonials

luckiestman

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RedOctober3829 said:
From my experiences, Jets fans hate Patriots fans 1000 times more than Yankee fans hate Red Sox fans.  They are vile and live a very pathetic existence.  Then you see your rival who used to be the same way take their head coach away, "luck" into one of the greatest QBs of all time, and win 3 SBs.  It's very clear why Jets fans hate Pats fans.  I've never been to a Jets-Pats game at MetLife so it should be interesting.
The reason for this, and not talking about people on this board, is that a lot of pats fans are Johnny come latelies who think they are smart because their HC is smart.

Most people over 35 that I know from Mass have a football team that is their real team (giants or dallas). Maybe they gave them up and swore a blood oath to Kraft or something but I was there, I know the truth
 

Leather

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luckiestman said:
The reason for this, and not talking about people on this board, is that a lot of pats fans are Johnny come latelies who think they are smart because their HC is smart.

Most people over 35 that I know from Mass have a football team that is their real team (giants or dallas). Maybe they gave them up and swore a blood oath to Kraft or something but I was there, I know the truth
 
Maybe if you raised that age limit to 50, you might have something, but all the kids I went to school with growing up in 1980s/1990s Massachusetts were Patriots fans.
 
This sounds like a disguised version of the old Rick Burleson's Yam Bag bloviations that there were no Patriots fans prior to 2001/1996/1993/1985, so the current Patriots fan base is inherently detestable, making each individual fan suspect, unlike the Legendary Fans (c) of the Eagles/Steelers/Giants/Redskins/whathaveyou who suffered bad seasons with undaunted loyalty and endless grace,and who have all been bestowed some sort of lifelong vestige of unassailable credibility.   
 
It's a crock of shit.
 

TheoShmeo

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Absolutely right, drleather.  I'm 51 and grew up outside of Boston, and I remember one friend who was a Cowboys fan.  Everyone else was a Pats fan.
 
Now it's true that I watched the Giants with some interest because they were also on TV every week.  But that was the extent of it.
 
To be sure, there were some older fans who supported the Giants when I was growing up and there are always some people who root for a winner no matter what (Cowboys or Steelers), but there are many Pats fans out there who were long suffering until Parcells came around (with the Fairbanks and Berry blips in between).    
 

Reverend

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RedOctober3829 said:
From my experiences, Jets fans hate Patriots fans 1000 times more than Yankee fans hate Red Sox fans.  They are vile and live a very pathetic existence.  Then you see your rival who used to be the same way take their head coach away, "luck" into one of the greatest QBs of all time, and win 3 SBs.  It's very clear why Jets fans hate Pats fans.  I've never been to a Jets-Pats game at MetLife so it should be interesting.
 
I trust that you make sure to point out that, given that Brady was a sixth round pick that Belichick was stunned to still see there that late and took him even though he already had Bledsoe, Brady almost certainly would have been selected by the Jets had Belichick stayed in New Jersey, yes?
 

RedOctober3829

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There is no Rev said:
I trust that you make sure to point out that, given that Brady was a sixth round pick that Belichick was stunned to still see there that late and took him even though he already had Bledsoe, Brady almost certainly would have been selected by the Jets had Belichick stayed in New Jersey, yes?
Not necessarily, Rev. If the front office was the same, the draft would've been similar. They had 4 first round picks in 2000 and one was Chad Pennington. They already had Vinny Testaverde and Ray Lucas on the roster. Would Parcells have taken BBs advice on Brady? No one knows.

That draft was pretty good for the Jets. In addition to Pennington they got Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, and Anthony Becht in the first round and Laverneous Coles in the 3rd round.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I had a few friends growing up who were Sox, Celtics, Bruins, Cowboy/Dolphin fans. These days they sound a lot like luckiestman does, bitter and resentful that the chose the wrong horse way back when. Sucks to have missed out on the greatest run in modern NFL history, but I'm sure whatever team you root for is doing just great because you don't sound salty at all over this.

Anyway, when I was in middle school the Pats were a franchise with a whopping 25 years of history, much of it entirely forgettable. Now they have over 50 years of cultivating fans and loyalty in New England, and I have a 12 year old girl who only knows the Pats as perennial Super Bowl contenders. The narrative that Pats fans will disappear once BB/TB retire is ludicrous.
 

Reverend

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RedOctober3829 said:
Not necessarily, Rev. If the front office was the same, the draft would've been similar. They had 4 first round picks in 2000 and one was Chad Pennington. They already had Vinny Testaverde and Ray Lucas on the roster. Would Parcells have taken BBs advice on Brady? No one knows.

That draft was pretty good for the Jets. In addition to Pennington they got Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, and Anthony Becht in the first round and Laverneous Coles in the 3rd round.
 
I realized after walking away from my computer that you might try to figure out if it were true or not.
 
That is sooooo not the point of this exercise. In fact, if you drop my post on a Jets fan and they respond as you did, all you have to do is pull a Simmons with the, "Yeah, that's true--any time you have a 37 year-old Testaverde and a Lucas on your roster, there's no reason to roll the dice on a guy like Brady."
 

luckiestman

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Ralphwiggum said:
I had a few friends growing up who were Sox, Celtics, Bruins, Cowboy/Dolphin fans. These days they sound a lot like luckiestman does, bitter and resentful that the chose the wrong horse way back when. Sucks to have missed out on the greatest run in modern NFL history, but I'm sure whatever team you root for is doing just great because you don't sound salty at all over this.

Anyway, when I was in middle school the Pats were a franchise with a whopping 25 years of history, much of it entirely forgettable. Now they have over 50 years of cultivating fans and loyalty in New England, and I have a 12 year old girl who only knows the Pats as perennial Super Bowl contenders. The narrative that Pats fans will disappear once BB/TB retire is ludicrous.
I'm a born asshole, it doesn't take bandwagon pats fans to get me salty. I'm a jets fan because I liked to root against my grandmother who was a pats fan. For some reason she loved Steve Grogan and Bruce hurst (sp). We had fun trash talking each other. This gives me the strange fandom of jets/yanks/celts/bruins since she didn't watch Larry or Neely. Everyone else I knew was a giants/cowboys/fish fan. In 86 people pretended to like the pats a little.

Oh I forgot, lot of New England forty niner fans back then too.


ps FUCK Rex and Woody
 

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luckiestman said:
I'm a born asshole, it doesn't take bandwagon pats fans to get me salty. I'm a jets fan because I liked to root against my grandmother who was a pats fan. For some reason she loved Steve Grogan and Bruce hurst (sp). We had fun trash talking each other. This gives me the strange fandom of jets/yanks/celts/bruins since she didn't watch Larry or Neely. Everyone else I knew was a giants/cowboys/fish fan. In 86 people pretended to like the pats a little.

Oh I forgot, lot of New England forty niner fans back then too.


ps FUCK Rex and Woody
 
 
OMG you hate your nana too, with all the fucking sweets and the hugs and the pure love of you no matter who you are?
 

DJnVa

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luckiestman said:
Most people over 35 that I know from Mass have a football team that is their real team (giants or dallas).
 
What are you talking about? I'm above that age and if I followed the Cowboys like your inane post suggests wouldn't I be a bandwagon fan since I grew up in NE?
 

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DrewDawg said:
 
What are you talking about?
 
Right? The fucking stadium's been sold out for 21 straight years, at some point the bad old late 80s-early 90s period simply doesn't matter any more. But it seems like that's going to be held against the Pats and their fans forever. I've always felt that a huge portion of the national football fanbase simply can't mentally accept that the Pats are a team that matters now and not the one owned by shithead broke owners while playing in a terrible stadium.
 

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luckiestman said:
I'm a born asshole, it doesn't take bandwagon pats fans to get me salty. I'm a jets fan because I liked to root against my grandmother who was a pats fan. For some reason she loved Steve Grogan and Bruce hurst (sp). We had fun trash talking each other. This gives me the strange fandom of jets/yanks/celts/bruins since she didn't watch Larry or Neely. Everyone else I knew was a giants/cowboys/fish fan. In 86 people pretended to like the pats a little.

Oh I forgot, lot of New England forty niner fans back then too.


ps FUCK Rex and Woody
Bruce Hurst? The Red Sox pitcher?
 

DJnVa

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Who the hell roots against teams their grandmother likes? I mean, on purpose...for that specific reason?
 

loshjott

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DrewDawg said:
Who the hell roots against teams their grandmother likes? I mean, on purpose...for that specific reason?
 
A guy from NH I went to college with chose, as a kid, the main Boston rivals for his favorite teams, which for him in the 70s were Yankees, Dolphins, Canadiens, and Sixers. Crazy.  I knew him at the height of the Marino era, so he was truly annoying to watch football with. But we did go together to a Celtics-Sixers playoff game in the Spectrum and saw the C's win this game on the road.
 

RedOctober3829

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There is no Rev said:
 
I realized after walking away from my computer that you might try to figure out if it were true or not.
 
That is sooooo not the point of this exercise. In fact, if you drop my post on a Jets fan and they respond as you did, all you have to do is pull a Simmons with the, "Yeah, that's true--any time you have a 37 year-old Testaverde and a Lucas on your roster, there's no reason to roll the dice on a guy like Brady."
Ha yeah I might use that line on Sunday.
 

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
 
Right? The fucking stadium's been sold out for 21 straight years, at some point the bad old late 80s-early 90s period simply doesn't matter any more. But it seems like that's going to be held against the Pats and their fans forever. I've always felt that a huge portion of the national football fanbase simply can't mentally accept that the Pats are a team that matters now and not the one owned by shithead broke owners while playing in a terrible stadium.
 
The fact of the matter is that the Red Sox and Patriots have been successful for so long that it becomes difficult to differentiate between bandwagon fans and just plain ole regular fans.
 
I was listening to some guy complain about "Pink Hats" on the Green Line the other day. I think he was like 19. Easy for him to be a fan, yeah?
 

bernardsamuel

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As regards the tilting of this thread towards personal histories of acquiring fan-status in the Patriots, I was born in 1947 and was raised as an only child in a neighborhood where after awhile you didn't leave your apartment very much except to go to school (if anyone here went to the Garrison School, feel free to reminisce via PM).  My first three "toys" were, in order of acquisition, the Red Sox, the Celtics (anyone remember Arnie Risen?),and the Bruins.  As regard football, I'd watch the Giants on Sundays, because that's what was offered, but I didn't really develop an attachment to them.  When Dom DiMaggio became part of the initial ownership group of the Patriots, I was immediately hooked on the Patriots, as my father of blessed memory was Dom's CPA.  I've been a passionate fan from the beginning of the franchise and I remember what it was like to root for the team in individual games, because there was no hope for them in the season as a whole.
 
As regards the main theme of this thread, Rex Ryan reminds me of Boris from the Rocky/Bullwinkle show.  Boris knew that he was the villain and "deep-down knew" that he'd be defeated by the end of the program, even if he'd have some wins in the battles along the way to inevitable final defeat.  Rex's successor couldn't possibly be more entertaining.  I think, as has been mentioned up-thread, that Idzik was brought in as a "cap hell redemption specialist," and that, having served his purpose, his mass is ended and he will go in peace.  Woody is a clown, though we need to keep in mind that we've all been spoiled by the success and the class of Robert Kraft.
 
Finally, as regards luckiestman's grandmother, I hope that she is either living well and happily so, or if not, that she is in that part of the next world in which now-departed Patriots fans during the lean years get to serve among the angels who help the living come up with such modern advances as the tuck rule and work-release programs for inmates who can drive a snow-plow.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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There is no Rev said:
 
The fact of the matter is that the Red Sox and Patriots have been successful for so long that it becomes difficult to differentiate between bandwagon fans and just plain ole regular fans.
 
I was listening to some guy complain about "Pink Hats" on the Green Line the other day. I think he was like 19. Easy for him to be a fan, yeah?
 
The moral of the story, as always, is that young people suck.
 

DavidTai

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bernardsamuel said:
As regards the tilting of this thread towards personal histories of acquiring fan-status in the Patriots, I was born in 1947 and was raised as an only child in a neighborhood where after awhile you didn't leave your apartment very much except to go to school (if anyone here went to the Garrison School, feel free to reminisce via PM).  My first three "toys" were, in order of acquisition, the Red Sox, the Celtics (anyone remember Arnie Risen?),and the Bruins.  As regard football, I'd watch the Giants on Sundays, because that's what was offered, but I didn't really develop an attachment to them.  When Dom DiMaggio became part of the initial ownership group of the Patriots, I was immediately hooked on the Patriots, as my father of blessed memory was Dom's CPA.  I've been a passionate fan from the beginning of the franchise and I remember what it was like to root for the team in individual games, because there was no hope for them in the season as a whole.
 
I always figured that a large chunk of mid-80s fans were fans through Doug Flutie, as he brought a lot more attention to football in the area. Once he was a Patriot, that made it easier to just stick around after that. God knows, I paid a lot more attention to football once Flutie took Boston College by storm.
 

lexrageorge

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DavidTai said:
 
I always figured that a large chunk of mid-80s fans were fans through Doug Flutie, as he brought a lot more attention to football in the area. Once he was a Patriot, that made it easier to just stick around after that. God knows, I paid a lot more attention to football once Flutie took Boston College by storm.
I disagree.  
 
The Pats were truly awful in the 1960's and early 1970's, and they were considered a joke.  Football fans in the area did indeed gravitate to other teams, following the Pats mostly out of curiosity.  The Giants still had quite a few followers in the area from the pre-AFL days, and there were the usual set of annoying fans of the Cowboys and Steelers.   
 
That started to change in the Chuck Fairbanks era.  I was in 7th grade when the Pats went 11-3 and got robbed in their playoff game against the Raiders.  Everyone was following the team that season.  They beat both the Steelers and the Raiders during the regular season that year.  
 
Yes, fan interest from that point forward did wax and wane along with the fortunes of the team.  But the fan interest was indeed there.  A big part of the problem is that they did have a horrible stadium in a remote location, and so few fans wanted to make the trip to watch a mediocre (or worse) team that always seemed as if they were threatening to move.  The result was that they seldom sold out, and the idiotic NFL blackout rules prevented the games from being on TV, which caused fan interest to dwindle further.  
 
The Doug Flutie phenomenon occurred at an interesting time for the team.  They had been trying to recapture the lightning in the bottle they caught in the run to Super Bowl XX, but the team was struggling to cross the threshold.  Tony Eason was proving to be a mostly mediocre QB, Grogan was aging, and then Flutie came over in the middle of a player strike.  When the team went 6-3 in games started by Flutie in the 1988 season, fans rightfully clamored for him to start over Eason.  It didn't happen, and then the core of that team got old, and weak drafts resulted in another decline. 
 
The nadir was 1990:  the team was historically bad on the field,  the players were troublemakers, the owner was incompetent and hateful, the league was encouraging new owners to come in and move the team.   Fans were turning away, and noone could blame them.  But it is not to correct to state that the team had no fans until (pick one of) Parcells, Bledsoe, Kraft, Belichick, or Brady came along. 
 

DLew On Roids

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
 
Right? The fucking stadium's been sold out for 21 straight years, at some point the bad old late 80s-early 90s period simply doesn't matter any more. But it seems like that's going to be held against the Pats and their fans forever. I've always felt that a huge portion of the national football fanbase simply can't mentally accept that the Pats are a team that matters now and not the one owned by shithead broke owners while playing in a terrible stadium.
 
Having never lived in New England and being (nominally, anyway) a fan of another team, I don't think this is the case.  Most people don't remember that far back.  The broad generalization of Pats fans that I always hear is this guy:
 
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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drleather2001 said:
 
Maybe if you raised that age limit to 50, you might have something, but all the kids I went to school with growing up in 1980s/1990s Massachusetts were Patriots fans.
 
This sounds like a disguised version of the old Rick Burleson's Yam Bag bloviations that there were no Patriots fans prior to 2001/1996/1993/1985, so the current Patriots fan base is inherently detestable, making each individual fan suspect, unlike the Legendary Fans (c) of the Eagles/Steelers/Giants/Redskins/whathaveyou who suffered bad seasons with undaunted loyalty and endless grace,and who have all been bestowed some sort of lifelong vestige of unassailable credibility.   
 
It's a crock of shit.
 
I was born in 1977 so I'm right in that ballpark age demographic.
 
The earliest strong memory I have of any kind of sports fandom is following the 1985 Patriots.  I watched the games with my dad on our shitty TV in my parents' bedroom and collected the cards and stickerbooks.  I still can vaguely remember the Grogan/Eason debates, the James/Collins combo, Mosi Tatupu and his hair, Andre Tippett and his black belt, the Bears looming as the new "monsters of the midway," Marino then beating the Bears on MNF (which seemed impossible), losing the 30-27 heartbreaker to the Dolphins that lost us the division, the playoff run that somehow culminated in us crushing the Dolphins in the "squish the fish" game, and of course the Super Bowl.
 
But what I remember most vividly is Chris Fucking O'Reilly, the one kid in my elementary school who declared himself a Bears fan all season long and then came to school in his Bears jacket the day after Super Bowl XX to rub everybody's face in it, and then getting together with about 10 other kids (all of us Patriots fans obviously) after school that Monday, hitting him with a flurry of 100 snowballs, and stuffing his self-satisfied face in a snowbank.
 

loshjott

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DLew On Roids said:
 
Having never lived in New England and being (nominally, anyway) a fan of another team, I don't think this is the case.  Most people don't remember that far back.  The broad generalization of Pats fans that I always hear is this guy:
 
 
I think that's luckiestman's grandmother.
 

Leather

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DLew On Roids said:
 
Having never lived in New England and being (nominally, anyway) a fan of another team, I don't think this is the case.  Most people don't remember that far back.  The broad generalization of Pats fans that I always hear is this guy:
 
 
Every fucking team has loud mouthed idiots.   Christ, Philly claims it as a source of pride that they have more loud mouthed idiots per capita than any other fan base.  
 
"Derp Derp, SNOWBALLS AT SANTA!"
 
The one thing that New England fans don't do is harbor some mythic self-regard like some other fanbases, with their fucking "We Boo Injured Players", Terrible Towels, or Cheese Heads.  That they also don't have the pervasive yet irrational belief that their team is good every year, when it clearly isn't, (*Cough* Jets) is nice, too.
 
I am obviously biased, but having lived in both New York and Minnesota, I've lived outside New England long enough to know that Patriots fans are pretty run-of-the-mill.  They are merely obnoxious based on their currently inflated numbers (going on 12 years).   
 
Apr 7, 2006
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Grew up on the Cape in the 1970s. No idea what these ignorant trollers are referring to - that the Giants were on TV a lot? So what? So were the Pats. Maybe stop basing your posts on the wishful thinking your Id keeps dishing out.
 

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Been a Patriots fan since 1968, my Father took me to a game at Fenway that year vs the Oilers, they lost 16-0 but I was hooked.
 
Had season tickets at the shithole down in Foxboro that Billy Sullivan built for $4.80 for five years, gave them up the year they went 1-15 under Rod "I'm proud of my men" Rust. Was at the Orange Bowl along with about a dozen of my friends for the Squish the Fish game.
 
Stuck with them through thick and thin, the shit teams of the late 60's and early 70's, the 1976 screw job at Oakland, Chuck Fairbanks getting fired at the end of the 1978 season, then rehired for the playoffs, the 86 playoff run, the Super Bowl massacre, Ron Erhardt fucking up the 79 and 80 seasons, The Ken Simms Bowl vs the Colts, Zeke Mowatt and his Patriot Missile, Victor Kiam, the arrival of Parcells and Bledsoe, then Parcells fucking the organization the week of the Super Bowl, Pete the Poodle and then finally, thankfully, Belichick and Brady.
 
When they both are gone, I'll still be a fan, been  my team since 1968, nothing will ever change that.
 
40 years old. Grew up in Boston and NH. 95% of my family and friends were die hard Pats fans (even through the shit years). The whole "Giants fans in NE" thing ended sometime before my birth. And fwiw, when I was 18 I moved to NYC for college. I was amazed at how many NYers rooted for the Cowboys.

We get it. America hates Belichick and the Patriots. The fans in NE don't have the same history as Packer or Bear fans. But can the bandwagon thing end? They aren't the fucking Miami Heat circa 2010.
 

geigercount

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In the sixties prior to the merger it was easy to be a fan of the Pats and a NFL team such as the Giants. After the merger things changed. By the time I got to UMass in the 70's the Pats were clearly the team among the local kids. We may have been cynical Pats fans who thought the franchise was a joke but we were Pats fans first and foremost. 
 

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geigercount said:
In the sixties prior to the merger it was easy to be a fan of the Pats and a NFL team such as the Giants. After the merger things changed. By the time anchise was a joke but we were Pats fans first and foremost. 
This was my experience. I grew up in the Boston burbs, and carried dual citizenship, originally rooting for the NYFG in the late '50s and then picking up the Patriots when the AFL started in 1960. The Giants, pre-AFL was the home team. My cross-over point was probably about '63-64, and by then I was Pats first-fan. By the merger I was totally Pats and an AFL fan, but still carried some residual fondness for the Giants, as they seldom if ever crossed competitive paths. That, as we all sadly know, changed.
 

kelpapa

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Fans in general are bandwagon jumpers. The Patriots have won a lot over the previous decade and a half. The Patriots probably do have more bandwagon fans than others. That's not surprising, nor should it be a big deal.
 

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DLew On Roids said:
 
Having never lived in New England and being (nominally, anyway) a fan of another team, I don't think this is the case.  Most people don't remember that far back.  The broad generalization of Pats fans that I always hear is this guy:
 
 
I never got why this picture is supposed to be so damning.  There isn't a single sports team that doesn't have fans like that.  They may as well be criticizing Pats fans for having stinky farts and hair that gets greasy when it hasn't been washed for a couple of days.
 

PseuFighter

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kelpapa said:
Fans in general are bandwagon jumpers. The Patriots have won a lot over the previous decade and a half. The Patriots probably do have more bandwagon fans than others. That's not surprising, nor should it be a big deal.
 
I tend to agree with this, and I also don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I'm (just barely) old enough to remember when the Patriots were blacked out in the Boston market. Just enjoy this. As I've said elsewhere, as soon as the team has a couple of losing seasons, and the coach the quarterback are gone, the Kraft's are going to plow right through that 55k+ season ticket wait list.
 
That said, can any of you guys confirm that the early days of Foxboro were really just godawful for fans? I hear the stories from my dad (nonstop fights, no security, dudes pissing off the top row of the bleachers). Is he glorifying the fuck out of the old place, or was it really a night and day thing compared to what it's like to go to games now?
 

crystalline

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Jettisoned said:
 
I never got why this picture is supposed to be so damning.  There isn't a single sports team that doesn't have fans like that.  They may as well be criticizing Pats fans for having stinky farts and hair that gets greasy when it hasn't been washed for a couple of days.
Agreed. The picture shows a guy in pretty good shape, who's probably had a few but is holding up what looks to be a coffee cup, standing amongst a bunch of blue-collar looking guys holding flags.

Is the message that Pats fans are a bunch of semi-athletic patriotic dudes who are used to the cold and like Dunkin's ? I'll take that stereotype.
 

luckiestman

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Guys, this is amazing, I'm honored.

My grandmother and I liked to banter so it was more fun if we were on opposing sides. She was a total asshole if I'm being objective and so am I. We were trolling each other before we knew that term. I lived with her so it was not like the one time a year I saw her I acted out Bill Buckner moves.

As for pats fans, you can make up as many fake stats as you want. 95% of your friends were pats fans? So less than one guy?

I imagine all the Curryettes in the nba forum are super duper celtics fans too (when the celtics are winning of course)
 

luckiestman

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richgedman'sghost said:
Bruce Hurst? The Red Sox pitcher?
Yes, that was just to explain my ridiculous sports fandom of jets/yanks/celts/bruins

Nana liked Grogan and Hurst
 

lexrageorge

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PseuFighter said:
 
I tend to agree with this, and I also don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I'm (just barely) old enough to remember when the Patriots were blacked out in the Boston market. Just enjoy this. As I've said elsewhere, as soon as the team has a couple of losing seasons, and the coach the quarterback are gone, the Kraft's are going to plow right through that 55k+ season ticket wait list.
 
That said, can any of you guys confirm that the early days of Foxboro were really just godawful for fans? I hear the stories from my dad (nonstop fights, no security, dudes pissing off the top row of the bleachers). Is he glorifying the fuck out of the old place, or was it really a night and day thing compared to what it's like to go to games now?
Foxboro really was that bad, if not worse.  Seriously, there was no need to embellish.  Fights were a regular occurrence; you just learned to keep your head down and stay out of the way.  Part of the problem was that most of the seats were bench seats, and the amount of space each ticket holder was given was basically enough for one-half of a butt cheek.  You'd get up to go to the rest room, come back and find your "seat" was gone, occupied by the people to your left and right.  It wasn't necessarily their fault; they would just get squeezed by some clown trying to sit down at the end of the row.  Lots of fights started that way.  Women and children were not spared, either.  For whatever reason, Schaefer/Sullivan Stadium attracted people that were just genuine assholes who lacked any redeeming qualities whatsoever. 
 
After an infamous Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys during which so many fans were arrested that the town's jails overflowed, the town basically told the Patriots that they would do whatever they could to prevent the issuing of liquor licenses for night games.  It would be 14 years before the MNF crew would visit Foxboro again.  Broadcasters, TV crews, league officials, fans from visiting teams, and players unanimously agreed that Sullivan Stadium was by far the worst of all NFL venues. 
 
Things really started to change when Kraft took over, and he decided it was time to end the circus act at the stadium.  Give your season ticket to an idiot friend that starts a fight, and you just lost your season tickets.  Attending a game there is definitely a better experience, contrary to the occasional complaints from the peanut gallery that think the old stadium represented some stupid "golden era" or other such nonsense. 
 
Lots of things have changed, both with the Patriots and with the NFL in general.  I predict it will be a long, long, long time before a Patriots home game is blacked out again; hopefully, by then, the FCC will have come to its senses and eliminated the archaic legacy of Billy Sullivan (he was one of the owners lobbying hard for blackouts back in the day; noone ever confused him with being smart). 
 

8slim

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Agree with that recollection of the old stadium. I grew up in Foxboro and some fathers in my neighborhood had season tickets, but they would never, ever take their young kids. It was that bad.
 

scobie88

New Member
Jul 18, 2005
5
Most people aren't going to sit there and admit they are johnny- come - latelys.....and maybe luckiestman is using 35 as an arbitrary number - but the success of 1985 - 86 season run in Boston sports created and cemented a generation of rabid Boston sports fans of the local teams. Im 38. I was ~ 10 years old, living on the south shore......and EVERYONE I grew up with was fully rabid for those teams.

The Pats started a lot of that off with their run to SB XX. In fact I find i can name more of the players from that team (maybe just from memorizing the backs of football cards) than any of the current era teams. The 1985 Pats started a run that saw the Pats in the SB (for the first time in team history), arguably the best team of the Bird Era (1985-86 Celtics), and of course the '86 sox.

Don't underestimate the effect that pats team had. That team was a HUGE underdog, the first team to win 3 road playoff games, and really captured the heart of New England. Heck I remember sitting in church and the Pastor mentioned the game and said a prayer for the team - just like the scene before the final game in Hoosiers. I couldn't believe it. I was hooked. So was everyone I know.





 
 

8slim

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scobie88 said:
Most people aren't going to sit there and admit they are johnny- come - latelys.....and maybe luckiestman is using 35 as an arbitrary number - but the success of 1985 - 86 season run in Boston sports created and cemented a generation of rabid Boston sports fans of the local teams. Im 38. I was ~ 10 years old, living on the south shore......and EVERYONE I grew up with was fully rabid for those teams.

The Pats started a lot of that off with their run to SB XX. In fact I find i can name more of the players from that team (maybe just from memorizing the backs of football cards) than any of the current era teams. The 1985 Pats started a run that saw the Pats in the SB (for the first time in team history), arguably the best team of the Bird Era (1985-86 Celtics), and of course the '86 sox.

Don't underestimate the effect that pats team had. That team was a HUGE underdog, the first team to win 3 road playoff games, and really captured the heart of New England. Heck I remember sitting in church and the Pastor mentioned the game and said a prayer for the team - just like the scene before the final game in Hoosiers. I couldn't believe it. I was hooked. So was everyone I know.





 
I was 13 during that run and I had a fantastic t-shirt with the Pats, Sox and C's logos that read "New England: Home of Champions". Which is pretty funny since two of those championships were of the AFC and AL variety.

Don't forget that year also included BC's Cotton Bowl win and Flutie's Heisman. Up until 2001 (and onward) that was the best year of Boston sports I ever experienced.
 

8slim

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luckiestman said:
Yes, that was just to explain my ridiculous sports fandom of jets/yanks/celts/bruins

Nana liked Grogan and Hurst
All the more ridiculous that you chose to be a Jets fan...when every real Pats fan hated the Dolphins a HELLUVA lot more during the Grogan era. So, good job there.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
53,850
luckiestman said:
As for pats fans, you can make up as many fake stats as you want. 95% of your friends were pats fans? So less than one guy?
 
 
What are you even talking about? 
 
You're the fan of a team that every single season has to pump themselves up for a rivalry game by calling it your Super Bowl. 
 

Super Nomario

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Nov 5, 2000
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Mansfield MA
I'm kind of a Johnny-come-lately, I guess. I was born in '80, really got into baseball at the age of 7 (so I missed the '85-'86 successes / heartbreaks in all the sports), and didn't really get into football until the '96-'97 Super Bowl run. From then on I've been increasingly more of a football fan (and a little bit less of a baseball fan, honestly). I did really like watching highlights on NFL Primetime when I was a kid, mostly because I thought Bermanisms were hilarious, and I always liked reading SI's Dr. Z., but I don't remember watching many games. 
 
To be clear: I was never a fan of anyone other than New England. My dad was a Pats' fan, and my mom's best friend growing up was the Patriots' equipment manager for years and years. I just wasn't really into football until the Pats got good.