A message to bandwagon Patriots fans: This will all be worth it (probably)
Watching Cam Newton fumble with the game on the line will ultimately be worth the headache.
COMMENTARY
I grew up 33 miles from Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium.
Watching the Patriots play was often an exercise in futility.
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Those Patriots were known more for Lisa Olson, Victor Kiam, Eugene Chung, and the threat of moving to St. Louis. For 17-straight home games, Patriot fans within a 75-mile radius of the stadium were unable to watch their team play on television when so many unsold tickets remained at the box office. Being a fan of the New England football team was hell.
And so worth it.
Three decades later and here we are, on the cusp of another rebuilding period for the New England Patriots. With Sunday’s 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills, the 2020 Patriots actually moved up two slots in their NFL Draft position, currently sitting with the ninth pick. They’re only 2 1/2 games behind the New York Jets for the top pick and Trevor Lawrence with their first AFC East showdown coming Monday night.
It has to be a confusing time for the fans that the Patriots have welcomed to the bandwagon since the 2001 season, originally attracted by the boyish good looks of the quarterback and eventually entrenched in their fandom of the dynasty and self-help products hawked by the team leader. For certain, many have already jumped ship to Tampa to bathe in their long-distance love for Tom Brady, frustrated by the personnel decisions and performance that remain in Foxborough these days. But for those fair-weather souls who figure they’ve spent too much money in the Pro Shop over the years to find another team, here’s your chance to earn your badges.
This is not to determine a level of allegiance, rather to deliver the assurance that watching Cam Newton fumble with the game on the line will ultimately be worth the headache.
Probably. Maybe.
After all, there is no script for success like the Patriots managed to write over the last 20 years. That’s the beauty of following along.
It’s probably a lesson that many of you might be experiencing for the first time in regard to the local professional football team. Oh, sure, you had to go through the agony of losing the perfect season, wondered why Malcolm Butler got benched, and rolled your eyes in disbelief over the fact that Joey Galloway was more reliable than Chad Ochocinco. You might argue that you too have suffered the lows in order to truly appreciate the highs.
Fine. Those are some stripes. But back when the Patriots were truly terrible, presumed No. 1 pick Raghib Ismail picked football in Canada over playing in New England. Canada. Team owner James Orthwein was thisclose to moving the Patriots to America’s heartland. And not everybody cared. Previous owner Victor Kiam referred to sportswriter Lisa Olson, who filed lawsuit on sexual harassment, as a “classic bitch.” This was a team populated by the likes of Zeke Mowatt, Irving Fryar, Tommy Hodson, and Rod Rust.
Spare me that you’ve been to the same valleys that long-time Patriot fans have witnessed.
The 2-5 Patriots would have to go, at least, 8-1 the remainder of the way to make the NFL postseason, an honor that would probably wind up as being a demolished guest of some other superior AFC squad. That’s not going to happen, a matter of reality that speaks to the rebuilding process that the team must undergo for the future.
It can be easy as a fan to turn your back on that change in circumstances for a team where not making the Super Bowl was considered a lost season not so long ago. But when the Patriots are back on the right side of talent, when they pick the right pieces in the draft (let’s just presume, OK?), and when they start to make waves with a new batch of talent, led by someone other than the guy in Tampa, all the inadequacies that led up to it will be deemed worthy.
Instant gratification is nice if you want to splurge for it and expect the party to last one or two seasons. Neat.
But the patience, provided your team is in capable hands (hello, Jets, Browns, Bengals, NFC East), is waiting for the payoff, a much more satisfactory gift when you consider the laziness of picking a winner.
Most Patriot fans of a certain age don’t need to understand this. They lived it, and received a winning product for a ridiculous stretch of time in return.
This is, indeed, turning out to be a hellish Patriots season.
But will it be worth it?
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