January 6, 2014
Here we go again. Just when we thought we were looking good,
we lose another Patriot player. You know what? I don't care one bit. The Patriots
are taking aim at another Superbowl and I don't see anything other than Luck
standing in our way. I find it so hard to believe, yet the facts don't lie. As
a football fan no one could ask for more from their team. The run the Patriots
have experienced since 2001 has been nothing sort of sports nirvana for
football fans in New England.
.
Six Superbowl appearances, four wins, conference and division
titles up the yin yang, an undefeated regular season…really, how long can a
football team, any sports team for that matter, produce at such a consistent
and superior level? I mean, come on! This has got to end sometime, right? After
watching this year the only obvious answer is… maybe not!
Losing Brandon Spikes alone would hurt a lot of teams. But
the Patriots have lost more than their fair share of key players. Vince Wilfork,
Mayo, Gronkowski… who else? Yet they keep plugging along. Winning games the old
fashioned way. Teamwork.
I was pretty sure that we going to crash and burn this year.
The early wins seemed more luck than victories earned. The injuries alone would
be more than enough reason to suffer a bad year with little fan disgruntlement.
The sad thing is that, even though I support them 100%, I
said to myself more than a few times this year… especially during those last
minute wins that didn't look like anything to happen… the Patriots kind of suck
this year.
And it's true. They pretty much do. There were a couple of
games where we got robbed, but then there were a couple that we might have stole
one. As the games went on, and our players started dropping at a pretty fast clip,
all I was hoping for, as any realistic fan does, was for a good showing. But
along the way I was reminded of a something I learned growing up in Boston. Winning
is contagious.
I grew up during the years where great coaches were exciting
to watch. Lombardi, Woody Hayes, Tom Landry, Red Holtzman. Many were the icons
for the teams they coached. Great coaches made good teams great. There are great
teams, players and coaches, People that just always seem to win.
In Boston, along with all of New England, we have had the
privilege of watching the greatest sports organization in NFL professional
sport history up close and personal. Under one of the best owners in the NFL, Robert
Kraft, we have watched one of footballs true geniuses, Bill Belichik, work with
one of the greatest Quarterbacks in NFL history, Tom Brady, produce a decade of
excellence that will be nearly impossible to duplicate.
Red Auerbach was one of those winning guys. Bill Belichik is
another. Both are great coaches who were blessed to have the great fortune of
having some of the greatest players in their sport. Red had Russell and as long
as they worked together, It didn't matter who was on the bench, the Celtics
always put the best team on the court..
Belichick has Brady. The same truth applies.
As long as Belickick and Brady are here, put any other 40
guys on the sidelines and we have a team that can beat anyone in the NFL.
The Bruins went to the Stanley cup two of the last three
years. The Red Sox won the WS…. convincingly this time. The Patriots are
driving. The Celtics are doing better than a lot of fans would like.
As a sports fan is there any place better than Boston, to
live? Don't bother it's a rhetorical question. Of course there isn't.