The Boston Pro Sports Blog

So I guess I can be happy without feeling like a complete jackass. The Pittsburg Steelers did win SuperBowl XL and I don’t feel so bad, despite the fact I was rooting for Seattle. The reason is that Big Ben Roethlisberger posted a laughable 22.6 passer rating for the game. In no previous SuperBowl has the winning Quarterback had such a dismal rating. And even though he got his ring, no one in their right mind would say that Ben had a lot to do with it. Yes he was good in the playoffs. But in the big game he soiled his diaper. Which ultimately means that Roethlisberger, pending numerous SuperBowl victories in the future, will not succeed Tom Brady in the “young stud QB who could possibly be the best of our generation.” Yeah I know. Both have a lot of career left(assuming they don’t pull a Carson Palmer) and a lot could happen in the future. But as of now, Tom Brady still reigns as #1 QB overall. And that’s the stat that counts in my book.

In other news, I am still trying to figure out how Seattle lost Sunday’s game. Yeah I know the refs sucked and blah, blah, blah. But no one in their right mind can blame the refs in a professional sporting event. Especially one of this caliber. I didn’t blame the refs in New England’s loss to Denver despite a horrendous pass interference call. I didn’t even blame them in Boston College’s loss to Duke even though Sheldon Williams shot way more free throws than the entire BC team. You just can’t blame the refs. You can certainly criticize them. If you are from Detroit or Philly you can even throw this at them. But I don’t think you can fully blame them. And as far as the game being fixed? C’mon. Faces of Death is more believable than that.

In almost every statistic I looked at Seattle won that game. I am so glad I am not a real Seahawks fan right now. I probably would have gauged my eyes out with my bottle-cap opener watching that game. Seattle forced 2 turnovers to Pittsburgh’s 1. They had 6 more first downs and were more efficient in the red zone. They had more rushing yards, passing yards and total offensive yards. It seems like the only thing they didn’t do is score more points. I don’t get it. I am just glad I can leave to this column and never speak of it again. Time to go bow to the magic fridge.

P.S. Tom Brady set a SuperBowl record for hottest coin flip ever. Unless the MVP of Lingerie Bowl does the coin flip in the future, I am not so sure this record will be broken.

theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com

I gave a thorough rationale regarding what teams to root for in the NFL Conference Championship games a couple weeks ago(“Now Who” January 18th), however I feel I should finally hop on the overcrowded SuperBowl media wagon and make some sort of pick or something.

As a hardcore Boston sports fan, I find it hard to root for the Steelers. It just feels icky. I have spent too much energy rooting against them and can’t really find any reason to passionately root for them. Obviously when they were playing Peyton it just came naturally. My hatred for Jake Plummer grew enough so I rooted for Roethlisberger and the Steelers in “The Battle of the Beards” as well(can you bet whether or not Plummer will be panhandling outside the stadium before the game? I haven’t checked). But now it just doesn’t seem right. I just can’t get myself pysched up about rooting for the Steelers. The only problem is, its tough to root against them as well. Jerome Bettis’s homecoming is a decent story(albeit a grossly over-covered one). Bill Cowher is the hardworking coach that the franchise has stayed loyal to. Big Ben seems like the cool guy you would want to have a beer with. The city passionately cares about its sports franchises no matter how terrible them may be(*ahem…the Pirates). In a SuperBowl that your team is not involved in, that might be enough. However as a hardcore New England fan, I have a few reasons not to root for the Steel City in SuperBowl XL.

Firstly, Ben Roethlisberger is young and good and is an emerging star. And I know I am going to sound like a psycho-possessive ex-girlfriend when I say this but, I don’t want him to steal Tom Brady’s thunder. Tom Brady is suppose to be the young, attractive, and talented QB stud that wins SuperBowls. I am sorry but I can’t root for anyone to take that crown from him. Peyton will enter his 30s and soon become a grizzled veteran that could never win the big one. That’s fine. But I DO NOT want some 23 year old bearded snot-nosed punk coming in and being the next biggest thing under 25 years old. I know that last paragraph sounded immature and potentially like I have two X chromosomes. But I can’t help how I feel. I love Tom Brady.

Secondly, as hard as it is to root against this Steeler team, it may be even harder to root against the Seattle Seahawks. If there ever were a town that needed a Championship team, it’s Seattle. I really can’t think of a sports town that has been as plagued with mediocrity as badly as Seattle has. The SuperSonics, the Mariners, AND the Seahawks? I know that Seattle isn’t known for being an intensely passionate sports town, but the history of those three franchises has to have you feel for their fans. And with the Seahawks’ home crowd emerging as one of the loudest transforming the stadium into arguably the most hostile environment in the NFL(unless you’re Santa Claus, in which Philly wins hands down), you have to think the Seattle fans deserve a Lombardi Trophy.

Thirdly, Seattle has a couple local boys on their team as well. And not only are they on the roster, but they are two of the Seahawks’ top 5 players. Wrentham native and defensive extraordinaire Lofa Tatupu, and QB Matt Hasselbeck who grew up in Westwood and went to Boston College. If the scales were balanced between rooting for these two teams, I think this may have tipped them.

Ordinarily, in these kind of match-ups where I can’t decide who to root for, I just root for funny commercials and chicken wings and cold beer and stuff. Unfortunately the halftime show is starting to resemble an old school country club ever since the NFL and TV networks practically banned women. Normally I would be rooting for boobies(can’t you always root for boobies?) but since the Rolling Stones will be headlining the halftime festivities, I think I am going to pass on rooting for some T&A.

The good thing about this SuperBowl is I am not going to be upset over watching one of the teams win at the end(like XXXVII with Tampa and Oakland). I will still be rooting for commercials and beer. Woohoo! Yay beer! Goooo beer!

My pick: Pittsburg 34, Seattle 30

theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com

Last night the hottest ticket in town wasn’t the Celtics hosting of the Phoenix Suns. And despite Paul Pierce’s 40 points, including 33 in the second half, the most exciting basketball didn’t involve the Green.

Perhaps the best basketball game that has taken place in Boston this side of the new year took place a few miles down the road in Silvio O. Conte Forum where the 14th ranked Boston College Eagles hosted the 2nd ranked Duke Blue Devils.

Yeah I know. This is a “pro sports” blog. However, with the amount of Boston Professional Sports names attending the game, it would be hard to talk about anything else today. Attending last nights game at the Heights were Sports royalty Mr. Bob Craft, Larry Lucchino, Bill Belichick, Brad Faxon, Tim Russert, John Harrington, and of course Mr. Doug Flutie.

Announcing the game was Mr. College Basketball Dick Vitale, which at first almost made me sick to my stomach. Having Dick Vitale announce a Duke basketball game is like sitting next to one of those parents who ONLY cheers for their child at youth sporting events and would never admit that he or she ever makes mistakes. Sometimes when Dick even talks about Duke University I can barely hear him. Someone should tell him he needs to take the Blue Devil cock out of his mouth before he announces their games. However, to be fair, I was pleasantly surprised. Mr. Vitale did a very good job staying objective and calling the game in a fair manner. He even went as far as saying that Duke was definitely second best to UConn this year. Although he did say he would pick Duke in a head to head game.

The game itself was nothing short of thrilling. Aside from the final minute, the first half was pretty much even. In the final minute, coming out of a timeout, Duke capitalized on a pair of BC turnovers to increase their lead from 5 with 1:05 left in the half to 10 by halftime. Sean Marshall, who had the daunting task of covering J.J. Redick, gave the Duke star fits in the first half, keeping the prolific scorer to under ten points before the break. Marshall brought a great physical presence and incredible intensity to his duty guarding Redick and solidified his role as BC’s top defensive specialist.

In the second half, BC slipped a little finding itself down 18 points at one point to the Blue Devils. The Eagles really showed some testicular fortitude, however, playing balls to the wall defense and clawing their way back with a 16-4 run. They fought back to a 6 point then eventually a 3 point deficit with less than three minutes left in the game, proving to Duke and the raucous crowd at Conte Forum that the Eagles can contend with the best in the country. Despite two questionable foul calls that removed Craig Smith and Sean Marshall from the game, BC still found themselves with chances to tie the game with under a minute left in the game. However, it was Duke’s near perfect free throw shooting that eventually sealed the game, as well as a horrendous no-call on a blatant Sheldon Williams foul on a driving Tyrese Rice in the final seconds of the game. The refs didn’t completely blow the game, but it certainly would have been an interesting final ten seconds had the correct call been made.

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with the Eagles’ tenacity and ability to compete with the Blue Devils. I was even more impressed at the intense environment that was created by the BC fans at Conte Forum. Despite the loss, BC proved it can and will compete with the best of the best both on the court and off. The Eagles’ basketball team showed its true colors in the 83-81 loss while the BC Superfans showed that Conte Forum is slowly but surely becoming one of the most hostile environments in the ACC.

Now if only the Celts could warrant that kind of praise…(sigh)…

[quick sidenote: Did anyone watch SportsCenter directly following the game? If you did you might have seen a commercial for Black History Month(February) starring Derek Jeter as the featured professional athlete. Now I don’t mean to insult Mr. Jeter’s ethnicity or cultural background, but I was a little confused as to why they chose him to be the spokesperson. Isn’t that kind of like having John Wayne Bobbit be the spokesperson for Viagra? Or like buying Rupaul a Mother’s Day card? I mean, out of the 6,382,096 African American professional athletes they chose Derek Jeter? I am confused.]

After Doug Flutie’s historic extra-point drop-kick sailed through the uprights on January 1, 2006 against the Miami Dolphins, the Pro Football Hall of Fame requested the football to be placed on display along with Flutie’s jersey and cleats. Unfortunately, since the team lined up as if to complete a two point conversion, no nets were raised to prevent the ball from entering the stands. So inevitably some fan actually caught the ball and brought it home. Although instant replay could not reveal which spectator received the ball, the Patriots Front Office did receive a fax from a fan who claimed they had the desired ball. The unnamed fan made this request in return for the football:

“1. Payment of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND ($100,000.00) DOLLARS [lawyer’s capitals] on delivery of the football.

“2. A guarantee of eight (8) season tickets for 25 years in the end zone (preferably sections 142 or 143).

“a. The season tickets will be paid for annually by my client at the then going price for season tickets. The Patriots would not be expected to pay for the tickets.

“3. Delivery by the Patriots to my client sometime in September, 2006, of a Tom Brady Patriots’ football jersey signed by all the team members as of the beginning of the next football season.”

Scott Boras will you please just give the Patriots their fucking ball back. Thank you.

But in all seriousness, is this not one of the most ridiculous requests you have ever heard? Roger Clemens has demanded less. I am glad the Krafts and Patriots paid this request the respect its due and ignored the entire thing. I don’t think they even gave it a laugh. As one member of the Patriots organization said Friday “I hope he enjoys the football.”

Now that our beloved Patriots our out of the playoffs a question emerges regarding who to root for. Since I have dedicated every Sunday for the last 5 months to watching professional football it is a little hard to go cold turkey. This was illustrated this past weekend when I went out and purchased the Superbowl XXXVIII video to cheer me up as I mentioned in the last post yesterday. I only watched the high-lights over the weekend but I am sure I will bust out the entire game at some point in the next two weeks. And after that there is a good chance I will go out and get the SuperBowl XXXIX DVD and do the same thing all over again.

But to answer my first question: how does the average Patriots fan choose who to root for(assuming said person is not gambling on the game of course)? Well, here’s a quick breakdown on how I see it…

I need to say that I was not and will not root for Peyton Manning and the Colts. Ever. Although he is incredibly talented and it was impressive to see him tell Assistant Coach Tony Dungy that they would be going for it on fourth down, I cannot justify rooting for Peyton Manning. Peyton comes across as a pretty classy guy. He’s funny in those commercials and overall pretty much a good guy as far as we know. Chewing out his lineman in a post-game interview wouldn’t really make me want to be his teammate but overall he still seems like a decent person.

However any REAL Patriots fan will not root for him and here’s why. In about 10-20 years the next generation is going to talk about who was the best quarterback of our generation. Since those doing the analysis may have never seen the QBs of our time play, they might evaluate these players based on statistics. On paper, Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks of all time and arguably the best of our time. However without a ring he might never wear that crown. Tom Brady’s rings and fourth quarter comebacks will probably trump Manning’s yards and touchdowns. Which will lead to Brady being dubbed the best of our generation. Which obviously all true New England fans should cheer for since, as we will attest, they don’t come much better than Brady. So provided Manning never achieves a ring, he cannot ever bear the title of the best of his time. Marino might have been the best quarterback, but Aikman will trump him and Jim Kelly any day because he has got the jewelry. So poor Peyton might join the likes of Danny-boy as “the best that couldn’t win the big one.” I even think Peyton would win this contest hands down considering Marino never had an Edgerrin James or Marvin Harrison. So I will never root for Peyton to win it all. At least not in this decade and probably not in my lifetime. Also I think it would be incredibly hilarious if Peyton had some sort of breakdown and ran off screaming jibberish and pulling his hair out. It would be extra funny if this happened as his induction to the hall of fame or retirement press conference. So needless to say I was happy Pittsburg won. No thanks to you, you stupid refs.

Carolina: See part of me still dislikes this team from the SuperBowl two years ago. Sometimes when there is a really important sporting event regarding my team, I get so pumped up that I create a dislike for the other team by making up bad stuff about them. I know, it seems a little ridiculous and perhaps a little Ray Lewis-esque but it just happens to be a consequence of being such a passionate fan. For example, I convinced myself Saturday that Jake Plummer does derogatory things to women, films it, and then sells it in stores like Amazing. Last summer Randy Johnson hurt kittens. Four years ago Kurt Warner disliked elderly people. Jason Kidd beat women(oh wait that one is real). So when we played Carolina in the Superbowl, I convinced myself at some point that the entire Panthers defensive line had midget throwing contests for money. And somehow there seems to be a little bit of the dislikage left from that game. I am also rooting for the Panthers to lose because if I have to hear Chris Berman say “Daylight come and me wanna Delhomme” one more time I am going to gouge my ears with scissors.

Pittsburg: I have trouble rooting for Pittsburg as well. Although I did have a brief stint as a Pittsburg fan. It was in 7th grade when I was a young and confused adolescent. And as I was desperately trying to fit in with the “cool crowd” as most 7th graders are, I did the “cool thing” by wearing a Starter jacket of a team that wasn’t my own. Don’t ask me why this was cool at the time. Maybe for 7th graders it still is cool. But in any event I had a Steelers jacket and became a big Steelers fan. They were my “in case the Patriots suck incredibly bad you still have a reason to watch football” team. Although the Pats went to the SuperBowl the following year so maybe I was in fact just a confused adolescent. My parents didn’t seem to mind though. Of all the things a confused adolescent could do I think wearing a non-Patriots jacket and rooting for another team was about the most docile thing possible. I guess experimenting with rooting for another team is a little different than experimenting with playing for another team. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I also could have pierced my nostrils, ingested aerosol fumes, and tortured the cat. So needless to say my parents were ok with me as a Steelers fan when I was 13. I don’t know where I am going with this except for when I grew up, matured, and became a full-fledged Patriots fan again the Pats-Steelers rivalry is now preventing me from fully rooting for Pittsburg. Although Ben and the Bus are more or less class acts and if they do end up winning I suppose there are worse things in life. And hey, they did beat the Colts.

Denver: it would be more justifiable if we lost to the eventual SuperBowl winners. But somehow I can’t root for them. I can’t root for a team who has a quarterback that’s a bum and could double as an extra in the remake of “King Dong: The Porn”. Also I had a brief altercation and exchange with a Broncos fan after the loss and for some reason do not want that women’s team to win it all. She was obnoxious. C’mon lady. Act like you’ve been there before.

Seattle: So it seems like Seattle wins by default. Although I do have a problem rooting for a team that cleared their lineman to play because he made bail on his domestic assault charges. I have an issue rooting for a team that has a wife-beater on it. It stems from my hatred for Jason Kidd and the Nets-Celts rivalry from a few years ago. So it will be tough for me to passionately cheer them on, especially since the alleged abuser is 300 lbs. However he isn’t the entire team and in fact isn’t really one of the headlining stars. They do have Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck. The former is a hard-working MVP with potential to take over a game. The latter is a local guy who graduated from Boston College. That seems enough for this Boston fan to root for. Although I hope someday Locklear dates a woman who is three times the size of him and tries to choke him in public. Eh…go Seahawks?

Jeez, from reading what I just typed it looks like I might be watching a few DVDs next weekend. Oh well.

theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com

5 Turnovers.

I kept running this through my head. 5 turnovers. 5 silly turnovers became the gun that the Patriots used to shoot themselves in the foot and ultimately derail the dynasty train in Denver saturday night.

Yes the referees were bad. Yes they blew the pass interference call against Asante that resulted in a Broncos touchdown. But that was hardly the game. The game was not won by Denver. The Patriots simply beat themselves. Not only did they not bring their dominating playoff ‘A Game’ that I have come to expect but they made more mistakes with the football than MC Hammer with money. And for any other team and for any other fan this would be absolute justification to be furious. But I just couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t be mad at these guys. I couldn’t justify in my mind getting upset at a team and organization that has brought me so many smiles in the past few years. Even if they did blow a game that would have brought them back to Gillette for the AFC championship against a team they had previously beaten in the regular season. It didn’t matter. The Pats flat out beat themselves in that game and I still could not be mad at them.

So knowing that I would not or could not take it out on the Pats, for the first few moments of defeat I took it out of the refs. But I soon realized that was only one referee mistake in a game of numerous costly mistakes made by the Patriots. There really was no one person to blame. I couldn’t blame the refs, I certainly couldn’t blame Belichick or the coaching staff and I am a little to meticulous to simply admit “it just wasn’t meant to be”. Upon more reflection, I came to the conclusion that the team simply lost the game. They didn’t execute. If anyone watched the Belichick post-game they would realize that he knew the same thing. The turnovers cost us. If you take away the turnovers it could have very well been a 13-0 Pats win. And for a Bill Belichick team that had a few very un-Belichick moments this season(like the enormous amount of penalties this year) maybe this shouldn’t have been a surprise. But I still couldn’t get mad at the team for their bad play.

So this loss made for a tough reaction. Mostly because I am not used to this. I haven’t had to deal with a Patriots play-off loss in almost a decade. In all honesty, I didn’t know how to react. I was at first angry but then seemed to wake up Sunday more depressed. I watched most of Sunday’s games but it just wasn’t the same. I knew I couldn’t be mad but that still didn’t stop me from being upset at this loss. I had followed this team all season. I stuck it out through the injuries and the losses and the doubts and the eventual fall from grace that was the 2005-06 season. But I still believed. Which is what makes losses like these hurt more. So somehow I had to come up with a way to deal with this season’s pre-SuperBowl conclusion. Denial wasn’t going to work because I still want to watch the SuperBowl. And its hard to root for your team when they are not in it. And plus people who cheer for their team when they are irrelevent are just plain sad. Anger or blame wouldn’t work because of the previous success. Hope for next year is tough with a team that will make only small changes in a league that doesn’t tend to have blockbuster off seasons. And how could depression or sadness work with a dynasty that has only recently been un-crowned.

So…I did what any self-loathing fan would do to patch up a post-loss funk. I relived the high-lights of the Pats extraordinary run these past few years. After the Colts loss I felt a little relief and so took a nice Sunday afternoon excursion to my local Best Buy and picked up a copy of the Patriots Superbowl XXXVIII victory DVD. It was a cheap and effective way to cure my Pats-loss blues(Best Buy has these for $7 in the Sports DVD section…*ahem* Mr. CEO of Best Buy I will email you the account # to where my kick-backs can be sent). Mission accomplished. I sat back, had a few Sunday afternoon beers(which I have been accustomed to having the past few years during Sundays in January), and watched the recap of the Patriots 2003-04 Superbowl season. I would have felt like a sad mother looking back at baby-pictures of her son who just went off to college but fortunately for me much of the Pats team is still the same. So I lose the “sad sad fan desperately trying to relive the glory days” label for the “fan who just picked up his team’s Superbowl DVD because it was on sale and he is either too cheap or too broke to buy it when it first comes out” label. Now I am no social sports-fan pyramid expert, but I am pretty sure the latter is much more acceptable.

So rather than wallow in my own sorrows, I proactively cheered myself up by enjoying just one of the three incredibly successful world championship SuperBowl victory seasons that the Patriots have enjoyed in only the past four years. I became thankful for Mr. Kraft and Bill and Tom and Tedy and Deion and the whole gang. And as I sat and watched the recapitulation of that season the joy of watching my team win it all recaptured me. And although it was not this actual season, it was much of the same players, much of the same organization, and much of the same team. And I couldn’t help but to smile and think how lucky I am to be a Pats fan right now.

So I guess I can sit back, relax, and just watch professional football for the remaining two weeks without having to cheer for any team in particular. Or without the butterflies that always emerge before big games. And although deep down I’ll still be wishing that it were my team playing in the big game, I can still look back and be thankful for the 2005-06 Pats and the hard-work, excitement, and competetiveness that they brought me all season. Because its more than a lot of other fans can say. And if all else fails, I know that a Patriots SuperBowl victory is only a remote control button away.

theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com

Is anyone else bothered by the considerable lack of hype surrounding Saturdays game against the Broncos? I mean, its not like I was expecting Tyson-McNeely II or anything, I just regard this as a rather big game. And to be honest, I am slightly disappointed that the only trash talking going on is between a couple of fans calling in on sports talk radio. To be fair, that kind of thing happens during Brockton-New Bedford games in October. So it’s a little strange to me that this same level of hype, trash-talk, and build-up is taking place the week before a AFC Divisional match-up between two very good football teams both vying for a AFC Championship and eventually a SuperBowl berth. Where are the Freddie Mitchell and Mike Vanderjagts of this game? You’re killing me people. This would be like a Real World(or any other reality series) season where everyone in the house got along great and became best friends. C’mon where is the excitement? The adrenalin? The emotion caused from illegal amphetamines taken before the game?

Ok so maybe I expect this from Belichick’s juice-sipping bunch but not from the lowly Broncos. A team that hasn’t won a play-off game since John Elway hung up the cleats for the microphone. They even got a first round bye! They can’t make a few inappropriate and immature comments about the 10-6 Patriots? And if the Patriots can’t be arrogant in a situation where they are two-time defending champs and coming off a 28-3 victory than when can they? I guess we have to give Mike Shanahan credit. The lack of locker room material could reach an all-time low for what I would consider, to be a very high profile game. Why can’t Willie McGinest make some kind of derogatory comment about Jake Plummer’s porn ‘stache. Or better yet, can some reporter ask rookie Ellis Hobbs if he is worried about the game, followed by him responding “Hell no man we’re playing against Jake Plummer” and then laugh maniacally. Am I alone here?

Maybe it is just me. Maybe this game is just going to be simply a hard nosed football game proven solely on the turf. And maybe deep down I would cringe if any of my Patriots made any comments that could insight a Broncos upset. But it still won’t prevent me from wishing this would happen. Just so that I don’t feel like I am the only person in the world that is completely amped up for this game. Oh well. There is still Friday.

This is a bizarre and random tangent but I just need to get something off my chest. Think back to last Saturday’s Patriots game versus the Jaguars. In the first Pats possession(think back…think…it was before you were drunk), Tom Brady hit one of the referees square in the noggin. Upon a replay of the pass and a camera shot to see the referees recovery, it becomes blatanly obvious why this interference came into play.

The ref was wearing sun glasses.

But not just any sun glasses. These were strange black goggle sunglasses. They looked like a cross between Shaft sunglasses and the goggles that the Bud-Light Daredevil wears. Why on earth was this ref wearing these? I couldn’t decide whether he was shading the bright sunlight of a night game or about to go scuba diving. I can’t think of a possible reason why this man was wearing these in an NFL football game. He looked like a cross between Kareem Abdul-Jabar and giant fly. Can someone please explain this to me?

As I watched NESN’s SportsDesk yesterday trying to get an update on the hype surrounding Saturday’s playoff match up against the Jacksonville Jaguars, I watched what appeared to be a disgruntled Tom Brady complain about not being supported consistently throughout the duration of this season.

In responding to a question from the media, Brady responded “’I think we’ve been given up on by a lot of media people, a lot of fans, our own fans, and other people around the league.”

I sat and watched in shock. Was he really talking about us like that? Was he being honest? Did he really mean it or was it some attempt to convince himself and his teammates that was actually true in order to get motivated for the game. I suppose the latter is much more understandable. Although I am not sure I agree with Mr. Brady in this case. I suppose if I were to respond to him in person I would probably tell him a few things.

Firstly, Tom if you haven’t realized this yet, you are in Boston. Along with being the Hub of the Universe it can also be the Hub of Negative Sports Energy and although I love my dear city to death, I know how quick the media can turn and, even more so, I know that deep inside every Boston sports fan, there exists an innate tendency to always fear the worst and sometimes voice this sentiment(its ok its part of our therapy to talk about it). There is and always will be some grizzled veteran Boston sports fan who sits on his coach with a Budweiser in his hand and screams “They SUCK!” at the television(I hope to God this isn’t me in 40 years). I am sure even during some of Vinatieri’s kicks or Foulke’s flip for the final out there was still some bitter Boston fan who still threw his empty beer can at the screen while muttering incoherently. So Tom, I understand what you are saying to a certain extent. I am sure you have heard some negativity. There were moments this season that worried us all. Mostly because we had seldom seen our infallible Patriots suddenly seem so human. It was like a 12 year old son realizing his Dad is not the strongest guy in the world like he had believed for so long. But to say “I think people gave up on us a long time ago” like you did yesterday, well Tom, that just plain hurt my feelings. Because…

Secondly, Tom if you haven’t realized this year, you are in Boston. A city and area that is unequivocally obsessed with its sports franchises. We become so immersed in our teams sometimes through the duration of a season that every dropped pass, double play, or missed shot is taken personally. It hurts us just as much as it hurts you. We even feel that we know the athletes on a personal level, like we hang out, have a few beers, and share some laughs together or something. And as the New England Patriots you are our team. We will never completely give up on you. Perhaps the worst curse of any Boston fan is the perpetual feeling of hope. As a team that has delivered three championships in four years, we will especially not give up on you. I haven’t heard a Patriots fan yet that has said there is no chance that you guys can win the Lombardi trophy this year. I even believe that you guys could march into Indianapolis today and come out victorious. So to say that people gave up on you a long time ago is false. This doesn’t even take into consideration that the team is led by you, Tom Brady, as well as the pigskin mastermind prodigy that is Bill Belichick. There are few people that would completely give up on their team knowing you two are at the reigns, even regardless of your track record. I know Patriots fans that believed in Pete Carroll by the way. So please don’t think that everyone has given up on you. Its slightly insulting.

However, you are Tom Brady. And I am a forgiving guy. So I will let this one slide. If saying those hurtful things is what you need to do to motivate your team and prepare yourself for a third straight SuperBowl run then so be it. Ray Lewis visualizes someone raping and murdering his family to get pumped for games, Tom Brady claims a lot of people have given up on him. Hey, whatever wakes you up in the morning. But I am here to tell you that less people are counting you out than you think.

So I say to you Tom Brady that I along with my fellow Patriots-fan brethren have not, and will not give up on you. Even with less than 2 minutes to go in the game, down two touchdowns to the Indianapolis colts, on the road, in the playoffs, I will still believe in you. Perhaps that is my curse. But so be it. When its all said and done, I hope I am at least acknowledged for my support.

Just a few quick suggestions for New Years Resolutions for some of the people in the Boston sports scene…

Terry Francona: a resolution to stop rocking back and forth in the dugout like some autistic child subsequently making everyone who is watching more nervous about his managing ability and self-confidence.

Paul Pierce: a resolution to not make a pouty-bitch face for all of 2006(the latter half of 2005 was a big improvement)

Larry Lucchino: a resolution to stop trying to control the Red Sox’ General Managers(whomever they may be either now or in the future).

The New England Patriots: a resolution to win SuperBowl XL(do resolutions work that way?)

John Henry: a resolution to stop lying to the public about Theo’s role in the Red Sox organization. Just because Theo shows up to the office everyday in a gorilla costume doesn’t mean anyone is being fooled.

Manny Ramirez: a resolution to keep the snake in its cage.

Bob Craft: a resolution to never ever change the pink tie/blue shirt with white collar combo on game days. Why mess with a good thing?

Patriots Fans: a resolution to prove Richard Seymour wrong and transform Gillette stadium into one of the most hostile, rowdy, energetic, and loud football venues for the playoffs and the following seasons. Even if you get your season tickets taken away because the asshole in front of you complained that you were yelling too loud and he practically got drunk off your breathe. At least you can be a fan of principle.

Red Sox Fans: a resolution to continue to remind yourselves that its alright that we currently don’t have a short-stop, 1st baseman, lead-off hitter, or centerfielder because opening day is still a long way away.

Celtics Fans: a resolution to keep cheering for your team. Even if you sometimes think that you are watching a high school team.

Bruins Fans: a resolution to keep chee–…er…well, uh…keep watching the games anyways.