18-1 or 1-15? Pats Fans Have It Much Worse

Think that the Miami Dolphins finishing with a whopping one win was bad for Phin fans everywhere?  Think again, with only one loss, the Patriot fans have it much worse.

The New England Patriots were on the verge of infamy.  They wanted it, their fans wanted it, they were certain they would get it, and they did.  The New York Giants played a perfect game to end a perfect season.  Yet the victor has become the afterthought.  The parade is over, the season is as well.  As the Giants begin work on next season, the Patriots still have to come to grips with this one.  Oh, Bill Belichick will say the right things, he will say he is focused on next year now, but in reality, the media, the fans of 31 other teams, and of course their memories won’t really allow them to do that.  Perhaps not ever.

The Giants fans are relishing victory, and every time that ESPN replays the game highlights or an interview here or there, they have to smile.  It is however going to grow tiresome when they realize that they are not being recognized for what they accomplished as much as what the Patriots failed to do.  If the gratification of seeing a disappointed Bill or Tom on the screen is enough to elate the G fans, imagine how it kills the Pats fans.

You really need to try and figure out how it started for the P fans.  They really became quite the cult.  You see, the Patriot fans didn’t wake up last April and become mongers of perfection, they were handed it to them on a platter by the media.  ESPN became the flock leader, they could have told the Patriot fans that a comet was coming to take them away and mass suicide would have ensued.  This was built and like Pompeii, it all came crashing down.  The fans who followed the wisdom of the media are now being haunted by them.

It was back in April that the “genius” talk started in regards to the Patriots.  A 4th round pick for arguably the best pure WR in the game was the start.  The media loved the move.  Scott Pioli was a genius, the Patriots just robbed the rest of the NFL.  It was even said that the Pats would truly be the team to beat now and that it was not out of the question that they would challenge the ’72 Dolphins for perfection.  They became the media darling.  The team that every journalist could get a story out of, and they all wanted to cover it.  Money was to be made.

As the season started and the new look Patriots began to look unbeatable, even “spy-gate” could not sway most of the media.  This was not a black mark, this was just something to hype the show.  Most embraced the episode with slapstick comedy.  In Boston, it was no news at all, “everyone does it” was the mantra.  The Patriots did no wrong.  They just got caught.  When the penalty was handed down, the Patriots made no public apology, instead, Bob Kraft gave Bill an extension to his contract.  Two weeks after the incident.  The media let it die, the fans ignored it, the Patriots were class acts who made a mistake.  They were still perfect.  With that, the Patriots gained a swagger, a purpose, their fans became obnoxious and overbearing.  As the media hyped the latest in the blowout scores and talked of who next would be the team that could beat them, fans swaggered as if no one could.  By the end of the season, the frenzy had swelled to a pitch that could not be ignored.  It was everywhere and everyone wanted to be a part of it.

I have lived in NC for 3 years and in my time here I have grown accustomed to Carolina Panther gear, which is cool with me.  I have learned that you don’t talk about Duke or North Carolina unless you do so with knowledge and to the right fan.  I also know that when you walk through the grocery store, you rarely see NFL paraphernalia.  This year, my small little grocery store has been a New England Patriot memorabilia shop. “long time fan” they say.  Yet, the same “long time fans” have not bothered wearing that stuff until this year.  Of course, the winless barbs to Miami directed at me even when I wasn’t wearing my Phins hat got tiresome.  Yet, I rarely do not have it on.  I am of course a Dolphins fan.

Again, media hype had reached out to the masses and the wagon jumpers had the perfect vehicle to hitch a ride with.  Unblemished, and according to the guys who make the news, undeniably championship bound.

The season ended in perfection and even the media majority praised the Pats for playing their starters against the Giants in week 17.  The playoffs would be a tough challenge they said, the Jags would kill them, the Chargers had something to prove. They made sure that the Patriot locker room was adorned with every conceivable inspiration to not only win, but win handily.  It worked.  The Patriots let teams linger.  Then they shut them down.

I still do not remember what one single Giants player said during the media week prior to the Super Bowl.  I do recall Moss, Brady, Bill, and others from the Patriots.  I also remember the bold predictions.  The books pre-orders, the tee shirt graphics, the Boston Herald better than thou articles.  Thank God I live in North Carolina.

Like sharks in a frenzy the Patriot fever had reached that pitch.  It was ugly.  One friend that I have here who is a Bostonian and Pats fan, told me that the Patriots would make short work of the Giants, he already saved money all year for the “Perfection” proclamation tee’s. Two weeks prior to the SB and he had already proclaimed them champions.  In fact, he informed that back home, they were saying the same things.

I have yet to see him since the game.

The Miami Dolphins finished 1-15.  It was a dismal ugly season.  Blow outs and 3 point heartaches.  Even the lone win was attributed to what many say was coaching error and not because the Dolphins finally put it together.  As Phinfans, we endured the mockery of our beloved 72 team.  We relished in rooting for anyone who played the Pats, just for one game.  We took the barbs thrown at us from every direction and we endured the heckles from the media darlings while we watched them build our rivals into untouchable Greek Gods.  It was a year of hell from start to finish.  Then like the year itself it changed.  In 10 years, no one will remember that the Miami Dolphins went 1-15 or why.  No, what will still be remembered is that the New England Patriots went into the Super Bowl perfect Gods and came out of it as stunned discarded garbage.  The same media that built the frenzy has quickly backed away.  The same media that hyped the Pats as the greatest ever, call the chokers, losers, and cheaters.  Every day, every hour, every highlight.  The New England Patriots are the biggest losers…the media says so.

The media side stepped the “Spy-gate” scandal as nothing more than a “they are just the ones that got caught” news story.  After the NFL imposed penalties, it was no longer a story when the Pats kept winning.  They are not winning anymore, and with the new scandal coming to light, these same media outlets are calling for heads, they want answers, they are all chomping at the bit to get that piece of first hand knowledge and break it first.  The Patriots are no longer anyones favorites.  Especially since they no longer are perfect.

1-15?  Who really cares.  We have a new coach and a new attitude, hell we have Bill Parcells and something to be excited about.  18-1?  Yeah, that isn’t going to die anytime soon.  With the new scandal brewing in a Bunn instead of a Black and Decker, everything will be quick.  The Patriots themselves will ignore it, they won’t watch, but the fans will endure the wraith.  They will be the ones that suffer.  They bought into the hype, they believed the media, they sat smug and overconfident, they preached perfection without having achieved it and they laughed at anyone who doubted it.  The last laugh is surely the hardest, and it will be the most remembered.  Don’t believe me?

Every year, as a team inches closer to the perfection of 72, one highlight is played more than any other.  The fateful Monday night Chicago – Miami game where the undefeated Chicago Bears left for home defeated.  The Bears finished the season 18-1.  The Patriots can’t even hold that record themselves.  The Bears on the other hand will not have to endure as many highlights of that game anymore. The Patriots, and to more of a degree their fans, will.

You see, NFL teams change and players move on.  There is very little loyalty to teams anymore by players.  Very little.  But real fans, true fans, they don’t leave.  Come April, the draft will be short 1 draft pick in round 1…maybe more by the end of all of this.  Come opening day next season, the defending Super Bowl champs will be discussed and the loss by the Patriots will be everywhere…and so it will go.  The Patriots will not be remembered for putting on one of the most amazing shows in the NFL, they will not be remembered for finishing 16-0 in the regular season, hell, they won’t even be remembered with an asterisk for cheating, they will be remembered as the team that lost one game.  The only game that matters.

Welcome to the future.

Teams have lost Super Bowls, the Dolphins have lost Super Bowls, fans have endured losses and everyone has moved on.  A Super Bowl victory next year will not erase this years loss to the Giants.  It is forever.  As much as 1972 is brought up to the point it makes others sick, the loss by NE will be brought up each and every year as the only team to truly challenge it, and they didn’t lose the last game of the regular season.  They lost the last game of the season.  Dan Marino never won the big game, he was only at one.  Tom Brady has won more than most and is mentioned with Joe Montana, but that stops.  Tom Brady is now the QB who couldn’t close the deal when it counted.  He couldn’t finish.

There are 3 teams now that have finished a season 18-1.  Two of them won Super Bowls, and with that it becomes it historical.  Today, there are some very classy Patriot fans who are enduring the worst possible feeling that no other team in the history of the NFL has had to endure.  Losing a game in week 13 is no big deal, losing one in week 19?  That is another story entirely.  Right or wrong, good or bad, like it or not, it is what it is and whether you think it is just, fair, or fitting, it’s is not going to go away.

18-1 or 1-15?  Yes, the Patriot fans have it much much worse, because you see, there is 17-0 that has endured for 35 years and there is 18-1 which until someone finally does go undefeated, will last just as long.