The McBournie Minute: I love the Patriots

This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re writing our features about love. Also, you will be treated to daily editions of MasterChugs Theater with “Love in the Theater.”

“Heroes never last long because, although they may inspire us to become more, they remind us of our own shortcomings. We appreciate them at first, but then we look at our own lives and wonder, ‘Why not me?’ At first, ‘why not me’ means, ‘I could do that, too.’ But after a while … ‘why not me’ turns into ‘I’m not that great, and neither is that person.'” —Rick Snee

I love the New England Patriots. I guess it’s because of Bryan Schools’ column last Tuesday, or that I’m still not over the game, but I am sick of everybody bashing the Patriots. This is the last time I will talk about it. I retract my statement last week, I will not argue that they deserved to win Super Bowl XLII. The Pats looked flat from the very beginning, especially before the game. For some reason, no one was bouncing around or talking a big game. They simply moped out to the field like it was just another practice. IT WAS THE EFFING SUPER BOWL!

No, the Patriots did not deserve to win. But neither did the New York Giants.

The Giants’ defense was all that really stood out about the game, aside from the close score. They managed to rock Brady left and right. I think they are still picking scraps of the dark blue number 12 jersey out of the turf in Arizona. That certainly helped keep the Pats from blowing the game open, but Eli Man-child, aside from one huge play, may as well have been watching the game with his more-talented, goofier looking brother in the sky box. There has never been a more overrated quarterback with a Super Bowl ring. I always knew I would say that about a Manning, I was just wrong about which one.

And still, there we have it, a New York team has once again defeated a Boston team in a public, humiliating fashion. It will no doubt further the sports rivalries between the two cities. All I can say is go ahead, you can have it. Go ahead and tell yourselves you love your team, that you supported Man-child from the beginning, tell yourselves it wasn’t luck that got you out of Green Bay in one piece, tell yourselves your team held the lead for more than a few minutes of the Super Bowl. You’re flat out wrong. While you’re at it, take the fair weather fans. Take the status as media darlings. I, and so many other Beantown fans, am tired of our teams being looked at as such. We do better when no one believes in us, anyway.

I’m tired of the superstar status and expectations of greatness. I am tired of people hating my teams simply because they win. That is something I may never understand. People hate the Patriots because of Tom Brady. Women do not like him because he impregnated a woman who he is no longer with. This is irrelevent to the game. Brady could sacrifice goats at midfield (which would make a great halftime show), as long as he kept putting up the numbers he does, I wouldn’t care. Men hate the Patriots because America loves to see a spectacular fall from grace. The better you are, the more they want to see you plummet into oblivion. Save your tired old Spygate and score running-up arguments. They’re naive and weak. You’re just looking for an excuse.

You see, it’s the New York teams everyone is supposed to hate. It’s the one truly uniting thing in the sports world. You hate New York. The Yankees? Eff them. The Jets/Giants? Eff them too. The New York Red Bull? Wait, that’s a team? Eff them anyway! Why such a sentiment? Because it’s New York. The city itself thinks it’s the best and makes sure it lets the world know as pretentiously as possible. This cockiness seeps into the sports teams–the athletes, the coaches, the fans, everything. Their swagger just makes you want to punch them all out. That’s why you hate New York teams.

Yet the Patriots faced a lot of haters this year, too. Why? Because they did well, they were in fact the greatest team the league has ever seen or will see. Not because they were cocky, not because the fans were annoying, but because they did what a team is supposed to do: win. While half the league was facing charges for mishaps at clubs, hosting dog fights or knowing the wrong people, the Patriots behaved themselves. They never talked trash about anyone, even when trash was talked about them (see the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers). The entire team, player for player, even Randy Moss, simply said they had no response, but would let the issue be decided on game day. That, my friends, is the sign of a classy team. It’s classy to the level none of us thought was possible in today’s professional sports world. But because people could not understand it, they turned, and turned big time.

These emotions existed so much so that people were praying to see the Pats get knocked off their pedestal. Despite all the hard work, luck and dedication, despite the league being designed so there could never be another 17-0 team, the country preferred to see them fall.

Let’s keep in mind that the 2007 Patriots shattered records both as a team and individually. From the blowout games of most of the season, to the closer games of the rest and the great games of the post season, the Patriots earned the right to every title they got (except the Baltimore game, that was bad). Some make the argument the Patriots had an easy division, pointing to the dismal records of the opposing teams. What most forget is that the Patriots are largely responsible for the inflated loss columns of its opponents. You don’t get to have a 17-0 season without beating every single team in the National Football League, much less the best your conference has to offer in the playoffs.

The 2007 Patriots went 18-1, a feat that has never been done before. Not the Joe Montana 49ers. Not the 1997 Packers. Not the 1998 Vikings. Not the 2001 Rams. Not the 2004 Steelers. Not even the 2005 Peyton Mannings. The Patriots are indeed the greatest professional football team ever to take the field, from their class, dedication, style, focus and aw heck, let’s throw in their record and stats, too. Instead of crying in their beers, Bostonians should be drunk with joy, because in the end, nothing can take that away. Not even a loss in the Super Bowl.

Let’s just hope the Red Sox don’t do too well this year. They could suffer the same fate of greatness.