Get Benched, Pat Bradley (OT)

This is protected material. Soccer fans and people from Boston should not click through. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Why do we have to watch the Patriots all the time? I don't want to watch the Patriots. There are 28 32 teams in the NFL—let someone else have a chance once in a while. Maybe Patriots fans can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure people from Boston are tired of the Patriots too. They yearn for peaceful seasons when things are over by late Fall and they don't have to hear about the Patriots any more. Who wants to hear about the Patriots year after year after year? I want some variety.

They're like the Yankees. Who can get all that interested in baseball when the Yankees have won so many World Series? There have been 113 World Series and the Yankees have won 27 times. Math is not my best thing, but that's like one out of two. Or maybe it just seems that way. It's been a blissful eight years since the Yankees won a World Series, and don't think the rest of the country isn't grateful for the break. Thank you, Yankees. Now how about you, Patriots?

Why hasn't that coach of theirs retired like most successful coaches do? I don't trust his eyes. He just looks like a guy you wouldn't let watch your wallet. Most coaches win a few times over eight or ten years and then go rest on their laurels or start a racing team.

Are they going to win tomorrow? Of course they are. The Patriots always win. And Pat Brady* is going to play forever. The Giants benched Eli Manning. I'm over 50 and Pat Brady has been crushing hopes and dreams since I was about nine. I'm tired of watching that guy. I want him to get benched. He's had his turn.

New England Patriots superstar quarterback Pat Brady Tom Bradley
before his first Superbowl and as he appears today

Forgive me for not being a true American and rooting for the overdog, but Go, Washington Generals!

Name withheld for reasons of self-preservation

*I'm just trying to be funny. The correct name is Tom Bradley. As everyone knows.

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Featured Comments from:

Paul Richardson: "Well, I'll say this about that. We Boston fans, having our hands full already with the angst-inducing Red Sox for decade after decade, also had to suffer with the perennial loser Patriots from 1960 until 2001, so I have a hard time feeling bad about their current success. This is a team that traded away Jim Plunkett, lost a super bowl trip to the Raiders on a phony roughing the passer call, and had a head coach (Clive Rush) nearly electrocute himself in his introductory press conference. Given his coaching ability, they might have been better off if he had. For decade after decade, they sucked. So, again, I don't feel bad about them winning. It's up to those other teams to beat them. And it won't last forever, you can be sure. So cheer up."

[Sunday morning] Paul Richardson adds: "Not to rub salt into the wound, but last night Bradley, or whatever his name is, won the MVP award."

Mike replies: And you just rolled your eyes, right? "Not him again. Sheesh." Spread the wealth around! Whatever happened to parity?

David Lee: "I love football. Tonight I am watching Barcelona vs. Espanyol. This other thing with guys in pantyhose and helmets using their heads as hammers I couldn't care less."

Mike replies: Hey! You and Richardson were warned!

As I write this, Barcelona vs. Espanyol is 0-0 at halftime. Sounds exciting. But hey, hope you are enjoying it.

James Weekes: "Grew up a Yankee fan, met the Mick when I was ten. I remember a parking garage near the stadium that had its rates on a brass sign. They were:

Day game 50 cents
Night game 75 cents
Double header $1.00
World Series $1.25

"So, I have been on the other side. Also a Knicks and Rangers fan, usually woeful. And a NY football Giants fan. They have had a decent record against the Patsies in the big game. People should relax. Brady will retire within eight years as will Belichek. Then there will be a new team to hate. I am rooting for New England because as a Giants fan I have spent 60 years hating the Iggles and see no reason to change."

Mike replies: I guess I always root against the powerhouses. Used to hate the Cowboys (they used to be good, for all of you younger people out there—heh heh). The peak of my football fandom took place in D.C. in the Gibbs years (first tenure, '81–'92), which were exciting years to be a Redskins fan. No, I never was a fan of their racist name, but Washington is a very socially disparate city and the 'Skins united very different segments of the population—including the bridging of racial divides (ironic, but positive). The Cowboys, Giants, and Raiders are the teams we hated the most because they were the ones that most often snuffed out the Redskins' hopes.

I had a black-and-white TV (hard to find even then) in the studio darkroom with a sheet of rubylith covering the screen so I could watch Redskins games while printing.

If you ask me football hasn't been the same since Dave Butz retired. Big Dave held two distinctions (among many others) which are unusual enough alone but especially rare together: biggest guy in the NFL and oldest guy in the NFL.

Hope everyone has fun at their Superbowl parties tonight. Go Iggles!

Comments

[-et-]

In case anyone has forgotten, there was even a popular Broadway show created many decades ago with the title (and subject) "Damn Yankees".

- Tom -

[Speed]

You could always adopt the Cleveland Browns. Please! They might win a game or two in the FLYFCL -- the Finger Lakes Youth Football and Cheerleading League.

[Leon Droby]

I'm from Boston. Not tired of the Patriots.
(Sorry.)

[JOHN GILLOOLY]

From a LinkedIn post last week that is directly connected:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6362444925107208192

John Gillooly

[Eric Rose]

There's a football game?

[Mark Kinsman]

Football ended in 1986.

[You from Chicago? --Mike]

[Rick_D]

Hi Mike,

Possibly first in to caution that since last you checked the NFL has added enough teams for 32, which rather adds to your point.

Patriots have effectively replaced Dallas as the go-to team for non-fans to root for and yes, join the Yankees, Lakers and Man United in serving that purpose. It's sunny and warm so I won't be bothered to watch tomorrow. Maybe go make some photos?

[kevin willoughby]

Living not far from where the Patriots play their home games, I get frustrated every time they play. The major road in that area (so major it is called Route 1) is turned into a parking lot.

BTW: they don't play in Boston, they play in a suburb: Foxboro.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I admit to being glad that at least the Vikings aren't going to be playing in it. We still have to cope with the rather major disruptions of having that damned game here.

[Peggy Collins]

ALL HAIL THE PUPPY BOWL!!!

Also love their kitten half time.

(On Animal Planet)

((We don't need no stinkin' football.))

[Mark Roberts]

I live in Boston. Yes, I'm tired of the Patriots. I'm also tired of Marc Marquez (look him up) but I don't expect that to make any difference in 2018 either.

[Jim A]

The Yankees need to bring back George Costanza.

[Barry Braunstein]

Let's also not forget the 16-0 regular season and they got beat. Who I feel bad for? The Bruins and Celtics both are having a great year with young rosters yet you need a magnifying glass to find coverage of them in the papers. And even with the Patriots winning us Bostonians always feel like they're only 1 play Away from disaster!

[I get it. Probably stemming from Red Sox history. In 2004, my Sox fan friend Eddie had to leave the room for half an inning each time the Cards were at bat. With three titles in the modern era he still has "PCSD," "post-curse stress disorder." --Mike]

[Ned Bunnell]

Pats 31-28
MVP Dion Lewis

[Rob Griffin]

In the 50's and 60's the Yankees were my team because of a guy name Mantle. If the Giants had been on the game of the week as much as the Yankees, knowing what I know now, I would have been a Giants fan because of a guy named Mays. The power of the media was in effect even back then.

[Frank Petronio]

XFL!

[James]

Commiserations to Vikings fans, at least your new stadium gets to go to a Super Bowl!

[marcin wuu]

I hear there's places bas things happen to them folks as would call football soccer. Just sayin'.

[Maggie Osterberg]

In the first game of the season, Tommy "Thimble-Belly" Brady and his Pats(ies) got beat by The Kansas City Chiefs.

I will hold on to that wonderful memory all day today.

[Jim Freeman]

Sic transit gloria mundi, eventually.

[wts]

Photographers should cheer for Mrs. Brady, who has probably helped far more photographers earn a living than her husband has.

[Tim McGowan]

Mike, your true calling, comedy writing. Too funny.

[David Brown]

Really, Mike, you know the Yankees have not won 1 of every 2 World Series. Its ONLY 1 of 4!

[Yes. Makes it seem like the deck is stacked. --Mike]

[Chuck Albertson]

Thanks for the reminder -- to book spring training tickets! Nothing brightens the gloom of a typical EI 1600 winter day in Seattle like the prospect of a week in the desert sun.

Only 10 days until pitchers and catchers report.

[hugh crawford]

A lot of people I know say that NYC would be so much nicer if you could only get rid of all the Yankee fans. I have a brother in law who insisted on wearing a Yankees hat on an extended family outing watching a game from the second row of the Baltimore Orioles owners box over the dugout. A whole game of players prairie dogging to see what was up with the guy in the Yankees hat.

My current sojourn in the San Francisco Bay area is enhanced by a dominant professional sports team with the fan t-shirts that are so cryptic that they don't mention the name of the team, city or sport, just saying "the city" or to confuse things occasionly "the town"

[James Weekes]

You always root against the big guys!?!? Two words: Green Bay;~}}

[Glenn Allenspach]

Take a deep breath, google Steve Goodman's “A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request,” and think back to those Good Ole Days of October 2016.

[James]

Well Mike, the game was as good as the adverts for a change.
But I absolutely LOVED the result. A great night for real football fans everywhere.
Except maybe in New England.

[Peter Mc Convill]

Not many teams can make me cheer for the Patriots however the Eagles are one of that small cadre. Ever since they signed Michael Vick post prison time I have hoped they never win a superbowl - ever! Some evil cant be forgiven.

Note - at the time I wrote this I know they won and it sucks.

[Dave New]

I especially liked the RAM commercial with the Vikings packed in the cab and the bed of the truck, all heading to Minneapolis.

That is, until they realized that the Phillies and Pats were playing (and not the Vikings), so they did a U-turn and headed back to Iceland.

You can see it here, on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqg5oc20nxk

And the extended cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvFb0W04HO8&t=9s

Along with the disclaimer, shown at the bottom of the screen: "Never ride in the bed of a truck unless you are an authentic Viking."

The ad featured a couple of cameos, Magnús Ver Magnússon (a famous Viking, 4x strongman champion), and Roger Taylor (from Queen, rowing the boat).