Sports

Obnoxious Patriots fans ruin otherwise phenomenal Super Bowl

By Levi Lorenzo ’19

Tags sports

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. For Falcons’ fans, that is. For three-plus quarters on Sunday evening, no one was having more fun than Falcons fans, except probably anyone who hates the Patriots or their fan base. There is no better feeling that watching Pats fans sulk as their team loses. Alternatively, there is no worse feeling than the annoying barrage of Pats fans bragging about how great “they” are, while using first person pronouns about an accomplishment that had absolutely nothing to do with. That is the scene that I have witnessed since James White broke the plane of the goal line in Overtime to secure the Pats’ fifth Super Bowl victory. Going to class on Monday morning as a non-Pats fan was like what I imagine it would be to wake up as a Democrat in rural Texas the morning after Donald Trump’s election. The difference is that not even Trump supporters are as obnoxious as Pats fans. I think Bill Belichick is a football genius, in spite of his Wesleyan education, and I respect Tom Brady and company’s football tal- ent and perseverance. The game was a gritty display of toughness; it was an incredible comeback and one of the best Super Bowls ever. Sadly, Pats fans ruin the greatness of this event. I will not remember this game as great football. All I associate with Super Bowl LI is obnoxious, whiny Pats fans sulking for three quarters and then rubbing their victory in my face. Pats fans must be compensating for something else lacking in their life and so must find something to boost their ego. At the end of the day, Brady gets to go home to his beautiful wife and bask in the glory of the five rings on his fingers, while everyone else must wake up Monday morning and go on with their lives. Me, I will take the achievements I have earned. I hope you enjoy riding the coattails of the men who actually worked hard for a championship and I hope you feel good about yourselves making everyone hate you.

The problem with the Patriots is not the team but their fans. As much as it pains me to say this, I envy Tom Brady. I would love to say that I despise Brady because of who he is as a person but that really means that he is the person I want to be, minus the uggs. He is a five-time Super Bowl Champion and is the greatest quarterback of all-time. He is, I will admit it, a good-looking guy and his wife is absolutely gorgeous. I should have nothing but respect for this man, but his image is ruined by his fan base. When you are truly great at something, you do not have to tell people, they just know; Brady knows this. His fans, however, will incessantly brag about him and defend his legacy as if people who are not Patriots fans cannot read a stat sheet. As a Giants fan I hate the Cowboys, because they are division rivals but also because Jerry Jones is a repugnant human being; however, I do not have an issue with the Cowboys’ fan base.

Why are Patriots fans so awful, then? Maybe it is because Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the fifth, sixth, and seventh wealthiest states in the nation, respectively. Combine this with the success of Boston sports teams over our lifetimes and you get the most spoiled fan base in the country. This generation of Boston sports fans has unfair expectations about success. The Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002 and 2003, the Red Sox won the Series in 2004, the Patriots won again in ’05, the Sox in ’07, the Celtics in ’08, the Bruins in ’11, the Sox again in ’13, and finally the Patriots in ’15 and again last Sunday. Boston fans will tell you it is just envy, but Millennial Boston sports fans are ungracious winners and losers. When their teams lose, they accept no sympathy because non-Pats fans apparently “don’t understand what it’s like to lose when you’re used to winning all the time” and deflect all criticism. Then, when they win, they gloat about their victories to no end.

Older Boston fans are not like this and this generation’s fans seem to forget the general futility of Boston sports in the past. Not one major Boston sports team won a champi- onship between the Celtics victory in 1986 and the Pats Super Bowl XXXVI victory in 2002. While the Celtics have a history of success, the Red Sox, Bruins and Pats won a combined two championships in the 60 years between the Bruins’ victory in 1941 and the first of the Pats’ five championships. Anyone who has suffered through any sig- nificant length of the Red Sox 86-year drought understands how it feels to lose. When you have suffered, when you have lost you have empathy and, thus, sympathy.

The lack of suffering, in conjunction with the ubiquitous presence of sports in our modern lives, makes Pats fans unbearable. Professional sports used to be an escape, now they consume people’s lives. With the constant presence of social media, along with a general ignorance of and ambivalence towards real-world issues, profes- sional sports occupy much of the lives of fans of our generation. Millennials live and die by their sports teams; an attack on one’s team is perceived as an attack on him or her as an individual. When one is worried about putting food on the table or being attacked by the Soviets, sports tend to matter less. Privilege and sheltering have prevented young Pats fans, along with fans of other teams, from realizing how meaningless professional sports are in the grander scheme of the world. These fans feed off of Barstool Sports, an organization that earns its profit making fun of other sports team and objectifying women. The Wikipedia page for Barstool describes it as a “...satirical sports and men’s lifestyle blog...” however, it would more accurately be described as a boy’s lifestyle blog. While they may be merely exploiting a market, I hope they can live with the fact that they make no positive contribution to society and, quite frankly, their website is filth. Grow up, Dave Portnoy (founder of Barstool). In a world with so many legitimate problems, Barstool sends the wrong message to young Americans.

In closing, Pats fans deserve all the hatred they get and I assume most Pats fans do not really care. But heed warning, one day Tom Brady will retire and one day the Pats will no longer be the cream of the crop in the NFL. When that happens, do not come crying to me for sympathy.

All Sports