Sports Fans: Die Hard or Ride the Wave?

It was 1976. I lay under the coffee table (mostly to stay out of the way and not get stepped on) with a bowl of chips and a soda. I watched The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys play each other in Super Bowl X. Up to that point I had played t-ball and soccer in youth leagues. My sports fandom was in it's infancy and I had no real idea what being a sports fan meant.

We lived in the Northern reaches of Maine at the time and we were secluded enough that there was no way to watch a pro game live. Both my brothers were football fans and because of that, they encouraged me to be one too.
That summer (1977) I decided I would find a football team to follow and learn about. That's when I found the New England Patriots captained by none other the Steve Grogan. From that point on, I was a New England Patriots fan and it was a bumpy ride. Players came and went, but my support never waivered. I proudly wore my 2 Jerseys, 14 for Grogan and 56 for Andre Tippett.

1986, Super Bowl XX and it was the Mighty Chicago Bears vs the upstart New England Patriots. Talk about being an underdog! My Patriots were slaughtered. It was ugly. But, my bright spot was that Grogan came in and drove the team to their first 1st down and managed to score 10 points against what is still considered to be one of the best defenses ever produced.

The rest of the 80's and early 90's were a definite slump. The Patriots never made the playoffs again until 1994 when Purcell's came on board. Then we drafted Curtis Martin and Bledsoe had a good year. Martin got rookie of the year honors and Purcells was making a good team.

1996, we made it back to the Superbowl! We lost to the Packers, but was a good game. Turns out Purcells signed with the Jets 2 minutes after the game. I don't think his heart was in the game.

2001...Bledsoe gets hurt and their 6th round draft pick wiped his nose and became a legend. Brady would continue his role as QB right up to present day.

At first, EVERYONE jumped on the Patriots bandwagon. They were the upstarts, the ones that turned the league upside down, and they kept on winning, and winning and winning until it became uncool. Apparently you can become too good and the bandwagon moved on. Now it's sighs of protest. "Again?!" they cry as the Patriots go to their 11th Superbowl. It is a rather amazing feat. I couldn't be a prouder fan.

I will dig out my Grogan Jersey, I will open my bag of chips and I will toast my Patriots on Superbowl Sunday and I hope they CRUSH the Rams.

What's YOUR Story?