Jack Attack Tuesday – 2/3/15 – #4
Jack Attack Tuesday
#4
When I was 13 years old, I started watching football. At the time, there was a lot of strife and stress around me (more than a kid that age should have to deal with in hindsight) and football was an outlet for me. This predated my discovery of the film world and gave me something to look forward to week after week. The year was 2001 and it was immediately after 9/11 that I remember getting together around the TV once a week to sit and root for the New England Patriots, a team led by quarterback Drew Bledsoe, a guy whose name I was familiar with from passing conversation. I remember watching that first game where Bledsoe went down and being pretty much lost, as his was the only name I knew on the team. Of course, this was the game where backup quarterback Tom Brady took the field against the AFC East rival New York Jets. The Pats lost that game 10-3, but the subsequent season saw the Patriots rallying to get to the Super Bowl, and for the first time in the event’s history, choosing to be introduced as a team.
There was something that even to this day gives me chills about the Pats taking the field here. The focus on team effort and performance was front and center, and the Pats went on to their first Super Bowl victory in team history. Within the following three years they would win two more.
I’ve been lucky to grow up at this time in Boston sports history. I’m no huge Sox fan, but I love going to Fenway. The Bruins are what they are, and again, not big on hockey but I enjoy watching a game now and again. The Celtics, never really been much into basketball either. All that being said, Boston and New England has been spoiled over the past 15 years, and I have to believe it was rekindled with this first Super Bowl win. The Pats have been consistent, quality and dominant for a long time, but their two Super Bowl losses, in the eyes of many, were chinks in the armor, proving that despite all the effort, the Pats were human after all.
I remember watching the first Pats/Giants Super Bowl and experiencing the David Tyree helmet catch in disbelief. I still can’t believe that catch happened, but it did, and it was a hell of a play. It sucked for us, but it was a hell of a play, I would never take that away from the guy. Then the second Bowl where we gave the Giants a safety that ended up being the death-blow was also crushing, but admittedly not as much as the first one was. So cut to this past Sunday, where the emotion, intensity and dedication to this team reached its apex.
Much like the Seahawks, the Patriots are, in their better seasons, a team of athletes. Everyone has a part to play in order to secure the win, and I think this Super Bowl proves that the team has to be able to perform and do their job when asked to. I give credit to the Seahawks and Pete Carroll for sticking to their in-your-face aggression for all 60 minutes. I can even understand why he called the throw at the end of the game instead of handing the ball off to Beast Mode for the go-ahead touchdown given the situation he was facing. You had a classic case of a player making a world-class play when he had to, and that is just the way it goes. It sucks, Hawks fans, and I almost feel for you, but talk to me when you get robbed in two different Super Bowls then I’ll try and squeeze out a fucking tear for you.
It was a big game that could have easily gone the other way, but it didn’t. Ammon, here and now, hats off to the team. Seriously, this is no bullshit. I really thank you for the competition and most of all for Michael Bennett jumping over the line and helping us secure the win in the end. Also, for allowing Russell Wilson to make that bonehead throw and cost you the game and/or the rarefied air the Patriots exist in of winning back-to-back Super Bowls. Most of all, thank you for this:
Luckily, this is it for a while on Pats talk, so I’ll be back to my usual bullshit next week. Binge on!