Thank You Tom

This is the first piece of writing I've done in quite some time, and it's on the heels of watching the New England Patriots get shockingly ousted in the first wild card game at Gillette Stadium in exactly a decade by the Tennessee Titans. It was a difficult sight to see, with many emotions filling my head and my heart. As far as I'm concerned, my diehard sports fandom began on September 23rd, 2001 aka Brady's first appearance (no offense to Drew Bledsoe). This spurned a run by the Pats and on January 19th, 2002 in the AFC divisional round, we're introduced to the Tuck Rule. The Patriots lined up in a snow globe against the Oakland Raiders, were granted a generous call that would change the game forever and went on to beat the greatest show on turf, aka the St. Louis Rams on February 3, 2002. Since then, it's been the greatest ride a sports fan could ever imagine.

First of all, I'm not sure where to begin. It's been many months since I've written something (9.5 out of 10 times about golf) and this comes as sort of an unfortunate circumstance. Last night was the first wild card game to be played in Foxboro, MA in exactly 10 years. This was a game which could have easily been avoided, had the New England Patriots actually given a shit last week against the Miami Dolphins. Instead? They showed up sluggishly to the stadium and allowed 59-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick to embarrass them all the way to an easily avoidable wild card game.

Witnessing one of the worst games in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era, there has been numerous speculation that this would be the last time we see Brady in a Pats jersey. This simply can't be true, can it? Regardless of what he decides literally months from now, being a New England sports fan would absolutely not happen had Drew Bledsoe not been hurt back in 2001.

So where to even begin to describe what these last 20 years meant to someone like me? Do we start with Vinatieri hitting the game-winning field goal with zero seconds left against the Rams? Do we follow it up two years later for back to back nail biters against Jake 'The Snake' Delhomme and again against Donovan McNabb in 2003-04? What if these Super Bowl wins never happen? What if we lost to Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers? Would the momentum Boston Red Sox have beaten the curse later that year? Would we not have witnessed Andy Reid and his disgraced clock management the following February? These are all questions I don't care to answer, nor should I.

Following three Super Bowls and a World Series championship, there appeared to be a bit of a lull in terms of world championships. If this run in the early 2000's stopped after we beat the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005, I'd honestly be just fine. There were some solid years watching championships be won and the memories of those four events I'll cherish forever. But guess what? More shit happened.

Flash ahead to the fall of 2007, I'm a freshman in college. The exact day I moved into school, I watched Clay Buchholz throw a no-hitter later that night. Two months later, I was running through campus after sweeping the Colorado Rockies (suck on that one). Once school got out in the spring, it was a mere month later I watched the Celtics win the NBA Championship against the LA Lakers. That's an entire documentary-worthy story in itself, but the focus is on me here. The timing of these wins came at an unbelievable time in my life. Thinking back to the first three Super Bowls, I was in middle school. I was an obnoxious 13-15-year-old begging for rides places from my parents and still remember vividly watching the Panthers and Eagles Super Bowls at pal Sam Marcisso's house. Memories I'll never forget. Being in college for not one championship, but three championships (Red Sox '07, Celtics '08 and Bruins '11) was truly something I never could have imagined. The actual insane thing about this? We weren't finished.

Okay seriously, three Super Bowls, two World Series, an NBA Championship and Stanley Cup Championship by the time I graduated college is enough. Please stop, nothing can beat this...L.O.L.

The entire championship timeline, from 2000-2019, can easily be factored into incredibly important stages of my life. The early success of the Patriots, followed by the three Super Bowls were at a time of youth where no cell phones, driver licenses or alcohol need not apply. From '07-'11...college. Being a student at a school in Massachusetts during these wins is truly indescribable. And then there are the parades, which are a scene in itself. The '07 Red Sox parade and the '11 Bruins parade will both be days I'll never forget, mainly for the people I was with.

But what about post-college? I don't mean in terms of sports, but what about life? College is over, and everyone is fucked. Every decision you make it on you and no one else. It's a totally different life at this point, except if you're a sports fan in New England.

World Series' in 2013 and 2018, and Super Bowls in 2014, 2016 and 2018 (holy shit this is insane) filled up the remainder of the decade. The Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals yet again, followed by beating the LA Dodgers within two weeks of me moving to Colorado. A mere four months later in 2019, the Patriots struggle against the LA Rams but eventually claim yet another trophy. I mentioned I moved to Colorado in 2018, which just illustrates this next part of life in the post-college years. It's been truly special.

Now with the good, there is an equal amount of the bad. I don't think we as fans, nor the actual Patriots team will never be able to talk shit to NY Giants fans for the rest of time. With our six championships, there are two loses both to the Giants and again to the Eagles in 2018. In 2010, the Celtics couldn't follow the success of 2008 and lost big to the Lakers. Finally, in 2013 the Bruins let a 2-1 series lead slip away against the Chicago Blackhawks and they continued their dominance with another Stanley Cup in the 2010's.

So what do these last 20 years in sports mean to me? For starters, how the fuck have I been alive long enough to say something like "wow, these last 20 years have flown by." I choose not to spend too much time thinking about that, albeit true. In the early 2000's I did nothing but play sports and spend time with my best friends. In the mid to late 2000's I grew up (somewhat) and developed new friends and relationships, and STILL watched championships happen. And finally, entering the working world and making major life moves geographically, we are still winning. Think about fans in Philadelphia? Florida? Arizona? Cleveland (HA)? Even in New York, the Yankees are obviously the Yankees but the Knicks will never win? In Philly, the Phillies had that one World Series and Super Bowl, but the Flyers SUCK and the 76ers run their mouths instead of plays. And people in LA are too busy giving a shit about climate change than to pay attention to the four or five NFL teams that are inhabiting the city.

In short, New England sports will forever shape my life. In this part of the country, we're pissed off, have attitudes and get entirely too aggressive in traffic. And we're the luckiest sons of bitches in the history of sport, and you can take that straight to the trophy case...if you can find room.