HISTORY OF ROCK N METAL MUSIC IN THE WORLD: football

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Monday, February 2, 2015

The New England Patriots: Super Bowl Champions Again!

By monelisa Chatrine7:06 AMBoston, football, fun, New England, New England Patriots, NFL, Patriots, personal, sports, Super BowlNo comments

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. That was, hands down, one of the best football games I've EVER seen in a lifetime of watching football, and I've seen a lot of games. When Seattle's Jermaine Kearse made that crazy bobbling catch on his back late in the game, I went white as a ghost and said out to loud to my wife and kids "Oh, my God...we're going to lose a third straight Super Bowl on a freak catch." It brought back nightmarish visions of those two losses to the Giants in 2007 and 2011, both of which happened due to fluke catches with less than a minute left. My wife was telling me it wasn't over yet, but I kept fearing for the worst having seen those two heartbreakers before (as well as various Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox gut-punch losses over the years). But then, a miracle: an interception in the end zone with twenty seconds left by Malcolm Butler, a rookie who had made a great play on the previous Kearse play that still ended up being caught. Euphoria. Screaming and yelling and jumping up and down and pounding on the floor. Victory. The elusive fourth championship for this team, all of them coming since 2001. The continuation of their dynasty and their decade-and-a-half (and counting) of dominance. It was doubly sweet to silence the brash, loudmouthed (and, admittedly, supremely talented) Seahawks and spoil their quest to be the first back-to-back Super Bowl winners since the Patriots themselves in 2003 and 2004.

It's Monday morning, I'm exhausted from staying up until two in the morning to watch all of the postgame television (thankfully, I can get my Boston sports channels on DirecTV) and I have a long and busy day at work ahead of me. It's alright with me, though...last night was a fantastic time spent watching the game with family and friends and it ended in the best way possible.

My fellow Boston sports fans, please don't fail in appreciating just how incredible this run of success by the Patriots has been. Think of all of the big games we've seen, win or lose, and the great players that we've been fortunate enough to watch, none more so than Tom Brady, who cemented his place as one of the top two or three quarterbacks to ever play the game. And Bill Belichick, one of the greatest coaches in the history of sports, has been steering the ship (along with Robert Kraft, an owner any fan would love to have for their team) with a steady hand the entire time. He's loathed outside of New England for his gruff demeanor with the press and his endless gamesmanship, but they hated Red Auerbach for the same reasons, too, and all he did was win nine titles as Celtics coach and seven more as their GM. We Boston fans don't care what anyone else thinks of us or our teams. For the ninth time in fourteen years and the THIRTY-FIFTH time in sports history across all four of our teams (17 for the Celtics, 8 for the Red Sox, 6 for the Bruins, and 4 for the Patriots), we are the City of Champions and we keep our crown as the best sports city in America.

Cue the Duckboats!

Photo via Boston.com

New England Patriots in the Super Bowl Yet Again!

By monelisa Chatrine1:58 AMBoston, football, fun, New England, New England Patriots, NFL, Patriots, personal, sports, Super BowlNo comments

(NOTICE: This is meant to be a fun sports post about my favorite football team...if you feel the need to make snarky comments about any of the media-trumped up stories like "DeflateGate" or "SpyGate," I won't tolerate it unless it's in good fun or within the realm of good discussion. I'm a homer, but I'm reasonable!)

If you read this site regularly and/or follow me on Twitter, you will know that I'm a passionate fan of all of the Boston sports teams. We New Englanders are extremely passionate about our teams and are rabidly faithful to them whether they're at the top of their respective leagues or whether they're in the basement. From birth, I've followed the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins through thick and thin and I plan to continue doing so until I'm dead. My wife and I have shared this passion for our teams throughout our whole relationships and our children are now carrying on the tradition as well, which is really fun to see! The impetus for writing about all of this is that, for the 8th time in franchise history, our football team, the New England Patriots, are in the Super Bowl again, playing for their 4th championship.

The Boston teams have had an unprecedented run of success since 2000, with our teams appearing in a staggering THIRTEEN championship games/series (6 Super Bowls for the Patriots, 3 World Series for the Red Sox, 2 NBA Finals for the Celtics, and 2 Stanley Cup Finals for the Bruins), winning a whopping EIGHT of them (3 for the Patriots, 3 for the Red Sox, 1 each for the Celtics and Bruins).*** While all four franchises had a history of tradition and success prior to 2000 (apart from maybe the Patriots, who only started being successful in the early 1990s when the Krafts purchased the team, they drafted Drew Bledsoe, and they hired Bill Parcells as coach), we had gone a long time without a title (1986 Celtics) until the Patriots kicked off this run in 2001. I've written about all of this before, so I won't repeat myself any more than that, but I do want to spend the rest of this post focusing on the Patriots and their dynastic run of success.

I've been fortunate enough to have been alive during all of this and I've seen all 8 of the Pats' Super Bowl appearances:

1. Super Bowl XX in 1986, when they were a true Cinderella team, making it to the big game before getting demolished by one of the greatest defenses in NFL history, the Chicago Bears;

2. Super Bowl XXXI in 1997, led by Drew Bledsoe and the young nucleus of players who would eventually break through to success in the 2000s. They came close to beating the Green Bay Packers, but ultimately fell just a little bit short;

3. Super Bowl XXXVI in 2001, where the Patriots upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams led by a young, unknown quarterback Tom Brady, who would go on to become one of the greatest QBs in NFL history;

4. Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2003, where they defeated the Carolina Panthers in a thrilling shoot out of a game;

5. Super Bowl XXXIX in 2004, where they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, winning their third title in four years and establishing themselves as the NFL dynasty of the 2000s;

6. Super Bowl XLII in 2007, where they lost in the last minute to the inferior New York Giants on a once-in-a-lifetime play, spoiling their bid for a perfect 19-0 season. This one still rankles me because of how flukey the upset loss was, some blown calls by the refs (especially at the end of the game), and the coordinated media campaign against the Pats by ESPN, the NFL, and others who did all they could to distract the team leading up to the game (similar to what is happening with the current Super Bowl appearance);

7. Super Bowl XLVI in 2011, where again, a once-in-a-lifetime play led to another loss to the inferior Giants team (in both cases they Giants barely qualified for the playoffs), although in this case a huge drop on a critical 3rd down by Wes Welker would have won the game for the Pats;

8. Super Bowl XLIX in 2014, which is where we are now. The game is on Sunday, February 1st, and pits the Pats against the Seattle Seahawks in a battle of #1 seeds from the AFC and NFC. Seattle are the defending champs and looking to be the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Pats did so in '03/'04. The Pats are looking to finally win their 4th title and cement themselves as the greatest team of the last 20 years. Seattle coach Pete Carroll coached the Patriots immediately before Bill Belichick , and current Patriot Brandon Browner was on last season's Seattle title team. It should be a great match-up...especially if the Patriots win!

One thing I'll never do is take this run of success for granted. My kids, as well as the legions of younger/newer fans in the region, have no idea how bad things were pre-1994, when the Patriots almost moved to St. Louis and were so bad that TV broadcasts were blacked out and you could get game tickets for a song. The last 20 years have been a true blessing, and not just for the Patriots but for all of the Boston teams, each of whom variously had lean years from the 1990s until 2000. There are a couple of other titles the Pats gave away in the last decade (most notably, 2006 when they lost to a Colts team at the last minute whom they should've beaten...the resulting Super Bowl was against the putrid Chicago Bears. Even a lousy Peyton Manning beat them, and no one doubts the Patriots would have done the same). Still, you can't win them all and this run of success shows no sign of slowing down. That being said...

WE'RE ON TO SEATTLE AND THE SUPER BOWL!

(*** I always try to avoid playing the shoulda/woulda/coulda game, but there are a few titles in there we absolutely should have won and didn't. I'm not including heartbreakers like the Red Sox losing in game 7 of both the 2003 and 2008 ALCS or the Bruins losing in game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals...the teams they lost to were equally as good and it all came down to one or two small plays here and there. The ones I still have a problem with are the Celtics losing to the Lakers in game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, when some horrible officiating and the Celtics' inability to grab just one more freaking rebound saw them blow a big lead in the final few minutes to our hated rival. And the two Patriots Super Bowl losses to the Giants...in both cases, the Pats were the superior team who had no answer for the Giants' defensive pressure up front. But what still galls is that there are two plays the Patriots should have made that would have iced each win (Asante Samuel's interception-through-the-hands in 2007, Wes Welker's 3rd down drop in 2011) and two fluke plays by the Giants that would never happen 99 other times out of 100 (David Tyree's helmet catch in 2007, Mario Manningham's sideline catch in 2011). Add in the fact that Eli Manning literally closed his eyes, threw the ball up, and prayed on both of those plays, and the questionable officiating in both games (Giants' offensive line holding on that last drive in 2007, officials adding time back to the clock on Giants final drive in 2011), and those are two losses Patriots fans will never fully get over. The last one is the 2006 season, where the Patriots blew a large lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship game. Peyton Manning was absolutely horrible that postseason, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns...if not for his defense, which played horribly all season but decided to play great in that game, the Patriots would have gone on to defeat the Bears in the Super Bowl. That season's Bears team was one of the worst teams to ever make a Super Bowl. Manning and the Colts beat them easily playing a horrible game...there's no doubt Brady and the Patriots would have won it by even more. Ah well...such is sport).

Family Fanatics: We're Wicked Big Sports Fans!

By monelisa Chatrine10:36 PMbaseball, basketball, Boston, Bruins, Celtics, exercise, family, fitness, football, fun, health, hockey, New England, Patriots, personal, Red Sox, sportsNo comments

Sports are a big part of my life and always have been; I not only played them a ton when I was younger, but I still stay active both for the health benefits as well as sheer enjoyment. And of course, I've been a dedicated fan since as far back as I can remember. So when I was approached by Fanatics asking if I would participate in their Family Fanatics campaign, I jumped at the chance. Fanatics is a leading online retailer for sportswear and apparel, not only of all of the major sports leagues, but college and international sports as well. The invitation to contribute to the Family Fanatics campaign was to write about experiences where sports have brought our family together, which seemed interesting and exciting...you can read my contribution below!

There are numerous reasons why I always feel that I've been very fortunate to have lived my entire life in New England. One of those reasons has to do with being a sports fan. We're a very provincial region, loyal to and proud of our traditions and where we live, and one of the ways that this is manifested is in our devotion to our sports teams. Here in New England, we've got some of the oldest teams in each of the "Big 4" sports leagues, including a founding member of the NBA in the Boston Celtics, one of the original American League baseball teams in the Boston Red Sox, a founding member of the AFL (which was later absorbed into the NFL) in the New England Patriots, and an Original Six hockey team in the Boston Bruins. We're devoted to our teams and support them rabidly in good times and bad...no fair-weather fans here! Having grown up a sports fan and rooting for these teams, I've been able to share that passion for sports with my wife and now we are raising our four children to be fans, too. From our son constantly wearing his Red Sox hat and Celtics shirt to our daughters loving the Red Sox shirts they got after the team won the 2013 World Series, being a New England sports fan is something we do together as a family.

Luckily for our kids, they're growing up during an unprecedented run of success for our local teams. As a kid myself in the 1980s and 1990s, the only winning I knew was the sustained excellent of the Celtics, where they made five NBA Finals appearances, winning three of them. I also knew heartache, seeing the Patriots lose two Super Bowls, in 1986 and 1997, watching the Bruins come up short in the 1988 and 1990 Stanley Cup Finals, and the ultimate heartbreak that was the Red Sox and the 1986 World Series. However, my fandom never wavered, and starting in 2001 our four teams have appeared in a staggering ELEVEN championship finals combined, winning eight of them. I've been lucky enough to be able to share in watching all of these with my wife (who was a big sports fan herself before we even met) and, for the more recent ones, our kids as well. Our oldest two daughters had a lot of fun watching World Series games with me last year as we cheered the Sox on to victory again, and they had a blast at "Red Sox Day" at their school the next day, when they wore their favorite Sox shirts and hats to school. They've also known the heartbreak of defeat, seeing the Bruins lose in the Finals in 2013 and the Patriots in 2011, but that's okay...while obviously we would have been happy had our teams won, learning to lose with grace is an important life lesson; they've learned this through their own experiences playing on soccer teams, but losing as a sports fan is also good lesson for anyone to learn, especially since at the end of the day it's all in fun.

The beauty of sports is that we can sit and watch them together as a family and really have fun with it. We even have a family tradition that we started years ago that all of us really look forward each and every NFL Sunday: whenever the Patriots are playing, we have pizza delivered and enjoy a "picnic" in our living room, where we all sit in our favorite seats and have either a late lunch or early dinner (depending on whether it's a 1pm or 4pm game) of pizza while we watch the game. We have so much fun doing this, none more so than our kids, who even now are asking me how many weeks are left until football season starts again so we can resume our tradition!

In addition to watching sports as a family, we also like to participate in them together. In 2011, I decided to get back in shape and started running...I ended up losing a lot of weight, which I've kept off, and I've continued running regularly to the present day; it's something I can't imagine not doing for the rest of my life. Since then, the whole family has taken to running 5k races together and we have had a lot of fun doing it. It's also been a great way for us to set an example for the kids that regular exercise and a healthy and active lifestyle should be an important part of their lives. This summer we had our most fun yet, participating in the Finish at the Fifty race at Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots, during the Independence Day weekend. Even though it was the hottest day of the summer (at a scorching 95 oF with unbearable humidity), we had a blast spending the day together. Our three youngest kids did the fun run, my wife and our oldest ran the 5k, and I ran the 10k. As an added bonus, all of the races ended on the field at the 50-yard line and it was a real treat to be able to walk and run on the same field where we watch our beloved Patriots play every week during football season! The entire experience was great for our family in many different ways. In preparation for the race, my wife and two oldest daughters started running a few days a week in order to get ready for their 5k, while I ramped up my mileage in order to prepare for the 10k. On race day, we arrived early in order to enjoy the family activities that were set up all over Patriot Place before we got ready to run. First, our youngest three did the kids fun run, then my wife and oldest did the 5k, and finally, I ran the 10k. While the oppressive heat and humidity made the running quite miserable (if I'm being honest) and we all ran slower on purpose in order to avoid heat-related exhaustion, overall the day was a ton of fun. We cheered each other on during our races, proudly wore the medals we received, took pictures of each other crossing the finish line...the best part was just spending a wonderful day together as a family. Even the hour-long drive back home later that night was fun, since we were all so excited about what we had done and it was a relief to spend the time in an air-conditioned car! What it really showed us is that not only does being sports fans bring us together and allow us to spend quality family time, but so does participating in them!