You are incredible. It took less than a week for you to rain on the parade. You couldn't just let us have our fun and relish in our glory. You had to go and wreck it all. Well, go ahead. Because the feeling that I got last Sunday night when Adam Vinatieri's kick split that upright isn't something that I'm going to forget anytime soon.
In your rambling, jealousy, and hate-filled rant last week, you made but one undeniably true statement. The Patriots' win was perfect. It was everything anybody from New England could have dreamed of. The Patriots epitomized team play and hard work, both of which paid off.
We are the champions. There can be no doubters anymore. Nobody saying, "they don't have the talent", "the Rams are unbeatable", or (as you yourself so aptly put it) "teams from New England just don't win."
This team from New England did win. It beat the unbeatable. It dreamed the undreamable and did the undoable. Forget David and Goliath. This was like David versus Goliath and a thousand of his cousins (all of whom can run the 40 in two seconds flat). New England won, and it kills you.
You yourself were witness to the utter joy that was New England after that game. It was the release of 43 years of frustration for Patriots fans who had been waiting for that moment since 1959. This was unlike anything most New Englanders had ever experienced, and it was awesome: grown men reduced to tears; screaming fans, drunk with joy, running through the streets.
So what if there were chants for other teams? This wasn't just a championship for a football team; it was a championship for a whole region. You say that we don't know how to celebrate a championship? I say that we know better than anyone. The post-game celebrations were raw, unadulterated emotion. It was pure bliss for six states that had, for the most part, never experienced anything quite like it before in their lives.
You say we didn't focus our attention in the right direction, that we should have concentrated on the team that won and nothing else. See, Fowler, there's no such thing as concentrating on one team when you're in New England. When you're a New England fan, you're not just a fan of one team. You love four franchises, for better or worse. Unlike New York, there is only one team for every sport. We don't have three football teams, three hockey teams, two baseball teams, and essentially two basketball teams from which to choose. Being a Patriots fan basically implies being a Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics fan. Four sports, four teams.
When our team is down, we can't just turn around and have another one right there. We have to stick it out, through the bad times and the good. We can't be like a certain Mets fan (DANIEL FOWLER), who, when the Mets are down, suddenly becomes a Yankees fan. It doesn't work that way. So when one of our teams wins, it is a victory for all of them. It's called loyalty.
I'm sorry that you have to win to enjoy sports. I really am. Because the truth is, you have never experienced the kind of joy that I have from winning a championship. You have never felt absolutely overcome and overwhelmed by the fact that you're team is unequivocally the best. As you said yourself, you've become accustomed to it. Eleven championships in your lifetime alone, and there isn't enough money in the world to make me want to trade places.
There's an old saying that goes, "Success comes sweetest to those who ne'er succeed." One has to experience failure and defeat to truly appreciate victory. You don't know what this is like, because when one of your teams loses, you can just turn to another one from the same city. You aren't a fan of a team at all; you're a fan of a city and of winning. And you say we have an inferiority complex.
New Yorkers are so scared of losing they make sure they have a backup for every team. Nearly every New York fan I know is a diehard supporter of one team - until that team starts losing. Mets fans are loyal to the Mets until they don't make the playoffs, at which point they become Yankees fans. It's J-E-T-S, Jets Jets Jets, unless, of course, the Giants are in the Superbowl instead. It's enough to make me sick.
The entire state of New York is so high on itself that it refuses to allow anyone else to enjoy winning. If you are so secure and happy with your greatness, then why do you have to trash on New England during their one victory? It's true that a "Yankees suck" chant is out of place during a Superbowl celebration, and I will be the first to admit that the Yankees do not suck. But why should it matter to you so much?
You're right in saying that a Patriots victory doesn't mean that the Bruins will win the Stanley Cup. It doesn't mean that the Celtics are going to the finals, and it doesn't mean that the Red Sox are taking the series. But for 43 years the Patriots could not win a championship, and now they are kings. Why can't we have hope for our other teams?
Because you refuse to let us. You tyrannical killjoys hate to see anybody else tasting a victory. Your grip on sports dominance has slipped for just a minute, so you have to go ahead and reassure everyone in New England that we really aren't that good, so don't enjoy this too much. You sit up high on your throne, and look down on everybody else in the sporting world.
"My name is New York, King of Kings. Look on my championships, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Get down off of your high horse, New York. We are the champions. And we plan on enjoying it.
Sincerely,
Ethan Austin
