Gamesmanship

This column is addressed to you foot ball fans out there who are fortunate enough to root for the strong majority in the NFL--Miami, Washington and Dallas, to name a few.

Have you ever considered the plight to those who support the unfortunate New England Patriots? Have you ever given an operative thought to what a poor, often-kicked-around individual he is? What kind of pressure he takes week after week? What sort of frustration builds inside him while he watches Chuck Fairbanks and his Foxboro Follies? What sort of optimist this great fan must be to sit through four periods of a Pats game?

Although I know it's is crazy to admit in the media to such un-politic behavior, I must take the blame--but not the responsibility--for being a New England Patriots fan.

In my case the cover-up all started three years ago, when the Pats drafted Jim Plunkett and somehow pulled off a quasi-successful season, ending the year near the 500 mark, "Gee," my advisers counseled, "it's perfectly clear that with Plunkett this squad is the team of the future, they can't help but get better next season."

Well, I, like many other overzealous residents of this regions, was duped into believing in the Patriots at that point in time. After all, the New York Gaints, the team that had the hearts of many during the period when the Patriots were foundering, were again and out of touch with their constituency. The Pats looking young, exciting and cleancut.

But why, you ask, am I still cheering for a squad that had a dismal record of 3-11 last season and an 0-2 start this year? The answer to that, my fellow New Englanders, is probably why you should feel sorry for the Patriots fan who is wallowing in enternal defeat.

The appointment this year of a new head coach, Chuck Fairbanks, only served to strengthen my optimism, in spite of warnings from many that nothing would save this mortally wounded squad. Similar to Plunkett's joining of 'the team, Fairbanks's arrival in Foxboro appeared to forbode improvement.

After all, even if Fairbanks did happen to leave Oklahoma before a big football recruiting scandal, one must venerate this public servant--one of the finest I have known--for accepting the coaching job. After all, America couldn't stand the Pats.

I paid for tickets to the Patriots-Redskins exhibition game this summer--with many own funds of course--and sat through the entire game. The Pats led through the first half, only to be routed in the second. What non-monetary reward did I get for my support? Such fatigue that I had to spend most of that night in the emergency ward of a New Bedford hospital recovering from a Foxboro hot dog.

I ask you, could somebody be trying to tell me something?