Pats Pulpit
Since their first season in 1960, the Patriots have brought joy, frustration, pride, heartbreak and every other emotion imaginable to fans in New England, across the United States, and around the world. Look at it this way: none of us would be where we are right now if not for this team.
How did it all start, though? That’s the subject of this week’s Pats Pulpit Debates question:
First some picks from our staff, and then it’s up to the comment section for your picks.
Bernd Buchmasser: Growing up in Austria, there was only one NFL game on TV each year: the Super Bowl — a game I knew because of exposure to American culture rather than the sport itself. So, in 2002, I decided I finally wanted to see what the fuzz was all about. Obviously, my parents didn’t allow 10-year-old me to just stay up until 5 a.m. with school the next day, so they put the old VHS recorder to use so I could re-watch the game that Monday afternoon.
I only had a rudimentary understanding of the sport by the fourth quarter, but I knew that that Tom Brady guy was something special. The rest is history, for the Patriots, NFL and myself.
Of course, I didn’t get a chance to watch the truly historic part of Super Bowl XXXVI because the tape ran out midway through the fourth quarter.
Taylor Kyles: My first Patriots memory was going to the Parties-Vikings game in 2010. I thought Zoltan Mesko was the quarterback and wasn’t 100% sure who Brett Favre was.
Pat Lane: My real first Patriots memory was Patriots vs. Oilers in 1993. I was 9 and so excited to see rookie Drew Bledsoe, and instead got Scot Secules because Bledsoe was hurt.
However, the next year, my next memory, was Patriots vs. Vikings. Patriots trailing 20-0 late in the first half, and Matt Bahr is attempting a field goal. My dad turns to me and says, “If he hits this, the Patriots are winning the game.” This, of course, was insane to me, since they had played so poorly, but Bledsoe, who had attempted only 18 passes in the first half, attempted 52 in the second half and overtime, and Kevin Turner caught a touchdown pass in our end zone to win the game.
I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since.
Marima: First full Patriots season I watched intentionally was in 1985. Before that I would catch some games when my older brothers were watching on our family’s one TV — or listening to the radio during home-game blackouts. The Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox ranked above the Patsies back then, for good reason.
1985 was a fun season to watch games with my college friends and I became hooked on football, even if hockey was still my favorite. The road to the Super Bowl was as exciting as the game itself was depressing. Boxed up in my attic...
