Ben Schwartz writes :
“Not being a football fan, I will let the experts around here debate this Slate piece on the Patriots, ‘the lamest dynasty in sports’ ever?”
“The most memorable image of New England’s 24-21 victory in Super Bowl XXXIX wasn’t Tom Brady hoisting his third Lombardi Trophy or the traditional confetti drenching the field at the final gun. Rather, it was a third quarter cutaway to Bill Clinton, who was seated in a luxury box with a look of utter boredom on his ordinarily expressive mug. Forty-two has always had a clear sense of what is hip. The New England Patriots, despite their third Super Bowl win in four years, are anything but.”
That’s the same Bill Clinton, by the way, whose clear sense of hip has included blowing sax alongside Arsenio Hall and being blown by Monica Lewinsky. Slate’s Robert Weintraub says bring back “the Jimmy-Troy-Emmitt-Irvin-Deion-Jerry Cowboys.”, to which I can only say, good luck with that one. As though there wasn’t some jackass writing “bring back the Bradshaw-Greene-Harris-Noll Steelers” when the Cowboys were riding roughshod over the NFL.
Granted, the Patriots are hardly the most glamorous of dynasties, nor have they produced one notable fashion plate, quote machine, guy-you-love-to-hate, etc. Which, I suppose , for persons uninterested in the game itself, is pretty fucking boring.
Classic Clinton- When asked who was going to win he starts mealy mouthing about the Eagles defense and trails off…
you gotta love the chutzpah of the media who normally go out of their way to lionize the sort of “team-first” attitude that the Patriots exemplify and then complain that they’re boring when they win. as much as they all feign horror at the antics of T.O., Randy Moss, Deion, Canseco, etc. they secretly love them because they take away the pressure of actually coming up with ideas or (god forbid!) writing about the game itself.
football itself could hardly be considered “hip” before Namath came onto the scene and brought the media spotlight with him. personality never won a football game, but i would say that Brady is certainly reaching fashion plate status, while Rodney Harrison certainly has a reputation as a “guy-you-love-to-hate”. how is Brady any more boring than Troy Aikman? isn’t Corey Dillon more interesting than Emmitt in some ways? who wouldn’t rather watch Harrison’s hard-nosed play over Sanders “Step ‘n’ Fetchit” routine? what’s the personality difference between Jimmy Johnson and Belichick outside of the hair (OK, i may to concede on that one)? would everyone be happier if Deion Branch was found doing lines off of a stripper’s ass?
perhaps the XFL needs to be revived after all to placate those for whom a Super Bowl decided by 3 points is unexciting.
I have no knowledge that Weintraub had previously built up the Pats for the purpose of knocking them down later. Perhap he was legitimately bored. But I still maintain that SB XXXIX, while not the most exciting ever, was hardly an uninteresting contest. The game was tied after every quarter but the 4th and the underdog had the ball with a chance to win in the final minute. As far as the not-so-nasty Dynasty is concerned, I’m admittedly biased having grown up watching Jim Plunkett, Sam “Bam” Cunningham and seasons where finishing 7-7 would’ve been considered cause for celebration. By contrast, winning ONE Super Bowl. let alone 3 in 4 years, is an insane embarrassment of riches.
It doesn’t surprise me one bit that a lot of people find Tom Brady’s “aw shucks” routine a little tired, along with Belichik’s rise to Christ-like status despite never having said an interesting thing on record. But unless you’re planning on marrying either one of them, who gives a fuck? It’s what happens between the lines that counts, and on that level, what they’ve achieved is staggering. If you want to argue they’ve gone about it in a boring manner, go right ahead, but I’d counter that Weintraub or anyone else would have to be a rather casual fan of the game to not appreciate the style of play. You’re not supposed to win anything, let alone championships, with LB’s catching passes and receivers playing CB. The Cult Of The Coach is one of the more predictable things on the sporting landscape, but Belichik gets so much out of so little, well, he’s earned the right to dress like a schlub and hang out with Bon Jovi, if that’s what he wants.
I’ll trade HollywoodFearlessFirst-DownSultanOfTheSlot4th&26thFedExThe PeoplesChampion Freddie Mitchell for David Givens in a second
as one who actually paid money to sit on aluminum bleacher seats in sub-zero weather to watch marc fucking wilson quarterback the local eleven, i’m going to have to echo cstb’s comments and say that i don’t give a rat’s ass about the team “personality”. they can be a bunch of boy scouts, they can be a group of holy rollers, they can be as disagreeable as the beer shits the day after a trip to sullivan stadium were, as long as they execute on sundays it doesn’t matter.