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New England Patriots

One Month Later: Super Bowl Catharsis

By Ryan McGowan

I almost died on February 5, 2012.

Well, maybe not physically, though a heart attack or stomach explosion seemed quite imminent, especially after Tom Brady got called for a safety in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLVI.

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New England Patriots

Reinstate the Red!

By Ryan McGowan

Bob Rafter was there at the beginning, and it wasn’t pretty.

“I was at the first preseason game with Elvis,” Rafter, 28, of Phoenix, but a Franklin (Mass.) native, said, referring to the current Patriots logo, which debuted in 1993 to replace the original “Pat Patriot”, the beloved icon that adorned the team’s helmets since the franchise’s first season as a charter member of the AFL in 1960.  “There were literally planes flying overhead dismissing Elvis.”

Rafter is not alone in Patriots Nation in his nostalgia for the original red-dominant uniforms.  Despite the franchise’s extended run of success since that ’93 season (which, not coincidentally, was the beginning of the Bill Parcells/Drew Bledsoe era), many fans clamor for a full-time return to the iconic jerseys of the team’s past.

Since the chance of jinxing the team’s success by switching uniforms at this point is pretty much moot, it needs to be said: the Patriots need to bring back the red jerseys and the Pat Patriot logo.

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New England Patriots

Kings of the City

By Ryan McGowan

A local radio host (Andy Gresh of 98.5 the Sports Hub) got me thinking Sunday morning.  Tom Brady, Gresh said, is Boston sports.  With all due respect to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Josh Beckett, and maybe Jason Varitek, when people think of sports in the Hub, #12 shows up in their minds as the physical incarnation of our fair city’s athletics.

But, like a lot of Patriots realists, Gresh is starting to see Brady’s career as kicking into the back nine and into irreversible decline.  So, he opines, who will become “the” icon of Boston sports when Brady is gone later in this decade?  And then, who is currently “the” icon of the other major sports cities of America?  When you think of a city’s sports scene, who embodies that city?  And who will be next?

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New England Patriots

State of the Patriots Union Address

By Ryan McGowan

On December 31, I wrote “Five reasons the Patriots can win Super Bowl XLIV.”

Nice prediction. That’s right up there with the geniuses who predicted the Betamax would clobber the VHS, or that New Coke would be a sales bonanza for Coca-Cola, Inc. Predictions like that basically show why I don’t make my living picking NFL games, though I did win the Poor Man’s PTI regular season pick-‘em championship for the umpteenth year in a row, so what does that tell you about the guys on the show with me?

In light of the Patriots’ embarrassing first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, I thought it would be a good time to take stock in our local NFL franchise and deliver my State of the Patriots Union Address for 2010 and beyond.

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New England Patriots

Five Reasons the Patriots Can Win Super Bowl XLIV

By Ryan McGowan

As surely as the calendar changes from oh-nine to oh-ten, I’m back with my annual homerific justification and rationalization as to why the Patriots will solidify their Team of the Decade standing with a Super Bowl title. (Or, in the case of last year, why the Super Bowl XLIII champion will always have an asterisk because the Patriots were shut out of the playoffs.) So, let’s get right to it—here’s five reasons why Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady could be hoisting their fourth Lombardi Trophy in Miami in February:

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New England Patriots

Belichick’s 4th Down Call Undoubtedly the Right One

By Ryan McGowan

I didn’t sleep much last night. I usually pass out easily on Sunday nights, but this week I kept replaying the final two minutes over and over again in my head. Somehow, I eventually got to sleep—and when I woke up, it all made sense.

Belichick was right. He went for it on 4th and 2 at his own 28 yard line. And I would want him to do it again, no question.

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New England Patriots

Repent: The End is Here

By Ryan McGowan

The Patriots are done.   Tom Brady is done.  Bill Belichick is cooked.

It’s over.

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Boston Red Sox General Sports New England Patriots

July Round-Up: Steroid Guys, Theo’s Tries, and Gisele’s Eyes

By Ryan McGowan

Some quick hitters as we roll into August, even though by my internal weather-clock it should be late June here in the Northeast…

Ortiz, Manny on steroids
We didn’t get around to discussing this on the podcast yesterday.  This topic lost out to Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay trade discussion, Michael Vick and Connecticut Puerto Rican cockfighting, Erin Andrews’ 911 call, and freaking YouTube stupid wedding entrances.  That should tell you something about the strength of this story—it has none.

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New England Patriots

Congratulations, Super Bowl XLIII Champs*

By Ryan McGowan

There will be a head coach from some NFL team who will raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Raymond James Stadium on February 1, 2009.  It very well might be Tony Dungy and the Colts for a second time.  Perhaps it will be Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, or Tom Coughlin of the Giants in a repeat.  Maybe even a dark horse rookie such as the Falcons’ Mike Smith or the Ravens’ John Harbaugh.   One thing is certain, though–whoever it is will have a giant asterisk next to his name.

The 2008 NFL playoffs (or “the tournament”, as Bill Parcells likes to say) will be conducted for the first time in six years without the New England Patriots, and the rest of the league can breathe a sigh of relief.  

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New England Patriots

Brady Fans Need to Get a Grip on Reality

The following is a retort to an article in the October 3, 2008 issue of the Rice Thresher, which can be found here:

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: I don’t care about the National Football League. I do not care for the immaturity of Chad Ocho Cinco and Jeremy Shockey; I do not care for Roger Goodell, for Al Davis, for John Madden and Chris Berman. I don’t. They all work to make the game much less entertaining than the college version.

But I also don’t care for inaccurate reporting.