Sports
November 17, 2004
Regular readers know I am a baseball fan. I have, at different times been crazy about all of the Boston teams, but the Red Sox have always been my one true devotion. My interest in every other sports waxes and wanes. I loved the Patriots as a little kid, and flirted with them again in my teens. I was rabid about the Bruins the whole time I played hockey, and into my early 20s. I am probably a fair weather fan when it comes to the Celtics; I have watched them in three phases of greatness that have coincided with my sports-watching career—the tail end of the Bill Russell era, the John Havlicek-Dave Cowens era, and the Larry Bird era.
I really don’t watch much professional basketball anymore, and the professional hockey season is currently not happening and no one has yet noticed. Of course, I watch a lot of soccer and basketball because my sons play.
I watch the Patriots now. Partly because they are a dynasty in the making, of course, but also because my sons love football, and they love the Patriots. I can’t say I blame them. Even with the Red Sox winning the World Series this year (wow, that was cool to type!), my boys have already learned the bittersweet reality of being a Red Sox fan. The end of the 2003 season devastated them, and as early as 1999 they watched the Sox flame out in the playoffs.
The Patriots, on the the other hand, are the anti-Red Sox. They win when they are supposed to win, and often win when they are not supposed to. Confounding, weird things happen to their opponents, and not to them. They are competent and uncontroversial. Their coach is a measured, intellectual guy. The owners are liberal-minded, successful, and fan-oriented. (Considering the Patriots were kind of the joke of professional football for their first 30-odd years, this is especially remarkable.)
This year, they also have the element I love to see in football—and that is the big, powerful running back. This year it is Corey Dillon. My first Patriots hero was Jim Nance, to my thinking the most underrated power runner of his time. Later, the Patriots had a big back named Sam Cunningham, whose nickname, “The Bam,” pretty much summed up his style. When the Patriots had the ball close to the goal line, Sam was fond of leaping over the pile of players into the end zone. When he did this as a rookie, an opposing veteran claimed he would rid Sam of the habit by driving his helmet into Sam’s Adam’s Apple. But either it never happened, or it did and Sam didn’t notice, because he kept doing that leap throughout his career.
Dillon, halfway through the season, already has 900 yards rushing, which would be impressive for an entire year. At this rate, he would get 1800 yards, which would be a Patriots record, I am quite sure, but who knows what the rest of the season will bring. We shall see. But it is a pleasure watching him run over people.
Posted by Bill Trippe at November 17, 2004 11:05 AM