I’m old enough that I grew up with the Patriots of the 80s and 90s when they were … not wonderful.

Some of my earliest childhood memories are my grandfather or uncles on a profanity laced rant at the tv about how everyone needed to be fired, that the owner sucked, how they were for sure - 100% going back to the giants, never watching this franchise again, going to turn off the game any minute now…and then the next week we’d religiously do it again.

Sure, you got little glimmers of hope that kept you going, but if you tuned into sports radio or listened in on fans having conversations it sometimes seemed like a key, defining part of being a pats fan was complaining about your team and all the ways they had let you down. At least around me it seemed like a very New England cynicism and bellyaching…but with an absolute undying loyalty to the team at the end of the day. And when they did win, or had a good run…oh boy, it was like Christmas came early and these guys were gods.

2001/2002 was amazing, but in the next couple years until he passed, my grandfather seemed legit unclear how to cheer for a team that was actually doing well or how to react to consistently winning game. The dynasty years were amazing, but to be honest some small part of me missed all those years where being a fan meant being a bit of a masochist. I caught myself muttering under my breath recently watching a game and it just brought me back.

From an old fan, the last couple years have been rough, but it makes the good times I know are coming (eventually) that much sweeter.