Pittsburgh and Seattle fans have worked themselves into a frenzy, convinced that winning on Sunday means everything. Let this Patriots fan assure you that it doesn’t.
Feb. 2, 2006 - Writing about the Super Bowl is a sports columnist's most daunting challenge. We're talking about a game with a two-week buildup during which a benchwarmer’s hangnail warrants at least as much attention as the Palestinian elections. Two weeks in which no Bus is left unboarded, in which every note on Big Ben is chimed, and during which every move of Shaun Alexander on the chessboard is scrutinized as if he were Garry Kasparov. Moreover, Motown hasn’t received so much attention since Berry Gordy picked up shop and left for L.A.
So I concluded that I could contribute the most by getting personal, by abandoning the perspective of the wise, all-knowing sportswriter and, instead, offering up the view of a fan—one who, as a forever seatholder in Foxboro for the New England Patriots, has more than a little recent Super Bowl experience. And what I can tell you is that win or lose, it doesn't matter all that much. Honestly. It won’t change your life.
Now I’m sure you think that's easy for me to say, having experienced just the winning side of that pronouncement and none of the losing in the Patriots’ three Super Bowls over the last five seasons. But I am old enough to recall quite vividly their previous two Super Bowl appearances—a record trouncing by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX in 1986 and a loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI in 1997. (Actually, I’m old enough to remember the 1963 AFL championship when my Boston Patriots lost 51-10 to the San Diego Chargers.)
Don't get me wrong. Winning the Super Bowl is definitely better than losing it. You get bragging rights and the right to freeze your butt off at a downtown parade, if that's happens to be your thing. And next September a bunch of big-name rockers will come to your stadium to lip-sync a bunch of songs before your favorite team kicks off the NFL season. But as for the expansive emotions that accompany Sunday night’s game, win or lose, they pretty much dissipate soon afterward regardless of the outcome. Fans of both teams will experience an emotional void; the only difference is that one group will discover it amid the champagne celebration, the other while steeped in beer and heartbreak.
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