# People who hate the Patriots: explain, please **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267 "2008-02-04T20:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/21 "2008-02-04T22:43:58Z")
The entire team is smug, whereas the only people who hate a team like the Cleveland Browns are their own fans. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/22 "2008-02-04T22:51:21Z")
I don’t hate the Patriots. I did root for the Giants, but I almost always root for the underdog. I rooted for the Patriots against the Rams. It’s nothing personal. This whole notion that there’s something wrong with you if you aren’t a frontrunner is laughable. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/23 "2008-02-04T23:10:33Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] That part didn’t take for me. They were the Boston Patriots when I first heard about them at the age of seven, and that’s how I still think of them. [/QUOTE] Fun bit of trivia: For six years, the then Boston Patriots played their games at Fenway Park. [No, really!](http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/past/FenwayPark.htm) I went to one of those games, and lemme tell ya, it was most peculiar watching football in a park so exquisitely laid out for baseball. ETA: Check out that skyline in the photo! The only skyscraper then was the Pru. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/24 "2008-02-04T23:13:33Z")
The Bard said it better than I could: > [@Shylock](#): > > But, say, it is my humour: is it answer’d? > What if my house be troubled with a rat > And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats > To have it baned? What, are you answer’d yet? > Some men there are love not a gaping pig; > Some, that are mad if they behold a cat; > And others, when the bagpipe sings i’ the nose, > Cannot contain their urine: for affection, > Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood > Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer: > As there is no firm reason to be render’d, > Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; > Why he, a harmless necessary cat; > Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force > Must yield to such inevitable shame > As to offend, himself being offended; > So can I give no reason, nor I will not, > More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing… For me, it’s mostly a divisional rivalry thing, and I just didn’t like something about them - the name, the uniform, who knows - the first time I saw them. And so it’s remained. The fact that they’re excellent despite playing the role of “bad guy” (with ever-increasing media polish and quasi-cheating) to the hilt just makes it worse. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/25 "2008-02-04T23:15:20Z")
I fucking HATE Shakespeare. He’s just so fucking GOOD. Asshole. (Kidding. Love the Swan of Avon.) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/26 "2008-02-04T23:15:24Z")
Oh, yeh, for you Redskins and Yankee fans, from that same link: > [@](#): > > The 27,000 seat ballpark was home of the Red Sox until the Boston Redskins moved to the ballpark in 1933. In July 1932, George Marshall was awarded the Boston football franchise. During their inaugural first season in 1932 the team was named the Boston Braves because they played at Braves Field. After the 1932 season the Braves were moved to Fenway Park and renamed the Redskins. The team played their first game at Fenway Park in September 1933 against the New York Giants. The Redskins played four seasons at Fenway Park before moving to Washington after the 1936 because of low fan support. > > Eight years after the Redskins moved to Washington, the Boston Yanks began playing at Fenway Park. The Yanks played their first game at the ballpark in September 1944 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Because of several losing season and financial problems, the Yanks folded after the 1948 season. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/27 "2008-02-04T23:19:05Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] I went to one of those games, and lemme tell ya, it was most peculiar watching football in a park so exquisitely laid out for baseball. [/QUOTE] “Exquisitely”? It’s a weird shape. It’s famous, now, but weird. No left field, and that weird angular thing in center that injures many a centerfielder. Nah, I stand by the… um, I think Mark Harris\* (?)… description of Fenway that it looks like the guys who built it were drunk. \*No, wait – it was probably Kinsella, since Fenway figures into Shoeless Joe. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/28 "2008-02-04T23:23:30Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] Oh, yeh, for you Redskins and Yankee fans, from that same link: [/QUOTE] I love this kind of stuff. Thanks for the back story. Hell, did you know the Twins used to play in Kansas City? (As the Blues, in the Western League, before they moved to Washington and became the Senators…) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/29 "2008-02-04T23:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=cricetus] “Exquisitely”? It’s a weird shape. It’s famous, now, but weird. No left field, and that weird angular thing in center that injures many a centerfielder. Nah, I stand by the… um, I think Mark Harris\* (?)… description of Fenway that it looks like the guys who built it were drunk. \*No, wait – it was probably Kinsella, since Fenway figures into Shoeless Joe. [/QUOTE] I’m not going to pick up the invitation to a hijack, but merely warn you not to blaspheme Fenway if you ever find yourself in Beantown. The natives get a might tetchy on the subject. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/30 "2008-02-04T23:43:16Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] - **kaylasdad99** , not as big a fan of the California Angels, or the Mighty Ducks as you might expect a man in Anaheim to be… [/QUOTE] At least the hockey team has become just the Anaheim Ducks. But the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? I can’t believe that stupid name has managed to hang on for this many seasons already. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/31 "2008-02-04T23:59:52Z")
I hate the Patriots for the same reason that I hate the Red Sox: After years of sucking, and years of being somewhat endearingly resigned to their fates, a few years of success have turned Patriots fans into fucking Yankees fans. They look at winning as a divine right. The feel somehow personally superior by dint of their team’s success. They act as if it has ALWAYS been this way. You know what I heard on Boston radio this morning? “The Pats are the best team in the NFL. The Giants aren’t better, and I’ll tell you why- if the Pats and the Giants played 10 games, the Pats would win nine of them. They’re a better team.” Guess what, fucko- THAT’S NOT THE WAY IT WORKS. It’s seriously fucking annoying. I love my Saints. But winning a couple of playoff games does not mean that my opinion on the loss of individual rights to expanding police powers holds more weight than yours. When the Mets won the Series in 1986, that didn’t make me more interesting to Lauren from Maywood. I own more Devils gear than some members of the Devils, but the Pope ain’t ringin’ on Line 2 to get my thoughts on how he ought to word his next encyclical. Boston fans think that (if they were able to comprehend the terms “expanding police powers” or “papal encyclical”) that by virtue of their wearing a Papelbon or Brady jersey that their opinion means something. Plus, the fucking accent. DAMN I hate that accent. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/32 "2008-02-05T00:07:37Z")
It’s took me reading three posts to realise this isn’t another Hawks vs Doves Iraq debate. Sorry. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/33 "2008-02-05T00:10:19Z")
It all boils down to envy. Up until last nite, the Pats had a perfect season, and had confounded all their opponents. Even after last nites win, you still have all the haterz spewing vitriol for the Pats. Why are they still a target? You might think the winners would take the high road and win gracefully, but no, they have to spread their hate for the other team. It’s pretty pathetic… it’s beyond pathetic. You people need to rise above your fixation with the Pats. Its over… they didn’t have the perfect season. They fucked up the one game then really needed to win. It’s over. Until next year. so move on now. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/34 "2008-02-05T00:13:54Z")
If someone can answer this in 2 sentences or less, I’d appreciate it: What do the 1972 Miami Dolphins have to do with anything? I heard today that this game will increase the 72 Dolphins resentment of the Pats. How so, since the Pats lost? And 1972 was a long time ago… 😕 If you need to get into stats, just picture me asleep from boredom and don’t go there, kay? Other than that, I don’t hate the Patriots and would have liked to have seen a perfect record, just for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/35 "2008-02-05T00:20:47Z")
My hatred for the Patriots died with this loss. Bill Bellichick does not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as class acts like Chuck Noll, Tom Landry, and Bill Walsh. Thanks to last night’s choke job, he likely never will be, because it’s looking like a rebuilding year for them next season. I was filled with a sense of unholy joy that he both lost his perfect season and he didn’t get his ring. Had it been virtually anybody else I would have been cheering for them. But that man deserves nothing but contempt. Oh, yeah, one more thing: the Patriots ruined the Steelers’ best regular season in history not all that long ago, and as a Steelers fan I find that I still have a bad taste in my mouth over that loss. Mostly, though (around 99% mostly), it’s because the Hoodie is a miserable excuse for a human being. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/36 "2008-02-05T00:22:52Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Scrappy Hero Pup] I hate the Patriots for the same reason that I hate the Red Sox: After years of sucking, and years of being somewhat endearingly resigned to their fates, a few years of success have turned Patriots fans into fucking Yankees fans. [/QUOTE] Whoah! Whoah! **Whoah!** You seem to be implying that Red Sox fans have come to expect success. I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth! Any Red Sox fan knows better than to anticipate success! There is no surer way to jinx a game! You may now return to your regularly scheduled Patriot-bashing. Hey, I _like_ the Patriots and I still can’t stomach Tom Brady. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/37 "2008-02-05T00:24:06Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] If someone can answer this in 2 sentences or less, I’d appreciate it: What do the 1972 Miami Dolphins have to do with anything? I heard today that this game will increase the 72 Dolphins resentment of the Pats. How so, since the Pats lost? And 1972 was a long time ago… 😕 If you need to get into stats, just picture me asleep from boredom and don’t go there, kay? Other than that, I don’t hate the Patriots and would have liked to have seen a perfect record, just for fun. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure. The 72 Dolphins won the perfect season with less games to play, and at a time when football was not as intense as it is played today. So would the 72 Dolphins have the same perfect season if it was played in today’s game? No. So I don’t know what their ass-ache is. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/38 "2008-02-05T00:26:44Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Scrappy Hero Pup] I hate the Patriots for the same reason that I hate the Red Sox: After years of sucking, and years of being somewhat endearingly resigned to their fates, a few years of success have turned Patriots fans into fucking Yankees fans. They look at winning as a divine right. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I think you’re describing the Yankees here - and their fans. I mean, isn’t it the Yankees who have to ‘BUY’ their way into winning? Damn straight it is. And after decades and decades of losing, how could you possiblyhave the audacity to accuse Red Sox fans of turning into “yankee fans”. That’s the biggest insult on the face of the earth. You need to take that back. Redsox fans have been true for years on end even when there were no wins in sight… ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/39 "2008-02-05T00:35:03Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Oh, yeah, one more thing: the Patriots ruined the Steelers’ best regular season in history not all that long ago, and as a Steelers fan I find that I still have a bad taste in my mouth over that loss. Mostly, though (around 99% mostly), it’s because the Hoodie is a miserable excuse for a human being. [/QUOTE] so you’re actually blaming the Pats when in reality it was the Steelers who just couldn’t cut it? Talk about deflecting. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267/40 "2008-02-05T00:39:49Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] so you’re actually blaming the Pats when in reality it was the Steelers who just couldn’t cut it? Talk about deflecting. [/QUOTE] Where did I blame them for beating the Steelers? They did what they had to do. That doesn’t make it any more tasteful, nor does it make me less of a Steelers homer. I mean, come ON! You didn’t really think that I enjoyed watching the Steelers get thrashed, did you? Quite the contrary- while the game was on I had an M-16A2 on my shoulder and an M9 on my hip, and it was all I could do not to shoot the television. Also, note that that comprised a very minuscule percentage of my underlying hatred, which has now been defused by the pathetic display that Bellichick put on last night after losing. Seeing that dour face and knowing why it was that way made me one of the happiest people in America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-hate-the-patriots-explain-please/436267.md?page=3)