01.31.08 5:00 AM CST
• Sports
• Playboy Staff
Now that his special skill taking the temperature of New Hampshire's voters has become useless for another four years, Kevin Flynn is expanding his portfolio to include taking the temperature of New England's football fans. Here's his report:So…what is it with Tom Brady's ankle in that walking cast? Everyone outside of New England loves to ponder just how injured he is and whether it means the star quarterback won't play like…well…like Tom Brady.
As a lifelong Boston sports fan, I'm not really worried about Brady's injury. I'm more worried that, as a lifelong Boston sports fan, I'm not worried about it.
It was only a few years ago when the Patsies or the Red Flops would faithfully find a spectacular way to lose a big game. And losing those games in ways that rivaled Greek mythos or Shakespearean tragedy. That's all we had as Boston fans: our fatalism and the grace of losing.
That changed in September of 2001, thanks to the Jets Mo Lewis. He put a lick on Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe that caused internal bleeding. The injury allowed 2000 draft pick #199, Tom Brady, to take over the team, changing the fortunes of the team and the region.
Even when the Pats were driving to that last minute field goal in Super Bowl XXXVI, Boston sports fans like me were wondering how our team was going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But when Adam Vinatieri made that 48-yard kick, everything began to change.
No, it didn't happen overnight. Boston sports fans had to grow accustomed to success. Uneasy were the heads who wore the crowns. When Vinatieri missed two field goals in the Pat's next Super Bowl appearance I thought, “How do we turn the only sports hero of our lifetime into a goat? Watch him blow the next championship.” That was the pain of Bill Buckner and Bucky Dent crying out.
But the Pats won three Super Bowls. The Red Sox, heaven help me, the freakin' Boston Red Sox have won two World Series. The Celtics look like they could win it all too. The Patriots excellence has been so ubiquitous that a perfect season and championship win on Super Sunday have been forgone conclusions in our minds for months.
So…no. I don't worry about Brady's ankle. Here in New England we're confident, cocky, and damn set on going any length to win. We're kind of become…well…like Yankee fans.
Footnote: That walking cast that Brady was seen in…know what it's called? It's called a Bledsoe Boot. Thanks, Mo Lewis.
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