<p>Lafalum, of course I can kid Pats fans, because you’ve obviously dominated for years. I have nothing but respect for your team’s accomplishments!</p>
<p>(My teams only beat Boston teams through miracles–Mets '86?)</p>
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<p>The exact words my husband used last night to suggest Favre won’t make it halfway through the season before getting a season-ending injury.</p>
<p>Garland, it’s weird, because Bostonians (Red Sox fans) were used to being the underdogs and hating the dominant, we-expect-to-win-because-we-ALWAYS-win Yankees. And for years the Patriots were an absolute laughingstock. But now that the Pats are so consistently good, it dawns on Pats fans that somehow the Pats are viewed by football fans the way the Yankees were viewed by baseball fans. It’s unsettling! But then we tell ourselves that the Pats are nothing like the Yankees because the NFL has a salary cap and MLB doesn’t, so the Pats aren’t buying trophies the way the Yankees did for years. (We conveniently forget that the Red Sox are now 2nd or 3rd in MLB in spending, ha ha). </p>
<p>The idea that Boston fans can be arrogant because the Sox and Celtics are reigning Champions, and the Patriots have 3 recent championships… well after all those years of the lovable-loser Sox and the joke-of-the-NFL Pats and the last decade of cover-your-eyes-awful Celtics, Bostonians feel we’ve earned the right to be loud and proud for a few years. We know all too well that these years will pass quickly! </p>
<p>In the mean time, we’re telling our kids how lucky they are to grow up watching Tom Brady in his prime. Having Moss to throw to and the Mannings to compete with just makes it that much better. I am really looking forward to watching Brady and Favre match up twice this season. </p>
<p>(BTW Garland, I grew up in NJ as a Mets fan. I got married in the summer of 1986 and moved to Mass, and watched the '86 World Series from Mass as a Mets fan… a very quiet Mets fan! I was surprised and actually moved by the depth of loyalty that Red Sox fans had, and how deeply that loss hurt really them. I had never lived in a place where sports teams had such a lock on the hearts of the region. Needless to say, when our son was born, I became a convert and have raised him as a Sox fan.)</p>