The Fair - Weather Fan

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by BassDawg

Hey, bloocrab!

Thanks for the compliments, and i have landed some nice feesh on wood, although i do prefer bait. interestingly, my persuasive abilities have been documented with awards and sales records in various industries my whole life. just am not a fan of the dishonesty behind "most" sales positions........................

However, i will respectfully disagree with your MikeP and Raider Ronnie analogies being applied to my situation. since i never reely had a home team, being raised in SOONER Country. i know that it is difficult to understand, if ya have'nt lived it. it is true that i chose the redskins at an early age and that they were the team of my childhood. so, in that case you have a point and i will concede to some degree of disloyalty for switching to YOUR Patriots, but when is enuff ~~ENOUGH!??!

Simply, i couldn't take it anymore!

Knowing what i know about The Game, being inundated season after season with the GREATNESS that is taking place at Foxboro, and seeing the deplorable dysfunction that has become the DEADskins it was becoming increasingly impossible for me to validate the insanity of Snyder and his dismantling of my "childhood" team. joined them in '66, so i lived thru the '72 Dolphins, the Cowboys of the '90's, and Snyder ~the early years.......................

And, NO! i will not be changing teams again, no matter where this life and my career interests take me. after all, i WAS with the Skins for 41 years, win or lose.

soooo, do ya think that the entirity of Red Sox Nation was born and bred in Boston? it is possible for one to see a team they like, root for them, and not be from that city, bloo? how else do the BRUINS become my team, since my youth. Betcha didn't know that one! and yes, i haven't been able to KNOW them like you know them ~only worshipped them from afar. that is until i moved here in '99. i am HOPEFUL that this mngmt and coach will put it all together. hated the Thorton trade.

Thanks for the spot on the proverbial bus and i was only quoting you when i referred to "my driving the bus" to SB XLIII and beyond. i am more than happy to find a seat in the rear, *stuffed in the overhead compartment, or clinging to the rooftop luggage rack!* *makes no nevermind to me, just happy to be aboard, Boss bloo...................*

As to your reference to my peerceived wanting to fit with some sort of clique, nothing could be further from the truth, although i respect your right to judge me and my posts.

if anything, i've alienated many and would be considered by most to be the least desirable to fish with. that is until you actually take the plunge and get to know me, in the surf......................

i do have a core group of guys that i surfcast with, and have met many people "out there" along the Striper Coast and have enjoyed each aquaintance immensely and am pretty sure that the experience was reciprocal, at least for the time that it was. i am an over-the-top/all or nothing sort of character and, for the most part of my life it has served me well, hurt me on far less occasions, and it is inescapable as that is what makes me who i yam and who i'll always be. with age i've mellowed, man you should've seen me in me twenties, thirties even!!!!

Thanks be to God that by His Grace, His Spirit has set me free from some of my earlier negative addictions and extremes. Thanks be to Him, as well for His Provision of our majestic shores and His Bounty that is our beloved prey!! i would be far less acceptable without Him and much more insane without this sport that we ALL require to keep us intune with God, nature, and self. HALELLUJAH, Abba Father, HALELLUJAH, Amen!!

Hope to have the opportunity to meet ya at RISAA,
i'll be the one they're pointing at while i'm talking with me hands
prolly relating some inane story about "the one that got away", or
espousing my opinion about the coming 162 games for our Hometown 9, or the Green 5, or the Black and Gold's misery, or
the possible free agents and draft picks for the Red, White, Pewter, and Blue's championship drive..............

I'm not buying 1 word of this!
Redskins fan for 41 years, Pats start getting good and you loose your loyalty of the Redskins and now a Pats fan
"You couldn't take it anymore"
Couldn't take what?
Snyder or loosing ?

[bloocrab]

....switching to YOUR Patriots.....

Based on the statement above, you TRULY do not understand what it means to be a TRUE Patriot fan. They are not "MY" Patriots, but in fact...OUR Patriots, our being anyone who is a TRUE Patriot fan. There's no "I" in team in New England. Let that be your 1st lesson before grabbing the handrail near the door of the bus.



...and RRonnie, "Boss bloo" (thanks for the title Bdawg)...predicts that just like with his Redskins, after a couple of skunky seasons, this "Bassdawg" will again, "lose it" and not be able to "take it anymore" and move on to another sport that he'll call his own,........maybe playing Polo on a Llama? ??

[Mike P]

One little correction Gil--I'm from RI originally, not NY, but I was a Giants fan growing up becuse, number one, my dad was, and number two, the Pats had been in existence only a year and they played in some joke outfit called the American Football League, which didn't even have a TV contract yet.

There are plenty of people in SE Mass and RI who are over 50 and were Giants fans because they were as close to a home NFL team as you could get. Some stayed loyal, some switched to the Pats after the merger, and especially after Grogan came along and the Pats got good for a few years.

Being a Giants fan between 1964 and the early 1980s wasn't easy. We had coaches that made Rod Rust and #^&#^&#^&#^& MacPherson look like the second coming of Lombardi.

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Based on the statement above, you TRULY do not understand what it means to be a TRUE Patriot fan. They are not "MY" Patriots, but in fact...OUR Patriots, our being anyone who is a TRUE Patriot fan.

To borrow from Ordway,

"Sweetheart, you're making my point!"
once again you've taken a few words out of context
and expounded upon them by twisting them to fit your cliche's...................

That comment was with regards to my prior position, PRE-Patriots Designation, and was referring to you and YOUR TRUE team when i was nowhere near the bus. do any of my posts since claiming them doubt that i claim them as OURS? though you may not agree, it does nothing to change my position.

Sooooooo, here's a more pertinent question for ya. Do the Krafts spend millions in marketing, and TV contracts, and the construction of Patriot Place to narrow thier fanbase or BROADEN it?

Does anyone else miss the old school "Pat the Patriot" logo?
i remember it fondly from YOUR early years.............

think i'll go buy an old school hat today, out of respect for the teams gone by. and i do remember the Grogan/Eason/Fairbanks(OU connection)/Smurliss/Fryar/Tippet/Sam "the Bam"/Morgan/ Capiletti/
Plunkett/Hannah/Franciss/pre-Kraft years. respected them all from afar, as a FAN of this GAME that we all Love......................

Always thought they were a tough-nosed team and destined for a better fate, someday. Didn't you guys pick up Rod Choate under the Fairbanks Era? Sooners LB, back in Chuck's days at Norman ~i think??

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

"You couldn't take it anymore"
Couldn't take what?
Snyder or loosing ?

YES, that was part of it.

The biggest part i couldn't handle anymore was the dominance of the PATS, right before me very eyes. My living in the heart of Patriot Nation and the urging of my Ironworking Bretheren to climb on board was also a huge factor. Hey, it's my cross to bear boyz! Can't help it if i recognize GREATNESS in its purest form. And i won't be switching, EVER! Trust me, this was a hard choice and i still have feelings for my childhood sweetheart, just chose to marry up, so to speak and could careless whether my fanhood comes into question (re: ESPN commercial) .

Raider Ronnie, it's never too late.................
YOU too can recognize dominance and supremecy and
i know a good tattoo artist should you decide to join Patriot Nation.

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by BassDawg

YES, that was part of it.

The biggest part i couldn't handle anymore was the dominance of the PATS, right before me very eyes. My living in the heart of Patriot Nation and the urging of my Ironworking Bretheren to climb on board was also a huge factor. Hey, it's my cross to bear boyz! Can't help it if i recognize GREATNESS in its purest form. And i won't be switching, EVER! Trust me, this was a hard choice and i still have feelings for my childhood sweetheart, just chose to marry up, so to speak and could careless whether my fanhood comes into question (re: ESPN commercial) .

Raider Ronnie, it's never too late.................
YOU too can recognize dominance and supremecy and
i know a good tattoo artist should you decide to join Patriot Nation.

I am surprised by your latest post, The Dad, as you are usually the voice of reason.
Pile on, if you must. Please read the above. More importantly,

Perhaps why i switched is somehow also related to my SOONERS,
because in Norman and across the State of Oklahoma we are used to National Championship Caliber College Football. In fact, we still hold the two longest undefeated streaks in NCAA DivI History under Coaches Bud Wilkinson and Chuck Fairbanks.

That being said, i do empathize with your above post Kevin, having been there for three Orange Bowl debacles and the single greatest CHOKE job in Collegiate History at the hands of Boise State two years ago. That was Buckner squared, from my perspective. ironic that both crushing defeats happened in AZ, one year apart from each other and both in the football arena .

Albeit a short ride, the 2003 "bullets in my tank" fiasco by the SOX manager 'whose name will not be mentioned' felt like a swift kick to me jumblies and resonates still every time that the walk to and from the mound gets replayed in my mind. that one hurts very badly to this day, and is at least a taste of what you "lifers" know far better than i ever will.

Doesn't make me any less of a FAN, just makes me a NEWER one.
Also ironic that they almost go undefeated, AFTER i join Patriots Nation.

"......the things that make you go, hummmm?"

just joshing, hell i predicted them to go 38-0!! but that's just me, i'm crazy like that.
anybody else okay with 37-1?

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by BassDawg

YES, that was part of it.

The biggest part i couldn't handle anymore was the dominance of the PATS, right before me very eyes. My living in the heart of Patriot Nation and the urging of my Ironworking Bretheren to climb on board was also a huge factor. Hey, it's my cross to bear boyz! Can't help it if i recognize GREATNESS in its purest form. And i won't be switching, EVER! Trust me, this was a hard choice and i still have feelings for my childhood sweetheart, just chose to marry up, so to speak and could careless whether my fanhood comes into question (re: ESPN commercial) .

Raider Ronnie, it's never too late.................
YOU too can recognize dominance and supremecy and
i know a good tattoo artist should you decide to join Patriot Nation.

I'm all set!
Wiining or loosing is not what made me a Raiders fan when I was a kid (6 or 7 years old)