Super Bowl shock?
Hyde: Will Patriots haters become admirers with a win today?
There was this, dare I say, touching scene in ESPN’s bill-umentary this week on coaching legends Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick that divulged the high stakes of today’s Super Bowl.
Belichick, who coaches his record eighth Super Bowl today, surveys his old New York Giants workspace and does something remarkable for someone so shrewd and ruthless. He tears up. He actually — sniff — pauses and wipes his eye.
“I’m sorry, a lot of memories in here,” he said.
There also was, dare I doublesay, another touching moment this past week involving Belichick’s partner in all these Super Bowls that upped the ante of what’s at stake. Quarterback Tom Brady did his regular Boston radio segment by saying he wasn’t doing it anymore after a station host called Brady’s 5-year-old daughter a
“pissant.”
“I’ve tried to come on this show for many years and show you guys a lot of respect,” he said. “I’ve always tried and come on and do a good job for you guys. It’s very disappointing when you hear [that comment], certainly. My daughter, or any child, certainly doesn’t deserve that.”
It was such a strong and heartfelt comment you really had to fight standing up and applauding Brady. And I mean fight it hard. Because don’t you see what’s happening here?
The Patriots Syndrome, the sporting offshoot of a hostage’s Stockholm Syndrome, threatens to overtake sporting America with a win over Philadelphia today.
It’s where a controlling and abusive sports relationship is so controlling and so abusive that you lose so much you actually start to like and admire the team beating you.
Wasn’t it easier just to hate the Patriots for winning so much?
“Lovable” is a word snarky Deadspin founder Will Leitch used to describe Belichick this past week. Brady is “thawing out,” Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote from Super Bowl Week.
“How can’t you admire how the Patriots conduct themselves?” FOX radio’s Colin Cowherd said.
Yes, America is finally threatening to fall prey to the Patriots Syndrome. If they win another Super Bowl, it will be an all-out gush-fest for them. Six time’s the charm?
Dolphins fans have suffered from this syndrome in some form for years. But they’ve earned it the hard way. They’ve suffered directly. New England has won the AFC East 14 of the past 15 years. They’ve been to seven straight AFC title games and to the Super Bowl eight of the past 16 years.
Does that qualify as controlling and abusing and, therefore, permit bonding as a survival mechanism?
Confession: I found myself rooting for the Patriots in the AFC Championship game against Jacksonville. And for them to come back and beat Atlanta in last year’s Super Bowl. And now we’re being shown a teary-eyed Belichick and stern but compassionate Brady, who beats Father Time and is a father figure.
“I certainly hope the guy is not fired,” Brady said of the radio-show host. “I would hate for that to happen. We all have careers and we all make mistakes and, I mean, I’d hate for someone to have to change their life over something like that.”
Fortunately, there was another glimpse of Brady in the “Tom vs. Time” documentary on Facebook. This came as he was putting his daughter to bed. (If this Patriots dynasty chugs on, we’ll see Brady’s children grow up like Chelsea Clinton in “The West Wing” or Fred Savage in “The Wonder Years”).
This was the night of the Patriots’ win against the Dolphins on Nov. 26 in Gillette Stadium. His daughter said she hoped the Dolphins win one time. Brady, in a fatherly voice, said he didn’t want that.
“I don’t like them,” he said. “They’re bad guys forever.” “Why?” she asked. “‘Cuz I said so,” Brady said.
It’s not much. But that’s all we’ve got this Super Bowl Week to keep the fire burning and fight the Patriots Syndrome. Weep for America, though. A New England win today and there will be gushing over the Patriots’ success where hating once ruled.