Patriots Fans

Patriots fans should be ashamed of themselves, if there are any real Patriots fans left. It certainly didn't seem like there were too many of them at Gillette Stadium yesterday. It's hard to remember the last time there were so many empty seats at a Pats playoff game. And far too many of the full seats were filled by Ravens fans.

The official attendance was 68, 756. There were probably 63,00 there and 25,000 of those were wearing purple and black. What could you possibly be doing on a freezing Sunday in January? Wrapping up in your Snuggie and watching "The Notebook" with the wife? Fine. So it was cold. We didn't have Wes Welker. But these are the Patriots! They don't lose at home and they certainly don't lose in January (maybe in February, but not in January). (Keep in mind I'm writing this from the point of view of pre-game.)

I've been on the waiting list for season tickets since July of 2001. If you don't want your seats, I'll be more than happy to take them off your hands. So would the other 50,000+ people waiting for their chance to grab a pair of seats to the Razor. The rest of country laughs at us. Except of course for Oakland, Jacksonville and Kansas City. But you know what? If the Raiders or Jaguars had a team half as good as the Pats, they'd bang out their stadiums every week. It's not the fans' fault that the Crypt Keeper won't give up control of the Raiders and the scouting staff equipment consists solely of stop-watches. The Jags are up and down and no one knows what to expect from year to year. Maybe if they had a quarterback to build around, they could be ok. The Chiefs fans, finally, after years of misery, have said "eff you until you give us a competitive team" but for year for year after year after year of awful teams, you still could not buy a ticket for a Chiefs home game.

Patriots fans are front-runners and fair weather fans. They flood the streets by the millions when the team wins, but if it's an off year? Crickets. Can't find them. We had 4 extra tickets for the playoff game and it was like pulling teeth to get rid of them. Just because you don't think we will win, doesn't mean you shouldn't go. How about having some fun? How about supporting your team? How about justifying all those "Super Bowl Champion" t-shirts you have hanging your closet? You can't have it both ways. Either you're a fan or you're not. There's only so much room on the bandwagon and right now, if you have season tickets and didn't go on Sunday, I have to say, there is no room for your couch-sitting, chick-flick watching fat ass.

Sell your tickets to people who want them. You've become too spoiled. I remember going to games with my dad in the early '80's. There were 5,000 people there and we loved it! You could stand outside the front office and get autographs from the players, sit anywhere you wanted, and never had to sit in traffic to get out of the stadium. But we had fun and we loved our team. Now, it seems like people love the idea of being a Patriots fan more than actually being a Patriots fan. Its a cool place to be seen but people don't watch the game. Back in the old stadium, there were no luxury boxes or club seats. People actually sat in the stands, like they still do at other stadiums in the NFL. Look at those red seats between the 30 yard lines in the second level. $350-$750 per seat, per game...empty. I wish I could wipe my ass with hundred dollar bills, too. But I can't. So when I pay for a ticket to a game, I go and I have fun. There are plenty of real fans who would kill to have your seats and would go to every game. I used to be proud to say I was a Patriots fan when I travelled. But not anymore and not because of them. Because of you. All of you no-shows who sell your tickets (to visiting fans) and give us a reputation of being fair-weather fans.