Why I hate the Patriots

I remember about a year ago when Bill Simmons wrote an article wondering why everyone began to hate the Patriots. It struck me as an obnoxious article, one written almost with no effort done to understand why the hatred for the Patriots exists. Now, after reading an e-mail exchange between Simmons and Aaron Schatz of footballoutsiders.com fame, it's obvious that Patriots fans clearly don't get it. Yes, everyone, the Patriots are the Yankees of football, except if everyone in the media pretended that the Yankees were the little engine that could. I will attempt to explain the evolution of my hatred of the Patriots.

In 2001, when the Patriots began their rise to the top of the NFL, they were a great story. Tom Brady, Mr. Backup, became the best quarterback in the NFL. A team of nobodies beat the "Greatest show on turf". Instead of introducing the offensive or defensive before the Super Bowl, the entire Patriots team ran out onto the field as one. How could you not like that?

Flash forward three years. The Patriots were in the process of putting together their second consecutive 14-2 season, and were about to win their second consecutive super bowl, increasing their total to three in four years. The Patriots, with their tough guy coach Belichick, became every ESPN football commentator's wet dream. They all went on about how tough the Patriots were, how they played "the right way", how there were no superstars on the team, how the couching staff put a premium on good character, and blah blah blah. I believe that it's during the third super bowl run that Patriots hatred began its rightful place in the sports world.

It got tiring to hear about how the Patriots had some much character. It's the same as hearing that Derek Jeter is the ultimate example of being a clutch player. It's simply not true. Their coach, Bill Belichick, had quit on the New York Jets days after signing to contract to be their head coach, only to be announced as the Patriots head coach days later. Yet while Belichick showed no class himself, he was constantly being praised for his commitment to signing high quality players. The Patriots were like any other team in the NFL, except they had done their job better then everyone else. It's insulting to fans of the other 31 NFL teams to hear that only the Patriots had the market on integrity.

The no superstar nonsense was simply asinine. They only had one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Tom Brady, one of the greatest DT's of all time in Richard Seymour, one of the greatest corner backs of all time in Ty Law, and the greatest kicker of his generation in Adam Vinatieri. They also had a very very good running back in Corey Dillon for one of the Superbowl runs, and a host of very smart players who had very good careers. Again, you can't win multiple Superbowls with substandard talent. And the Patriots did not have substandard talent.

The Patriots mystique really began to fall apart in the 2006 NFL season. Bill Belichick feuded with a former protege in Eric Mangini, who left his staff to coach a division rival in the Jets. Belichick reportedly changed the locks at Patriots headquarters when Mangini accepted the Jets job so Mangini couldn't get back to his office and collect his things and say goodbye to his colleagues. He barely acknowledged Mangini's presence in their two regular season games, and wouldn't give him any credit in making the Jets into a playoff team. Belichick went as far as refusing to say Mangini's name during their two regular season meetings last year. Also, after beating the Chargers in last year's divisional playoff game, the Patriots mocked the Chargers at midfield, then preceded to yell insults at the Chargers while they showered and dressed in their locker room after the game was long over. Not exactly classy behavior.

Combined with Rodney Harrison's HGH use and suspension along with the recent Patriotsgate, the illusion of the Patriots as a shinning example of integrity in the sports world should be over.

Sports fans hate when other teams are held on a pedestal that their own teams aren't allowed access too. For the last six years, the Patriots have been held up as a symbol of all that is decent and good in the sports world, when they are just another professional sports team. We all want to create story lines and mystiques in sports. However, we also demand that the media is honest and fair when discussing all teams. When the media continued to ignore constant evidence that showed the Patriots played the same game as everyone else, and continued to play up the myth of their integrity, it's a natural progression from annoyance to dislike to pure hate. One that even Bill Simmons and Aaron Schatz should understand.