A Patriots Tale

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This Story began in 1998, when I was 7 years old and my parents decided to move to Boston, Massachusetts for 4 years. Boston is a sports crazy city, and ever since I could walk I've been as sports crazy guy. I quickly fell in love with American sports, especially Football. In 2001 there was a lot of buzz around the local team, the New England Patriots and they seemed to be the topic of conversation everywhere, even in the 5th grade.

A week earlier my dad and I were watching football on lazy Sunday afternoon. The Patriots were playing the Jets. Even though I don't remember this particular game, my dad remembers the Pats quarterback at the time, Drew Bledsoe, taking a gut wrenching hit by a Jet linebacker right on the sideline. Bledsoe had a collapsed lung from the hit and was seriously injured.

This was the moment I would see my childhood idol for the first time, Tom Brady. He was 23 years old and had been the 199th pick in the draft 2 years earlier. Nobody knew what to expect, but Brady played very well. I remember talking to my orthodontist and his words were: "You know what Brady does better than Bledsoe? Game Preparation." He turned out to be right. I find it interesting that I remember this exact quote from 16 years ago and it turned out to be so true. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have excelled not through their physical attributes, but through relentless study of their opponents and the games, up into the last detail.

Brady ended up taking the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, where they met the "Greatest Show on Turf", a star studded squad let by future Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk. Against all odds, the game was tied at 17 a piece with 1:30 left to go in the 4th quarter. The all time great coach and announcer John Madden said that it would be best to "run out the clock and go for overtime" and that he "disagreed with what the Patriots were doing" when they began driving the ball down the field. He didn't know that the greatest quarter back of all time was in full command. The rest is history.

We moved back to Germany in 2002 and I have watched nearly every Patriots game since then. Football has increased in popularity here over the past couple of season, especially because there is a german channel broadcasting 2 games a week. The most successful soccer team in Germany is called "FC Bayern Munich" and everyone except for their own fans hate them, because they win all the time. This situation is similar with the Patriots. Unless you aren't a Patriots fan in Germany, you hate them. Most people here are actually Seahawk fans.

Whenever I tell anybody that I'm a huge Patriots fan or walk around sporting a Patriots cap and a TB12 Jersey in the city, theres a good chance I'll hear something like:" What a bandwagon fan", or "Tom Brady is gay" or "You only like them because they're good"! I have to honestly say that i love this aspect of being a Patriots fan. They hate us, cause they ain't us. I do think that many people in Germany are Patriots fans because they are good and its very comfortable to support a team that wins all the time, even though they have no connection to the team or the area.

My Dad, our friends and I watching the Super Bowl on February 4, 2002

-This isn't true in my case though. I love the Patriots, because I grew up with them, right in the heart of Patriots Nation as a young boy. When I became a Patriots fan, they weren't good at all and nobody expected them to win. They also give me a kind of connection back to the place I spent some of my most cherished childhood years, Boston and the region of New England. I love Tom Brady and Bill Belichick because they are the only members that remain from that 2001 team.

I haven't missed a single Patriots game since 2009, but never actually went to Gillette Stadium to watch them play. Last year I thought to myself: I have been a fan for so long, this is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game and he is turning 40 years old...how long does he have left ? I HAVE to see him live with my own eyes at least once, or I'll regret it forever.

So when my parents asked me last fall: do you have any idea what you would like for Christmas i jokingly said:" Well, I would love to go to a Patriots game in Foxboro". Over the next couple of weeks I had forgotten about this idea, until my dad called me one afternoon and said: "I booked the flights and the tickets, we're going to see the Patriots." I couldn't believe it- it was a dream come true...

The Tickets with Drew Bledsoe on the front

Saturday, December 4, 2016. 4 in the morning in Berlin, Germany

Enjoying a Beer and a Cup of Clam Chowder at one of the oldest Restaurants in America, The Old Union Oyster House

Having Dinner with our good friends in our old Home Town of Needham, Rick, Iris and my best friend Colin!

They day we've been waiting for, GAMEDAY :D

Finally, the GOAT himself, Tom Brady

After the Game

When the game was over, we drove directly back to the airport to catch the evening flight back to Berlin. I had university classes on Monday and my dad had to go to work. We were only in the US for one night and one epic game.

I asked my dad:"Why did you choose this particular game to go to"? He told me that it seemed like the best option time wise, since it was a 1 PM game a we could fly back to Germany afterwards. By coincidence, this was the game celebrating the 15th anniversary of the 2001 championship season. At half time, 30 members of the 2001 team came out on the field and spoke to the fans. It was them that started the Patriots dynasty, it was them that invented "the Patriot way", it was them we watched win the Super Bowl 15 years earlier against the team we watched them play now, the Rams. This made the game even more special, since it felt like a circle coming to a close. This was also Tom Brady's record 201 win as quarterback in NFL, a record likely never to be broken and we there to witness it. It turned out my dad chose the perfect game to go to.

Looking back at this experience now, I'm glad this was my Christmas present and that I didn't receive anything materialistic on Christmas eve. A new computer might last 5-6 years, but this memory is everlasting. We saw history in the making, got to spend some quality father-son time together and I got to spend one night with my best friend from the US. I feel like these 48 hours were more valuable than anything my dad could have given me and I will be eternally grateful. Along with some other things, I made a book with the pictures and tickets from this trip for my dad for Christmas and called it:

There and back again, a Patriots Tale

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Take care of yourselves,

Chris